Downtown to Ghost Town

The Hillsborough MPO and TB Next charade continued today, as MPO Chairman Les Miller invited yet another urbanist proponent, USF masters student in architecture Joshua Frank, to present his demolish I-275 plan. From downtown Tampa to Bearss Ave., the proposal would replace the interstate with a street level 6 lane boulevard with bike paths, sidewalks, a transit/train corridor and an urban canopy park like setting on each side.

Sounds nice doesn't it?

Well, Mr. Frank, who is not an engineer or a transportation expert, apparently has not yet calculated the costs to demolish I-275, nor the economic impacts of removing a major commerce and transportation corridor for the Tampa Bay region.

As we demonstrated here, this will not be a 6 lane boulevard, but is more likely to be 30 lanes.

Unless of course, the intention is to create a congested road so intolerable that no one will drive on it. This will result in traffic finding a way down neighboring streets, just relocating traffic from one managed highway to multiple jammed up surface streets.

SaintPetersBlog also reported on Frank's presentation.

Although supporters of TBX said it was needed to bring commuters from Pasco County into downtown Tampa, Frank says that only 35 percent of those who drive on I-275 come from Pasco, with the other 65 percent traveling from the USF area at Fletcher Avenue to the Floribraska exit around Columbus Drive.

Mr. Frank seems to have a problem with math as well. 35 percent drive from Pasco, and the rest of the drivers on I-275 only use it from Fletcher to Floribraska?

Hogwash.

That section of I-275 supports upwards of 200,000 vehicles a day, and forecasted up to 300,000 per day by 2040.

It is an major thoroughfare supporting the business, sporting events, arts and museums, weekend activities and residences of downtown Tampa.

If I-275 is demolished and replaced with a 6 lane boulevard, downtown Tampa will take a severe nose-dive.

Employees will not put up with the congestion to get in and out of downtown. Businesses will be forced to relocate.

Similarly, patrons for the arts, museums, and sporting events won't put up with the hassle of getting in and out of downtown for big events. Parking around downtown, particularly near the Straz Performing Arts Center, is already a problem. A problem manufactured by urban planners increasing density and not developing enough parking.

All those urbanist dreams of skyscraper canyons will fade away if people cannot easily get in and out of downtown.

Oh, but what about transit? That'll solve our problems!

Not quite. Pop quiz. Name one city that has reduced congestion as a result of transit investment.

Answer: None.

Transit ridership is decreasing nationwide. After a brief uptick in ridership after the financial crisis and recession, once the economy picked up after the recession, more people choose to leave transit and buy a car or use ride share services, as vehicle miles traveled nationwide is up near record levels and transit ridership is down. Even in metro areas with heavy investment in fixed guideways to attract the unicorn "choice" riders, transit ridership is down. Like our local politicians, people have made their choice, and it is not transit.

Tear down the interstate. Create a corridor of congestion so vast FDOT might as well build a wall around downtown Tampa.

Yeah, that's the ticket… to turn downtown Tampa into a ghost town.

Downtown Ghost Town

Then watch Vinikville...move to Wesley Chapel.

A Bigger Mess with Tampa Bay Next?

Tampa Bay taxpayers keep funding more transportation initiatives. The consultants love us… 

FDOT has recently launched another two year transportation initiative Tampa Bay Next. This is a FOUR County (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk) TBX replacement initiative on steroids - complete with new graphics! We know they're really serious this time! 

It's another taxpayer funded public outreach free for all AGAIN.

This latest transportation public relations endeavor is underway at the same time as the $1.6 million Streetcar study, the $1.5 million Regional Premium Transit Campaign, HART's TDP update and an effort to regionalize our MPO's. They all have taxpayer funded public outreach creating confusion, chaos and public fatigue on the transportation issue. Maybe all that is intentional…

But logic defies how FDOT would dole out $1.5 million for a THREE county (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco) regional transit campaign BEFORE this latest FOUR county initiative - cart before the horse. 

Governor Scott just signed Latvala's egregious TBARTA bill creating an unnecessary new FIVE county (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Manatee) transit agency. But Scott also veto'd all of TBARTA's funding that got appropriated this session. 

What a mess! 

But here we are…

FDOT states the obvious on their new web site: "Tampa Bay has a traffic problem".

We agree. Probably everyone agrees.

But Tampa Bay has wasted too much time, too much taxpayer money and too much energy on FAILED proposals at the detriment of getting other things done to actually help relieve congestion. 

This new initiative is not just an update to the 1997 Environmental Impact Study (EIS) done the Federal Highway Administration requires for interstate expansion projects. FDOT says TampaBayNext initiative is a new program to modernize Tampa Bay's infrastructure and prepare for the future but leaves out Interstate expansion that must be done if we don't want gridlock in our future.

• Interstate Modernization
• Transit
• Bicycle/Pedestrian Facilities
• Complete Streets (most expensive street built)
• Transportation Innovation
• Freight Mobility

This is what our federally mandated/funded MPO's do. MPO's already do extensive public outreach for long range planning paid for by taxpayers. We have an MPO Board who approves the MPO's five year Transportation Improvement Plan. Why is FDOT stepping way outside its normal jurisdiction and duplicating what we already pay our MPO's to do? 

In addition, TBARTA has an updated regional Master Plan consistent with each county's MPO Long Range Transportation Plan. They also did extensive outreach. 

Our local transit agencies do outreach to update their 10 year Transportation Development Plans. 

And our local MPO's in coordination with our counties and Planning Commission develop our highway level of service (LOS) reports.

TampaBayNext.com sets no realistic boundaries or expectations and is another free for all like Go Hillsborough.  

The kickoff meeting for FDOT's TampaBayNext Community Working Group meetings was held on May 24th. The Eye was there. 

Instead of putting dots on a board or writing on a map like what was done with Go Hillsborough, FDOT is using professional "facilitators" from the Collaborative Labs of St. Petersburg College. That's the same collaboration group that gave us the 2010 Hillsborough rail tax referendum and the 2014 Greenlight Pinellas rail tax referendum - both overwhelmingly defeated. That is not a successful record of gaining so-called "consensus' on the transportation issue in Tampa Bay.

The kick off meeting was over represented by StopTXers. They posted talking points to show up and were there to push their agenda that transit is our greatest need, we need to demolish our interstates and demand that TBX be removed from our MPO's five year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP).

