PSTA's Greenlight Pinellas Campaign to be Investigated

The Eye recently posted calling for  PSTA's taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas marketing campaign to Shut Down, Cease and Desist.  Common sense says this is an advocacy campaign cloaked in their lawyered up legalease that Greenlight Pinellas is an "education campaign" -  but a one-sided campaign as PSTA CEO Brad Miller admitted when asked. A taxpayer "education" campaign spending almost a MILLION taxpayer dollars handing out goodie bags and trinkets to sell voters "to vote for" a tax increase for Greenlight Pinellas.

Regardless of the PSTA's lawyers providing legal excuses that PSTA can actually do this -use taxpayer money against the taxpayers as long as they don't use the words "support" or "vote for" - IT IS WRONG!  Don't forget PSTA CEO Brad Miller spoke (on taxpayer time and dime) at the Yes for Greenlight kick off event standing next to the sign to vote YES for Greenlight in November.  Does anyone think Miller's speech was part of an "education" campaign? 

PSTA CEO Brad Miller speaks on taxpayer time at Yes for Greenlightkick off campaign held at 9:30am on a Thursday next to "Vote Yes for Greenlight on Nov. 4th 

Remember TBARTA's lawyers said it was legal for TBARTA chairman Ronnie Duncan to also lead, organize and raise money for the private advocacy campaign Yes for Greenlight.  But that was WRONG too and he supposedly resigned from Yes for Greenlight nonprofit - though legally sunbiz.org still shows Ronnie Duncan as a Director for Yes for Greenlight.

Now Florida state senator Jeff Brandes is weighing in on the Greenlight Pinellas issue.  It is reported today at the Miami Herald

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, is asking the Florida Department of Transportation's inspector general to investigate how Pinellas County's mass transit agency is spending money on its Greenlight Pinellas program 

In a letter he sent Tuesday to DOT Secretary Ananth Prasad, Brandes is asking the agency to review how the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority is spending about $800,000 on an information campaign on a Nov. 4 referendum asking voters to support a sales tax increase of 7 percent to 8 percent to pay for new routes and a 24-mile light rail line between St. Petersburg and Clearwater. 

The campaign uses taxpayer money for propaganda purposes, a violation of state law that should require the money to be returned, Brandes said.

FL State Senator Jeff Brandes

Here's Brandes letter to Ananth Prasad, FDOT Secretary

This is good news for Pinellas taxpayers as most of Brandes constituents are in Pinellas.  It is refreshing to see an elected representative holding a taxpayer funded government agency accountable to protect the taxpayers.  Let's hope we see more of this from more elected officials.

Here's a youtube on the taxpayer funded the Greenlight Pinellas "sham" education campaign.  If your browser does not load, click here.  

We look forward to seeing Greenlight Pinellas shut down, cease and desist!

Cronyism and Economic Development: Where's It Going?

Transportation is a hot issue in Tampa Bay today.  Economic development is the buzz word of the day from our elected officials.  What happens when your start tying the two closely together?

In Pinellas, we're told by the local transit agency PSTA and most of the Pinellas County Commissioners that the reason high cost rail is included in the Greenlight Pinellas plan is economic development. We're told we need mixed use land development of residential and retail around train stations.

In Hillsborough we hear the same echo chamber from the pro rail power brokers that high cost fixed rail corridors will "magically" drive economic development - transit-oriented development (TOD) . TOD is heralded as the panacea for our economic prosperity.

But at least we have confirmed that high cost rail systems are NOT about mobility or reducing congestion.

So what is high cost rail projects really all about?  To start, there's a perversion for why the power brokers push for costly rail projects as Randal O'Toole from CATO Institute testified last December before the Congressional House Transportation Committee:

[Federal} New Starts, however, is a competitive grant program [for light rail]. The rules of the competition can be boiled down to this: regions and transit agencies that propose the most expensive projects get the most money (emphasis mine). 

The Obama administration eliminated cost effectiveness as a criteria for getting federal grants.  Why not go for the gusto to get the most federal tax dollars for costly rail projects? Then local governments can subsidize the TOD to incentivize development or designate areas as Community Redevelopment Areas (CRA's) and use tax-increment financing (TIF's) for specific redevelopment purposes.

According to the Florida Redevelopment Association:

Examples of conditions that can support the creation of a Community Redevelopment Area include, but are not limited to: the presence of substandard or inadequate structures, a shortage of affordable housing, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient roadways, and inadequate parking 

Tax increment financing is a unique tool available to cities and counties for redevelopment activities. It is used to leverage public funds to promote private sector activity in the targeted area

O'Toole also testified:

The reality is that almost all of the economic development they claim along light-rail and streetcar lines has resulted from tax-increment financing and other subsidies to developers. Experience in many places has shown that almost no new development takes place along a rail line without subsidies to developers.

Mayor Buckhorn held his State of the City address this week. 



At about 44:21 (go to that time on video link if your browser does not automatically go there) Buckhorn talks about mobility options, including light rail, he advocates support for Greenlight Pinellas, admits rail will never pay for itself and makes a strange comment about not worrying about  fare box revenue has to make sense. Mayor Buckhorn then talks about working with his partners in Hillsborough County to extend the CRA's in Tampa and the use of TIF's.  No mention of the cost to do all of it.

However, Buckhorn's biggest challenge may be a revenue shortfall of $10 million to $15 million for next year's budget, that he must find a way to close.

We previously connected the dots on the local rail cartel. The cartel is a cozy relationship between pro rail politicians and the taxpayer funded agencies and special interests who will benefit from the flood of tax dollars heading their way. Then the deep pocketed special interests can circulate campaign donations back to the politicians to ensure their influence is maintained.

