Many gather Tuesday, hoping to win over incumbent commissioners and get allies elected to the board.

CRYSTAL RIVER - In the tradition of a bygone activist era, one where folk songs of old made clear that this land is my land, Jose Masaoy opened a Sierra Club meeting Tuesday night with a guitar in hand and message in mind:

… when we all get together, we can find a better way
And the plans for the Suncoast Parkway can all be put away …

More than 100 residents who filed into the dark, bunkerlike Crystal River National Guard Armory, which crystallized into a headquarters for several antiparkway groups to stategize together, applauded.

Then, the preaching began. Leaders from groups such as the Audubon Society and Citizens Opposed to the Suncoast Tollroad grabbed a microphone and told residents that the possible Suncoast Parkway extension through Citrus County would decrease traffic on U.S. 19 by only 5 percent, would crush the environment, would spill gasoline into aquifers and would cause unfettered growth, crime and pollution. It need to be stopped, they said.

State officials continue to study 10 routes for the possible 30-mile parkway extension, which would stretch north through Citrus County from the existing leg of the parkway, which stops at U.S. 98 in Hernando County and stretches south to Tampa.

Once they pick a route - still years away - state transportation officials will decide whether to build the extension at all. But a growing movement is mounting now against the parkway, seeking to undermine it through another route.

State transportation planners have said in the past they will permanently shelve plans if Citrus County commissioners oppose the parkway. But none of them do.

With three seats on the five-member County Commission open in the Nov. 2 general election, parkway opponents are trying to convince incumbents that the majority of residents here don't want the parkway while trying to get their own candidates onto the board.

"The people who have the authority to stop it is the five county commissioners," said Teddi Bierly, a member of the Citrus chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. "May be we should all show up at their monthly meetings and tell them we should stop it."

Commissioners have had different reasons for supporting the parkway. Some have said voters want the extension, since they keep electing people to the commission who support it. Some support business growth. Others, who don't personally support the parkway coming here, see it as a way to accommodate Citrus' booming growth and a way local taxpayers won't be stuck with the bill of building new roads inevitably needed.

But opponents Tuesday disputed their rationale for the parkway, saying what little data is available prove parkway supporters are wrong. Making matters worse, they said, the state is reluctant or slow responding to questions they have posed about traffic flow, environmental impact and timetables.

"What data validates the sacrifice the people have to make?" asked Hanh Vu of Homosassa, co-author of the Web site truthaboutsuncoast2.com.

"Today," added Jim Bitter, a member of Save the Homosassa River Water Alliance, "I have seen nothing indicating a reason for this road."

As he spoke, residents wearing white T-shirts that said "No Build" in red letters and those wearing shirts that said "Stop Suncoast Parkway II" with the picture of a pink pig about to get roasted, nodded their heads in agreement.

-- Justin George can be reached at 860-7309 or jgeorge@sptimes.com