Hillsborough Light Rail Plan is Now Up to the Voters

WUSF Article- By Steve Newborn

TAMPA (2010-05-13) 

Hillsborough County Commissioners voted last night to place a referendum on November's ballot to overhaul the county's mass transit system - and start its first light rail line. It's been a journey some twenty years in the making.

"Let the debate begin," said Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

Iorio was all smiles after a three-hour public hearing last night that confirmed what many believed to be a foregone conclusion: the voters will decide whether Hillsborough County gets its first light rail system.

Iorio has been one of the most ardent backers of the 1-cent sales tax, which will come before the county's voters in November. County Commissioners voted in favor of the referendum by a 5 to 2 vote. Commissioners Jim Norman and Al Higgenbotham voted no.

"Now the debate can begin," said Iorio, "and we can put the plan before the voters in detail and answer all their questions and let the voters decide in November."

Although they were outnumbered at the public hearing, opponents of the mass transit plan said now is the wrong time for a sales tax because of the bad economy. Many also said even though every one in the county would have to pay for a light rail system, only a tiny percentage of Hillsborough residents would ever ride it.

Charles Frysenger of Tampa says while a one-penny increase doesn't sound like a lot, it's a 14 percent increase in the sales tax. And he has other reasons:

"All of the purchasers in Hillsborough County pay the one-percent increase in taxes," he said, "only Westshore and USF-to-downtown reap the benefits of the first part of the plan, because that's the only place it's going to be built."

Backers of the plan say we can't build enough new roads to take care of all the traffic that will be on the highways in the coming decades. The pro-rail effort will be led by the some members of the business community, who say the Tampa Bay area has some of the worst commutes in the nation.