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Lealman activists chat with suitors
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- The summit between City Council members and Lealman activists was a failure if either side thought it could persuade the other to change its position. But the meeting allowed both to get to know each other as people. That should help in future dealings between the two groups, said one Pinellas Park council member. "I think any time you can sit around the table and chat, it always helps," Rick Butler said. "We didn't expect any resolutions from this meeting," said Ray Neri, president of the Lealman Community Association. The goal was just to talk, Neri said. John Frank, a board member of the Community Association, had a tongue-in-cheek summary of the meeting: "We had a pretty good meeting. Nobody got shot." Lealman activists had asked to meet with Pinellas Park council members to discuss annexation. The Lealman residents were concerned about repeated annexations into their unincorporated area by Pinellas Park and other cities. The annexations, they say, hurt their tax base when the cities take in commercial property. That increases the tax burden on Lealman residents who are left behind. The annexations also make it harder to keep track of Lealman's borders, especially important now that some in that unincorporated area want to form a city. It's impossible to determine what the boundaries of the city might be, the Lealman activists say, as long as the annexations continually change them. They were especially concerned about an upcoming Pinellas Park annexation of Millbrooke Station Stables, which stretches from 62nd Avenue N to 58th Avenue. If Pinellas Park annexes Millbrooke, it would block a land bridge connecting east and west Lealman. Cutting off that bridge would forever separate east and west Lealman and prevent one large city from being formed. Pinellas Park council members were not interested in either delaying that annexation or in giving it up so Lealman could spend up to two years studying the feasibility of becoming a city. "He is asking us to bring him in," Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler said of Millbrooke's owner. As for the rest of Pinellas Park's annexation efforts, Mischler said there are now five people in that department and they need to keep busy. "We can't have people just sitting around there getting a paycheck," Mischler said. Council member Ed Taylor agreed that it's important to maintain Pinellas Park's annexation efforts. "I don't want to wait," he said. He also doubted that Lealman would ever become a city because residents there would not support it. "I think you'll have a difficult time getting the vote to get incorporated," Taylor said.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
