Leaders of No Tax For Tracks, Save Our Streets Pinellas, and Fix Our Roads First Request Gov DeSantis Veto TBARTA Funding

Tampa Bay Leaders of No Tax For Tracks, Save Our Streets Pinellas, and Fix Our Roads First sent a request to Gov DeSantis requesting the Governor veto the annual $1.5 million TBARTA funding.

Here is the request they sent Gov DeSantis:

Tampa Bay Transportation Leaders Call for Gov DeSantis to Veto TBARTA Funding

WHEREAS, TBARTA was created in 2007 by the Legislature at the request of Special Interests seeking a Regional Rail System that was subsequently rejected by voters both in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties,

WHEREAS, TBARTA's purpose is to "Plan, develop, fund, implement, and operate a regional transit system in the Tampa Bay region" but in 14 years of existence has little to no accomplishments other than create impractical and costly Master Plans inadequate for our region,

WHEREAS, the 2021 TBARTA Appropriation Project Request is for a recurring annual subsidy of $1.5M of which 0% will be spent on passenger transit service, 85% is for staff salaries, less than 1/10th of 1% will be spent on transportation planning, and the remaining funds will be spent on Rent/Phones/Travel/Meetings/Legal/State and Federal Lobbyists, etc,

WHEREAS, the TBARTA Executive Director will earn $275,000 which is more than the Governor of Florida,

WHEREAS, TBARTA board members have failed to prioritize attendance at monthly TBARTA business meetings as evidenced by recent lack of quorum for six months in a row,

WHEREAS, TBARTA's mission is duplicative and overlaps existing planning, transit and transportation authorities including PSTA, HART, FDOT, Forward Pinellas, Hillsborough MPO, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, MPOs from surrounding counties, etc.,

WHEREAS, the only transit service operated by TBARTA is a vanpool that could easily be returned back to HART where the service was initiated or to the private sector,

WHEREAS, Transit ridership was already on a multi-year decline since 2014, and was further devastated by COVID-19 and may never return to pre-pandemic levels,

WHEREAS, costly Premium Transit projects advanced by TBARTA prioritize affluent "choice" riders at the expense of "transit dependent" riders and taxpayers who would never use it,

WHEREAS, COVID-19 has increased work-at-home and decimated prior commute patterns that funnel employees to a central business district,

WHEREAS, Technology and Innovation continues to offer private-sector alternatives to traditional Transit,

Therefore we request Governor Ron DeSantis veto the entire $1.5M TBARTA “Life Support” appropriation from the 2022 state budget.

Sincerely,

Tampa Bay Leaders of No Tax For Tracks, Save Our Streets Pinellas, and Fix Our Roads First

Barb Haselden, St. Petersburg, FL

Sharon Calvert, Tierre Verde, FL

Karen Jaroch, Tampa, FL

Tom Gaitens, Apollo Beach, FL

Jim Davison, New Tampa, FL

Taxpayers Owed Refund of Over $512 Million of Unlawful AFT Tax Monies As BOCC Pursues Putting AFT 2.0 On 2022 Ballot

Taxpayers in Hillsborough County have not received a refund, in any way, shape or form, of any of the unlawfully collected $512 Million All for Transportation (AFT) transit tax monies. The fact that taxpayers are owed over a half a billion dollars of AFT 1.0 monies is not stopping the Hillsborough commissioners from pursuing another transit tax hike.  

At the BOCC meeting on Wednesday, 5/5/2021, the Hillsborough County commissioners voted to begin activities for putting AFT 2.0 on the November 2022 ballot. 

DeSantis Signs SB90: Goodbye "ZuckBucks" Hello Election Protection

Election Protection Bill SB90 passed and Gov DeSantis, who helped champion the issue, signed the bill into law yesterday.

The bill prohibits outside organizations from funding election activities in Florida. No more ZuckBucks can be doled out by partisan, biased Billionaires to meddle in our elections in Florida. 

Hillsborough County contradicts itself in separate court filings involving $500 million

Reposted with permission from Tom Rask, Tampa Bay Guardian

What is to be done with the over $500 million that Hillsborough County unlawfully collected to fund transit? In two separate lawsuits, the county is making contradictory and mutually exclusive arguments.

AFT Lied, AFT Tax Died and AFT Tax Must Not Be Revived!

Take about 12 minutes to watch more from our interview with Dr. Jim Davison about transportation funding in Hillsborough County. 

All for Transportation (AFT) was NOT the only transportation funding plan in town in 2018.

Stop Dumping More Tax Dollars Into Failing Transit Agencies and Transit Services Few Use

Transit ridership was declining across the country before the pandemic, The pandemic, together with innovation and technology has created paradigm shifts away from riding transit.

More telecommuters working from home mean less commuters are on the road or on transit. The "choice" transit rider has disappeared. People prefer the security of their individual vehicles to keep them safe and healthy.

Our local Tampa Bay transit expert Steve Polzin recently did a study about the impact of the pandemic on public transit for Reason stating:

Public transportation is uniquely sensitive to changes in the number of people working from home, changes in commuting patterns, and concerns over public health and safety.

COVID-19 has produced changes in the behavior of individuals, businesses, and governments.

Public transportation is among those sectors disrupted by COVID-19 and unlikely to return to pre-COVID-19 conditions.

Polzin's study found here states transit ridership decreased 65% from April 2020 to April 2021 during this past year of the COVID pandemic. 

Biden Bankrupt America Bill Collides with Opening Our Economy

$2.5- $4 Trillion
Biden Bankrupt America bill

Biden and the Democrats are masquerading their Multi-Trillion Dollar Green New Deal as an “Infrastructure and Jobs" bill. It is actually another Democrat massive porkbarrel Omnibus Spending bill to advance Biden's radical climate change agenda.

But Biden's Big Government Socialist spending agenda is hitting the headwind of good news. All across the country our economy is opening back up providing the opportunities for Americans to get back to work.