To digress - Some sanity still exists, at least for now. The Hillsborough MPO voted 12-3 this week to keep the interstate improvement and expansion project in the TIP. Good - because:

• Expansion of our interstates have been in FDOT's plans for decades. TBX, or whatever name it is called, is funded by state/federal gas taxes we already pay - no tax hike needed. Those dollars are earmarked for highways, bridges and interstates and cannot be diverted to transit. 

• If the project is removed from the MPO's TIP, the state can and will hand the $6 Billion of Tampa Bay interstate improvement and expansion funding to other parts of the state. Jax, Central Florida and South Florida are all currently expanding their own interstates with managed toll lanes and probably drooling over any possibility of getting Tampa Bay's interstate funding. They are not stupid.

• If Tampa Bay rejects the FDOT funds, say goodbye to getting any more anytime soon and hello to gridlock. It would be decades before the state would consider handing such funds to Tampa Bay again. And with over a million people moving here by 2040, most bringing their cars, the result would be total gridlock and our surface streets becoming much more dangerous.

The "official" recording by FDOT of the May 24th meeting can be found here. Read through it. The basics for a kick off meeting were totally missing. No specific problem was defined, no goals were established and no timeline was provided. 

How can congestion relief not be a top priority of any ideal transportation system in the Tampa Bay region? But removal of urban highways aka demolish I-275 that 200K vehicles and a half million people use everyday is?  How can any ideal future transportation system include removing I-275 north of Tampa? That is extreme! Why would FDOT be considering such extremism?

This is what happens at free for alls that set no boundaries. StopTBXers are a vocal group but they represent a very small percentage of the millions who live in the four counties and use our interstates. 

The same artist is used at all these transportation gatherings to sketch a drawing during the meeting. Here is the picture of the drawing that was made from the 5/24 kickoff meeting. The picture confirms FDOT's latest transportation initiative is Go Hillsborough over four counties. And yes they are at it again - Costly light rail that voters consistently reject.

Drawing from 5/24 FDOT kickoff meeting

How much does all this cost and who and how would all this be paid for? Those silly little questions…

Since over 98% of us drive in Tampa Bay, where's congestion relief for vehicles? MIA in that picture.There is not one car/truck/vehicle in this picture except for a car with a caption "Car Optional". That is absurd! The urbanists want to demolish our interstates that a half million people use everyday and move Mayberry RFD to the urban core and have you pay for it. 

And stop using the term "choices" which is rhetorical and over used. Perhaps my choice is for Scotty to beam me up - can we include that too? The private sector is rapidly innovating to provide new services and the "choices" that people actually want and are willing to pay for. 

The millions who use our interstates in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and Pasco everyday know we need to fix our interstates FIRST. Most, if not all, of the 1.2 million people expected to move here by 2040 will bring their cars.

Be realistic. Billions spent on costly transit could never begin to relieve congestion. And we all will count the noses of which electeds willing to hand Tampa Bays funded TBX interstate expansion and improvement money (state/federal gas taxes we already pay) to another part of the state for them to wisely improve their interstates.

The amount of taxpayer money spent in Tampa Bay on transportation/transit studies, public outreach, reports, plans, public relations campaigns, tax hike referendums, meetings and rhetoric seems endless. 

Why? 

Because special interests, our local media, taxpayer funded agencies, unelected bureaucrats wanting to grow bureaucracies and some politicos, especially those eyeing a new big pot of money to dole out, keep trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. 

The same people keep pushing costly transit projects and tax hikes on voters who consistently reject them. So little or nothing gets done except enriching the same consultants over and over and over.

Unfortunately, FDOT District 7 has decided to join their games launching another taxpayer funded two year transportation charade.

FDOT District 7 will be getting a new Secretary since Paul Steinman recently resigned.

Whoever takes over that position needs to reset this free for all. It is not the responsibility of FDOT to duplicate what our MPO's already do. FDOT should exercise realistic boundaries so that expectations can actually be achieved.

Otherwise, Tampa Bay Next just creates a bigger mess.

We Need our Interstates Fixed but FDOT Takes Only Transit Advocates to St. Louis

As part of FDOT's delay to fixing our interstates and the Howard Frankland Bridge and hitting "reset" on their TBX project, FDOT took a group of people to St. Louis in April for a 2 day "peer exchange" trip. They went to hear how Missouri DOT (MoDOT) dealt with and gained support for a contentious project to rebuild and expand about 10 miles of I-64. The public feared it would create the biggest traffic jam in St. Louis history since that part of the interstate would be closed for two years to complete the project.

We spoke to Linda Wilson Horn of MoDOT who said they have conducted these peer exchanges numerous times before but until this time they were only DOT to DOT. She was very pleasant, explained what they did in St. Louis regarding the I-64 reconstruction project, how the community and those from nearby neighborhoods provided input for how numerous interchanges were being rebuilt. 

The three presentations made by MoDOT to those who FDOT took for this information peer exchange in St. Louis can be found here. 

We asked FDOT who went on the trip to St. Louis and was provided the list of attendees. Who are some of these people?

FHWA Peer Exchange - April 11-12, 2017 List of Attendees
Total – 36 (28 from Tampa Bay Area) 

1 FHWA-Florida Division

• Cathy Kendall 

5 FDOT

• Bill Jones
• Ed McKinney
• Kirk Bogen
• Mary Lou Godfrey
• Xavier Pagan 

5 Consultants

• Len Becker - HNTB West FL VP & FDOT contractor for TBX
• George Walton - formerly PB/Go Hillsborough, now w/HNTB as subcontractor to Jacobs Regional Premium Transit campaign
• Danielle Moran - HNTB previously with Tampa Bay Partnership-a PR Person
• Alice Price - PM at Atkins   
• Chloe Coney - Recently retired as Rep. Kathy Castor's aide 

2 Business Community

• Karen Kress (TDP) -  Transit advocate/Tampa Downtown Partnership is a special interests group who supports higher taxes for transit and wants to expand the bankrupt Streetcar
• Rick Homans (TBP) - Transit advocate/Tampa Bay Partnership is a special interest group who has led the support in Hillsborough and Pinellas for higher taxes for transit and wrote Latvala's TBARTA bill forcing taxpayers to fund another transit agency in Tampa Bay when transit ridership is declining in Tampa Bay

