FUSTRATION IN FOUR CORNERS

There is a great piece in today's Orlando Sentinel that deals with the fustration that many residents in what is known as the Four Corners area have with a lack of parks, schools, and other services, even as subdivisions continue to be built and more people move in.

The Four Corners area is the area where Polk, Osceola, Lake, and Orange counties come together. It is considered to be one of the fastest growing areas in Central Florida because of it's proximity to Orlando and the theme parks where many of them work.

Many of the issues are the result of a general lack of cooperation between the various governmential agencies in the four counties, a situation we have begun to see change. For instance, Polk and Osceola counties share a fire/EMS station in Poinciana, and there are few jurisdictional issues if a fire truck from one county can respond quicker to a call just across another county's line.

Two sidebar pieces deal with families --- one in Polk County; the other in Lake County --- and compares the distance to the nearest school, sheriff's station, fire/EMS station, big-box retail store, and water restrictions.

There is still a lot of work to do there to make up for a lot of things simply ignored in the past. That's what happens when you approve developments without considering what infastructure is needed and putting it in place beforehand.