TBX and the Political Kabuki Dancing

Two weeks after the Go Hillsborough sales tax hike died, the MPO held a public hearing June 22nd on their Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). The contentious part was whether to include FDOT's TBX Express project in the 5 year TIP. 

TBX Master Plan

Hundreds showed up and the StopTBX crowd as expected showed up in full force. 185 people signed up to speak and overflow crowds had to watch outside the 2nd floor Board room. The meeting started at 6pm Wednesday and went to well after 2am Thursday morning. 

Commissioner Les Miller, Chair of the MPO, allowed the normal 3 minute public comment from those who signed up to speak. Miller also allowed speakers, all from the opposition, to yield their time to other speakers. One opponent spoke for 12 minutes. 

The transcript of the meeting can be found here or downloaded here. Some of the political kabuki dancing was quite a show.

We understand there are valid concerns from those directly impacted by TBX that must be mitigated. However, some of the statements made by opponents were simply wrong, some disingenuous, some misleading and some obviously agenda driven. 

Statements made by TBX opponents included we must get out of our cars, we should not be building more roads, more roads causes air pollution and we need more transit options.

TBX opponent former Democrat Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul Sena, who lives on the wealthy enclave of Davis Island not impacted by TBX, stated: 

I WANT YOU TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS VOTE IN MY OPINION IS A CHARACTER DEFINING VOTE.

THERE ARE  EVEN  SOME COMMUNITIES OUTSIDE OF THE U.S. PRIMARILY WHERE  THE ENTIRE CENTER OF THE COMMUNITY IS FOR BICYCLISTS, PEDESTRIANS, TRANSIT, AND A VARIETY OF CHOICES.

THOSE COMMUNITIES ARE SO MUCH FUN TO VISIT AND LIVE IN, AND OFFER THEIR RESIDENTS THIS BROAD AND RICH VARIETY OF CHOICES.

This is a character defining vote? Saul Sena says we need to be more like communities outside of the US? Huh? This is gobbly gook from someone who has known about FDOT's plans for years.

Saul Sena served on the Tampa City Council for 20 years which was most of her entire working career. She knew FDOT has had the expansion of our interstates in their plans for 20 years. She stated at the public hearing that she was a former MPO Board member so she knew that expanding our interstates was in the MPO's approved 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan. 

Suddenly when funding from our state/federal gas taxes we already pay becomes available to actually implement the interstate expansion Saul Sena has an issue.

Saul Sena must understand transportation funding and knows the gas tax is a user fee that was specifically implemented to fund our roads, highways and bridges. She also must know that federal grants for high cost rail and transit projects is not "free" money. Those grants come from the feds general revenue fund which today is simply more federal "debt" dollars as we approach $20 Trillion in debt.

Some TBX opponents wrongly called a toll a tax. Tolls are a user fee that individuals voluntarily decide to pay for the benefit of improving the convenience of their travel. User fees are the fairest to everyone - you use it you pay for it.  

There were lots of rah-rah's for rail, especially from the StopTBX contingency. They wanted all kinds of rail - light rail, commuter rail, high speed rail. Ironically those who were opposing user pays toll lanes prefer to force everyone to pay for highly subsidized costly rail that will do nothing to relieve congestion and few will use.

There was also a large contingent of TBX supporters, including (for transparency) myself, who showed up to speak. 

After a time, the comments became repetitive as nothing new was stated.

Over 1.2 million are expected to move to the Tampa Bay area by 2040, including 600K to Hillsborough county. Regardless of the rhetoric, most newcomers will be bringing their cars and they will not be moving downtown. 

Therefore, our interstate system, the foundation and backbone of our transportation system in the Tampa Bay area, must be expanded and improved and the choke points at I-4 and 60 fixed. Otherwise, we will certainly have gridlock and cause more commuter traffic to use our neighborhood streets not meant for such volume creating more safety issues.

TBX Express is not only about adding additional capacity with managed toll lanes. TBX Express provides an express bus transit corridor that enables HART the opportunity to increase ridership. TBX provides our school system the opportunity to get our children to school more timely. TBX Express empowers individuals to make their own decisions whether to pay the toll or not without coercion. Those who individually decide to pay the toll also benefit those who individually decide not to pay the toll - a win-win for everyone.

What is striking is where were the TBX opponents when the MPO was doing their Imagine 2040 public outreach? FDOT's TBX Express projects are in the MPO's Long Range Transportation Plan aka LRTP. The MPO Board and the Planning Commission already approved the MPO's LRTP that included TBX.

Page 93 of MPO's LRTP that includes TBX

I-275 was recently widened from downtown south to 60 and displaced numerous homes and businesses. Mayor Buckhorn has been demolishing low income housing units in the urban core for his urban redevelopment projects for years displacing hundreds of low income renters. Where was opposition or concern for those displaced by those projects?

