Fast Track HB13 to Stop Subsidizing Stadiums and the Pay to Play

According to this Floridapolitics.com article, House Bill 13, that bans Florida sports franchises from constructing or renovating facilities on leased public land, is heading to the House floor. It does have a companion bill in the Senate SB352. House Bill 13 is identical to one that passed the House last year but died in the Senate.

The bill will pass the House but will it pass the Senate this time? With all the recent brouhaha going on over wealthy players protesting on their wealthy employers time and dime most often in stadiums paid for by taxpayers, will subsidizing wealthy sports team owners, franchises and players finally become toxic in Florida?

The bill went nowhere last year most probably because Senator Latvala, as the powerful Senate Appropriations Chair, did not want it to. According to Noah Pransky's latest post at his Shadow of the Stadium blog, which we highly recommend you follow, the wealthy sports team franchises love Latvala:

Why do pro teams love Latvala? In addition to his attempts to provide them stadium subsidies, he's also the biggest thing standing in the way of a House push to ban public land giveaways for new stadiums in Florida.

Senator Latvala's PAC is Florida Leadership Committee. As reported by Pransky, the Rays and the Dolphins have handed tens of thousands of dollars to his PAC. From the PAC's last campaign finance reporting the Rays and South Florida Stadium who operates the stadium the Dolphins play in handed Latvala's PAC $10K each on 9/29 and 9/30.

Rays, Dolphins big donors to Latvala

A real eye opener is Latvala's PAC received its largest amount of contributions of any campaign filing period ever this past February. With Latvala in his powerful role as Senate Appropriations Chair, his PAC received over $1 million (the most ever in a single filing period) in February 2017 right before session started. Go here and click the campaign finance activity and select the filing period to review the contributions for that period.

Follow the money….and follow the electeds who are beholden to that money and not you the taxpayer. The special interests give the big bucks to the PACs where there are no limits on their contributions. The special interests are giving the big bucks for a reason - they want something in return. The PACs then contribute to candidates they agree with who will help further their agenda. It's a big circle of money.

Pransky also reported that locally the Rays just gave $50K to Kriseman's Sunrise PAC raising the total to $81,500 that the Rays, the Rays owner Sternberg and Rays' executives have handed St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman. Kriseman faces off with Rick Baker in the St. Pete mayor's general election on November 7th.

What about over in Hillsborough County? Commissioner Hagan, the commission King of County Center who is selfishly refusing to abide by the spirit of term limits in the county charter, is also on the receiving end from the sports team franchisees. 

Hagan has raised a special interests war chest of over $400K dollars for a SINGLE MEMBER District seat. A quick review of donors to his campaign include a thousand dollars each from:

• Stuart Sternberg, Rays owner
• Strategic Property Partnership, Vinik
• Amalie Arena, where Vinik's Lightning and Storm play
• Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinik
• Tampa Bay Storm, Vinik
• Yankee Global Enterprises
• Robert Dupuy- attorney in NY firm Foley and Lardner, recently was president and COO of Major League Baseball
• Latvala's Florida Leadership PAC

Those donations are just the tip of the iceberg of Hagan's special interests donor war chest. After 16 years of being a county commissioner and being term limited out of his county seat next year, Hagan thinks he is entitled to 8 more years. Hagan is leap frogging back to a District 2 seat he has already held.

Since the county charter was enacted 34 years ago, no one else has ever done what Hagan is arrogantly and selfishly doing - violating the spirit of the county term limits in the county charter by abusing a loophole. And his donors know it…

For WTSP, Pransky reported on August 23rd about Hagan's idea of handing the Rays the HCSO property in Ybor:

"In his search to find the Rays a new place to play in Tampa's urban core, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan has toyed with the idea of relocating the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office headquarters out of Ybor City to make room for a new stadium."

Providing public land for stadium development could be another possible avenue for taxpayers to subsidize the project. Hagan, who once advocated "no public dollars" be spent on a Rays stadium, has recently said he thought taxpayers should help with the "infrastructure" side of a new stadium.

And voila! More money goes pouring into Hagan's Pay to Play war chest. As Pransky posted on his stadium blog on September 18, 

"Companies controlled by Darryl Shaw, who has been dubbed "Ybor's big new (development) player," gave $5,000 to Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan last month, according to campaign finance reports. Shaw's wife and a company she controls also each chipped in $1,000, the maximum-allowable donation for the 2018 election.

H/T Noah Pransky
Hagan's Ybor Pay to Play donors

Nothing about how taxpayers would be on the hook for paying for a brand new HCSO HQ facility somewhere - can't let those silly little details get in the way….

Not only is Hagan a leap frogger from one county commission seat to another and back, he's also a flip flopper on the issue of public funding for a stadium.

We posted this expose of Hagan and his tactics back in January 2016 during the Go Hillsborough tax hike debacle.  

