Your Vote Really Matters

Pinellas County November 4, 2014
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD

Almost 207,000 votes have already been cast in Pinellas County early voting. You can see the unofficial vote count at Supervisor of elections Voter Turn Out.

Please vote today. Don't pass on voting because you think your vote will not matter. On the sales tax referendum, GreenLight, the total vote count will be very important.

It is critical that Pinellas County voters send a clear message to the Pinellas County Commission and the PSTA Board of Directors about how they feel about the GreenLight effort.

We need good public transportation in Pinellas County that will actually serve those who need it.

What we don't need is a redevelopment plan disguised as a transportation sales tax that benefits the 30 or so donors who have dumped $1 million dollars into a campaign designed to convince you a train that runs from downtown St. Pete to downtown Clearwater will work in a densely populated, commercially dispersed , three story tall County. It will not.

Don't let all of those claims about reduced bus service and shutting down bus routes scare you.

If GreenLight, fails to pass as it should, all that needs to done is let the politicians know that if they cut bus service, they will experience the same fate as those who voted to remove fluoride from the water.  Problem solved.

Remember that today, election day, you can only vote in your precinct. Not sure where it is? Go to the Supervisor of elections Find Your Precinct.

 Haven't mailed in your mail in ballot? TAKE IT WITH YOU. 

Your vote is your opinion, make it count. 

Watch My Video Green Light - It's a Bad Law Read Green Light Sales Tax Ordinance and The PSTA/ Pinellas County Inter Local Agreement .

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks.

GreenLight - Yes Their Latest TV Ad

Check out the GreenLight campaign's latest TV commercial featuring former Pinellas County Commissioner Sallie Parks.

One has to wonder if Ms. Parks has actually read the Greenlight Pinellas Tax Ordinance  or realizes these kids she loves so much will still be paying this tax for a train they will likely never use when they are her age.

Why would you mortgage your County's future so 30 or so big donor power players can live off your kids, your grand kids and your great grand kids for the next half century?

GreenLight is not a good idea for these kids, you or anybody else.

Watch My Video Green Light - It's a Bad Law before you vote.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks.

Sunday November 2, 2014 PSTA Abuse Of Federal Funds - A more Somber View

Recent revelations regarding the misuse of Federal Homeland Security Funds could be passed off as an overzealous effort by PSTA CEO Brad Miller to get his sales tax initiative passed.

You could pass it off as bad judgment or poor decision making or just more campaign and political high jinks.

You could do all of that - unless you have been reading the headlines and watching the news in the last week or so.

Just watch your local newscast on TV, follow the news on social media or read a news paper.

"Self radicalized" jihadists, school shootings, people jumping the fence at the White House, attacking police officers with an ax, young people being recruited to terrorist acts on social media, the list goes on.

Terrorist transportation attacks are all too common around the world; fortunately we have been spared so far in this Country.

When the federal government through the Department of Homeland Security makes resources available to local public officials to use to warn us and help us protect ourselves that is the purpose for which they should be used.

The PSTA Chair Ken Welch and the PSTA Board of Directors apparently do not see it that way.

I was at the meetings and the smiles and smirks from the Board Members as Brad Miller's actions were revealed were disgusting. It was like they were proud of their boy's efforts to hoodwink the Feds. 

They said so with a vote of confidence.

The snarky comments from the Chairman Ken Welch, which later came back to bite him, showed a total disconnect from the reality of the rapidly changing world around us.

Overwhelmed by the million dollars given by powerful interests to support a self-serving plan, and blinded by the desire to redevelop South Pinellas County for the gains of GreenLight supporters, PSTA could not even bring themselves to legitimately warn their customers and educate them on how to protect themselves.

Instead they illegally diverted the federal funds to their own interests and took no other action than a "conversation with the CEO" and then a vote of confidence when they were caught.

Do you feel any safer?

I cannot even imagine what these people will do if we vote to give them an additional $100 million in uncontrolled cash each year. That kind of money in PSTA, an organization as poorly managed and controlled as recent events reveal, will breed a level of misconduct and corruption never before seen in this County.

See who will really be driving the bus and the train; read the Jamal Thalji Article in the Tampa Bay Times: Greenlight Pinellas has big backers in big business.

Know before you vote. Read the documents you put in force if you vote YES on Green Light Sales Tax Ordinance and The PSTA/ Pinellas County Inter Local Agreement

Watch My Video Green Light - It's a Bad Law before you vote.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks.

