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Annexation, traffic woes lead discussion

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published April 6, 2005

SEMINOLE - Annexation and traffic were high on the agenda when Pinellas County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan came to town.

Speaking to about 25 members of Unincorporated Seminole, a group originally formed to ward off annexations by the city of Seminole, Duncan assured members that they were not alone in wanting to stay unincorporated. Ridgecrest and West Oldsmar have also defeated annexation efforts by Largo and Oldsmar, he said.

Those efforts in defeating the annexation attempts were helped by Pinellas County, which has begun to supply information to help residents make a better choice about whether to annex, Duncan said.

Duncan said the county is also trying to do a better job of making sure residents of the unincorporated area have what they need. Doing so will help in the antiannexation fight, he said.

"Can we do better as a county to deliver services?" he asked. "Yes, we can and we must."

Then Duncan shifted the topic, asking the members who had gathered at the Seminole Library if any had gotten stuck in traffic on the way to last Thursday's meeting. Duncan said it had taken him almost an hour to get to the library from Clearwater because traffic was so congested.

"That's unacceptable, my friends," he said.

The dilemma is that the county and its 24 cities must agree on the proper solution so traffic lights and other methods of improving traffic flow can be implemented across the county. But the problem is that there is no agreement, he said.

One example is the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees the county's transportation system. Duncan sits on that board as one of three County Commission representatives. The other eight members are from cities, he said.

"Can you wage a guess on how the votes go?" Duncan asked. While he called the group "dysfunctional," Duncan conceded that members do at times agree.

Duncan was most critical of the Pinellas Mobility Initiative, a task force that has spent eight years studying the feasibility of building a fixed rail between Countryside and downtown St. Petersburg.

The estimated cost is $1.8-billion. To put that in perspective, he said, the entire county budget for a year is $1.6-billion.

"I don't think that that's the right answer," Duncan said.

Duncan said he advocated Bus Rapid Transit, which would put small buses on a fixed, uninterrupted roadway. And at less than $1-billion, the system would cost less than the rail idea. It would be faster than the current bus system.

"It would be a much more comfortable environment and it would get you from one place to another pretty quickly," Duncan said. "It's a much different animal than what's on the roads today."

But, Duncan said, "last meeting, St. Petersburg said, "No, thank you. It's the monorail or nothing.' "

Duncan had not lost hope, however, saying it was a battle worth fighting.

[Last modified April 6, 2005, 01:07:18]