At the October 1, 2014 county commission meeting, Hagan stated

I CAN TELL YOU FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, THERE'S NO LESS THAN A DOZEN BASEBALL STADIUMS I'VE GONE TO AND TAKEN RAIL THERE, THAT'S CRITICALLY IMPORTANT (emphasis mine), REGARDLESS OF WHERE THE STADIUM IS ULTIMATELY LOCATED, BUT TRANSIT'S GOING TO BE A NECESSARY INGREDIENT

At the next BOCC meeting on October 15, 2014, the county commission "quietly" hired the major league baseball law firm Foley and Lardner. They did it egregiously through the use of the Consent Agenda where there is no discussion - just a rubber stamped approval. See above - Foley and Lardner is now one of Hagan's Pay to Play donors.

No wonder Pransky reported for WTSP in August that the county was eyeing federal transit dollars to help pay for a stadium aka Hagan's quest for costly trains and stadiums. 

Hagan and his baseball attorney took the baseball meetings secret and behind closed doors. Hagan likes the Atlanta model for how the Atlanta Braves got a new stadium because all their negotiations were behind closed doors too. 

That new stadium effort was led and shepherded by Cobb County commissioner Tim Lee. 

According to this article in May last year:

Lee cut a deal in secret to give nearly $400 million in tax money to multibillion-dollar conglomerate Liberty Media (AKA the Braves) to get the team to load its gear into moving vans and head north on I-75 to the Smyrna area. Lee even had a code name for the clandestine negotiations with the team — Operation Intrepid — which kind of gives it that Invasion of Normandy feel. 

What summarized the process was a May 2014 meeting where commissioners approved a series of legal agreements with the Braves without serious debate. The bond documents weren’t even made available until one business day before the meeting. 

As an exclamation point — or slap in the face — the 12 slots for public comment at the meeting were gobbled up hours earlier by sneaky pro-deal forces. Complainers were sent packing. The image of citizens getting shut down and marched out of a public meeting by cops doesn’t say Open Government. 

But this is what eventually happened to Tim Lee according to a July 2016 Atlanta Journal Constitution article (emphasis mine):

By the time the first pitch is hurled from the mound of SunTrust Park stadium next spring, the man who lured the Atlanta Braves to Cobb County will be out of office. 

Incumbent Chairman Tim Lee lost his reelection bid Tuesday to challenger Mike Boyce, a retired marine colonel, in a runoff seen by many as a litmus test for support of the deal to bring the Atlanta Braves to Cobb.

Boyce beat Lee, winning 64 percent of the vote, with all precincts reporting.

Now this: The Braves want $14M more from Cobb County taxpayers for their new stadium

Once these deals are made, it never ends for taxpayers.

Hagan liked the Atlanta "speedy" process done in secret. Why? Because it enables electeds  to make deals behind closed doors to commit hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to a baseball stadium while prohibiting citizens and voters from appropriately weighing in. 

We bet that Hagan's Pay to Play donors likes the arrogant Atlanta quick and dirty process too but it should scare taxpayers in Hillsborough County. Hagan is being paid to deliver for his special interests - why their bucks are pouring into his Pay to Play campaign.

Beware Hillsborough County taxpayers and stay aware! Who knows what Hagan's going to hit them with when the St. Pete Mayor's race is decided next month.

Hagan does have a challenger who has filed, Chris Paradies, who is a West Point graduate.

So voters in Hillsborough County could do to Hagan next year what Cobb County voters did to Lee and toss him out. 

The continuing pursuit of a new taxpayer subsidized baseball stadium in Tampa Bay is why HB13 needs to be fast tracked and quickly passed by our state legislature next year.

All the Pay to Play to put taxpayers on the hook to subsidize wealthy sports team owners in Florida must stop. 

Drain the Regional "Swamp" Before Its Filled

We're being setup AGAIN! 

As we posted here, Senator Latvala unscrupulously used his position as Senate Appropriations Chair to ram his crony TBARTA bill written by special interests thru the state legislature to create a new transit agency "Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority."

While citizens in Tampa Bay never requested another transit bureaucracy, the largest supporter of tax hikes for rail boondoggles Tampa Bay Partnership did. Latvala obliged them by doing a back door end around the local delegations filing theTBARTA bill the weekend before the session started. He ensured the bill did not go through any of the local delegations and intentionally prevented citizens (including his own constituents) from weighing in.

While difficult for everyday citizens to get to Tallahassee, it's very easy for special interests to get there and lobby for their cause, as the Times reported Tampa Bay area business leaders lobby on contentious transit bill

The business delegation included Tampa Bay Lightning owner and developer Jeff Vinik, University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft, Sykes Enterprises CEO Chuck Sykes, Ashley Furniture founder Ron Wanek, influential Tampa attorney Rhea Law and the top Tampa executives of TECO Energy, BlueGrace Logistics, the BayCare Health System, PNC Bank, Vology and Florida Blue.