This must be one of the coziest relationships. At times it is difficult to distinguish the difference between TBARTA, a taxpayer funded agency and special interest Tampa Bay Partnership. TBARTA was created by our state legislature in 2007 at the behest of the Tampa Bay Partnership. TBARTA was setup to cover the same geographical area as the Partnership. Was TBARTA simply created to advance Tampa Bay Partnership's regional agenda? 

We previously posted about the conflict of interest issue Ronnie Duncan, chairman of TBARTA had when he also began leading the private advocacy campaign Yes for Greenlight.  We reported that Duncan started organizing and raising money for the private campaign at the same time TBARTA was endorsing the Greenlight Pinellas plan months before Greenlight got on the ballot last December. Duncan owns a land development company and his wife owns a commercial real estate company. Coincidence?

Where was the Yes for Greenlight kickoff event held in February?  At the Pinellas Realtors Association office in Clearwater, not at a local bus station or any other public venue.

What can happen when our tax dollars are flowing to local municipalities to build high cost rail where economic development around train stations is sold as the dire reason we must have a train.  What can happen when the politicians and central planning bureaucrats plan where "they" want development to occur, can designate areas as CRA's and use TIF's or other subsidies to incentivize development? And what happens when there's collusion and cronyism with special interests and/or amongst them all?

Back in 2010 we were told by the local media and pro rail contingent that we needed to follow Charlotte as they were the "gold standard light rail model" to follow. 

Wednesday, Charlotte's Mayor Patrick Cannon, Democrat, was arrested on bribery and corruption charges. Mayor Cannon  has since resigned.  The Tribune reported

Cannon solicited and accepted more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes, according to a criminal complaint. 

According to the complaint, FBI agents posing as commercial real estate developers paid Cannon on five separate occasions between January 2013 and February 2014. Cannon accepted cash in exchange for access to city officials responsible for planning, zoning and permitting. 

The investigation began in August 2010 after a tip from a local undercover officer about public corruption. At the time, Cannon still held an at-large seat on the Charlotte City Council.

Two days after Cannon announced he was running for mayor in May 2013, the first undercover agent introduced him to a second undercover agent posing as a developer from Las Vegas. The second agent told Cannon he was interested in developments along a streetcar and light rail line being built in Charlotte. Cannon provided the proposed routes and stops, according to the complaint (emphasis mine). 

Mayor Cannon got caught. How many others have not? Who knows how often and where else unethical, if not illegal activities, have occurred where lots of tax dollars are flowing to build rail and to subsidize economic development.

Could that type of corruption happen in Tampa Bay? We don't know. We do know we've seen corruption before in Hillsborough. We see a rail cartel in Tampa Bay pushing a high cost rail agenda.  We see PSTA's taxpayer funded Greenlight Pinellas advocacy campaign, attempting to skirt our electioneering laws, while using hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars marketing their Greenlight plan. We see taxpayer funded entities and special interests looking to benefit from the flow of tax dollars.  

What we do not want to see in Tampa Bay is cronyism that leads to corruption and results in crooks.

Duncan Raising Money for Rail Private Advocacy Campaign 6 months prior to "Yes for Greenlight"

Ronnie Duncan, chairman of TBARTA who recently resigned from the private "Yes for Greenlight" advocacy campaign, remains a drag on TBARTA and the Greenlight Pinellas referendum. Duncan still must resign from TBARTA.  

While he was chairman of TBARTA, according to this Times article in January, Duncan was out raising money for 6 months for the then unnamed private advocacy campaign: 

Boosters of the referendum, led by Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority, have begun work on a privately funded advocacy campaign to sell the public on the transit tax. In an interview, Duncan said the group has been raising money for the last six months, but declined to disclose how much or when the campaign will make its debut. It will continue to work with Tucker Hall to shape its message, he said.

At the same time Duncan, while chairman of TBARTA, was behind the scenes orchestrating the private advocacy campaign, TBARTA formally endorsed Greenlight Pinellas.  

TBARTA endorses Greenlight Pinellas

TBARTA, with Ronnie Duncan as chairman, endorsed Greenlight Pinellas on September 27, at the same time a private group led by Ronnie Duncan was raising money for a private advocacy campaign.  Which happened first - Duncan negotiating with anonymous special interest donors or TBARTA's endorsement? Or did they coincidently occur about the same time? 

Apparently the behind the scenes orchestration for raising money for a private campaign was started almost a year ago, according to this Tampa Bay Times article of April 13, 2013:

It's too early to know who will take the lead in fundraising, but rail advocates said they will look for someone with ties to the business community and government, such as Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority,(emphasis/highlight mine)….

We must say the power brokers couldn't get much closer to finding someone with ties to the business community and government than Ronnie Duncan.  Duncan is Founder and President of the Duncan Companies which provides a number of services including commercial real estate and land development. In addition, Duncan's wife, Ann Duncan, is President and Founder of Vertical Integration, Inc., a commercial real estate firm that includes a public and private sector practice. 

Ronnie Duncan, President, The Duncan Companies, Inc.

Who will be contributing to the Yes for Greenlight private advocacy campaign? The Tampa Tribune reported:

Realtors, construction firms and other companies are expected to raise up to $1 million for the advocacy campaign dubbed “Yes for Greenlight.”

Perhaps this was a slip of the tongue but Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA confirmed rail is not about mobility but development.  Miller stated at an event last summer where I heard his Greenlight Pinellas pitch, that the reason rail is part of Greenlight Pinellas is economic development aka transit-oriented development which is land development around transit stations.  

Still TBARTA has never responded to the initial letter sent to Ronnie Duncan and the TBARTA board requesting Duncan resign from TBARTA.  We then must assume the board of TBARTA condones Duncan's behavior and that sets a bad precedent. TBARTA has lost its credibility and public trust.  The only way to regain it back is for Duncan to resign from TBARTA.