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When I started my job in Westshore, I thought about moving to South Tampa. Ultimately, I chose to stay in St. Pete, knowing I would have to deal with my friend Howie Frankland every day. I took that trade not because I like St. Pete more than Tampa. It was because I love St. Pete and I like Tampa.
Just because you love something, doesn’t mean there’s not room for improvement. That’s why when I saw the video of what Pinellas would look like with rail, I gasped.
Cool and hip places like Charlotte, Denver and Washington have rail. The cool and hip cities are the places that will be creating jobs and new development. Pinellas has its unique and attractive attributes, but isn’t exactly cool or hip.
But I live in downtown St. Pete. Downtown St. Pete is cool. The problem is that the growth that created St. Pete’s cool factor extends only a few blocks. Outside of that, Pinellas County looks the same as it did when I was a kid. Building light rail in Pinellas won’t make us an art colony with massive financial services companies, but it will create a new vision and reality for Pinellas.
Imagine being able to get to First Friday without hitting a stoplight or paying to park. Imagine playing Angry Birds and not dealing with 19 or Ulmerton. Even better, imagine the tourists and snow birds on trains and better busses, instead of in the left lane with their blinker on.
At each stop on the line would be new shops, new offices and new homes that are designed to capitalize on each light rail station. You wouldn’t need a car for every errand and trip, since neighborhoods would be redeveloped to be more accessible for pedestrians. At each station, jobs would be created and we need that in Pinellas, in addition to growing our coolness.
If you live in Pinellas, even if you’re skeptical of this plan, you have to be happy that we’re not sitting on our hands and watching the world pass us by. Pinellas needs a new future and light rail can be a part of it. Who knows, maybe all of Pinellas will be a cool place to live with good jobs. Then the Hillsborough folks can get to know my pal Howie.
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