7 MPO/Local Gov’t

• Tampa Councilman Harry Cohen - voted last year to keep TBX in MPO's plans            
• Tampa Councilman Guido Maniscalco - Opposes TBX
• Pinellas Commissioner John Morroni - Supported Greenlight Pinellas
• Hillsborough Commissioner Pat Kemp - Transit advocate who opposes TBX
• Whit Blanton (Forward Pinellas) - Transit adovcate
• Ray Chiaramonte (TBARTA) - Transit advocate
• Carla Williams (HART/COMTO) - Transit advocate

10 Citizens (Paid by FHWA)

• Zachary Thorn (Pinellas) - VP Government Affairs Clearwater Chamber who supported Greenlight Pinellas/transit advocate
• Brian Scott (Pinellas) - PSTA citizen board member/transit advocate
• Joe Farrell (Pinellas) - Pinellas Realtors Association Director of Governmental Affairs, transit advocate who was the campaign manager for the defeated Greenlight Pinellas campaign 
• Kelly Miller (Pasco) - President of Colonial Hills Civic Association in New Port Rickey, Chair of Pasco MPO Citizens Advisory Committee 
• Rick Fernandez (Hillsborough) - An attorney who is President of Tampa Heights Civic Association, a leader with Sunshine Citizens/StopTBX
• Dianne Hart (Hillsborough) - CEO of the East Tampa Business and Civic Association
• Debi Johnson (Hillsborough) -  President of the Old Seminole Heights Association, member of Sunshine Citizens/StopTBX
• Chris Vela (Hillsborough) -  President of urbanists group Sunshine Citizens who launched StopTBX campaign
• David Wilson (Hillsborough) - Chair of MPO Citizens Advisory Committee/appointed by Commissioner Hagan, transit supporter
• Kim Overman (Hillsborough) - recently appointed as a member of MPO Citizens Advisory Committee, President of Heights Urban Core Chamber and a StopTBX advocate who filed 6/13 last year to run against Les Miller and then suddenly withdrew from the race 6/23/2016 the same day Miller voted against TBX at the MPO meeting that day.

4 MoDOT

• Ed Hassinger, Chief Engineer
• Linda Wilson Horn, Public Information Officer
• Lester Woods, External Civil Rights
• Greg Horn, St. Louis District Engineer 

2 FHWA Missouri Division

• Kevin Ward, Division Administrator
• Dawn Perkins, St. Louis Transportation Engineer

A Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grant paid for the ten citizens trip. We assume everyone else's trip was paid by their own organization, many by the taxpayers.

We asked FDOT how the 10 citizens were selected and were told this:

Via individual teleconferences, FDOT asked each of the MPO chairs from Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas County to identify candidates for the peer exchange. FHWA requested that the candidates be citizens with a demonstrated interest in transportation. Commissioner Les Miller (Hillsborough MPO) provided six representatives. Commissioner John Morroni (Forward Pinellas) provided three representatives. Mayor Camille Hernandez (Pasco MPO) provided one representative.

We do not know how the consultants or the special interests were invited or who invited them but we can certainly speculate.

What is obvious is that all the citizens, all the special interests, all those from taxpayer funded agencies are all transit advocates. Why did Commissioner Miller from Hillsborough and Commissioner Morroni from Pinellas only select urbanists and transit advocates? So much for diversity - that was simply wrong. FDOT should have ensured a much more diverse group had an opportunity to participate. 

What a lost opportunity for FDOT! 

After the St. Louis trip the urbanists hosted a meeting that FDOT also attended. So what was applauded by the urbanists? Tearing down I-275. According to this Times article

Kimberly Overman, president of the Heights Urban Core Chamber which sponsored Tuesday's community meeting, is cautiously optimistic that FDOT might consider Frank's proposal to demolish I-275.

Overman went to St. Louis and she wants to tear down I-275…..

Tearing down I-275 that today 200,000 vehicles (perhaps a half million people) use everyday is outright extreme. And we're growing in Tampa Bay. Why would FDOT consider such extremism?

Expanding the interstates that are the foundation of our transportation system in Tampa Bay, have been in FDOT's plans for over two decades. Suddenly when money is available to actually implement the improvements, some opposition gets very vocal.

We do not recall their opposition to the last I-275 improvements FDOT made between downtown and Westshore. We do not recall their opposition to the Veterans adding congestion pricing express toll lanes. But they want to now tear down I-275…..that 200,000 vehicles a day use.

The largest number of commuters into Hillsborough County is from Pasco County. North Hillsborough is bearing the brunt of that southbound traffic on I-275. Commuters are chewing up our local roads because Google Maps or Waze will route to local roads to avoid interstate congestion. That commuter traffic is putting wear and tear on our local roads not meant for that amount of traffic and making them dangerous. 

FDOT is not concerned about those safety issues? FDOT and some of our electeds don't care that today commuters are winding around our local neighborhoods where school buses are stopping, where children and others are walking and playing or where we are walking our pets? 

Commuters are hauling through the neighborhoods of those who oppose TBX too due to congestion on the interstate. Tearing down the interstate to build some massive costly thirty-five lane Boulevard to go 35 mph on will create congestion, gridlock and more commuters barreling through their neighborhood streets. 

Sunshine Citizens and StopTBX are well organized, very vocal and serve a purpose for the Tampa Bay Times to regurgitate false narratives, misinformation and push a costly transit agenda. The StopTBXers want more transit and costly fixed guideways but transit is tanking across the nation including in Tampa Bay. Innovation and technology are providing alternatives to traditional transit, offering transportation services folks see value in and are willing to pay for and disrupting traditional transit.

We understand there are issues to resolve or mitigate with the Express Lane expansion and improvement of our interstates. FDOT was talking with the public, including the StopTBXers, on how to mitigate issues. According to this Times article from June last year:

Debbie Hunt, the Florida Department of Transportation's local director of transportation development, said the agency has held a series of community meetings to try to determine what accommodations it could put in place. They include:

• Spending $10 million to buy 30 buses so the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority could provide additional bus service on five corridors, thus helping people move around TBX construction while it's under way.
• Redesigning a pond planned near Central Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard so that some water would be stored under the elevated highway instead. With a smaller pond, five houses along Central Avenue could be saved.
• Redesigning overpasses to make space below for bicycle trails and sidewalks, bus stops, streetlights and landscaping.
• Building a pass-through below part of the interstate so residents could walk between Robles Park on one side of the highway and a planned retention pond and Borrell Park on the other.
• Providing space for one or more community gardens to replace one that will be lost to construction at a Tampa Heights volunteer-built community center.

