What Should We Call Ourselves?

Palm Harborites? Palm Harborians? Plain ole Residents of Palm Harbor is a little formal, don'tcha think? Let's differentiate ourselves!

Palm Harbor is not a municipality?!!!!!

That question was exclaimed by a Pinellas County School Board candidate at Harbor Hall in Palm Harbor on 8/18/08. It seems incredilous, but it's true. Palm Harbor is NOT a municipality; Palm Harbor is an extremely large, highly populated unicorporated area of Pinellas County. It made me wonder why many people, even those running for local offices, believe we are a city. We get our garbage collected (we all get those monthly bills!), we have electricity (we all get those monthly bills!), we have schools (county), we have fire departments (paid for separately in our taxes), we have a really cool library (paid for by our taxes), we have ambulance services (paid separately upon services rendered), we have water and sewage (we all get those monthly bills!), we have a fine police department (PSCO - the BEST!) and a slew of other services. So where do our taxes go to? Hmmmm. Roads? Isn't most of that Penny for Pinellas? Hospitals? We don't have any in Palm Harbor! (Mease Countryside is technically in Safety Harbor). Instead of listing any here, how about I hear from YOU? What do you see in services from the County? What do we need in our lovely neighborhoods that we don't have now? What would YOU like to see that you don't see now? Have you ever had to deal with the County? If so, what was your experience in customer service, wait time, or anything else you would like to share?

This is not a "beat up on the county" blog. This is about finding out what YOUR thoughts are and making our experiences in Palm Harbor the best it can be.