FDOT already owns most of the right of way for the project. FDOT owns the property used by the Tampa Heights Civic Association for their community center. FDOT bought the property in 2006 as part of the I-4 interchange expansion, therefore everyone knew there were plans to expand the interchange. FDOT leased the property to the city of Tampa who leased it to the Tampa Heights Civic Association. The Tampa Heights Civic Association made improvements to the property without obtaining approval from FDOT who owns the property. To help mitigate the issue, the state legislature appropriated $1 million to move the community center to another location.

Public comment ended in the early morning hours of Thursday and finally discussion began by members of the MPO Board. A better description was the political theater began. All of the contentious comments were made from the electeds who were doing political maneuvering most probably because they were running for office or re-election.

Commissioner Miller made a motion, seconded by Tampa City Councilman Guido Maniscalco, to remove the I-4 choke point and segments north and east of the I-4 interchange (sections 6, 7 & 8) from the TBX project. That is simply idiocy. Apparently Miller and Maniscalco are ok with malfunction junction - a major cause of congestion - and are not concerned about those who live in northern or eastern Hillsborough County.

That motion failed 5-11, most probably for it's lack of common sense because the I-4 chokepoint must be fixed. The role of federally mandated MPO's is not to just consider transportation priorities for downtown Tampa.

Miller was playing politics as he had already come out against TBX before the public hearing because he feared a Democrat challenger. He did get a Dem challenger, StopTBX activist Kimberly Overman, who conveniently withdrew on June 23rd the day after Miller voted no on TBX at the public hearing. 

As we posted here, Miller wanted billions more from us with an unnecessary sales tax hike. He wanted billions more tax dollars to fund costly fairy dust transit/rail projects that have no realistic cost estimates, no ridership studies, no technical analysis, no defined corridors - no data to support - except being on a costly wish list. At the same time, Miller will throw away a $3.3 Billion funded project that would actually help relieve congestion in Hillsborough County and Tampa Bay.

Democrat Commissioner Kevin Beckner, term limited in November and running for Clerk of the Court, a countywide race where he faces a tough primary with the Democrat incumbent Pat Frank, bought up the question of what the "human impact" is.

Per the meeting transcript, Debbie Hunt of FDOT answered:

THE MAJORITY OF THE PROPERTIES AS IN THE INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED, CLEARLY SHOWS THAT IF THEY ARE TENANT OCCUPIED AND WE DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THE TENANTS UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE WORKED WITH THE PROPERTY OWNERS. IT PUTS US AHEAD OF THE PROCESS WHICH IS NOT WHAT WE ARE ABLE TO DO.

Are most of the properties that FDOT may still need to acquire rental properties and tenant occupied not owner occupied? That would make sense because the expansion of the interstate has been in FDOT's plans for decades.

Beckner also mentioned "there are a lot of regressive outcomes that could happen with the use of toll lanes". Beckner supported the unnecessary proposed Go Hillsborough sales tax hike. Sales tax hikes are the most regressive and impact lower income the hardest. Apparently Beckner was not concerned about that "regressive outcome".

Democrat City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione, who represents New Tampa and recently submitted her resignation to run for state House seat District 63, wanted to know the tax impact to the city of Tampa. We wonder whether Montelione asked the same tax impact question about the recent I-275 widening at downtown that also took numerous homes and businesses. 

Montelione is a transit supporter and it was obvious she prefers transit and costly trains to user pay toll lanes. However, she made some misguided or misinformed statements. Montelione was concerned about toll lanes on freeways and paying extra for better service. 

The interstate "freeway" is not turning into all toll lanes like the Veterans Expressway as existing interstate capacity remains non tolled. We pay extra for a different level of service everyday. If Montelione wants expedited delivery at the post office, she will pay extra for it. At government agencies, if Montelione wants to pay for a service with a credit card, she will pay an additional fee to use that convenience. If Montelione wants anything expedited or a higher level of service, it is most likely Montelione will pay extra for that expedited service. And that is her individual choice.

The Veterans Expressway expansion has also been in the MPO's LRTP for years and that expansion is currently underway. The Veterans is a toll only road and the expansion is adding two lanes in each direction, one general tolled lane and one express toll lane. I do not recall hearing opposition from Montelione or others about the express toll lanes being built on the Veterans.

Montelione mentioned Broward County who has had Tri Rail for 25 years before they implemented toll lanes on the interstate in South Florida. 