The StopTBXers cannot say FDOT has not been talking and meeting with them. They have -  FDOT has been talking with the StopTBXers for a very long time discussing how to accommodate and resolve their concerns. FDOT even took them to St. Louis last month but the rhetoric of the StopTBXers is the same.

FDOT must hear from a more diverse group of citizens. They must hear from more than the urbanists and transit extremists who want to tear down our interstates that have been in place since the 1960's. People are not moving to Tampa Bay to ride costly trains or take transit. They are bringing their cars and driving. 

This growth requires that we add interstate capacity, fix the chokepoints at I-4 and 60 and fix the Howard Frankland Bridge northbound gridlock. If people cannot get to downtown Tampa, they simply won't go. If people cannot get in and out of TIA, they will go elsewhere - as some in Eastern Hillsborough now fly out of Orlando not Tampa. Neither are good for Tampa Bay.

And the interstate Express lanes would enable cost-effective regional Express bus service that could provide the flexibility for future use by autonomous vehicles.

Where are our local leaders? We want to count noses. What local/state electeds and leaders oppose TBX, funded by FDOT with state/federal gas taxes we already pay for to improve our roads and interstates (no tax hike needed)? Which electeds in Tampa Bay are willing to give up those gas tax monies we already pay and hand those funds to another part of the state of Florida (Jax, S FL, Central FL) to be used for their road/interstate improvements?  

Inquiring minds want to know as this will be a 2018 election issue.

Common sense and reality not extremism and false rhetoric must prevail or gridlock in Tampa Bay will - then everyone loses.

Stop Force Feeding A Regional Transit Authority on Tampa Bay Taxpayers

Regional bureaucracies an arms length away from voters and taxpayers are not more efficient, especially over time. They become less accountable and more powerful, arrogant, crony and wasteful.

We posted here about Latvala's Senate bill 1672 and its companion House bill 1243 that grows the size and scope of government, takes away local control and enables regional taxing. 

Both bills were presented to their first committee meetings this week and passed.

Senate Bill 1672 was presented Wednesday by Senator Latvala to the Senate Transportation Committee. The video is here and Latvala begins at about 1:01:45. Astonishingly at about 1:02:30 Latvala clearly states for TBARTA "to come back to the legislature next year for clarity on what statutes need to be changed to allow Tampa Bay's transit to become more efficient and grow".

So we have to pass the bill first creating this new regional TBARTA transit authority before we can find out how it is funded, who will pay for it and what is being funded? That sounds eerily familiar.

That is bad governance and not fair to the taxpayers.

We do know who wrote the bill for Senator Latvala. At 1:06:00 of the video where Latvala is making his closing statement he acknowledged Tampa Bay Partnership for putting together the bill and giving it to him to run with it. They were huge supporters of all the sales tax hike referendums in Tampa Bay that were defeated.

Latvala is term limited next year but we know he has wanted to merge HART and PSTA for years. His statement Wednesday confirms this bill is just the first of a multi-step process. We can only assume that the next step is to change statutes to enable TBARTA to become a taxing authority, enable regional taxes and/or merge HART and PSTA without having to go to the voters. Latvala said he would help with legislation to do just that in December 2012 because a regional transit authority is needed to get a train across the Howard Frankland bridge.

House Bill 1243 was presented by Representative Dan Raulerson on Tuesday to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The video of that committee meeting is here and this bill is the second one presented starting at about 4:00. 

Representative Raulerson is not a member of any transportation committee and is from Plant City, a municipality in the far eastern part of Hillsborough County. Plant City is not a member of HART, our local transit agency. Residents of Plant City do not pay HART's .5 mill property tax that the city of Tampa, city of Temple Terrace and unincorporated Hillsborough County residents pay to fund HART. 

It is odd that the sponsor of a bill to create a new Tampa Bay regional transit operating authority that must be funded lives in a municipality in Hillsborough County that does not fund and is not a member of it's own local transit agency. If Raulerson wants more transit, perhaps he should first start advocating for Plant City to be a member of HART.

An amendment was made reducing the number of non-electeds on the new 13 member TBARTA Board and adding two more electeds - the mayors of Tampa and St. Petersburg. We understand the change was done at the request of both mayors who support costly rail projects.

Of course, electeds want a majority of electeds to run everything.

They tell us that a majority of electeds on all these boards makes the boards more accountable….That reasoning can be questioned. 

PSTA is a transit agency whose Board consists of a majority of electeds and PSTA has been mismanaged for years. PSTA's Board never held PSTA's CEO Brad Miller accountable for misusing federal funds on Greenlight Pinellas. Instead PSTA's Board gave him accolades and a raise last year. How accountable is that? 

Latvala should be cleaning up the mismanaged PSTA in his own backyard. Other counties do not want to be burdened with Pinellas County's PSTA mess. 

The PTC was also created by the state and it's Board was all electeds. The PTC became totally crony, corrupt and archaic.

Raulerson stated they may consider adding a fifth county - Hernando - and that other continuous counties may also join. Like Manatee was included because of Galvano, we surmise Hernando may be part of the deal because the CSX corridor goes up that way. 

So if they add Citrus and Sarasota counties, the new TBARTA will be the same as the old TBARTA but with a different Board and only focused on transit. Makes one wonder about this whole effort because Citrus and Hernando counties share their MPO and Manatee and Sarasota counties share their MPO.

The biggest issue (or unknown) with this bill is money and funding. 

Ironically, the Summary Analysis of HB1243 done by staff states:

The bill does not appear to have a significant fiscal impact on state or local government

That is simply not true. That is not being honest with taxpayers. 

A new regional operating transit authority cannot be created and operated without long term funding. Not one representative questioned why the bill's summary analysis stated there was no fiscal impact when everyone knows the new entity has to be funded - somehow.

TBARTA does has the authority to issues bonds per Florida Statue 343.94. No investor will buy bonds that has no long term, sustainable revenue source to pay back the bondholders.

Raulerson was asked what revenue would pay back TBARTA bond financing. His answer was that revenue received from the bus service and light rail. Yes he said light rail…. (Almost all of the light rail boondoggles were pushed by regional transit agencies.) 

There is a huge math problem. Raulerson must know that because he's an accountant.

