Filed under: Campaign, Economic Stimulus, Ethics, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation, Voter Support | Tags: Bus rapid transit, County Commission, Downtown Tampa, HART, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Public transport, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail, Tax
Uh, come on. You can trust ME.
The news never ends about Transportation Task Force chair Mr. Ken Hagan (R) who is running for a county-wide seat on the County Board of Commissioners.
This time the news is that Hagan, oops forgot to look out for $40 MILLION he caused the county to borrow in 2008 against the last sales tax increase. Read the News Channel 8 story. The money, earmarked to fund a HART BRT project has been just sitting around, while taxpayers pay the interest on that loan, estimated to be over one and a half MILLION dollars each year. HART is now scrambling to spend it before they have to give (have it taken) back to The County.
The BRT program deserves a look-see. BRT stands for Bus Rapid Transit. This is one of the most expensive modes of public transportation, second only to rail. Much more expensive than POB; Plain Old Bus service.
So, where is (was) this BRT scheduled to be built? Would you believe a few blocks away from where HART is also planning to build either another BRT line or a light-rail line? Yes boys and girls. The so-called critical north-south transit corridor to downtown ALREADY had money to build a sophisticated bus service, but wasn’t for some reason. So now HART is going to build competing transit lines in the same north-west corridor: one from the first tax increase, the second from the next tax increase.
What is that “some reason” why this north-south corridor route bus service was never pursued? Could it be that it was delayed so that ANOTHER sales tax increase could be muscled through on an unsuspecting public to pay for a Choo-Choo for Tampa?
The County and the City of Tampa, along with lawyers, consultants and developers have been working together on a scheme to use county taxpayer money to improve property values around downtown Tampa. They call it Transit Oriented Development (TOD). We should call it Tampa Oriented Development.
Why expensive light-rail instead of more cost-effective bus transit? The consultants and the lobby group Moving Hillsborough Forward determined that light-rail would have a bigger impact on Tampa property values than BRT or POB service. Plus, they found that riders would prefer to vote for a shiny new Choo-Choo than a stinky old bus. So what is the plan to get riders outside the corridors to the train stations? POB.
That $40 million is the only money that The County has given HART out of the $4 BILLION raised from the last sales tax increase. If public transportation was so important to them, Ken Hagan and the Transportation Task Force, why was only 1% of that tax used? Good question.
Hagan’s Transportation Task Force was all about property-value-enhancing rail for Tampa.
It was never about helping people get from one place to another.
If transportation was the important goal, better use of our $40 million would have been made, years ago.
Do we REALLY want to trust Commissioner Ken Hagan and HART with ANOTHER $180 MILLION per year, forever, to service the transportation needs of the tax-paying public?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Downtown Tampa, HART, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail
TECO street car soon out of money
In today’s SP Times, Bill Varian talks about higher cost projections for Hagan’s light-rail boondoggle. The MPO had estimated the cost to be “only” $70 MILLION per mile to construct. This is the figure that the BOCC used to push this sales tax increase onto the ballot so that big-money Tampa land owners, lawyers and consultants could throw a million dollars at trying to convince voters this was a good idea.
The MPO and HART bragged about how conservative this number was. They had seen other cities face serious cost over-runs for rail construction. Now that non-partisan, nonprofit think tank Rand Corp. says that the rail will likely cost between $85 and $120 MILLION dollars per mile, both the MPO and HART are still patting themselves on the back for being so conservative with earlier cost estimates.
Huh?
Conservative cost estimates ADD money to the budget in case the project winds up costing more than projected, as it did in other cities studied. MPO seemed to have confused “conservative estimate” by putting out a LOWER number. Now that HART’s best guess of $70 million per mile is off by almost 100%, they claim that their “best estimate” is still 50% LESS than what they guessed it would cost to build.
