Opinion: Chance to be neighborly

Pinellas County is the state's second smallest in land area, yet its residents have seen fit over time to chop it up into ever smaller pieces. Pinellas has 24 cities, and could have 25 if Lealman residents choose to incorporate. There are so many additional taxing districts -- for fire service, recreation, drainage, whatever -- that the Tax Collector's office needs 52 different codes to cover them. With so many governmental divisions, jurisdictional squabbles flare up frequently.

Some cities fight with each other and with the county over annexation. In other cases, fire district boundaries don't match governmental boundaries, leading to strained relations. When a drainage ditch running through several jurisdictions floods, blame flows upstream. While the checkerboard that is Pinellas County reflects civic pride, it also produces unwanted side effects. Some places in the county have gaps in the delivery of public services, while others have costly duplication.

In May, dozens of city and county officials and other stakeholders will meet in an American Assembly process that was developed to bring diverse groups together to identify common goals. Over three days, 150 individuals will debate relevant local topics identified by a steering committee and write a final policy statement that expresses the collective hopes and needs of the participants. The public is invited to watch. Topics will include: the county's future, from rapid growth to build-out and redevelopment; efficient service delivery where now there is a free-for-all; orderly annexation. One theme will be finding a workable model for intergovernmental relations in which regional issues and local issues are resolved in a way that is mutually beneficial.

At the very least, the session will get all of the interested parties talking to each other, which will be an accomplishment in itself. "Effectively, what we are doing is forging a collective will to push our individual institutions along," said Lance deHaven-Smith, co-director of the assembly and a professor of public administration at Florida State University. "It's rare that it doesn't happen."

Every local government and every significant interest in the county will be represented at the assembly, with one notable exception. The city of Pinellas Park has refused to join the process. Often embroiled in battles with its neighbors, the mid-Pinellas city has stubbornly chosen to go it alone. That is a mistake. In a sea of competing governmental interests, Pinellas Park will find out soon enough that being an island can be lonely, and expensive.

The gathering of community representatives to engage in a formal process of communication and compromise is in the best democratic tradition. If nothing more comes of it than a new civility, it will be worth the effort. But there is also a chance to overcome the worst aspects of the Balkanization of Pinellas County. We should not let the opportunity pass us by.

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