Transit projects have capital costs and operating costs associated with them. Which costs was he referring to? 

Farebox revenue could never cover required capital costs of large transit projects. Farebox revenue often only accounts for about 20% of the operating costs. Where's all the rest of the money coming from? No representative even asked.

The fact that all the sales tax hike referendums for transit in Tampa Bay have been overwhelmingly defeated was brought up at the committee meeting.

Raulerson stated the bill does not make TBARTA a taxing authority. But this bill may not have to specifically provide for that because Florida Statute 212.055 governing the transportation sales surtax was changed in 2010 to enable putting a regional sales tax for a regional transit authority on the ballot in multiple counties.

Latvala's bill goes right along with the $1.5 million Regional Premium Transit campaign that will identify regional transit projects to enter the pipeline for federal funds. This new TBARTA regional transit authority will be the entity to pursue those funds. 

However, federal funds for transit projects may be eliminated or greatly reduced under the Trump Administration so there should be no reliance on getting federal money. Pursuing any federal funds requires a local committed long term funding source. Where's the money?

We doubt the state legislature would create another SunRail fiscal disaster: 

…a recent study has found that the cost of SunRail to issue and collect tickets is greater than the revenue from ticket sales.

How more insane can things get? This insanity occurs when any sense of common sense is thrown out.

The bill was orchestrated by a local delegation of one - Senator Latvala - who hastily filed the bill the weekend before the session started. It was never vetted by TBARTA and did not go to any of the local delegations for input by any constituents impacted.

We have a regional transportation issue that needs to be addressed not a sudden regional transit issue requiring another transit authority to fund into perpetuity.

Instead of this bill, there should be laser focus on getting FDOT's TBX project implemented. That project fixes the Howard Frankland bridge, fixes the chokepoints at 60 and malfunction junction, adds much needed interstate capacity and creates a regional transit corridor. It is funded by user fees, state and federal gas taxes we already pay and tolls by those who individually decide to use the express lanes, not higher taxes. TBX does not require another bureaucracy to build, operate and manage.

Innovation and technology is already disrupting traditional transit as transit ridership is declining in Tampa Bay by double digits. With the federal spending spigot for new transit projects getting turned off or greatly reduced, common sense says the timing of this bill is not good.

Once a bureaucracy is in place and funded, it's almost impossible to get rid of it - just look at the PTC.

The irony of it all… This legislative session is finally getting rid of the unnecessary, crony, corrupt and out of control PTC created by the state legislature in 1976. And in the same session the state wants to create another unnecessary transit authority, an arms length from voters and taxpayers, that would have to be funded and we could never get rid of when it gets out of control.

Besides the elephant in the room - the issue of funding - there are lots of other issues with this bill. There are regulatory requirements regarding transit authorities. Who is looking at how this new regional transit authority would comply and how much it would cost now and in the future to comply?

I attended the TBARTA meeting Friday and for transparency, I spoke in opposition to this bill. TBARTA Chair Ronnie Duncan stated this bill was created and put forward without engaging TBARTA or its Board. The biggest issue the Board agreed on was funding - no one knows how this new transit authority is be funded. We have to assume it will be the taxpayers of Tampa Bay. In addition, TBARTA Executive Director Ray Chiarmonte brought up a host of other issues with this bill. 

This shows the haste of how this bill was introduced without proper vetting.

There is no outcry or demand by citizens and taxpayers of all these counties demanding this new transit authority be created. 

We hope the state will stop this force feeding of regionalism on the citizens of Tampa Bay that will lead to higher taxes, more wasteful spending, more influence by special interests and less accountability.

Instead, let's use common sense, fiscal responsibility and some foresight for where the future of transportation is going in the 21st century, not a new regional bureaucracy to bloat.  

HB1243 must go through the House General Accountability Committee (meets Wednesday) and Transportation and Tourism Appropriations Committee. SB1672 is in the Senate Community Affairs Committee (chaired by Senator Tom Lee, Senator Jeff Brandes is a member) and Appropriations Committee (chaired by Senator Jack Latvala, Senator Jeff Brandes is a member).

Help stop this bill forcing a regional transit authority on Tampa Bay taxpayers by contacting committee members at links above, your state legislators and leadership to voice opposition to SB1672 and HB1243:
State Representatives
State Senators
Speaker Corcoran
Senate President Negron
Senator Galvano (who will become Senate President next year and was the original champion for TBARTA in 2007)

Transit Reality not Misguided Rhetoric Presents Opportunity

As we posted here, the latest $1.5 million Tampa Bay regional campaign for transit has begun.

Jacobs Engineering, awarded the $1.5 million work, presented the slide below as part of their response to get the campaign work. We can only assume that is their problem statement - they think the public is stupid.

Jacobs Engineering slide included in their RFP response

The re-education marching orders must have gone out. The Times reporters, columnists and editors and some other local media outlets all fell in line at the same time.

The Times began their recent piling on of HART with this article. The Times reporters, editors and columnists must have been colluding because they all piled on sounding the same false alarm that the sky is falling because we don't have costly rail/transit systems and we need them and must pay for them. (Search HART, transit on the Times website for all their recent articles.)

Time to reset the rhetoric of the Times doom and gloom alarms.

FDOT's TBX project must be implemented to add interstate capacity, fix the choke points and the Howard Frankland bridge. TBX creates a major Express bus transit corridor for commuters in Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. TBX is funded by our state and federal gas taxes we already pay and tolls by those who use the managed express lanes (no new taxes needed).

Express toll lanes are being built on the Veterans Expressway that will also provide another major Express bus transit corridor in the region.

Most likely, there will be autonomous buses using these express lanes before any costly rail system could ever be built out.

Autonomous bus 

The Times and others right here in Tampa Bay continue ignoring our own transportation think tank at USF, the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR). Perhaps they could at least read CUTR's Journal of Public Transportation.

The Times did not mention TBARTA's regional van pool service. This van pool program is a cost-effective public-private partnership that serves commuters in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.

TBARTA Regional Van Pool Service
(click to enlarge)

Ray Chiarmonte, Executive Director of TBARTA, did respond to the Times doom and gloom with his Op-Ed about TBARTA's vanpool.

HART had just completed their latest customer survey. The Eye attended the February 6, 2017 HART Board meeting where the survey results, found here, were presented and overall satisfaction from those who use HART's services is positive. Does the Times even know about HART's surveys?