YOU KNOW, SOMEONE A COUPLE OF PEOPLE MENTIONED GOVERNOR
SCOTT AND, YOU KNOW, I ALSO BELIEVE AFTER LISTENING TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE BROWARD COUNTY MPO COME TO A TMA MEETING AND TALK ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL THE TOLL LANES WORK FOR THEM DOWN THERE AND THEY — HE DIDN'T SAY IT BUT HE WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO HAVE THE 3.3 BILLION DOLLARS IN HIS COMMUNITY TO CONTINUE TO ADD TO TOLL NETWORK BUT THEY'VE HAD TRI RAIL FOR 25 YEARS. SO THEY'VE TRIED, YOU KNOW, EVERY OPPORTUNITY THEY HAD TO DO EVERY OTHER STRATEGY AND THEN WENT TO THE TOLL LANES AS, OKAY, WE TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE OUR BURGEONING COMMUNITY AND POPULATION CAN'T BEAR IT ANY MORE NOW LET'S DO TOLL LANES AND WE SEEM TO BE DOING THING BACKWARDS.

How can it be backwards to first do what actually works to relieve congestion? Ti-Rail runs huge deficits and must be bailed out by state taxpayers every year while the toll lanes are successful in South Florida. Tri-Rail is operated by South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA). According to their latest Transportation Development Plan (TDP), farebox revenue (about $13 million) recovers less than 13% of their total operating costs of almost $105.7 million. Ti-Rail requires funding assistance from other sources of over $92 million a year.

The weekday ridership for Tri-Rail is about 14,400 according to Wikipedia.  The 2014 populations of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties total about 5.8 million. With a weekday daily ridership of 14,400, about a quarter of one percent, .24%, of the population in those three counties ride Tri-Rail. Looks more like South Florida did it backwards. How about Tampa Bay do what actually works and will benefit the most first…

Montelione has an issue with users individually deciding to pay for a service they use but she has no issue forcing everyone to pay for services they will never use.

Murman, Beckner and Montelione brought up issues regarding FDOT accountability. No problem with wanting accountability but the irony continued. Beckner wanted all the impact studies, PD&E, mitigation plans, etc. for TBX. However, he never asked for or seemed concerned about accountability regarding the proposed Go Hillsborough sales tax hike. 

Like Miller, Beckner voted to support the Go Hillsborough big sales tax hike to fund costly fairy dust transit projects that have no data - none of the data he was asking from FDOT for the funded TBX project. Beckner never requested any studies, realistic cost estimates, technical analysis, engineering studies or any other detailed information for the rail and taj mahal BRT transit projects included in Go Hillsborough. 

We know why. Because such information or details to back up why these high cost projects were included in the tax hike proposal simply does not exist. That can be a post for another day.

Beckner, like Miller, would throw out a funded project that will actually help reduce congestion. Remember for future reference.

A motion was passed by the MPO Board for FDOT to regularly update the MPO on the TBX project and bring the human impact and tax impact information back to the MPO. 

The political theater wound down as the clock ticked well past 2 am in the morning. The MPO Board members finally voted 12-4 to approve the Transportation Improvement Plan with TBX. The four who voted No were County Commissioners Miller and Beckner and Tampa City Council reps Montelione and Guido Maniscalco. 

It is unfortunate that the TBX project got to such a point because it is not a new project. FDOT did not do a good job of messaging. They allowed the opposition to create false narratives and gain media attention that amplified misinformation about the project which enabled the opposition to politicize the project.

There is no excuse for why our local transportation issue and FDOT's TBX project were dealt with in such a disconnected way. FDOT was a participant in the county's Transportation and Economic Development (TED)/Transportation Policy Leadership Group initiative but the Go Hillsborough campaign royally messed up. Go Hillsborough displayed pictures of I-275 traffic at their public meetings falsely insinuating that Go Hillsborough was going to solve interstate congestion. That was a total misperception because Go Hillsborough had nothing to do with relieving congestion on our interstates. 

Go Hillsborough should have informed the public about the proposed TBX project as part of the overall solution for relieving congestion in Tampa Bay. Go Hillsborough should have been honest that it is the proposed TBX project that will relieve congestion on our interstates not any locally funded plan. Instead Go Hillsborough had their heads stuck in the sand  pushing an unnecessary sales tax hike and not focusing on the issue of mobility.

TBARTA and our MPO should have been championing TBX and helping to educate the public about TBX. Both agencies had no problems in 2010 spending tons of taxpayer money and resources to educate advocate for the failed rail tax. Yet they were almost nowhere to be found educating the public on TBX, a funded project that both their boards had approved.

TBX lives on for another day but the StopTBX crowd will continue opposing TBX and will continue tactics to shut it down.

TBARTA and our MPO must get off the sidelines and help educate the public about the project because both agencies have approved TBX.

The electeds who support TBX need to champion the project and educate their constituents.

FDOT needs to vastly improve their messaging about TBX. They must ensure accountability with accurate communication and regular updates to the MPO but the FDOT also must push back when the opposition collaborates with the media to create false narratives.

TBX survives, for now, but there is work to do to ensure our MPO continues supporting the project and it actually gets implemented. 

The interstate is there, has been for over 50 years and it's not going away - no matter how many TBX opponents would prefer tearing it up.

We need more consistency and less hypocrisy to solve our transportation issue.

Unfortunately we expect more political kabuki dancing before the TBX project starts.