Is Tampa's light rail train stalled?

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By Mitch Perry
Mark Sharpe's arms are flailing dramatically. Given just 15 minutes to speed through what is usually a 25-minute Power Point presentation on why he thinks Hillsborough County needs to approve a one-cent sales tax referendum this fall, the county commissioner looks at a blown-up photo of a massive traffic jam behind him and proclaims, "That is part of our present, and if we don't do something, that will be part of the future." The screen then shifts to a closeup of a Wall Street Journal article titled, "Is Florida over?," which allows the former U.S. Navy officer to riff on his fears of the Bay area becoming less economically competitive if our transportation needs aren't addressed.

Staring at the 200 or so people at the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee, many of whom are staring back with blank visages, he pauses and admits, "I know this is not popular." Sharpe then furiously wraps up his address with a tribute to infrastructure, bellowing, "Americans BUILD! We BUILD -- Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower -- we BUILD!"

His speech ends. In some quarters of the Tampa Bay area, such a performance would inspire cheering, but not at this event. Following Sharpe on stage is Orlando-area conservative talk show host Doug Goetzloe, a fierce anti-tax zealot who offers such banalities as "Light rail is an expensive plaything. It doesn't work," ignoring how it seems to work pretty efficiently in many of our major American cities. Later he'll call it Hillsborough's version of Boston's infamous Big Dig project.

Shortly thereafter, State Committeeman A.J. Matthews reads the vote tally of Hillsborough Republicans: For Goetzloe, 115 votes, for Shape, 32.

Of course, that's a better reception than the commissioner received at the Blaise Alfano Center in North Tampa a few weeks earlier. That's where he squared off against David Caton, the former anti-porn zealot who has become a leading figure protesting against the referendum. The Tampa 9/12 group, a local tea party offshoot that was dead-set against supporting another government "boondoggle," hosted the event.

Sharpe is hardly the only public official supporting the transit referendum (Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has also been out in front on the issue for years), but he has lately become the face and voice of the movement — for now, at least. He's become a one-man show going to every part of the County to sell the referendum, which supporters say is necessary for the region to grow competitively. And his social networking skills are by far the most accomplished of any elected official in Tampa Bay, what with his blog (marksharpefl.com) and Best of the Bay-winning Twitter updates.

Though organizers say there will be a whole community movement to educate and advocate for the penny sales tax once the ballot language is approved for the measure, momentum for the project seems to be stalled. The "pesky details" (as the Tampa Tribune referred to them in a recent editorial) -- including the composition of an oversight board and questions of how the money will be distributed between the county and the three cities inside it -- continue to stall the implementation of an actual ordinance that can be debated.

Last week, Hillsborough County Commissioners learned that the earliest they might be able to vote on approving ballot language would be sometime in April, delaying an education and marketing campaign that advocates say they will unleash once there's an actual measure to support.

"I think the strategy from the other side is to run the clock out," Sharpe told CL last week before the commission's meeting. "Throw everything that you can at it. My response is, that's good. As they throw a lot of dirt in the air, people are going to be able to see what that is. That's going to frustrate voters."

Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern is one concerned observer. Though the transit project has major implications for Tampa, for now the power resides east on Kennedy Boulevard with the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). She admits to getting a little antsy about the deliberations, and says what needs to happen is a major advertising campaign. "They shouldn't be relying on political consultants," she says. "They need to hire a local ad agency, and they need to bring a consultant who's done this in the past. End of story."

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Agency, also known as HART, has for months been paying Alan Wulkan, a consultant with the group InfraConsult who's been involved in similar campaigns. Wulkan says there's plenty of time for a full-fledged campaign and isn't concerned that ballot language hasn't been completed yet. "These are not easy decisions for a commission or any policy board to get right when it comes to planning," he says. "Frankly, I think they're making good progress. It's only March. Many communities don't finalize this far in advance."

The Tampa Bay Partnership said last week that they have a team of political and communication experts advising them currently on the light-rail initiative, and confirmed for CL that one such organization is the Tampa-based Victory Group, led by famed GOP consultant Adam Goodman (who did not return our call for comment).

It has been expected that the heavy lifting to get the business community behind the transit measure would be shepherded by the Tampa Bay Partnership. But in a brief interview last week, the Partnership's Stuart Rogel deemphasized the role his group will play in marketing the proposal. "We will be a part of, but we won't be the lead organization," he said.