Overall Satisfaction 
• The percent of customers who are very satisfied with HART’s service overall has continuously increased each Wave, reaching nearly 50% in Wave 4
. • Over 95% of customers in all Waves feel that service quality has improved or stayed the same over the past year.
Customer Service
 • The percent of customers who agree that HART is focused on customer service continued to increase in Wave 4
Availability
 • Nearly 90% of customers in Wave 4 agree that the location of HART bus routes are convenient. • Customer satisfaction with the frequency of HART’s service increased by 16% from Wave 3 to Wave 4 

HART has their 10 year TDP approved by their Board that gets regularly updated. HART also defined a 10 year Vision plan during Go Hillsborough. Information regarding these TDP plans can be found here.  Why is HART's TDP not mentioned by the Times? Is the Times is intentionally ignoring HART's TDP or they don't know about it? Before taxpayers feed more consultants to do more studies, HART's TDP should be looked at first.

HART has a dedicated funding source, a .5 mill ad valorem property tax that provides about $35 million a year to HART. HART's other revenues include their yearly federal formula funds, fare box revenue and advertising revenue totaling between $70 and 80 million a year. If they receive some state/federal grant monies, that is additional.

HART's TDP will be going through its latest update this year so why not improve it and determine how best to leverage the money HART already receives…….instead of paying more consultants to continue proposing costly transit boondoggles. The county funded HART's north-south MetroRapid BRT so could the county fund the east-west MetroRapid?

Let's look at more of these types of services, electric powered short hop shuttles - though calling them limos is a bit comical.

Why?

Because the other side of the transit coin is that transit ridership is down nationwide, including in Hillsborough County. HART's ridership 2016 numbers can be found in the February 6, 2017 Board packet (scroll down to Status Report starting at page 6-5)

December 2016 bus ridership declined 11.6% compared to December 2015 and all mode ridership is off 8.4% for the three months of FY 2017.  

Pinellas County PSTA's ridership is also declining.  Declining transit ridership in the Tampa Bay area is no different than what is occurring in municipalities that have spent millions and billions on very costly transit projects:

The above list does not include Charlotte:

For the first seven months of the fiscal year, which began in July, local bus ridership was down 6.7 percent. 

Overall, the transit system’s ridership is down 5 percent. That includes buses, the Lynx Blue Line and the streetcar. 

The decline has lasted several years, however.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article134279674.html#storylink=cp

In addition, here's the latest about Denver: Downtown Denver survey shows people are opting to drive over using public transit

The reality is that innovation and technology is already making an impact on traditional transit. It's also making an impact on how we use our own vehicles. We can easily use Uber or Lyft to go downtown to a Lightning game or any other event and not worry about or pay for parking.

Tampa Bay taxpayers must not be put in another position like SunRail SunFail where SunRail ticket revenue is less than ticketing expense. SunFail's ridership declined last year even though service was expanded.

The regional premium transit plan is currently looking at the CSX corridor. Let's think outside the box towards the future. Could such a corridor be more highly utilized as an AV corridor for autonomous buses, vans and vehicles instead of rail cars and tracks?

The FTA and the states will probably soon, if not already, start requiring that autonomous technology be included and addressed as part of any funding request.

The reality is choice riders are driving or using the sharing economy of ride-share, vehicle-share and bike-share.

With a new Administration in DC, there are lots of unknowns regarding the future ability to get federal grants for new transit projects. We hope federal grants for boondoggles stop.

The innovation and technology driving the future of transportation is disrupting traditional transit and how we use and will use buses, shuttles and our own vehicles. We will be able to more efficiently and effectively utilize our existing infrastructure and resources.

The private sector is leading the way and they will partner with the public sector to provide new and better services at lower costs.

Why not recover more of transit's operating costs through farebox recovery? With smart card technology we can re-think fare box recovery for how to use differentiated pricing instead of flat fares.

Why not look at a tiered farebox pricing model where choice riders pay their fare share while low income transit dependent riders receive a voucher or reduced rate. Some transit agencies in the US such as Seattle have already started implementing tiered farebox pricing.

Can we use congestion pricing for transit similar to what is now being used on managed toll lanes? What about time and distance pricing?

Other locales are stuck paying forever for costly fixed guideway/rail systems experiencing declining ridership. Tampa Bay is not stuck in these costly systems.

The reality is Tampa Bay is better positioned to partner with the entrepreneurs and innovators to leap frog over 19th century solutions, and provide cost effective transportation services people actually will use for the 21st Century.

The Times needs a reality check!

TBX and the Political Kabuki Dancing

Two weeks after the Go Hillsborough sales tax hike died, the MPO held a public hearing June 22nd on their Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). The contentious part was whether to include FDOT's TBX Express project in the 5 year TIP. 

TBX Master Plan

Hundreds showed up and the StopTBX crowd as expected showed up in full force. 185 people signed up to speak and overflow crowds had to watch outside the 2nd floor Board room. The meeting started at 6pm Wednesday and went to well after 2am Thursday morning. 

Commissioner Les Miller, Chair of the MPO, allowed the normal 3 minute public comment from those who signed up to speak. Miller also allowed speakers, all from the opposition, to yield their time to other speakers. One opponent spoke for 12 minutes. 

The transcript of the meeting can be found here or downloaded here. Some of the political kabuki dancing was quite a show.

We understand there are valid concerns from those directly impacted by TBX that must be mitigated. However, some of the statements made by opponents were simply wrong, some disingenuous, some misleading and some obviously agenda driven. 

Statements made by TBX opponents included we must get out of our cars, we should not be building more roads, more roads causes air pollution and we need more transit options.

TBX opponent former Democrat Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul Sena, who lives on the wealthy enclave of Davis Island not impacted by TBX, stated: 

I WANT YOU TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS VOTE IN MY OPINION IS A CHARACTER DEFINING VOTE.

THERE ARE  EVEN  SOME COMMUNITIES OUTSIDE OF THE U.S. PRIMARILY WHERE  THE ENTIRE CENTER OF THE COMMUNITY IS FOR BICYCLISTS, PEDESTRIANS, TRANSIT, AND A VARIETY OF CHOICES.

THOSE COMMUNITIES ARE SO MUCH FUN TO VISIT AND LIVE IN, AND OFFER THEIR RESIDENTS THIS BROAD AND RICH VARIETY OF CHOICES.