"It's so important for the legislative delegation from Tampa Bay to come together and support this," said Homans [CEO of Tampa Bay Partnership], "and recognize that transportation is unquestionably the biggest challenge facing the region."

Transportation needs addressing but we do not need another taxpayer funded transit agency to address it. We already fund our local transit agencies and local voters keep rejecting tax hikes for costly transit.

Because they keep losing locally, the special interests were forced to take their quest for costly transit boondoggles regional. The rail cartel needed a new regional bureaucratic "Swamp" to control that would empower them and take away local control.

Once a regional "Swamp" gets a big pot of money and a long term funding source, it becomes almost impossible to drain these Swamps no matter how deceitful, crony or corrupt they become. 

While Governor Scott unfortunately signed Latvala's bill to create the new TBARTA Swamp, he veto'ed their one-time appropriation from the state. 

The cry from the new TBARTA Board at their first meeting in August was TBARTA needs money and where is the money coming from. Hint: it's going to come from you thanks to Senator Latvala and the rail cartel. Watch out next legislative session.

Ray Chiarmonte, TBARTA's Executive Director, stated that TBARTA was established to be the hand off from the $1.5 million taxpayer funded regional premium transit campaign. 
,
That is exactly what the Eye predicted. 

But the timing of this regional transit campaign could not be worse.

Trust remains a big issue and all the campaign shenanigans does not help. There is probably less trust today than when transit tax hikes were on the ballot in 2010 and 2014.

Transit ridership is declining while vehicle miles travelled is set to be a record this year. More people are choosing (no coercion needed) to drive and/or use personal vehicles like ride-share than transit.   

Expensive rail systems must shut down days before an approaching hurricane or major storm. Trains can do nothing to help any evacuation effort in Tampa Bay and it takes days or a week or longer after the storm for trains to come back in service.  

Evacuation routes must be considered with any proposed mobility solution in Tampa Bay. If taxpayer big bucks are being spent on transportation in Tampa Bay, it better include accommodating evacuations.

Most importantly, this is a time of disruption for transportation/transit. 

But costly rail/fixed guideways are never about transportation and mobility. They are about land use and development.

The rail cartel cannot help themselves. Special interests want costly fixed guideways because they will greatly benefit from those projects paid for on the backs of the taxpayers. 

This latest taxpayer funded regional transit campaign was so predictable.

Taxpayers keep enriching the same consultants over and over who think the public is stupid.

Slide from Jacobs Engineering who is leading the
Regional Premium Transit Campaign

But these consultants, who operate mostly within their own echo chamber, keep pushing the same costly transit solutions repeatedly rejected by voters. They keep expecting a different outcome. Hmmm…Where's the stupidity?

This transit campaign is part of the regional "Swamp" shenanigans to set us up again for costly transit boondoggles. Rail is toxic in Tampa Bay but the rail cartel is tone deaf and prefers to ignore the will of the people and consent of the governed. 

We anticipate the regional "Swamp" herd will push another round of massive tax hike referendum(s) on voters in 2020 to pick the pockets of taxpayers to pay for their largesse.

But just as Amazon disrupted traditional retail, innovation, new and emerging technologies are disrupting traditional transit.

And the public knows it. 

Tampa Bay is well positioned to optimize and pursue new technology and rapidly emerging transportation innovation because we are not stuck paying for outdated costly rail boondoggles or bogged down yet in a regional "Swamp" bureaucracy.

Let's keep it that way.

Let's drain this regional "Swamp" before it's filled.

#RepealTBARTA

Appalling Shenanigans! Taxpayers Will Provide Knockout Punch on Transit Tax Hikes

Taxpayers should be appalled at this latest $1.5 million transit campaign and Senator Latvala's mischief making shenanigans in Tallahassee.

Taxpayers are enriching the same consultants who gave us Greenlight Pinellas, the Go Hillsborough debacle and the 2010 rail tax aka Moving Hillsborough Forward.

And surprise!

Tampa Bay Times posted this article stupidly titled Long-awaited Tampa Bay transit study identifies five corridors for future transportation systems reporting the premium regional transit campaign has identified transit corridors. Long awaited? This latest campaign started last October (7 months ago) and we've seen it all before.

Jacobs Engineering transit corridors map

It looks like Go Hillsborough, Greenlight Pinellas and Moving Hillsborough Forward packaged together and adding the bridge between Hillsborough and Pinellas. 

According to the Times article:

The five corridors Jacobs selected are a mix of routes between Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, connecting the area's densest regions and busiest road corridors: 

• Westshore to Brandon through downtown Tampa.
• Downtown Tampa to the University of South Florida.
• Wesley Chapel to USF, then to Tampa and St. Petersburg.
• Clearwater to the St. Petesburg Gateway area to downtown.
• South Tampa to downtown Tampa.