Mayor Iorio and Commissioner Sharpe certainly hope that the Partnership plays a key role. Business groups have been instrumental in building support throughout the country in getting similar rail/transit projects approved in recent years, and pushing a sales tax through the Hillsborough County electorate will be a formidable task -- and would be even if the state and the area weren't undergoing some of the highest unemployment numbers in over three decades. Several sources that refused to be identified said the reason the Partnership's involvement is so crucial is that Mayor Iorio has alienated business groups in the city.

Former Tampa area Congressman Jim Davis has also been consulting with Sharpe, the mayor and others closely linked to the proposed measure. He acknowledges that passing the measure will be tough because "you're asking people to spend money on something and have to convince them that it's worthwhile." Davis said he hopes to see a bipartisan and "hopefully a grassroots campaign" for the measure once the language is approved by the Board, and says he hopes that includes a website that would provide a clearinghouse for information.

There has been an intense back-and-forth in the last few weeks between Sharpe, Iorio, HART Executive Director David Armijo and city and county staff on issues like governance, oversight, bonding and, most importantly, the actual 75 words that will be put in front of Hillsborough voters this fall. Armijo admitted during a HART meeting last week that writing the ordinance was taking up more time than he thought it would.

But several local officials contacted by CL insisted that it was too early to panic, though they admit it would be better for all concerned if ballot language had been approved by now.

University of Tampa Professor Scott Paine says that his sense is that "the public is frustrated with our transportation system [and with our county's leadership]. Given the right initiative and the right argument for it, I think it can win even in our bad economy."

Former Tampa City Councilman and now television analyst Bob Buckhorn believes that with the exception "of the insiders," the rail debate isn't resonating one way or another right now. He discounts any organizing effort to stop it.

But maybe he shouldn't.

Hillsborough GOP powerbroker Sam Rashid says he'll be part of as many as a half-dozen groups in the county that are committed to defeating the measure. He says it's never easy fighting a ballot question, as "there's unlimited money on the opposing side." But he says that the anti government-spending mood of the country makes it easier for foes of light rail than a year or two ago.

David Caton of the Florida Family Association may not be well financed, but he does have his e-mail list of 35,000 supporters, as well as the free media to get his message of opposition out. Speaking briefly to CL last week at the County Center, Caton was particularly irked at the reluctance of officials working on the measure to commit to a hard 75/25 split of how the funds will be distributed (with 25 percent of the monies going to road projects and the other 75 percent to bus and rail). Last week, officials thought they would include that language in the Interlocal agreement but not put it on the ballot, but it's the Commissioners who will ultimately decide whether or not to include that.

"This is a concern I've had all along, that they're going to dupe the voters, they're going to prey on the ignorance of the voters to get them to approve something they wouldn't otherwise approve," Caton said. "I'm not seeing any positive moves here, I think it's very deceptive."

Critics of the transit plan, like Commissioner Jim Norman, have insisted that the 25 percent of the penny sales tax devoted to road projects is nothing more than a fig leaf designed to convince County residents who don't support light rail to believe that there's something in it for them.

At a BOCC workshop last month, he called out supporters to "man up," accusing them of trying to obscure the rail component of the measure. On that count he was dead on, and officials scrambled to say that they would put the word "rail" back in for the next iteration.

At a recent luncheon with members of the county commission, Tampa City Council, school board members and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Norman blasted the whole idea of putting aside 25 percent of the revenues from the tax to fund road projects. He said, "The reason you put the 25 percent in there is to try to get people in this county to vote for it. ... You hope to entice people in different sections of this community to vote for this referendum. It is not a road project referendum. It is a rail referendum. A lot of famous people once said you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. This is a rail project, plain and simple."

And playing into Norman's paranoia is the somewhat embarrassing spectacle of what road projects would receive funding if the measure is approved.

Environmental activists had been angered that several of the roads that would be widened under the proposal were already supposed to be widened using funding from developers in the South County region, with six of those road-widenings directly backed by a single developer, Newland Communities.

But after Lucia Garsys, the county's planning and infrastructure services administrator, said last week that those proposals had been scrubbed because they were previously listed as developer-funded projects, commissioners Ken Hagan and Rose Ferlita said that they saw little incentive for anybody in that part of the electorate, with Hagan saying, "This area will never see any rail, and now that they're not seeing any road projects, I don't see any reason why any South County voter would support this."

Hagan and Ferlita are Republicans who have so far avoided party pressure to back away from supporting the proposal, which would simply allow people to vote on a tax increase to fund transit. But their concerns demonstrate that before the campaign for light rail even begins, it still has to get on the ballot first.

TRU Testifies on State Budget Needs for Transit

The Michigan legislature has begun debate on the 2010-11 state budget.

