SOS! Stop the CA BRT and Save Our Streets

The SOS distress signal on PSTA is out.

PSTA ridership has declined 20% over the last 5 years. PSTA has been fiscally mismanaged for years and is currently bleeding its own reserves to keep operating.

But PSTA CEO Brad Miller, his staff and the governing PSTA Board have refused to responsibly address PSTA's failing financial position.

While PSTA is on its way to insolvency, PSTA is pursuing transit grants for a proposed $42 million Central Avenue BRT (CA BRT) that removes lanes of vehicle traffic and parking along its route for bus only lanes. This costly and unnecessary project duplicates existing routes and is a boondoggle and a bailout to financially distressed PSTA.

State Asks Vinik to Explain Non-Registration of Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment

Reposted with permission from Jim Bleyer, Tampa Bay Beat

The Florida Department of State has notified Jeff Vinik that his corporation, Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment LLC, may be in non-compliance with state statutes and, therefore, subject to fines.

The company has been doing business in Florida since 2010 but never registered as a foreign corporation. By not registering, Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment has been able to shield its officers and directors from public scrutiny.

Wheels Come Off Hillsborough Transit Planning

Cross post by permission of Jim Bleyer, Tampa Bay Beat and author Dr. Jim Davison

Hillsborough County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization has concocted an impractical transit scheme that involves tearing down 10 miles of Interstate-275 in favor of a boulevard concept, a plan ranked last by a survey of Tampa Bay citizens.

All for Transportation's Pervasive Dishonesty

All for Transportation (AFT) has been dishonest from the start. They tried to create a false narrative last June that their tax hike ballot initiative was a "grassroots" initiative launched by everyday citizens.

That was quickly debunked.

Five special interests donors, including Jeff Vinik, Frank Morsani, Vinik's Water Street construction company Coastal Construction, Tampa Bay Partnership and Sykes Enterprises donated $150K each to get AFT's tax hike on the ballot.

The AFT tax hike initiative was a totally paid professional campaign job assisted by some political insiders (more to come on that subject).

Jeff Vinik Owns Tampa Bay Times—in Case You Hadn’t Noticed

Cross post with permission from post author Jim Bleyer, Tampa Bay Beat

Jeff Vinik, through Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment LLC, owns the major interest in the Tampa Bay Times, according to corporate records obtained by Tampa Bay Beat from Bloomberg, the world’s primary distributor of financial data.

It accounts for the Times’ sheer, unfettered promotion of all Vinik enterprises including the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, obfuscation of his role in meddling with Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry, and the deliberate withholding of facts surrounding the new one percent sales tax for transit in Hillsborough County—a gargantuan financial windfall for Vinik.

Transit Study Reveals AFT Sold Voters Costly Can of Worms

The idiom "can of worms" refers to doing something that creates a litany of other problems and creates more trouble and complicates the situation or problem trying to be solved.

The All for Transportation (AFT) 30 year $16 Billion sales tax hike is now looking like a can of worms. AFT ignored transit reality and the reality is happening now.

Legal Questions Remain As County Admits All For Transportation Gave "Oversight" Committee Overreaching Powers

Legal questions remain about who has the "Rightful Authority" to appropriate All for Transportation's $16 Billion tax hike proceeds for 30 years. Now the county and the agencies receiving the tax proceeds are admitting there are big problems with AFT's tax hike charter amendment.

All For Transportation (AFT) touted in their $4 million marketing campaign that the AFT $16 Billion tax hike was keeping "Political Hands" aka duly elected officials out of their tax hike cookie jar. AFT sent thousands of mailers to voters with that message.

All for Transportation Mailer