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The Power Of One Big 'Tampa Bay'

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By JACK HARRIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

You're probably aware that New York is the most populated city in America, and there's a good chance you know that Los Angeles is No. 2 and Chicago is No. 3. But what city is the 12th largest? You might be surprised to learn that it is Jacksonville, with more than 800,000 folks living there in 2007, according to just-released figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The reason Jacksonville is so large is that it includes all of Duvall County, and thus it is the biggest city in the state. If Tampa and the rest of Hillsborough County were to merge, it would create the 8th or 9th largest entity in America, and if St. Petersburg and the rest of Pinellas County were to get together, it would be the 11th largest.

But since there's been no conurbation coalescence here, Tampa is the nation's 54th most populous city and St. Petersburg comes in at No. 75.

For U.S. Census purposes, this area is the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) and is composed of four counties, roughly 3 million people, making it the second largest in the state behind Miami, the third biggest in the Southeast (Atlanta is No. 1) and the 19th in the US.

The Greater Tampa Bay Area, which includes the Sarasota-Bradenton market, has over 4 million folks which propels it to the 13th largest DMA (Designated Market Area) in America and the largest in the state.

I bring all of this up to make a point. We are heavily interdependent in the Tampa Bay area when it comes to some of the amenities we enjoy. For instance, the 54th or the 75th largest cities in America would not have an NFL team, or a Major League Baseball team, or an NHL franchise. We certainly wouldn't be hosting any Super Bowls. It would be out of the question to harbor the idea of bringing the Olympics here, as we attempted a few years ago.

We would not have what is arguably the finest airport in the nation, and the University of South Florida would look a whole lot different. The Moffitt Cancer Center would probably be elsewhere in the state. And we certainly couldn't support all of the outstanding museums and performing arts centers that the bay area enjoys.

There are a lot of us who would love to see us smaller, but it's a fact of life, we are "the Tampa Bay area," or "Tampa Bay" for better or for worse, and the more we work together, the better off we will all be.

Redneck Surprise

I have always assumed that the term "redneck" came from the Southern farmer's sun scorched neck. But lo and behold, I learned from our perspicacious reader, Randy Garvin that the term comes from near my old hometown in southern West Virginia. According to a show about coal mining in America on the History Channel, between 1910 and 1920, the unions were trying to get into the mines there, and it resulted in a very pitched battle at a place called Blair Mountain, near my home, where over 30 skirmishers lost their lives.

In order to distinguish themselves from the mine owners and law enforcement authorities, the miners and union officials wore red bandanas, and were referred to as the "rednecks."

Jocularly,

Jack

Jack Harris co-hosts AM Tampa Bay from 6 to 9 weekday mornings on WFLA-AM.

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