HART claims that the Rand figures are nothing more than “back of the envelope” numbers. What then does that make the HART figures: “back of the napkin” numbers? Folks, they STILL haven’t picked a route or determined the most cost-effective mode of transit.
It is becoming more clear that whatever we are being told, this whole thing is going to cost more; much more. Perhaps we could get more accurate figures by 2012 when we could vote on this again?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail
Now THAT'S congestion!
Tampa didn’t even make it in the top 10 of congested cities.
Weekly hours of congestion: 85
Average speed during congestion: 14 mph
#2 – New York, NY
Weekly hours of congestion: 94
Average speed when congested: 11.4 mph
#3 – Chicago, IL
Weekly hours of congestion: 83
Average speed when congested: 11.1 mph
#4 – Washington, DC
Weekly hours of congestion: 32
Average speed when congested: 14 mph
#5 – Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Weekly hours of congestion: 43
Average speed when congested: 20.1 mph
#6 – Houston, TX
Weekly hours of congestion: 22
Average speed when congested: 13.2 mph
#7 – San Francisco-Oakland, CA
Weekly hours of congestion: 68
Average speed when congested: 19.6 mph
#8 – Boston, MA
Weekly hours of congestion: 43
Average speed when congested: 16.7 mph
#9 – Seattle-Tacoma, WA
Weekly hours of congestion: 33
Average speed when congested: 11.2 mph
#10 – Philadelphia, PA
Weekly hours of congestion: 45
Average speed when congested: 18.9 mph
Answer: ALL of these cities have rail transit systems.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Tampa light-rail
Support HART bus, not rail
Chairman Ron Govin is absolutely correct in today’s Tampa Tribune Views page that HART delivers on its mission:
“Our Team is dedicated to providing excellent customer service while building solutions to support Hillsborough County’s needs…now and into the future.”
CEO David Armijo and his executive staff have built the best bus transit service of its size in the United States.
The real problem for HART has been a BOCC who diverted 99% of the last half-penny sales tax increase away from public transportation.
Commissioner Hagan’s Transportation Task Force pretty much stacked the deck so that light-rail for the area surrounding downtown Tampa was the preferred solution, benefiting mostly consultants, developers and attorneys. By comparing light-rail with the most expensive bus service, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), it made light-rail seem not so much more expensive.
What HART and all the dedicated people who work there do best, is to provide cost-effective Plain Old Bus (POB) service, with some enhancements.
I believe that with the whole 75% of the proposed sales tax increase, HART could more than double bus transit ridership, at no cost to riders, for less than half of the total cost of light-rail.
Govin says they just need more time for a thorough analysis. I agree. Let’s push this whole tax increase issue back to the next election in 2012, which is not the end of the world.
Otherwise we could wind up voting for transportation funding that STILL does not let HART do what it does best: Affordable public transportation.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Economic Stimulus, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: Bus rapid transit, County Commission, Ken Hagan, Tampa Choo-Choo, Tampa light-rail
After 15 MONTHS of additional study by an expensive, outside consulting group, the resulting 125-page Alternatives Analysis Study STILL says “I don’t know” to the important questions as to which transit routes would best serve the community and which mode of transportation would be most cost-effective.
This report was to be the result of “a planning process to determine the transit mode and the alignment that best meets the needs of the community.” They only looked at two route corridors in Tampa, not the entire county. Now we need to wait for a “Locally Preferred Alternative” (LPA) study.
Just how hard is it to add Plain Old Bus (POB) service along any route, without another bazillion-dollar study?
We already voted to tax ourselves a half-penny Community Investment Tax (CIT) added to the sales tax years ago for among other things, transportation.
We will still be paying on that added $4 BILLION tax for the next 15 years.
We already have 100 of the needed buses sitting in HART parking lots. We just need drivers and maintenance workers.
Here’s a thought: Use that CIT money to give jobs to several hundred of otherwise unemployed Hillsborough residents and put those buses on the road.