It's not much of a regional mix because most of these "corridors" are in Tampa/Hillsborough. Anyone who has travelled throughout Tampa Bay for a week knows where traffic is and could have drawn these lines for FREE. 

We know where traffic congestion is in Tampa Bay - that's easy. But these corridors do not equate or translate to transit ridership, especially at a time when transit ridership is declining and innovation and technology are disrupting traditional transit. 

This corridor map is not even shown on the Jacobs website except in the link to the news article. Is Jacobs just feeding their media accomplices a story line? That's what PR campaigns do for favorable press.

And taxpayers are paying Jacobs $1.5 million to look backward at old studies (some decades old) so are they using old and outdated data? There's no back up data that has been provided at all by Jacobs for this map. Where's at least the daily traffic counts?

This effort was sold to the public as a feasibility study. It is not and the contract awarded to Jacobs confirms that. Jacobs and HART rebranded it as a plan but it's not that either. It is a campaign that includes the very same campaign elements we saw with the failed Go Hillsborough debacle. 

Scroll down to Attachment 1 of Exhibit G in the contract that lists all the subcontractors. Lots of taxpayer money again being spent on "public involvement" using PR firms, including B2 Communications, the same PR firm for Greenlight Pinellas.

As we previously posted, B2 Communications presented their Lessons Learned about the Greenlight defeat at the 2015 Transit Initiatives and Communities Conference sponsored by the transit advocacy/lobbying group Center for Transportation Excellence (CFTE). These CFTE conferences are where transit advocates gather for advice on how to win transit ballot measures. CFTE provides information and an entire Campaign Toolkit for how to combat opposition - people like you the taxpayer. (Remember Jason Jordan who presented at a TMA meeting last year.)

B2 Communications personally targeted those who opposed rail boondoggles such as Randal O'Toole and the Libertarian think tank, the CATO Institute. We must assume they will locally target those who oppose boondoggles.

These are the same people working on this regional transit campaign. 

Think B2 is using their own lessons learned medicine this go round? Their presentation at the CFTE conference indicated this time they will not be staying "above the fray". B2 will be putting on their boxing gloves [against the taxpayer]. Taxpayers should not be funding anyone with such a cavalier attitude.

B2 Communications will put on their
boxing gloves 

No matter how this latest campaign is sliced and diced, transit projects that spit out will require funding. No new transit project can get any federal or state funding without committed long term local/regional funding. 

Enter the mischief making shenanigans by Senator Latvala in Tallahassee which is directly tied to the regional transit campaign. Latvala attempting to force feed an unnecessary regional transit agency, requested by special interests, on taxpayers in Tampa Bay is simply egregious. 

The special interests who wrote the TBARTA bill headed to Tallahassee to get Latvala to amend his TBARTA bill after the rail oversight was inserted by Senators Brandes and Lee. Latvala obliged and added an amendment, probably written by the special interests, trying to water down what Brandes/Lee inserted. 

The Latvala lackey's at the Tampa Bay Times immediately wrote an editorial falsely accusing Senator Brandes of mischief making. The Times does confirm what we have been saying - this bill is all about special interests Tampa Bay Partnership, and ignoring the will of the people in Tampa Bay who have consistently rejected higher taxes for transit.

The real mischief maker who created this crony mess is Senator Latvala! 
Remember the Genesis of this bill to take away local control, thwart local voters, ignore the will of the people and empower special interests. It's called tyranny.

Latvala hastily filed the crony TBARTA bill written by special interest the weekend before session started. Latvala ensured his crony bill never went thru the local delegations of the counties impacted. Latvala bent the rules of normal bill process to keep his crony bill from going through Senator Brandes's Transportation Appropriations Committee.

The Times accusing Senator Brandes of mischief making is simply a lie. But just think of the Times as a complicit partner in Latvala's crony mischief making with a byline. 

The Times may have spoke too soon as Senator Brandes has added another amendment neutering some of Latvala's mischief making shenanigans.

There is still time for the TBARTA bill to die, especially in the House. There are multiple versions and they will have to be reconciled in the short amount of time left in the session to pass. 

In addition, Governor Scott could veto the bill as he de-funded TBARTA in 2011.

This latest taxpayer funded transit campaign is a waste of taxpayer money but is obviously part of Latvala's crony mischief making in Tallahassee.  

Did FDOT know they were funding what looks like another taxpayer funded Go Hillsborough campaign for higher taxes when they handed HART $1.5 million? 

The public was misled from the get go on its intent and its timing is horrible - declining transit ridership, innovation disrupting traditional transit and good probability of no or little federal dollars for new transit projects. 

The intent is all about pursuing transit projects that can get state/federal capital money. That is totally disingenuous and unfair to taxpayers. 

