TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Don't Shoot TBARTA Down Again

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 27, 2008

The Legislature put $2 million in the state budget this year to provide a small staff, offices and operating money for the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who vetoed start-up funds for the brand new transportation agency last year, is rumored to have his veto pen ready to strike the allocation again this year. He shouldn't.

Planning for new transportation systems requires years of meetings, reports, reviews and studies. The process is bureaucratic, but it is also democratic. There is no other way to make sure plans reflect what the region wants and what the federal government will help finance.

Crist is passionate about energy efficiency. He knows from experience there's nothing efficient about commuting patterns in the Tampa Bay area. Rising fuel prices and traffic congestion have made transit an option more people would be willing to use.

TBARTA has been operating with staff from the Department of Transportation and gifts from member counties and the Tampa Bay Partnership, a business organization. If businesses didn't think transportation efforts would pay off in a stronger local economy, they wouldn't be investing in it.

The governor should note that the seven-county agency isn't asking for a permanent source of funding. Neither is it ready to ask for local taxpayers' support. The board hasn't decided how costs should be locally shared.

But the state would be smart to help such multicounty efforts get rolling.

Crist hasn't said what he'll do but has warned, "The budget's tight." As gas approaches $4 a gallon, local budgets are tight, too, and getting tighter. The best way Crist can help is to leave his pen in his pocket.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT