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Victor Crist stunned colleagues on the Hillsborough County Commission and the county's aviation authority when he proposed cooperative efforts among the area's seaports and airports that typically compete.
"We need to take a look at how we could benefit the region by thinking differently and cooperatively," Crist said this year. "The only obstacle would be those who want to hold on to their power.
"We must take baby steps," he said, proposing discussion of cooperative, regional prospects before endorsing changes to how things are run today.
Crist is in front of elected officials and program managers who generally are reluctant to discuss the politically sensitive topic of rearranging their turf and operations.
Managers point to competitive realities that elected officials create.
But political and fiscal realities require leaders to change the way they think, said Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. "The world is different today than yesterday," Duncan said. "Congress is debating the nation's budget, and the House already has made clear that less federal money will be available for transportation projects than in recent years.
"All of us from Tampa Bay to California are going to have to do things differently, and that's not a bad thing.
"What happens in Pinellas stays in Pinellas; what happens in Hillsborough stays in Hillsborough, but that has to change. We have to have those kinds of (regional) discussions."
For the full article, visit the Tampa Tribune.
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