Pursuing state and federal capital grant money does not mean those project(s) are financially sound or sustainable, especially over the long term. Just look at the fiscal mess of SunRail and the Tri-Rail mess that all FL taxpayers bail out every year. There is a huge fiscal burden of on going operating, maintenance and major rehab and replacement costs that will be borne by local taxpayers. The honest truth about these burdensome costs too often are ignored and transparency to taxpayers about them grossly lacking or nonexistent.

If Jacobs, B2, special interest, politicos, etc. are going to put their boxing gloves on to push another tax hike referendum, then the taxpayers of Tampa Bay can put their boxing gloves on too.

And this time the Taxpayers in Tampa Bay will take the knock out punch to shatter once and for all tax hike referendums for transit boondoggles.

Ridership Declining: No Need For Regional Transit Agency, Big Need to Fix Interstates and HF Bridge

Special interests, lobbyists, Senator Latvala and their media enablers are feverishly working together to force a regional transit authority on Tampa Bay taxpayers. However, they cannot ignore the state of transit in Hillsborough and Pinellas - double digit ridership declines. Hillsborough's population is growing but its transit ridership is declining.

At the HART Board Finance and Audit Committee meeting this week, the budgetary pressures on HART were presented and discussed. The chart below from the budget presentation, found here, reflects HART's current budget issues.

HART's budgetary pressures

The video of the lengthy committee meeting that includes this presentation is found here.

To net things out, HART has a deficit of a little over $13 million dollars. The major causes of the deficit are declining ridership and rising healthcare costs (thanks Obamacare…) HART moved to using zero based budgeting this budget cycle that enabled them to reduce that deficit to about $8.5 million. (shows why zero based budgeting should be used by all taxpayer funded entities…)

The budget will be part of HART's Board meeting agendas from May through August with Budget public hearings in September. The May 1 HART Board meeting will be interesting and one to watch and pay attention to.

Across the Bay in Pinellas, PSTA, mismanaged for years, is experiencing ridership declines as well.

This recent Tampa Bay Guardian article states PSTA's ridership is at a 10 year low. Even when PSTA made rides free on the Jolly Trolley, ridership for the Jolly Trolley was 52,235 in March, down a whopping 34% from 79,045 in March of 2016. And tourism is booming again in Pinellas.

The Guardian article also indicates how ridership is defined which overstates the number of actual riders. There is also a bit of a scandal regarding the recent contract for the trolley service and some sketchy changes to reporting done by PSTA.

HART and PSTA's declining ridership is what almost every transit agency in the country, except in NYC, is experiencing.

Existing rail systems are entering an era of disrepair as we have a backlog of $80 Billion of major repair and rehab needed. Trump's skinny budget eliminates the federal New Starts/Small Starts and Tiger grants for new transit projects. Trump has stated he wants to focus on getting our existing infrastructure in good repair.

Yet today taxpayers are funding another transit campaign, this time a regional one, the $1.6 million Regional Premium Transit campaign. The cost of this latest campaign is ghastly - especially after the $1.3 million Go Hillsborough debacle.

And conveniently timed with the transit campaign is Senator Latvala's bill. His bill will force taxpayers in Tampa Bay to fund a regional transit authority that takes away local control and will trigger  regional taxing.

What's more egregious is how the bill was created, the unscrupulous politics and the bully tactics being used. The bill was created behind the scenes by the same special interests organization who has been the biggest supporter of rail in Tampa Bay.

Latvala used  abused his powerful Appropriations Chair position in the Senate by playing games with the process rules and holding appropriations bills hostage to get his way to move the bill along. Fortunately Senators Lee and Brandes amended the bill to reign in some of the shenanigans we fully expect with a regional transit authority. Their efforts are greatly appreciated but we hope the bill dies.

With declining transit ridership in Tampa Bay, Latvala's bill and the costly transit campaign is absurd. Considering the state of our existing infrastructure and getting any federal dollars for new transit projects may be a pipe dream, these are out of touch with reality.

Tampa Bay has a transportation issue it needs to address not a sudden regional transit issue and it certainly does not need another transit agency, an arms length away from voters and taxpayers, to fund.

Regional transit authorities become very powerful, arrogant, wasteful and require higher taxes. Almost all, if not all, of the rail boondoggles were rammed through regional transit agencies pushed by deep pocketed special interests.

The focus needs to be on getting our existing infrastructure in good repair FIRST.

Focus on fixing and improving our interstates - the foundation of our transportation system in Tampa Bay - add the needed managed lane capacity that also creates a bus transit corridor that could also be used by AV's in the near future, fix the chokepoints and fix the Howard Frankland Bridge that hundreds of thousands of people in 180K vehicles use everyday. FDOT has the funding, no tax hike needed, to get this done.

Do the Basics First!

Stop pursuing the absurd.


—————————————————————————————————————-

Here again is the Genesis for Latvala's regional transit bill today. Everyone should watch it.

