Port St. Lucie's search for identity - and why it matters to the rest of Treasure Coast

Port St. Lucie has embarked on a quest to find itself. And I think the effort is overdue.

The goal of the City Identity Project, which was discussed at length during a strategic planning workshop a few weeks ago, is to conduct research "that will help define where we are now as a city and our brand for the future," Sarah Prohaska, the city's communications director, wrote in an email.

This journey toward self discovery began in March, with "dozens" of focus groups and one-on-one meetings between city representatives and local residents, Prohaska wrote.

Last month, the city distributed an online survey local residents (and others who work in or have close connections to the city) can complete to help uncover Port St. Lucie's "authentic story." The city will collect responses through June 10.

North Star Ideas, a private marketing firm with offices in Jacksonville and Nashville, Tennessee, is receiving $50,000 to assist the city's communications team in processing the information received through the survey and community meetings.

"The research will help develop a 'brand DNA' statement that will be used to create a new brand for the city, including logo, colors, etc.," Prohaska wrote. "It will also help the City Council develop new mission and vision statements."

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It would be easy to dismiss these efforts as bureaucratic nonsense that will result in nothing of substance. Easy, but also wrong.

As a former government employee, I remember spending a lot of time on mission and vision statements for Tennessee state government departments that meant little to anyone except the people who wrote them.

And logos? Without looking, can anyone reading this (other than city employees) describe what the city's current logo looks like? Didn't think so.

Nevertheless, there's value in what the city is doing. I would encourage anyone who cares about Port St. Lucie's future to take a few minutes to fill out the online form, as more than 1,200 people already have.

Most of the questions are pretty straightforward: How do you think people describe the city? What are three things people don't know about Port St. Lucie that they should? What distinguishes Port St. Lucie from other nearby communities?

After completing the initial round of questioning, respondents are asked if they want to participate in what amounts to a bonus round, where the questions get a bit more esoteric. The best example of this is a question asking what colors respondents most closely associate with Port St. Lucie.

I'd like to think the colors question is aimed at producing ideas for the logo redesign, as opposed to some kind of "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be" psychobabble.

Either with or without the bonus round, it's not a huge time commitment, and it's actually kind of fun to think about the city in this way.

Here's why it matters: Port St. Lucie does have an honest-to-God identity crisis. And resolving that crisis can help the city and the other communities that surround it reach their full potential.

Following years of explosive growth, Port St. Lucie ranks as Florida's sixth largest city in terms of population, according to World Population Review.

The larger cities on the rankings are: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and St. Petersburg. Without giving it much more than a moment's thought, you can probably name several characteristics that define each of those cities.

Tampa is Ybor City and Busch Gardens. Orlando is Disney World and all the other theme parks. Miami is Little Havana and South Beach. Jacksonville and St. Pete are a bit tougher if you're trying to avoid unkind stereotypes, but you get the idea.

Have you ever asked people who live out of state what they know about Port St. Lucie? If so, their answers were probably demoralizing.

Not having a clear identity is holding Port St. Lucie ― and, by extension, the rest of the Treasure Coast ― back.

At a town hall meeting in Tradition last month, Mayor Shannon Martin said the city had abandoned, at least for the for the foreseeable future, plans to build a water park.

I think that was a wise decision because the city hasn't established itself as a tourism mecca, so trying to draw visitors from anywhere outside the metro area would be an uphill battle.

The city is also in the midst of redevelopment plans for City Center, a 46-acre site near U.S. 1 and Walton Road on the east side of town. One of the ideas under consideration is using some or all of the property for a convention center and related developments.

A convention center at that site might end up in competition for events with a similar facility Indian River State College is planning to build in Fort Pierce. It's hard to know for sure, since IRSC apparently wants to keep details about its plans top secret.

Even if IRSC doesn't build a competing facility, Port St. Lucie would still face headwinds positioning itself as a convention destination sandwiched between Orlando and Miami, two players well-established in the industry.

To compete against cities of its size as a tourist mecca, or convention destination, or whatever, Port St. Lucie can't afford to make half-hearted efforts. Whatever regional amenities it wants to have, it needs to go "all-in" in the heavyweight division.

So Port St. Lucie's identity search is more than just a Zen-like exercise in self-actualization. Before the city can determine what future developments might be best suited to its identity, it needs to establish what that identity is.

Whether people living in the communities that surround Port St. Lucie like it or not, PSL is the economic and entertainment hub of the region. Our fortunes are all closely linked.

So let's hope Port St. Lucie finds itself soon. For all of our sakes.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Port St. Lucie's search for 'brand identity' isn't a trivial exercise