Ever driven on U.S. 27, north of Interstate 4? That's just part of the Four Corners area. Now here's another question, why is POLO Park named POLO? (Hint: it's not because they play polo there).

The Four Corners is named for the intersection of the borders of four counties: Polk, Osceola, Lake and Orange or POLO. That area of the county is the fastest growing and we only share 1/4 of the regional problem.

In today's Orlando Sentinel there is an article about the growth issues and lack of infrastructure in that region:

Take a drive through Four Corners and you'll notice something: There are a lot of subdivisions. More than 80, actually.

But there are some things you won't see mixed in with the rows of rooftops: Schools. Parks. A sheriff's station. Decent roads.

For years, officials in the region where Lake, Orange, Osceola and Polk counties meet have approved developments with little to no thought of cooperating with one another and few plans to provide the booming population with public services.

Today's result -- thousands of residents frustrated by fragmented government, traffic and crowded schools -- epitomizes what continues to occur throughout Florida with a lack of regional planning.

One of the issues facing the area is that there are no cities or local governments. The planning and infrastructure problems are the burden of the county governments. In Polk County, Paul Senft was quoted:

"We didn't do the best job with water, sewer and roads. When there's that concentration of people . . . they expect more," Polk Commissioner Paul Senft said. "I can only apologize for the deficiencies in the past, but we've been doing everything we can do to fix it and catch up."

The residents of Polk County need to start thinking more regionally. We all share in planning and paying for the growth of the Four Corners. I wonder how many Lakeland residents have ever visited the region?