Kill the Bill Driven by Special Interests and Unscrupulous Politics

What happens when a powerful and arrogant state politician teams up with special interests to ram their agenda through by the state because their agenda keeps losing bigly at the ballot box?

Unscrupulous, unfair and unethical politics. 

This is the Genesis years ago for Senator Latvala's regional power grab bill for a regional transit authority in Tampa Bay.

Latvala already forced taxpayers to pay for two HART/PSTA merger studies. Merging was rejected after both studies.

Now unscrupulous politics is behind Latvala's SB1672 bill to reorganize TBARTA into a five county (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Hernando) regional transit authority. The bill will unnecessarily force taxpayers to fund another transit agency in Tampa Bay.  

Six of the thirteen members of the newly created TBARTA transit authority Board will be politicos from Hillsborough and Pinellas. Nine of the thirteen Board members will be politicos highly politicizing this new transit authority ala a PSTA on steroids but an arms length away from local voters and taxpayers. (PSTA has been mismanaged for years.) 

As stated before, we have a transportation issue in Tampa Bay not a sudden transit issue. Transit ridership is declining by double digits. Latvala should be laser focused on fixing the Howard Frankland Bridge, our interstates and the chokepoints that 180,000 vehicles use everyday, expanding interstate capacity and creating a regional transit corridor cost-effectively on managed lanes that could be used by autonomous vehicles/buses, not forcing taxpayers in Tampa Bay to fund another transit authority.

How was SB1672 created? It was written by special interests Tampa Bay Partnership. 

Tampa Bay Partnership has been the biggest supporter of rail referendums in Tampa Bay. Remember Moving Hillsborough? They were the pro rail PAC who ran the FAILED 2010 $1.3 million pro rail tax advocacy campaign. Moving Hillsborough Forward was the siamese twin of Tampa Bay Partnership, the connected organization to the PAC and the biggest financial donors to the pro rail tax campaign. Find all of their contributions and expenditures here. Deep pocketed special interests donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the rail tax hike campaign.

Tampa Bay Partnership = Moving Hillsborough Forward

Again, in 2014, Tampa Bay Partnership was a big donor and provided the accounting and administrative support for the FAILED $1.5 million Greenlight Pinellas PAC, Friends of Greenlight. Find all their contributions and expenditures here. An eye popping contribution was from the National Association of Realtors for $245,000. No surprise - rail is never about mobility but about land use. 

Polk County had transit sales tax hikes on the ballot in 2010 and 2014 also supported by Tampa Bay Partnership and they too went down in huge defeats.

Throughout those campaigns, Tampa Bay Partnership, a non-profit, was taking taxpayer money from taxpayer funded entities. Since money is fungible no one knows whether they used money received from taxpayer funded entities to fund their tax hike campaign.

After Greenlight was defeated and after suffering so many defeats, Stuart Rogel, CEO of Tampa Bay Partnership resigned. They did finally stop taking taxpayer money. Good!

Tampa Bay Partnership hired Rick Homans, former CEO of the Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. (heavily funded by taxpayer money) to replace Rogel. As we posted here back on August 4, 2013, Homans worked with pro rail County Administrator Mike Merrill, to invite all the pro rail groupies to the very first Policy Leadership Group meeting. Attendee Gary Sasso was the Chair of Moving Hillsborough Forward. 

According to this SaintPetersblog report last year, Tampa Bay Partnership announced they will launch a PAC "Advance Tampa Bay". Imagine a massive multi-million dollar multi-county advocacy campaign for higher taxes in Tampa Bay. That's how regional taxes for rail boondoggles get rammed through regional transit authorities.

Now the Tampa Bay Partnership is using our state legislature and a powerful Senate Appropriations Chair who wants rail across the Howard Frankland Bridge and trains to a new baseball stadium.

Special interests Tampa Bay Partnership wrote SB1672 and simply handed it to Senator Latvala. Latvala hastily filed the bill the weekend before the session started. Tampa Bay Partnership knew Latvala would run with the bill and use his Appropriations Chair power to ram it through the finish line. 

Remember this bill intentionally never went before the local delegations of any of the counties impacted so local citizens could never weigh in. Latvala and Tampa Bay Partnership know citizens cannot drop everything and make a trip to Tallahassee. They bank on that. 

While Tampa Bay Partnership lobbyists troll the halls of Tallahassee pushing the bill, Latvala holds appropriations bills hostage using bully tactics to ram his bill through. 

Latvala's brute force tactics included not following normal proper procedures by ensuring this bill did not go through the Senate's Transportation Appropriations Committee chaired by Senator Brandes. 

How can a transportation bill not go through the Transportation Appropriations Committee? Because Latvala plays games with the rules. Brandes is probably the most knowledgeable Senator on Transportation issues in Tallahassee and Latvala's tactics to avoid his committee reeks.

What is the latest on this messy and unscrupulous regional power grab bill?

