 The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council was founded by the late mayor of St. Petersburg, Herman Goldner, who sought without success during the 1960s to consolidate various municipalities and unincorporated areas in south Pinellas County.Each year the council presents its Herman Goldner Award for Regional Leadership.Tragedy struck on May 9, 1980, when the southbound span of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was struck by the freighter MV "Summit Venture" during a storm, sending over of the bridge plummeting into Tampa Bay.