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As a way to build a sense of community, officials want mailing addresses to correspond with recently approved planning areas.
By ERIC STIRGUS
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 2000
LARGO -- Mayor Bob Jackson lives within Largo's city limits, but he has a Clearwater mailing address.
To city officials, it makes as much sense as someone moving up north during the winter.
"If the mayor has a Clearwater address, what does that say?" wondered City Manager Steven Stanton.
Stanton is required by city law to live in Largo. But just like Mayor Jackson, Stanton has a Clearwater mailing address.
Commissioner Marty Shelby would like to see this changed. He wants the U.S. Postal Service to change the policy it uses to determine city mailing addresses. At Tuesday's City Commission meeting, Shelby asked staff members to draft a resolution that would ask for the County Commission's help in changing mailing addresses in Largo.
Shelby wants the city mailing addresses to correspond with planning areas established when Pinellas residents voted in a referendum earlier this month to approve assigned areas that cities could annex.
"If there is anything that is going to create a greater sense of community, it's knowing where people live," he said.
Postal Service officials said such wholesale changes are rarely done.
Ron Rippo, the postmaster for Largo and Seminole, said such a change would be cumbersome, but he would be open-minded about the proposal.
"I'd certainly be willing to sit down with those folks and take a look at it," he said.
City officials estimate tens of thousands of people would be affected by such a change. Those affected would include the Pinellas County Courthouse, the county jail, people who live near the northern border of Largo city limits and those who live in unincorporated Pinellas west of U.S. 19 and north of 150th Avenue.
This is not the first time Largo leaders have lobbied the Postal Service on this subject.
In 1987, Largo and Pinellas Park officials went to Washington to ask postal authorities to assign ZIP codes that line up with city boundaries. They got nowhere.
Four years later, Jackson and Commissioner Jean Halvorsen made another trip to Washington to try again. Again, their efforts were unsuccessful.
While county officials might join Largo's effort, Stanton believes some area businesses might react cooly to the proposal. Stanton still remembers the anger some had toward Largo officials in 1991 when the city changed the addresses for about 6,000 businesses and residences along Ulmerton Road. The change meant changing letterheads on stationery and checks.
"It was the meanest, nastiest experience," said Stanton.
Stanton sees another problem.
Some Largo-based businesses prefer Clearwater mailing addresses and would fight the city's efforts.
Having a Largo address, Stanton conceded, "is not as prestigious as having a Clearwater address or a St. Petersburg address."
Especially among businesses who mostly deal with customers unfamiliar with the Tampa Bay area, officials say.
"If the bulk of your business is outside of the area or out of state, then there's a strong preference for having that Clearwater name," said Mike Midell, president of the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Largo officials admit they are sometimes miffed by this. Shelby mentioned how a business within Largo city limits held a grand opening and introduced Clearwater officials, ignoring those who showed up from Largo.
Despite the anticipated criticism from some who may resist the mailing address change, Stanton is hopeful Largo will succeed.
"I think it's good," said Stanton. "It's good to the extent that we are a community that in many ways is a collection of unconnected neighborhoods. It would be good if the addresses make sense with the city."