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Tampa Tribune Editorial
Recent setbacks to local transportation plans and dreams make it clear that the Tampa area cannot count on Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature to offer any help.
Only with innovative thinking to maximize local resources can the region hope to meet its costly highway and transit needs. Recent events suggest it will take political unity and a fighting spirit for the Tampa-St. Petersburg region just to hold on to what it has.
Here are the highlights of a deteriorating situation that make cooperation and new ideas essential.
• The governor vetoed operating money for the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. Created with lots of good will but no taxing power and no visible means of financial support a few years ago, the agency had gotten enough temporary contributions to complete a useful mobility plan for Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. It is capable of doing much more, but now its future is uncertain.
• The governor rejected federal money to build a high-speed train from Tampa to Orlando. The state how has right-of-way along overloaded I-4 and no plan for how to use it.
• The Legislature raided the state's transportation trust fund. With less money, the state Department of Transportation will have to slow down.
• In November Hillsborough voters rejected a plan to increase local sales taxes to begin a rail line and improve bus service within the county. Some critics complained it should have been a regional project.
Some others, philosophically opposed to government-run trains, are trying to build support for a ballot measure to forbid spending taxes on any future rail projects in the county.
We wouldn't be surprised to see a similar effort directed against the county bus agency. With transit advocates fragmented and demoralized, short-sighted decisions pushed by anti-tax activists could be made next year that will require much time and effort to undo.
• State lawmakers almost got away with a plan to confiscate the assets of local expressway authorities and disband these successful agencies, including Tampa's. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority owns the Tampa-to-Brandon toll road and is well positioned to build other user-financed projects.
Surprisingly, a big challenge has become how to keep local toll revenues at home. Next session, expect a new attempt to redirect the cash flow from local commuters to other areas of the state.
That would be a shame because the expressway folks are coming up with some exciting ideas. The authority is leading a study to look into a network of new toll lanes or bridges. Motorists could opt to pay to avoid congestion, and buses could also use the lanes, with the bus agency even helping pay for their construction.
With no leadership from the governor, it's good to see some creative plans developed locally.
Political leaders should also start thinking beyond their own borders. State Sen. Jack Latvala of St. Petersburg suggests looking into consolidating the two big bus agencies in Pinellas and Hillsborough. The Republican head of the Transportation Committee represents parts of both counties. His idea to join forces is worth exploring.
And it could be time to think even bigger. Imagine a multi-county agency, with a broad and equitably balanced tax base and revenue from tolls, running all buses and local toll roads. It could also draw the regional transportation plans and be a force too big for Tallahassee to push around.
If board members were elected, the governor couldn't immobilize it with do-nothing appointees. Inter-county commuters would finally have a chance to vote for someone whose jurisdiction doesn't stop at the county line.
Whatever the right model of governance, the Tampa Bay area must find a way to move ahead.
The region's transportation future has never held more challenges. If they're not solved locally and collaboratively, it looks like they won't be solved at all.
Original post from the Tampa Tribune
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