Beach cities to ask Bush for seat at planning table
The Pinellas panel that decides transportation spending priorities has 11 members but is allowed up to 19.
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
Published December 10, 2003
Frustrated that they're not represented on a local transportation planning board, the beach communities want Gov. Jeb Bush to come to the rescue.
If he doesn't, it could be a decade before the BIG-C, or Barrier Islands Governmental Council, lands a seat on the Metropolitan Planning Organization. State law requires local governments to develop MPOs with gubernatorial approval.
"We have a major thoroughfare that runs down our beaches," said St. Pete Beach Commissioner Pete Blank, referring to Gulf Boulevard. "We feel a little slighted, if you will, a little left out."
The BIG-C, which represents the governing bodies from St. Pete Beach to Belleair Beach, has passed a resolution asking the governor to intervene by including one representative from the barrier islands on the MPO.
Some of the BIG-C's members, including Indian Rocks Beach and Belleair Shore, have passed their own resolutions. Other members are in the process of doing so.
MPOs consist of local elected officials who determine transportation spending priorities. The Pinellas County MPO was established in 1977 after the passage of the Federal Highway Act of 1974 to guide local decisionmaking on transportation issues.
"This is a big deal," said Indian Rocks Beach Commissioner R.B. Johnson. "It just doesn't make sense that we have representation on other boards and we have none on this one."
Johnson was referring to the BIG-C's representation on the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which operates the county bus system, and the Pinellas Planning Council, which oversees planning issues in the county.
The MPO's 11 board members voted last month to keep the panel's current makeup: a representative each from Clearwater, Largo, Dunedin and Pinellas Park, two from St. Petersburg, three from the County Commission, one from the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, and a rotating member among the cities of Oldsmar, Tarpon Springs and Safety Harbor.
Each board is allowed 19 members, said Redington Shores Mayor J.J. Beyrouti, who is president of the BIG-C.
"I feel we should look at all the municipalities," he said.
The combined population of the 10 beach communities is 35,780, larger than the populations of Dunedin, Oldsmar, Tarpon Springs and Safety Harbor. Elected officials representing the beach municipalities feel it's only fair they have a voice on the MPO board.
"We need someone looking out for our interest," Johnson said.
Every 10 years, the state's MPOs are required to evaluate the makeup of their memberships with data from the census. Membership for municipalities is based on population.
"You try to include people as much as you can, but technically that's how it works," said Brian Smith, executive director of Pinellas' MPO.
But membership isn't the only way to be involved, Smith said. Elected beach officials can voice their concerns at the MPO's monthly meetings.
"They're not just watching the proceedings," Smith said. "They can actually be involved in them."
