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Visions Of Regional Transit Bump Against Local Realities

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 17, 2008

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is taking the lead and pushing hard to give Hillsborough voters a chance, finally, to say yes or no to a rail transit proposal.

Not everyone is happy about that. Red flags are up warning she is moving so far ahead of regional plans that the state won't help pay for the costly project, which means it couldn't be built.

We encourage the mayor to keep pushing and for regional planning efforts to continue. By early next year the regional plans will have caught up, and everyone should be on the same track in time for a 2010 vote.

Iorio and others, including Hillsborough Commissioner Mark Sharpe, are right not to entirely delegate Tampa's big-city commuting challenges to the whims of a seven-county board. Unlike Iorio, many of the local elected leaders on the board are accountable to small-town constituencies more interested in keeping taxes low than in investing in faster travel. Iorio's strategy is that some jurisdiction has to go first, and it makes sense to start where the traffic is the worst and the commuters most eager for options.

When the first segment is open, neighboring counties can see the benefits and join when they're ready.

It is tempting to dismiss the whole controversy as a misunderstanding. For one thing, there is no chance Tampa or the Hillsborough County Commission would build a rail line that doesn't fit into regional plans in the works. For another, it would be unthinkable for the state Department of Transportation to ignore Hillsborough's top transportation priority and deny us our own gas tax dollars.

Tensions Are Real

Yet the tensions can't be dismissed. They're real. On the new Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority, referred to as TBARTA, everyone is still smiling and holding hands, but if you look closely, you'll see some of the grips are painfully tight. It's an indication of the tough questions ahead for the diverse region. Who goes first? Who pays and how? What happens if one county disagrees with the others?

The urgent question is what happens if Hillsborough moves ahead with a stand-alone rail plan. We asked Don Skelton, head of this DOT district, if the state would help pay for it. He said, "My advice for the mayor, and I think she is in line with that as well, let's make sure it's part of a regional vision. If their plan is not part of the regional vision, we likely will not be in that discussion."

Since the regional vision won't be complete until the end of the year, Iorio can't be sure right now what it will look like. The Tampa rail plan goes from the University of South Florida area though downtown Tampa, on to West Shore and through Tampa International Airport, ending just north of the airport. It does not go west into Pinellas or north into Pasco, but it could.

A one-county system bothers Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard, who has already seen a proposed Clearwater-to-Tampa rail line eliminated from the competition to be on the regional planning map.

"I was disappointed to see it go," he says, "but I think it's critical that the initial leg of the rail go between at least two counties - downtown St. Pete to the airport and downtown Tampa. That in my mind's eye is the first leg."

Iorio can't see it because it doesn't work politically.

"I don't see any other MPO (metropolitan planning organization) with an adopted transit plan," she says. "I don't see anyone else ready to lead a referendum."

The board of Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, the bus operator known as HART, recently voted unanimously to update the 2002 Tampa Rail Project. The update, which includes a costly analysis of alternatives, is a prerequisite of the Federal Transit Administration to apply for federal funding.

"We're not proposing anything that TBARTA doesn't agree with," says Ray Chiaramonte, head of the Hillsborough MPO, the agency responsible for planning the county's major transportation improvements. "The MPO plan will be adopted in November 2009. The timing is absolutely perfect for a 2010 referendum."

Hillsborough, like Pinellas and Sarasota, is authorized under state law to allow voters to increase the sales tax by up to a penny for transportation. TBARTA has no taxing power. The Legislature could allow it to tax either sales or property, but at this point no lawmaker is proposing that.

HART has long been supported by property taxes in Hillsborough County, and it also has the power to win state and federal grants and to operate buses or trains in surrounding counties. Part of the tension with the mayor's proposal is that HART would be positioned to build and operate it, not TBARTA.

The Tampa Bay Partnership, a regional business group, appears to want HART to stick with buses. The group lobbied tirelessly for the legislation creating TBARTA. One of its most active volunteers, Joe Smith, has appeared at numerous meetings to try to keep everyone in line behind TBARTA and its sponsor, the DOT.

Fight For Funding

"It's like having the teacher tutor you for a test and giving you all the answers," he said of working closely with state transportation officials. "Stu Rogel (head of the Tampa Bay Partnership) and myself, we spoke to 35 congressmen. To a person, they said, bring us a regional plan - not one city and not one county - and we will fight tooth and nail to get you funding. If we stay the course, I believe the mayor will get most if not all what she's talking about in her plan."

Skelton has a vision bigger than one light-rail line.

"A lot of highway investment still needs to be made," he tells us. "High-occupancy or managed lanes. The bus system needs to be able to support a regional transit vision. That needs to come out of the master planning process."

He's right, but Iorio can't be expected to wait patiently. The region is behind on roads and buses - and commuter rail. For 20 years rail has been studied and delayed.

Mayor Iorio is right to start small, start where the need is obvious, and start now.

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