Suitor both snubbed and loved

By ANNE LINDBERG

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2000

PINELLAS PARK -- City Council members have had ample opportunity during the past year to be insulted on their city's behalf.

Lealman residents were so terrified they would be annexed that they circulated a flier disparaging Pinellas Park and urging people to unite against the possibility of annexation.

More recently, subdivisions to the west of Pinellas Park became so worried about the prospect of being annexed that they asked Seminole to take them in.

Those property owners were more tactful than the Lealman group. It's nothing against Pinellas Park, they said, we'd just rather be in Seminole.

Both incidents may speak to Pinellas Park's enduring image problem. But they may say more about the emotional side of annexation and what makes a homeowner identify with and want to be in one city and not another. Or to stay in the county rather than merge into a city.

That gut-level identifying with a place to live is familiar to Pinellas Park council member Rick Butler. Butler, a Pinellas Park native and Realtor, recognizes the feeling in himself and in his customers.

"It's the feeling that you belong . . . (that you and) the people living there have a lot in common," he said. "It's the quality of life."

And, he said, Pinellas Park has that in great abundance. People in neighborhoods still get to know each other and help each other. It's a good place to feel "safe."

Safety in this case hearkens back to the feeling most people had when growing up, of knowing the neighborhood and feeling protected. That's something people want for their children, Butler said.

"We still help one another," Butler said. "We're not scared to get our hands dirty."

That feeling of familiarity even penetrates the business sector in town, said Rita Bott, executive director of the Pinellas Park/Mid County Chamber of Commerce.

"They have all the benefits and features of a large city but they have a hometown feeling," Bott said. "They find they have this close access to everybody. . . . Everything is open and everyone can go and become a part of the things they are interested in."

But that feeling of safety and familiarity did not penetrate as far west as Seminole Lake Country Club Estates. That area has asked to be annexed into Seminole for reasons that echo Butler's statement that people need to feel they belong.

"The basic reason was (that) we thought Seminole was a nice place to go," said Sam Skemp, head of the homeowners association. "It's part of our name. It's a nice, pleasant city. It's very friendly and quiet. It's where we shop and deal. . . . Some people didn't realize we weren't a part of the city."

Skemp continued, "We didn't have that relationship with Pinellas Park."

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