It went through the Senate's Community Affairs Committee yesterday but was amended to provide some additional oversight. Kudos to Senators Lee and Brandes for their efforts to minimize potential shenanigans we fully anticipate will be created by this new regional transit authority. Confirms the Senate does not trust the new TBARTA either.

The Tampa Bay Times reported:

Sens. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg and Tom Lee of Thonotosassa overrode Latvala with an amendment that strips the authority of its independence by requiring legislative approval for any local spending on a light rail system and barring the authority from spending money to advocate for light rail in a voter referendum. 

"Voters of Hillsborough County and Pineellas County have rejected these in the past," Brandes said. "My goal is that this doesn't become an opportunity for Greenlight Pinellas 2.0," referring to the latest rejection of a transit plan by county voters. 

Latvala was so livid at the transit maneuver by Brandes and Lee that he declined to speak to a Times/Herald reporter after the vote. As Latvala silently left the hearing room, Lee said: "You're welcome, Senator Latvala."

Of course Tampa Bay Partnership was there in person to speak in support of the messy bill they created.

SaintPetersblog also reported:

St. Petersburg’s Jeff Brandes and Brandon’s Tom Lee, neither of whom as considered enthusiasts of light rail — added an amendment that would create additional obstacles if the newly configured TBARTA ever opted to pursue a light rail project. 

The amendment calls for a majority vote by the MPOs of each county impacted by any proposed rail projects before the authority can pursue any real related contract. It would also require the authority to conduct a feasibility from an independent third party before pursuing any rail-related project, and require the authority to receive approval of the entire Florida Legislature before pursuing any rail project.

Taxpayers in Tampa Bay appreciate Senator Brandes and Lee's efforts because we know Latvala was holding hostage so many bills. 

Remember this is a two phased mess. No regional transit authority can do anything without funding. We have to pass this bill to then find out how the new TBARTA will be funded, who will fund it or what is to be funded. That is not fair to taxpayers and simply bad governance. 

Next year the new (highly politicized) TBARTA Board will come back to Latvala and the state legislature, as Latvala admitted when he presented the bill, for more legislation to answer those critical questions. Next year is conveniently timed with the Regional Premium Transit Campaign. 

The last stop this session before a floor vote in the Senate is the Appropriations Committee that Latvala chairs. Senators, especially those outside the Tampa Bay area, should look at Latvala's bully tactics and be concerned because these tactics could be done to them.

What's next?

The House companion bill HB1243 is now on the agenda of the House Government Accountability Committee tomorrow at 8am. Any committee titled Government Accountability should reject this messy bill created by special interests who used the powerful Senate Appropriations Chair to force feed the bill that no citizen in Tampa Bay requested.

Once a regional entity is created and funded, it is basically impossible to get rid of, no matter how far amok they run or how corrupt they become. Regional transit authorities throughout the country have become very powerful, arrogant and wasteful as they empower special interests influence.

The public and the electeds should understand the unscrupulous politics associated with this bill. The best disinfectant is to shine a light on them. 

Hopefully truth will triumph over tyranny and the House will Kill the Bill.

————————————————————————————————————-

Voice opposition to this messy bill, HB1243, by contacting the members of the House Government Accountability Committee Today and state reps and Governor Scott.

Note: there are three Tampa Bay representatives to hold accountable on this committee: Dan Raulerson, Chris Latvala, Wengay Newton 

State Representatives (find your state rep)

Speaker Corcoran

Governor Scott

Stop the Regional Power Grab for Higher Taxes in Tampa Bay!

There is a power grab occurring in Tampa Bay that must be stopped.

No citizen or taxpayer requested Latvala's bill (SB1672/HB1243) that creates another transit authority in Tampa Bay to fund. 

And the process for how the bill was created, it did not go through the local delegations of the counties impacted, was not properly vetted but hastily filed the weekend before the session started should be a concern of everyone.

But another transit authority in Tampa Bay has to get funded somehow and is created to fund something - how silly to think otherwise.

Voters in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties soundly rejected sales tax hike referendums in 2010 and 2014.  Latvala's bill is simply a regional power grab to circumvent the local voters which will trigger another round of sales tax hike referendums in Tampa Bay, this time thrust on voters in multiple counties simultaneously. 

The mayors of Tampa and St. Petersburg spoke this week at the Florida Economic Forum luncheon. They confirmed our speculations on another sales tax hike referendum. According to this SaintPetersblog post:

On transportation, Buckhorn said that Hillsborough County may be ready to put up another half-cent sales tax referendum on transit in 2020, but not anytime sooner, a notion that Kriseman agreed with. As he has done in the past, Buckhorn blasted the critics of any such referendum, labeling them either as largely limited to living in the eastern provinces of Hillsborough County or as “disaffected former washed up politicians and PR firms who will try to throw any amount of sand in the gears to distract people from the fundamental question, which is, we need more mobility options.” 