Today the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation took testimony on public transit and specifically invited TRU to testify. Michigan Capitol building I was joined by the Michigan Public Transit Association, SMART, MassTrans, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and Flint's MTA in speaking out for increased transit investment.

I used the opportunity to make two specific asks:

* Hold transit harmless, not stealing any money from transit to fill gaps in the general fund budget
* Increase transit revenue with a small increase in the gas tax and vehicle registration fees

While there are many reasons why transit funding is vital, I focused on a few key reasons:

*
Transit is a vital resource for struggling families to save money and for workers to get to scarce jobs.
*
Transit can and should be used by strapped cities to save money on employee cars and parking.
*
Transit can draw enormous federal investment, if we invest at the state and local levels (see last week's e-newsletter).
*
Transit can attract enormous private investment, with a 700% return on investment (according to updated studies).
*
Michigan can never win the race to the bottom, out competing Mississippi, Mexico, and China for lowest taxes and wages. Instead we should compete with Illinois and Minnesota for high skill workers and great infrastructure.
In addition to defending existing funding and fighting for increased funding, the other vital issue before the legislature is the creation of a Regional Transit Authority. As I've expressed many times before, these are the next two key issues that must be addressed to improve transit.

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Red Alert!

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Calling All Unions. Red Alert! Red Alert!

Alabama Bus Drivers Need Strike Support!

The Network to Fight for Economic Justice (NFEJ) is asking for union to union solidarity with the Alabama bus drivers of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1208 based in Jackson, MS.

The ATU organized the University of Alabama bus drivers who work for a private company called First Transit, part of a big British corporation FirstGroup, PLC. Alabama bus drivers make poverty wages of $9.50 per hour. Discrimination and racism in the South, combined with the repression of union activity, result in the lowest wages in the country. Only the unity of workers in a union can put an end to this abuse.

Mario Harmon, Secretary Treasurer of ATU Local 1208, is very appreciative of all the support the NFEJ has provided so far and wanted to thank his fellow union activists. He told us about Dr. Witt sending out “scab vans” to pick up students at bus stops. We are doing a call-in to stop this TODAY!

We are asking unions to do three things to show solidarity:

1. Union solidarity statements to the Alabama bus drivers union. Email support to Union Steward Tia Brown at tb3341@yahoo.com
2. Donate to the Alabama bus drivers strike fund
3. Promote the NFEJ call-in to University of Alabama President Dr. Witt at 205-348-5103 and tell him to “Stop the scab vans!” and “Support the union bus drivers!”

Please write checks out to: “ATU Local 1208 Strike Fund”

Mail to: ATU Local 1208
C/o Mario Harmon, Secretary Treasurer
245 Treehaven Drive
Jackson, MS 39212


Contact the Network to Fight for Economic Justice (NFEJ) at www.wesayfightback.com

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A recurring theme in transit?

As ridership is up I see a recurring theme in city transit cutting what is need most by it's most vulnerable citizens for example.
'Good Possibility' CTA Bus Drivers Vote on Strike Monday

Mary Wisniewski
The Chicago Sun-Times


ILLINOIS - The leader of the union representing CTA bus drivers says there could be a strike vote Monday in the wake of CTA service and staff cuts.

"It's a very good possibility," Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, said Tuesday.

The bus drivers union has suffered the majority of the 1,057 layoffs the CTA imposed earlier this month to close a $95.6 million budget gap. The transit agency cut bus service 18 percent and L service 9 percent Feb. 7.

Jefferson said the CTA has been violating the union's contract -- for instance, by requiring part-time workers, who are supposedly limited to 32 hours a week, to work overtime amounting to 15-to-16-hour days to make up for the people laid off.

CTA spokeswoman Sheila Gregory said a strike would violate a state law that bars government employees from striking if they are "essential service employees."

Gregory said CTA management plans to meet today with Local 241 officials -- their first face-to-face meeting since the cut Robert Kelly, president of Local 308, which represents L workers, said he doesn't plan to bring up the idea of a strike to his members.

"It would hurt the riding public," Kelly said. "They've suffered enough.

Can Motor City combat its economic ills by becoming Rail City?

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This is the heart of the fight that we are in not just for Detroit but for all of us.
Lee Gaddies

Mass transit for Motor City
A rendering of the Woodward Avenue light-rail line backers hope to
begin construction on this year.By Mike Scott, contributing
writerFebruary 15, 2010: 4:53 PM ET


DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- Can Motor City combat its economic ills by
becoming Rail City?

