Bigger is not necessarily better, but the modern playbook most assuredly thinks it is. With concentration on efficiency and economies of scale, there is certainly an upside to integration and consolidation, but there is a downside, too - loss of personalization, intimacy and, yes, even passion for the cause.

This topic comes to mind with the announcement earlier in June that the United Way of Carbon County has been merged into the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. Instead of a stand-alone agency with limited resources, Carbon now becomes part of an organization dominated by two much-larger counties - Lehigh and Northampton.It is yet another instance where Carbon County is losing its individuality. This is not to say that the United Way merger should be perceived with negativity, because the county will have access to more resources than it could have possibly ever had on its own. The merger also gives clients access to a larger staff of paid professionals and a much larger group of volunteers. With the merger, however, the unit will continue to be known as the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, so Carbon loses its psychological identity."United Way took an important step to increase resources in our county for the people who need it most, and we are very glad this merger is now approved with both organizations," Greg Bott, board chairman of the United Way of Carbon County, told the Times News.It raises the larger issue, however, of who are we? Part of the county - the Panther Valley - considers itself an important part of the "coal regions." While the term "coal regions" connotes a glorious bygone era of the role "King Coal" played in the area's development, it is not a term that generates a vision of a bright futureThe eastern part of the county views itself as a part of the Poconos. In fact, it has been just within the past generation or so that Carbon was added to the geographical definition of "the Poconos." Formerly, it was a three-county region - Monroe, Pike and Wayne. The Poconos continues to be one of the top destinations for both in- and out-of-state visitors.The southern part of the county aligns itself most closely with the Lehigh Valley, especially when it comes to jobs and shopping expeditions.The northern part of the county seems to be predisposed to view the Hazleton area as a better fit with its interests. Several northern municipalities are part of the Hazleton Area School District.There is no major shopping area within Carbon County aside from the Carbon Plaza and the nearby Walmart. Lansford, Lehighton and Palmerton at one time had thriving downtown central business districts.We look with fondness to the small school districts in each community until state-mandated regionalization forced many of them to close in the early 1960s. The state said larger districts would provide students with many more opportunities to equip them for life in a modern, technological age. Some wonder whether that has been the case.The state would love to have any number of the 2,561 incorporated municipalities in Pennsylvania consolidate into larger units, just as the school districts had done, but this is a political explosive that most lawmakers are loath to tackle.From the largest - Philadelphia, with a population of about 1.55 million - to the smallest - Centralia borough, with a population of about 10 - the state is a hodgepodge of tiny boroughs and townships whose existence is difficult to justify. By the way, the largest municipality in Carbon is Penn Forest Township, with a 2010 population of 9,709; the smallest is Lausanne Township with a population of 234. Our passion for home rule and grass-roots government underscores our distrust and disdain for big government, so don't look for any change any time soon.The federal government has lumped Carbon into the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also includes Lehigh and Northampton counties, along with Warren County, New Jersey. Here again, Carbon is by far the smallest in both population and impact. Lehigh's 2010 population was about 350,000; Northampton's, about 300,000; Warren's about 109,000; and Carbon's, about 65,000. Carbon has lost population in the intervening six years, according to government estimates.Some of the other joint agencies of which Carbon is a part include: Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, with headquarters in Bethlehem; Schuylkill/Carbon Economic Development Corp., headquartered in Pottsville; Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission, with headquarters in Stroudsburg; Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21, with headquarters in Schnecksville (Lehigh County), Lehigh Carbon Community College, with headquarters also in Schnecksville, and the Lehigh Valley Associations of Realtors, headquartered in Bethlehem.Some have suggested that Carbon is becoming the northern fringe of the Lehigh Valley or even the Valley's "playground," especially with outdoor activities such as skiing available at Blue Mountain and Jack Frost and the trendy reinvention of Jim Thorpe as a highly prized tourist destination.The trick through all of this consolidation is to retain Carbon County's uniqueness and identity. We encourage this objective as organizations strive to offer more resources to our residents through collaboration with larger entities.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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