This is a character defining vote? Saul Sena says we need to be more like communities outside of the US? Huh? This is gobbly gook from someone who has known about FDOT's plans for years.

Saul Sena served on the Tampa City Council for 20 years which was most of her entire working career. She knew FDOT has had the expansion of our interstates in their plans for 20 years. She stated at the public hearing that she was a former MPO Board member so she knew that expanding our interstates was in the MPO's approved 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan. 

Suddenly when funding from our state/federal gas taxes we already pay becomes available to actually implement the interstate expansion Saul Sena has an issue.

Saul Sena must understand transportation funding and knows the gas tax is a user fee that was specifically implemented to fund our roads, highways and bridges. She also must know that federal grants for high cost rail and transit projects is not "free" money. Those grants come from the feds general revenue fund which today is simply more federal "debt" dollars as we approach $20 Trillion in debt.

Some TBX opponents wrongly called a toll a tax. Tolls are a user fee that individuals voluntarily decide to pay for the benefit of improving the convenience of their travel. User fees are the fairest to everyone - you use it you pay for it.  

There were lots of rah-rah's for rail, especially from the StopTBX contingency. They wanted all kinds of rail - light rail, commuter rail, high speed rail. Ironically those who were opposing user pays toll lanes prefer to force everyone to pay for highly subsidized costly rail that will do nothing to relieve congestion and few will use.

There was also a large contingent of TBX supporters, including (for transparency) myself, who showed up to speak. 

After a time, the comments became repetitive as nothing new was stated.

Over 1.2 million are expected to move to the Tampa Bay area by 2040, including 600K to Hillsborough county. Regardless of the rhetoric, most newcomers will be bringing their cars and they will not be moving downtown. 

Therefore, our interstate system, the foundation and backbone of our transportation system in the Tampa Bay area, must be expanded and improved and the choke points at I-4 and 60 fixed. Otherwise, we will certainly have gridlock and cause more commuter traffic to use our neighborhood streets not meant for such volume creating more safety issues.

TBX Express is not only about adding additional capacity with managed toll lanes. TBX Express provides an express bus transit corridor that enables HART the opportunity to increase ridership. TBX provides our school system the opportunity to get our children to school more timely. TBX Express empowers individuals to make their own decisions whether to pay the toll or not without coercion. Those who individually decide to pay the toll also benefit those who individually decide not to pay the toll - a win-win for everyone.

What is striking is where were the TBX opponents when the MPO was doing their Imagine 2040 public outreach? FDOT's TBX Express projects are in the MPO's Long Range Transportation Plan aka LRTP. The MPO Board and the Planning Commission already approved the MPO's LRTP that included TBX.

Page 93 of MPO's LRTP that includes TBX

I-275 was recently widened from downtown south to 60 and displaced numerous homes and businesses. Mayor Buckhorn has been demolishing low income housing units in the urban core for his urban redevelopment projects for years displacing hundreds of low income renters. Where was opposition or concern for those displaced by those projects?

FDOT already owns most of the right of way for the project. FDOT owns the property used by the Tampa Heights Civic Association for their community center. FDOT bought the property in 2006 as part of the I-4 interchange expansion, therefore everyone knew there were plans to expand the interchange. FDOT leased the property to the city of Tampa who leased it to the Tampa Heights Civic Association. The Tampa Heights Civic Association made improvements to the property without obtaining approval from FDOT who owns the property. To help mitigate the issue, the state legislature appropriated $1 million to move the community center to another location.

Public comment ended in the early morning hours of Thursday and finally discussion began by members of the MPO Board. A better description was the political theater began. All of the contentious comments were made from the electeds who were doing political maneuvering most probably because they were running for office or re-election.

Commissioner Miller made a motion, seconded by Tampa City Councilman Guido Maniscalco, to remove the I-4 choke point and segments north and east of the I-4 interchange (sections 6, 7 & 8) from the TBX project. That is simply idiocy. Apparently Miller and Maniscalco are ok with malfunction junction - a major cause of congestion - and are not concerned about those who live in northern or eastern Hillsborough County.

That motion failed 5-11, most probably for it's lack of common sense because the I-4 chokepoint must be fixed. The role of federally mandated MPO's is not to just consider transportation priorities for downtown Tampa.

Miller was playing politics as he had already come out against TBX before the public hearing because he feared a Democrat challenger. He did get a Dem challenger, StopTBX activist Kimberly Overman, who conveniently withdrew on June 23rd the day after Miller voted no on TBX at the public hearing. 

As we posted here, Miller wanted billions more from us with an unnecessary sales tax hike. He wanted billions more tax dollars to fund costly fairy dust transit/rail projects that have no realistic cost estimates, no ridership studies, no technical analysis, no defined corridors - no data to support - except being on a costly wish list. At the same time, Miller will throw away a $3.3 Billion funded project that would actually help relieve congestion in Hillsborough County and Tampa Bay.

Democrat Commissioner Kevin Beckner, term limited in November and running for Clerk of the Court, a countywide race where he faces a tough primary with the Democrat incumbent Pat Frank, bought up the question of what the "human impact" is.

Per the meeting transcript, Debbie Hunt of FDOT answered:

THE MAJORITY OF THE PROPERTIES AS IN THE INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED, CLEARLY SHOWS THAT IF THEY ARE TENANT OCCUPIED AND WE DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THE TENANTS UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE WORKED WITH THE PROPERTY OWNERS. IT PUTS US AHEAD OF THE PROCESS WHICH IS NOT WHAT WE ARE ABLE TO DO.

Are most of the properties that FDOT may still need to acquire rental properties and tenant occupied not owner occupied? That would make sense because the expansion of the interstate has been in FDOT's plans for decades.

Beckner also mentioned "there are a lot of regressive outcomes that could happen with the use of toll lanes". Beckner supported the unnecessary proposed Go Hillsborough sales tax hike. Sales tax hikes are the most regressive and impact lower income the hardest. Apparently Beckner was not concerned about that "regressive outcome".

Democrat City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione, who represents New Tampa and recently submitted her resignation to run for state House seat District 63, wanted to know the tax impact to the city of Tampa. We wonder whether Montelione asked the same tax impact question about the recent I-275 widening at downtown that also took numerous homes and businesses. 