Kriseman again brought up the notion of the Legislature changing state law that would allow big cities like St. Petersburg and Tampa to hold their own transportation referendums, a familiar complaint that has gone nowhere for years in Tallahassee. In fact, he admitted that it wouldn’t happen in the near term, and said that meant St. Petersburg and Tampa need to get creative for themselves.

Here is the map of Hillsborough County and the vote by precincts on the 2010 rail tax that was defeated 58-42. The green area reflects the precincts, mostly along the rail corridor, that voted for the tax. The rest of the county - much more than just eastern Hillsborough County voted No. 

Map of Hillsborough County 2010
rail tax by precinct

Talk about former washed up politicians….Buckhorn will be one soon as he is term limited out of office in 2019 and Kriseman, who is up for re-election, could become one too.

Greenlight Pinellas sales tax hike was defeated in 2014 by a greater margin 62-38 and Polk County's 2014 sales tax hike was defeated by even greater 72-28. Analysis done by SunBeamTimes blogger David McKalip shows even a Majority of St. Petersburg Residents Also Rejected Greenlight Pinellas, 52:48.

We get it - Buckhorn and Kriseman both want costly rail. Buckhorn was very vocal and adamant about demanding rail during the Go Hillsborough campaign and all through the Transportation Policy Leadership Group meetings. Some Tampa Bay politicos want to tie costly rail with a new Rays stadium….

Rail envy is not a positive trait but certainly an expensive one.

Regarding the mayors quests for city transit referendums, where is the business model and business case that even suggests that the cities of Tampa or St. Petersburg can fund costly rail projects? Hint: it does not exist.

Ironically, Buckhorn was on the only NO vote on the Tampa Streetcar when he was on the Tampa City Council in the 1990's. He said back then the Streetcar did not have a viable financial model. And he was absolutely right now that it's basically bankrupt and has very few riders.  Don't fret though - the solution to government funded failures is to expand them. The taxpayers are enriching more consultants paying them $1.6 million for another study to expand the failed streetcar. The insanity continues.

The timing of these mayor's bringing up another sales tax hike referendum in 2020 is no surprise. It conveniently coincides with Latvala's TBARTA bill and the latest taxpayer funded $1.5 million Regional Premium Transit Plan Campaign launched last year.

It is all about money - pursuing federal money (aka federal debt dollars) for new transit projects. And the pursuit of any federal funding requires a committed long term local/regional funding source. 

And Voila - another sales tax hike referendum in 2020 - this time a regional, multi-county transit tax hike referendum. A regional referendum will generate a massive multi-million dollar advocacy campaign funded by deep-pocketed special interests blasted across Tampa Bay and cheered on by their media accomplices. 

But the timing is so off considering the direction of the new Trump Administration.

President Trump's "skinny budget" is eliminating federal New Starts/Small Starts and Obama's Tiger grants for new transit projects. Why? Because our existing infrastructure is in disrepair. We have an $80 BILLION backlog of major rehab and replacement needed for our existing rail systems. 

No one today should be relying on federal monies for new transit projects. With no federal money being doled out for new transit projects, what's the Plan B here? That question needs answering. Who is even asking the question?

Latvala's bill is misguided because we have a transportation issue in Tampa Bay that needs addressing not a sudden transit issue requiring another transit agency to fund and another bureaucracy to bloat.

Laser focus in Tampa Bay should be on getting our existing infrastructure into good repair. That's what FDOT's TBX project, now delayed, does - by fixing the Howard Frankland Bridge, fixing the chokepoints at 60 and I-4, and adding the needed additional interstate capacity that also provides a regional express bus transit corridor and can be a catalyst for use by autonomous vehicles/buses. 

No one knows (or is not willing to tell) how this regional transit authority will be funded, who will fund it or what it will fund. We should not have to pass this bill to find out those answers. That is not good governance. 

Latvala's bill will trigger the push for regional taxing and higher taxes in Tampa Bay, just as Mayor Buckhorn and Kriseman said. Powerful politicos and special interests want costly rail and apparently do not care that voters in Tampa Bay have already soundly rejected these boondoggles.  It's the try try try again attitude attempting to wear out voters. 

And regional transit authorities pushing regional tax hikes is how most, if not all, the light rail boondoggles were passed.

This latest scheme is probably the last gasp of air to push rail in Tampa Bay. 

Pull the ventilator plug by stopping Latvala's misguided bill and stop the power grab for regional power and higher taxes in Tampa Bay.

Senator Latvala, who is the powerful Senate Appropriations Chair, will arm twist his bill through the Senate. 

It will be up to the House to stop this regional power grab bill. 

Contact your state representative, Speaker Corcoran and Governor Scott to voice your opposition to House Bill 1243.
State Representatives
Speaker Corcoran
Governor Scott  (who defunded TBARTA when he was first elected)