Voters in Clearwater, Florida, rejected (58 percent to 42 percent)

 Voters in Clearwater, Florida, rejected (58 percent to 42 percent) a plan to revitalize their downtown using new urbanist principles. The $300 million project by developer George de Guardiola would have brought 320,000 square feet of retail, a 250-room hotel, a multiscreen movie theater, and 1,200 new apartments and condominiums on 39 acres.The city core had been virtually deserted for the last 30 years, according to the St. Petersburg Times, which strongly endorsed the plan. The plan called for pedestrian-friendly streets with retail on the first floor with entrances on wide sidewalks, and residential units on upper floors. Proponents blamed a core group of committed opponents who ran a harshly negative campaign. “This is where the plan ends,” de Guardiola told the Times. “We have no plan B.”