Montelione is a transit supporter and it was obvious she prefers transit and costly trains to user pay toll lanes. However, she made some misguided or misinformed statements. Montelione was concerned about toll lanes on freeways and paying extra for better service. 

The interstate "freeway" is not turning into all toll lanes like the Veterans Expressway as existing interstate capacity remains non tolled. We pay extra for a different level of service everyday. If Montelione wants expedited delivery at the post office, she will pay extra for it. At government agencies, if Montelione wants to pay for a service with a credit card, she will pay an additional fee to use that convenience. If Montelione wants anything expedited or a higher level of service, it is most likely Montelione will pay extra for that expedited service. And that is her individual choice.

The Veterans Expressway expansion has also been in the MPO's LRTP for years and that expansion is currently underway. The Veterans is a toll only road and the expansion is adding two lanes in each direction, one general tolled lane and one express toll lane. I do not recall hearing opposition from Montelione or others about the express toll lanes being built on the Veterans.

Montelione mentioned Broward County who has had Tri Rail for 25 years before they implemented toll lanes on the interstate in South Florida. 

YOU KNOW, SOMEONE A COUPLE OF PEOPLE MENTIONED GOVERNOR
SCOTT AND, YOU KNOW, I ALSO BELIEVE AFTER LISTENING TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE BROWARD COUNTY MPO COME TO A TMA MEETING AND TALK ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL THE TOLL LANES WORK FOR THEM DOWN THERE AND THEY — HE DIDN'T SAY IT BUT HE WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO HAVE THE 3.3 BILLION DOLLARS IN HIS COMMUNITY TO CONTINUE TO ADD TO TOLL NETWORK BUT THEY'VE HAD TRI RAIL FOR 25 YEARS. SO THEY'VE TRIED, YOU KNOW, EVERY OPPORTUNITY THEY HAD TO DO EVERY OTHER STRATEGY AND THEN WENT TO THE TOLL LANES AS, OKAY, WE TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE OUR BURGEONING COMMUNITY AND POPULATION CAN'T BEAR IT ANY MORE NOW LET'S DO TOLL LANES AND WE SEEM TO BE DOING THING BACKWARDS.

How can it be backwards to first do what actually works to relieve congestion? Ti-Rail runs huge deficits and must be bailed out by state taxpayers every year while the toll lanes are successful in South Florida. Tri-Rail is operated by South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA). According to their latest Transportation Development Plan (TDP), farebox revenue (about $13 million) recovers less than 13% of their total operating costs of almost $105.7 million. Ti-Rail requires funding assistance from other sources of over $92 million a year.

The weekday ridership for Tri-Rail is about 14,400 according to Wikipedia.  The 2014 populations of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties total about 5.8 million. With a weekday daily ridership of 14,400, about a quarter of one percent, .24%, of the population in those three counties ride Tri-Rail. Looks more like South Florida did it backwards. How about Tampa Bay do what actually works and will benefit the most first…

Montelione has an issue with users individually deciding to pay for a service they use but she has no issue forcing everyone to pay for services they will never use.

Murman, Beckner and Montelione brought up issues regarding FDOT accountability. No problem with wanting accountability but the irony continued. Beckner wanted all the impact studies, PD&E, mitigation plans, etc. for TBX. However, he never asked for or seemed concerned about accountability regarding the proposed Go Hillsborough sales tax hike. 

Like Miller, Beckner voted to support the Go Hillsborough big sales tax hike to fund costly fairy dust transit projects that have no data - none of the data he was asking from FDOT for the funded TBX project. Beckner never requested any studies, realistic cost estimates, technical analysis, engineering studies or any other detailed information for the rail and taj mahal BRT transit projects included in Go Hillsborough. 

We know why. Because such information or details to back up why these high cost projects were included in the tax hike proposal simply does not exist. That can be a post for another day.

Beckner, like Miller, would throw out a funded project that will actually help reduce congestion. Remember for future reference.

A motion was passed by the MPO Board for FDOT to regularly update the MPO on the TBX project and bring the human impact and tax impact information back to the MPO. 

The political theater wound down as the clock ticked well past 2 am in the morning. The MPO Board members finally voted 12-4 to approve the Transportation Improvement Plan with TBX. The four who voted No were County Commissioners Miller and Beckner and Tampa City Council reps Montelione and Guido Maniscalco. 

It is unfortunate that the TBX project got to such a point because it is not a new project. FDOT did not do a good job of messaging. They allowed the opposition to create false narratives and gain media attention that amplified misinformation about the project which enabled the opposition to politicize the project.

There is no excuse for why our local transportation issue and FDOT's TBX project were dealt with in such a disconnected way. FDOT was a participant in the county's Transportation and Economic Development (TED)/Transportation Policy Leadership Group initiative but the Go Hillsborough campaign royally messed up. Go Hillsborough displayed pictures of I-275 traffic at their public meetings falsely insinuating that Go Hillsborough was going to solve interstate congestion. That was a total misperception because Go Hillsborough had nothing to do with relieving congestion on our interstates. 

Go Hillsborough should have informed the public about the proposed TBX project as part of the overall solution for relieving congestion in Tampa Bay. Go Hillsborough should have been honest that it is the proposed TBX project that will relieve congestion on our interstates not any locally funded plan. Instead Go Hillsborough had their heads stuck in the sand  pushing an unnecessary sales tax hike and not focusing on the issue of mobility.

TBARTA and our MPO should have been championing TBX and helping to educate the public about TBX. Both agencies had no problems in 2010 spending tons of taxpayer money and resources to educate advocate for the failed rail tax. Yet they were almost nowhere to be found educating the public on TBX, a funded project that both their boards had approved.

TBX lives on for another day but the StopTBX crowd will continue opposing TBX and will continue tactics to shut it down.

TBARTA and our MPO must get off the sidelines and help educate the public about the project because both agencies have approved TBX.

The electeds who support TBX need to champion the project and educate their constituents.

FDOT needs to vastly improve their messaging about TBX. They must ensure accountability with accurate communication and regular updates to the MPO but the FDOT also must push back when the opposition collaborates with the media to create false narratives.

TBX survives, for now, but there is work to do to ensure our MPO continues supporting the project and it actually gets implemented. 

The interstate is there, has been for over 50 years and it's not going away - no matter how many TBX opponents would prefer tearing it up.

We need more consistency and less hypocrisy to solve our transportation issue.

Unfortunately we expect more political kabuki dancing before the TBX project starts.