Along Detroit's Woodward Avenue, a downtown stretch that seems
permanently stuck in the "emerging" phase of business development,
community leaders are hoping a new light rail system will help spark a
renaissance. The city plans to break ground this year on stage one of
a $420 million project: the first modern, mass-transit initiative in a
city long synonymous with automobiles.

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"Transit in Detroit has kind of been a joke," says Matt Cullen, CEO of
M1 Rail, a private consortium heading the development effort. "We've
been a victim of balkanized politics and other efforts. But now we
have a plan in place. We'll get it done, and we feel it will have a
huge impact on this region."

In most cities, civic cash would pay for major infrastructure projects
like a new mass transit system. But in Detroit, which faces a $300
million annual budget deficit, private backers have stepped in to try
to kick-start the venture.

It's the only project of its kind in the U.S., and the donor list
reads like a Who's Who of area megamillionaires: Compuware (CPWR) CEO
Peter Karmanos, Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Penske Corporation
CEO Roger Penske and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch are among those
ponying up $125 million to cover the project's entire phase-one price
tag.

The planned 3.4-mile first stretch of light rail service would
encompass some of Detroit's best-known entertainment districts,
including Comerica Park, home of baseball's Tigers, and Ford Field,
where the Lions play football. The route winds past the Fox Theater
district and extends into Detroit's New Center area, the center of
gravity for many local hospitals and medical facilities, as well as
much of the Wayne State University campus.

"With this light rail system we will have a much greater concentration
of business investment possibilities," says Rip Rapson, CEO of the
Kresge Foundation, which awards grants to nonprofit organizations in a
variety of fields. The foundation has committed $35 million to the M1
Rail project.

The obstacles
Is a rail line the best way to bring much-needed shoppers into
Detroit's retail zones? That question -- and political skirmishes over
funding for the rail line's future extensions -- kept the M1 plans
stalled last year.

Proponents say there's little to lose.

"If we can pull something off of this magnitude I think businesses
will see Detroit in a different light," says Sarah Hubbard, senior
vice president of government relations for the Detroit Regional
Chamber of Commerce. "Business leaders have come to the table and are
ready to act on this. It's going to be as much of a psychological
benefit as anything."

Khalid Diab, manager of The Whitney -- a high-end restaurant on
Woodward Avenue -- sees the rail line as "free advertising" for
businesses on the route.

"You're not zipping by at 50 miles an hour. Your attention is on what
you are passing by, rather than the road you are driving on," he says.
He thinks trains could make downtown Detroit a more popular nighttime
destination.

But some on the proposed route are skeptical.

"I just don't know how significant the impact would be, because most
of our foot traffic drives and wouldn't take mass transit anyway,"
says Kevin Prihod, CEO of the Detroit Science Center.

Funding is another challenge. M1 was ready to break ground last year,
but the project went on temporary hiatus when Detroit's Department of
Transportation got involved. DOT had its own light-rail plans
percolating, for a more extensive system reaching several miles
further to 8 Mile Road, the traditional dividing line between urban
Detroit and the city's suburbs. (Eminem's 2002 movie 8 Mile
popularized the cultural boundary.)

DOT had plans, but not enough cash. Its executives hit on a novel
solution. The rail project would qualify for federal matching funds if
Detroit coughed up a chunk of the project's cost. Could the $125
million in M1 Rail funding -- contributed entirely from private
backers -- be used to fulfill the matching-funds requirement?

It can. In December, Congress blessed the unusual maneuver, tucking
approval for it into an omnibus spending bill. With that green light,
it's game on for the rail construction.

The first, privately financed phase -- built and operated by the M1
consortium -- plans to start construction by the end of this year and
have trains running by 2012. The second stage, adding at least 4.5
miles of track at an estimated $250 million price tag, is tentatively
scheduled to start soon after 2012. The federal government will pay
80% of its cost, with the city of Detroit picking up the bill for the
remaining 20%.

Civic planners hope the sight of trains carrying shoppers and workers
through Detroit's fledgling business corridor will win over the
project's doubters.

"Once we build this system, the benefit will become obvious to
everyone -- residents, business leaders and politicians," says Norman
White, Detroit's CFO and former Department of Transportation director.
"Already, we are getting calls every week about when ground will break
and when we can get this project off the ground."

The unstated hope is that a light-rail system will do more than simply
move people around. It's a sign of progress and modernization -- and a
selling point for the young, creative professionals Detroit wants to
retain and attract. Southeastern Michigan has suffered youth exodus,
thanks to its tepid job market. Cities like Chicago, Boston, New York
and San Francisco lure new residents in part because of their
extensive mass-transit systems.