1 Million Reasons Vote No on GreenLight Pinellas

Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD

In the recent financial filings regarding campaign contributions, GreenLight Pinellas has received almost $1 million from about 30 donors. You can see the campaign finance reports here Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections.

Biggest contributor: NATIONAL Association of Realtors who dumped almost one quarter million dollars into the GreenLight political campaign.

If there was any question in your mind about who is driving the "train" and what their motives are, it should now be crystal clear.

Yes for Greenlight campaign manager Joe Ferrell said "donations from hospitals, finance firms, IT companies, the Rays and utilities are evidence that the private sector sees developing mass transit as a priority."

Not so much a "priority" as a business opportunity or a political necessity.

 If buses were the priority then GreenLight might make some sense, but nowhere in the Ordinance you are being asked to make a law, are the buses first in line for funding.

If the train were a real public transportation priority then it would go where the 2% who might use it live and not where the 1% who wouldn't be caught dead on a train live in their million dollar condos.

The train is passing through business parks, malls and other prime Pinellas County real-estate.

The purpose?

Transit oriented redevelopment. In other words a lot of real estate transactions, consulting and planning contracts, bond and financing transactions, construction contracts and a train to buy.

The big dollar players know where this project is going and they just ponyed up almost one million dollars to get their fingers in the pie.

The filling in that pie is your tax dollars.

The developers, train manufacturers, financial institutions, technology companies are throwing big dollars into the Yes for Greenlight till. This kind of money doesn't come with strings attached, it comes with chains attached.

After the smoke clears, should the sales tax referendum pass, just who do you think will really be calling the shots? It sure won't be the taxpayers.

GreenLight and this Tax referendum are bad for all Pinellas County tax payers and our visitors.

There is a solution to all of this. It's called YOUR VOTE.

They can buy all the ads, fill the airways, and stuff your mailbox until it falls over, but don't let them buy your vote.

Watch My Video Green Light - It's a Bad Law before you vote.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks.

You can stop the GreenLight Train Wreck

Tuesday those of you who have not yet voted will go to the polls and vote on some very important races and issues.

None is more important than the Pinellas County Sales Tax referendum question. It is the last item ON THE BACK of the Ballot

It Reads like this:

Levy of Countywide One Percent Sales Surtax to Fund Greenlight Pinellas Plan for Public Transit.

Summary: Shall the improvement, construction, operation, maintenance and financing of public transit benefiting Pinellas County, including an expanded bus system with bus rapid transit, increased frequency and extended hours, local passenger rail and regional connections be funded by levying a one percent sales surtax from January 1, 2016 until repealed, with the proceeds deposited in a dedicated trust fund?

 

        ______   YES, for the 1% sales surtax 

   
      __X__    NO, against the 1% sales surtax

If you vote yes you put an additional $100 Million annually into the PSTA coffers.

Over the last few months the PSTA administration has been investigated for electioneering, misused federal homeland security funds, lied to the public and spread misleading information about the train they want to build and its intended purpose.

They have stone walled public records requests, refused to answer direct questions and berated those who would question their actions and motives.

Just over 30 people have donated almost all of the $1 million raised to support the passage of this tax. They all expect to get their money back and then some, and the tactics of the current PSTA Administration and complete lack of oversight by the Board of Directors makes it a real good bet.

This sales tax referendum was never about public transportation, although I believe that there are some on the PSTA Board that still believe it is. It was always about a train that requires property and right of way acquisition for track and stations and the redevelopment around the stations and the rail line.

The nature of PSTA and its leadership can be seen in the e-mails unearthed by News Channel 10's Mike Deeson.  News Channel 10 PSTA E-MAILS

The inability of the Board to control the PSTA Administration is evident the actions of its CEO.

If he is not concerned about misusing and directing his staff to misuse federal funds why would we expect anything less when the sales tax dollars start rolling in?

Don't pay more for virtually everything you buy so the PSTA can repay the political cronies that supported GreenLight and waste the money on a train that does not serve those who actually use public transportation.

Don't put this County in to debt for up to 90 years that you as a citizen cannot control and those who represent you won't control. 

Right now you are in the driver's seat.  You can stop this train wreck before it happens.

You can vote NO

If GreenLight passes, Pinellas County does not own a train, a train will ultimately own Pinellas County.

Watch My Video Green Light - It's a Bad Law before you vote.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosures: Contributor to No Tax for Tracks.