The problem is that members of the HART board of directors have been snookered by downtown property owners and lobbyists into believing that increasing property values under the guise of “economic development” is more important than serving the riding public.
Consultants, lawyers and developers all tell us that new restaurants, strip-malls and hotels will spring up near rail stations. What they don’t say is that the jobs thus created will largely be low-wage, part-time, no-benefits jobs.
The board voted 9-0 to go ahead anyway with light-rail before route, mode and cost-effectiveness questions were answered.
Why are the consultants comparing only Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and light-rail?
Because, although Plain Old Bus is cheaper and more flexible, BRT is far more expensive with its fixed guide ways, and BRT makes rail seem more affordable.
If the whole intent of candidate Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force was to foster economic development surrounding downtown Tampa, why not say so up-front instead of claiming that this sales tax increase was to help people get from one place to another?
Considering the TOTAL costs involved with light-rail, HART could instead use that tax money to double their MetroRapid and Plain Old Bus services while letting passengers ride free.
Are Hillsborough voter/taxpayers going to approve an added $180 MILLION yearly tax to pay for Tampa’s downtown property-value-enhancing Choo-Choo, or are we going to insist that HART first commits to increasing quality service to transit riders at the lowest possible cost? HART says: “We’re in the business of connecting people” NOT the business of economic development.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Taxation
In your face, candidate Hagan
If Transportation Task Force chairman Ken Hagan thinks that the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) sucks so badly that they need a bajillion-million dollars to do a better job, how is it that
HART is winning national awards?
Friday, HART announced that it received the 2010 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award from American Public Transportation Association as the best in North America among transit agencies of its size.
Now, Mr. candidate Ken Hagan, why do you REALLY want a tax increase?
Why not use the LAST sales tax increase?
Are the downtown Tampa political-contributor-puppet-masters pulling a few of your strings to get a shiny new Choo-Choo to help their property values go up?
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Tampa light-rail
Make way for Mr. Ken Hagan's Tampa Expre$$
No wonder there have been few hard facts about routes and costs for Hagan’s downtown Tampa Choo-Choo.
A new 125-page report that will be going to HART on Monday says that the CSX right of way from downtown to Cross Creek will cost SIX-HUNDRED-EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS!
That’s $680,000,000 of your tax dollars my friends.
That’s before a single foot of rail is built and a single rail car starts to roll. That’s another ONE AND A HALF BILLION DOLLARS.
Add to that mega-dollar price tag, another BILLION DOLLARS to build light-rail from downtown Tampa to the airport. Who knows what the right-of-way will cost us. The consultants are thinking that HUNDREDS of properties will have to be taken away from property owners through eminent domain procedures through the courts.
How’s that for “property rights”?
But think of the time savings.
The report estimates that this CSX rail route north would save the traveler all of THREE MINUTES over automobile travel. Now there is a valuable investment in easing traffic congestion.
We hear less and less about the potential riders of the Tampa Choo-Choo; more and more about the development that would spring up near the train stations. The reason is that this has never been about riders, it has been about increasing property values for land owners in Tampa.
Ken Hagan’s Transportation Task Force has known this all along.
They can’t say that because who would want to increase voter’s taxes just to make The Rich evermore richer?
Hagan says “trust me.”
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa light-rail, unemployment
Maybe raising taxes during this recession won’t hurt the unemployed; children living in poverty; small businesses, or tourists.
Maybe the unemployed can wait until after 2016 to get service jobs created near rail stations.
Maybe putting the dysfunctional BOCC in charge of an extra $200 MILLION every year will avoid waste and mismanagement.
Maybe a new citizens committee will function better than the Transportation Task Force who after nearly 4 years of planning couldn’t come up with a single rail route.
Maybe HART will find that people who don’t like bus transit now will like it better when their taxes go up to pay for it.
Maybe there are enough people who travel between USF and downtown Tampa everyday who will keep the fare boxes full.