There's precedent for this kind of transit revitalization. In 2004,
after three years of construction and more than a decade of political
wrangling, Minneapolis launched a new 12-mile light-rail service
connecting the city's downtown with its airport, the Mall of America
and several suburbs. In just two years, the line's weekday ridership
topped 25,000 -- a target the rail's developers didn't expect to hit
until 2020.

"[Minneapolis] is an almost identical process to what we're working
with here in Detroit," says the Kresge Foundation's Rapson, a
Minneapolis native who worked on the city's light-rail development.
"Getting the federal funds, though, is a key."

Even skeptics are willing to be won over. "Anything that brings people
to downtown is good, and none of the non-profit or business leaders I
have spoken to see a downside," says Prihod of the Detroit Science
Center. "Now we just need to see if it gets completed."

Diab, The Whitney's general manager, gives the line an "80% chance" of
happening.

"This rail system is the start of a new page in the city's growth and
development," he says. "We haven't received a lot of positive news
over the years here in Detroit, but this is great news for the city."

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Equity in the U.S.

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Equity Index
What would be needed to bring Equity around our economic policies in the U.S.

20,000
jobs lost in January 2010

127,000
new jobs needed monthly to maintain unemployment rate

9.7
percentage of workforce that was jobless in January 2010

4.9
percentage of workforce that was unemployed in December 2007

10.7 million
new jobs needed to return the jobless rate to 4.9 percent

17
number of U.S. states with double digit unemployment

16.2
percentage of unemployed African Americans

12.9
percentage of unemployed Latinos

6.4
number of jobseekers per job opening

5.1 million
number of additional people each week receiving unemployment benefits as result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

$370
average monthly cost of COBRA with ARRA subsidy

$1,057
average monthly cost of COBRA without ARRA subsidy

Jump on board the trains: Federal millions are passing Michigan by

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Last month, President Barack Obama announced $8 billion in competitive grants for high-speed rail in the U.S. California got $2 billion. Florida and Illinois each got more than $1 billion. Michigan settled for $40 million to upgrade three train stations.

But Michigan's leaders shouldn't play the victim.

These high-speed rail grants were competitive. The states that pulled in more rail funds were the ones that made investments of their own in sustaining and expanding existing passenger rail systems.

It was no secret that the awards would be analyzed using this criteria. Except, perhaps, in Michigan.

Check the record: Voters in California -- where economic woes and legislative dysfunction may surpass even our own -- approved a $10-billion ballot initiative to support high-speed rail. Last summer, the Illinois Legislature approved $400 million to expand the state's rail system. Florida spent more than $500 million acquiring land to build a high-speed rail line, and the legislature endorsed the state's rail plan in a special session.

Wisconsin really ate Michigan's lunch. Last year, the state spent $47.5 million to purchase new trains from Spanish train manufacturer Talgo -- which then agreed to open two new manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin. When the $8 billion in federal money was announced, Wisconsin got $822 million.

It's not that Michigan didn't try. The director of our state Transportation Department created an office dedicated to seizing such opportunities. They quickly pulled together about $1 billion in various requests.

But while Wisconsin's governor was negotiating with Talgo, our governor was proposing a 25% cut in the state's passenger rail funding. While the Illinois Senate was approving that $400 million to expand passenger rail, our senators were looking to cut rail funding in half. While the Florida Legislature was endorsing its state's rail plan, we didn't have one. We still don't.

It's as if we struck out without swinging. Michigan showed a desire for federal money, but not the commitment to support the projects it would fund.
Passenger rail is a catalyst for economic development that invariably accompanies it. Businesses near rail stations profit. Companies whose employees take transit benefit. And travelers lured to the "Pure Michigan" experience spend money with our friends and neighbors.

The state Transportation Department recently concluded that rail routes cost the state about $7 million per year and return about $62 million. Ridership is at historic highs.

The $40 million Michigan secured for train stations is valuable. But we missed good opportunities to maximize our economic stimulus.

Further dawdling will not help. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned during a Detroit visit last fall that a regional transit authority for southeast Michigan will be a prerequisite for federal money. Legislation creating that authority is drafted. Let's pass it.

The governor and the Legislature shouldn't play the victim anymore. That's not going to make Michigan more competitive for the next round of federal funding.

Let's fully fund our current passenger rail system and get moving on regional cooperation. Let's demonstrate that we have a vision for our transportation future.

Let's get in the game and swing for the fences.

Tim Fischer is deputy policy director with the Michigan Environmental Council.