Consolidate the Bay? (Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa: assessor, crime, how much)

[powellmacaque]

I know it'll never happen, the country club doesn't want to pay for the projects and vise versa. But the more I explore and interact with the region, the more sense it makes to me to make a "City of Tampa Bay."

We could combine Pinellas County with Tampa and some of the northern suburbs (Westchase, Lutz, Carrolwood, etc). Doing a quick Wikipedia survey, including those regions would give the "city" a combined population of 1.6million residents, putting us ahead of Philly.

There's really quite a bit of waste in so many small cities. Why does there need to be a sheriff department, county offices, city police departments, etc when there can be a more streamlined approach. I'm sure a TBPD Pinellas Park Precinct would be just as effective at fighting crime as a separate PPPD with lower funding.

We could even create "boroughs" or "wards" or "towns," whatever the naming. Have Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, and the northern portion (North Bay, maybe?) operate as semi-autonomous cities within cities answering to one mayor, much like NYC.

This unification of resources would allow both sides of the bay to work together to lift the entire region up. Instead of Tampa and St. Pete fighting over the Rays, both sides would work together as the tax dollars would remain in the city and not shipped to another market.

You could even vote on neighborhood/town/etc taxes. If Carrolwood wanted nice street lights, they could vote on a higher tax without forcing Temple Terrace or Kenneth City to foot the bill.

Just an idea, I don't expect it to gain any real turbulence. I know we all harp on about how much different Largo is from Clearwater and how that's different from St. Pete, which is so much different from Tampa, but the reality is we function more as one big city than a collection of smaller ones, and I think the politics of the regions should reflect that.

[FloridaKash]

What a ridiculous idea. Its much better to see the two counties fight one another. And then we would have one school district... instead of two? Do you know how many jobs that would eliminate? Plus combining the public departments? Imagine only having one Tax Assessor for the whole area instead of 2.... what would that save $100K in salary in that one position alone? Not to mention rent, supporting staff, etc.

I mean.... if this occurred... the combined budget of Hillsborough County and Pinellas would be..... less? Absurd I say! ABSURD! What would we call this new county? Pillsborough? LOL


In all honesty... it makes fiscal sense. It'll never happen though. Politicians aren't going to try to make a movement that would have them or their friends unemployed.

[BBI]

So St. Pete, where I live, would be controlled by people who live across the bay in Hillsborough and rarely ever come here? Isn't that plan failing why Pinellas county was created in the first place?

[otter1803]

I guess it would be interesting to compare the Tampa Bay situation with the Jacksonville-Duval County consolidation. Maybe it would be an easier step for Tampa and Hillsborough County to consolidate. Pinellas County is another can of worms since it has so many different tiny cities in it. Can you believe there are 24 cities in Pinellas County? Compared to 3 in Hillsborough County.

[powellmacaque]

Not all of Hillsborough. Just Tampa and the surrounding CDPs. I'm not interested in incorporating Brandon or Plant City or Gibsonton. If naming is your biggest argument against it, it's not a very compelling one. I'd say make each "town" coextensive with its county. So you could have the town of St. Pete in Pinellas county, Clearwater town and County, Tampa town and county, and whatever the northern area would be called. Four town managers and one at-large mayor, one neighborhood commissioner for each neighborhood, alderman based on population, and at-large councilman (say 100). You'd have an at-large sheriff and four non-elected chiefs of police representing their region.

Honestly in times like this, a lean government is best. You wouldn't lose many jobs in schools as far as teachers/principals/support staff. You might lose a few dozen district office jobs or county clerk jobs, but people in those types of leadership positions could be well utilized in corporate or other government spheres. I think the biggest driver would be consolidating chambers of commerce, tax dollars, tourist advertising, etc. Public funding for things like parks, marinas, arenas, zoos, museums, highways, etc would be spread out among 1.6million people, instead of 300,000 max in Tampa or St. Pete.

Back to the schools issue, you could either make one big city school district and four smaller sub districts to coincide with the boundaries of counties/towns.

Like I said, I know it's a pipe dram. But once again, I think unifying the Bay might make us a stronger metropolitan region.

[tinytrump]

South Fla diversified - Miami-Dade County broke up into smaller cities for the revenue! Some areas only got little help others all kinds of beautification projects etc. Now they have a say on where money goes in thier own city.

[powellmacaque]

Originally Posted by BBI

So St. Pete, where I live, would be controlled by people who live across the bay in Hillsborough and rarely ever come here? Isn't that plan failing why Pinellas county was created in the first place?

It'd be more like an NYC setup. So certain things would be made up at-large and voted on by everybody in the city. But more localized affairs would still have local processes and would only affect localities.

[powellmacaque]

Originally Posted by otter1803

I guess it would be interesting to compare the Tampa Bay situation with the Jacksonville-Duval County consolidation. Maybe it would be an easier step for Tampa and Hillsborough County to consolidate. Pinellas County is another can of worms since it has so many different tiny cities in it. Can you believe there are 24 cities in Pinellas County? Compared to 3 in Hillsborough County.

My main problem is in Pinellas county I guess. To me, the only differences I've found in most of the cities would be the color of the street signs. Sure, certain parts have different economic classes that are prominent, but they call those "neighborhoods" in the bigger cities. I just don't see where Pinellas Park, Gulf Port, or Seminole benefit from being separate from St. Pete.

[FloridaKash]

My head starts to hurt even thinking about splitting a county and then having it become a part of another county. What about the other places that aren't Tampa but are part of Hillsborough? Ouch.... it hurts! The pain.

Never gonna happen. Can't Happen.

[BBI]

Originally Posted by powellmacaque

It'd be more like an NYC setup. So certain things would be made up at-large and voted on by everybody in the city. But more localized affairs would still have local processes and would only affect localities.

Why would I want a "NYC setup"? That'd make Tampa into Manhattan and St. Pete into...Staten Island? Sorry, but I want my tax dollars spent where I live, work and play -- in St. Pete. The last thing I need is the majority of my "city" to be people who rarely even come to this side of the bay. St. Pete's my favorite town in the whole bay area, and, if you did that, I'd need to sell my house immediately before property values cratered.

Originally Posted by powellmacaque

My main problem is in Pinellas county I guess. To me, the only differences I've found in most of the cities would be the color of the street signs. Sure, certain parts have different economic classes that are prominent, but they call those "neighborhoods" in the bigger cities. I just don't see where Pinellas Park, Gulf Port, or Seminole benefit from being separate from St. Pete.

Why would I want any of those places to be part of St. Pete? We've got our own problems to worry about. Where do you live that you think this is a good idea?

Originally Posted by powellmacaque

...the reality is we function more as one big city than a collection of smaller ones...

That's not true at all. Most people rarely cross the bay, and the municipalities in the bay area all compete against each other. Just look at the Rays situation, if you need an example. And don't think the mayors aren't all out trying to get other significant businesses to relocate within the area (the meetings are awkward).