Maybe taxpayers won’t mind paying as much as $3 for every 1$ transit ticket sold and $9 for every $1 rail ticket sold when it comes to funding rail lines 3 and 4.
Maybe the State of Florida will cut health or education money to fund the Tampa Choo-Choo for us.
Maybe the Federal Government will borrow the money to fund our Tampa Choo-Choo.
Maybe we can afford the $200 Million CSX wants for right-of-way for the Tampa Choo-Choo.
Maybe the idle 100 buses already sitting in HART parking lots could be put on the road using the last half-cent tax increase we voted on our selves.
Maybe Hillsborough County will actually spend more of the tax increase on bus transit this time than the 1% they spent on bus in the last 12 years.
Maybe HART won’t find that a lack of bus riders causes the tax money to all go to rail.
Maybe landowners in unincorporated Hillsborough won’t mind having their property values decline as City of Tampa land values climb.
Maybe we should think all these things through and
wait for 2012 to decide to raise our taxes.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Economic Stimulus, I-4 Corridor, Transportation, Voter Support | Tags: Brian Blair, County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Ralph Hughes, Taxation
So now we have Commissioner Jim Norman admitting that his biggest campaign contributor, Ralph Hughes contributed $500,000 with $100,000 from Norman’s wife to buy a $435,000 house together as an investment.
What happened to the $165,000 difference?
It appears that Hughes’ only “investment” was in getting Commissioner Norman to support things like tax-free construction zones which ultimately benefited Hughes’ company.
Do we see a pattern here? Mr. Commissioner Ken Hagan was also a major recipient of Hughes money & “mentoring” and coincidently perhaps, Hagan is pushing his developer-friendly 11th hour tax abatement program for development; a multi-billion dollar taxpayer-funded road and rail construction programs; and a (so far) failed attempt to allow commercial construction in rural areas along I-4 using tax incentives and public/private funding to pay for infrastructure. Read that: taxpayer money.
Hagan is the last-man-standing of the three Hughes “boys”; with Brian Blair and now Jim Norman out. Do we really need more of the same? Hillsborough taxpayers deserve better.
Let the voters decide.
Filed under: Campaign, Tampa Choo-Choo, Transportation | Tags: County Commission, Hillsborough County Florida, Ken Hagan, Sales tax, Tampa Choo-Choo, unemployment
JOBS NOW - NO NEW TAXES!
Today’s Tampa Tribune Michael Sasso article about “Bay area jobless rate keeps on climbing” should get us all thinking about what our elected officials were doing over the last three years while our jobs went into the toilet.
Take a look at what the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners has done for unemployment under the leadership of Commissioner Ken Hagan. Three and one-half years ago he formed a task force to make recommendations about the transit situation in the county, which was a good idea at the time. However, soon into that study, the housing bubble burst and along with it Hillsborough’s economy and jobs.
County unemployment went from 3.5 % to 12.5%
Ken Hagan’s task force continued to study transit and seemingly only as an afterthought mentions job creation, but then with jobs only occurring after the Tampa Choo-Choo is finished, five years from now.
This Transit Task Force finally came to the conclusion that the plan they developed should be funded by a 14% increase in the County sales tax equalling $200 MILLION per year. Hagan voted to recommend this to the BOCC and voted to put the tax on the Nov. 2, 2010 ballot.
Not only will this tax increase be an added burden to the unemployed, it will be a job-killer for county small businesses. Businesses pay sales taxes on lease payments for commercial space as well as for equipment and for repairs and maintenance. These business will have to decide to eat the tax increase and maybe have to fire an employee or two, or pass the tax along to consumers who have no one to pass along their added sales taxes.
If our elected officials were serious about doing something about Hillsborough County’s skyrocketing unemployment and get the economy back on its feet, they should not be raising taxes now, they should be working on job creation NOW!
Maybe we need new elected officials in the County Commission.
Let the voters decide.
"Let the voters decide" 
