Don’t let developer have his way. Don’t change name of Moccasin Wallow Road | Opinion
Florida is loaded with colorful place names:
Fisheating Creek
Alligator Alley
Yeehaw Junction
Choctawatchee Bay
And here in Manatee County, a seven-mile-long road called Moccasin Wallow.
Such an evocative name, hearkening back to the state’s pioneer roots and plain-spoken culture. Such names should be appreciated for their historic value in the same way that we revere classic buildings, such as the Manatee County Courthouse or Gamble Mansion or the Duette School. Part of our heritage.
But developer Pat Neal doesn’t like the name Moccasin Wallow Road because it “doesn’t represent the vision of the future.” He thinks North River Parkway would be a more appropriate name because the roadway’s name should, as he told a Bradenton Herald reporter, “reflect the aspirations of the people who live there in the new and hopeful future for North Manatee County. It should be a place to attract young people, professionals and people who aspire to a better and more prosperous future.”
No doubt Neal is counting on lots of those young people and aspiring professionals to buy homes and/or rent commercial space in the community he is building along that roadway. The 5,000-home development is named North River Ranch, so the road name would become synonymous with his latest Neal community.
This is not the first time Neal has prioritized his private gain over the heritage of his hometown. In the 1980s, while serving as our state senator, he sponsored legislation designating large portions of rapidly-developing real estate on Manatee’s border with Sarasota to be given Sarasota ZIP codes. He did this because of the long-standing, elitist perception that a Sarasota postal address carried more value than a Bradenton address. It was part of a cultural ethos that cast Sarasota as an upscale cultural and professional paradise and Bradenton as an agricultural backwater of blue-collar workers and hicks.
Never mind that Manatee largely drove the bi-county economy, with many of the major employers having been founded and/or based in Manatee County. To mention a few: Tropicana, Champs, Beall’s, Chris-Craft, Hoveround, Miller Trailers and IMG Academy. Not to mention then-named Manatee Community College and Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, which would have been named Bradenton-Sarasota International Airport but for some last-minute chicanery by Sarasota legislators back in the day.
As on Moccasin Wallow Road, Neal also owned substantial chunks of that south Manatee real estate where he was developing or had plans to develop high-end communities. And they would appeal to a more affluent clientele — and command higher prices — if they had a Sarasota address.
Neal’s ZIP Code ploy created a huge uproar in Bradenton. The Bradenton Herald editorialized (full disclosure: in editorials written by me) vigorously against it. The Manatee Chamber of Commerce lobbied heavily against the Sarasota designation for Manatee land, using confusion over the collection of sales tax revenue as one of its arguments.
The effort failed, and the legislation passed. And Neal was defeated in the next election.
This time, the decision won’t be made in a smoke-filled room in Tallahassee. It’s a local decision by the Manatee County Commission. Commissioners know the sentiment of their constituents. Almost 5,000 of them have signed petitions asking that the name Moccasin Wallow be retained.
Commissioners had best heed that sentiment. Manatee County voters have long memories as well as a love for their pioneer roots and the quirky place names that sprang therefrom.
David Klement, retired Editorial Page Editor of the Herald, lives in East Manatee. His recently published book, “Conscience of the Community: Memoir of a Small-Town Editor,” reprises some of his personal columns published from 1977 to 2007.