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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hello to all,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This article from the Tampa Bay Times about the transportation woes of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties shows a disheartening situation, but then we’re not surprised, right?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This piece is long, but I thought it was worth sharing, especially in light of our discussion at the meeting yesterday.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Have a relaxing Sunday afternoon<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sherrill<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Tampa Bay's legislators aren't asking for state transportation money; a fractured approach doesn't help<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Caitlin Johnston, Times Staff Writer<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Friday, March 24, 2017 5:15am<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It's not just that Hillsborough County's haul of state dollars has been dwarfed by other similar-sized counties over the past three years. It's that state<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>lawmakers aren't working to close that gap, either. Lawmakers from HIllsborough have requested only $1.9 million in transportation projects next year,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>a tiny fraction of the $700 million in statewide requests for transportation money. [LUIS SANTANA | Times]<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rick Homans of the Tampa Bay Partnership says the area is fractured.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Transit lobbyist Chris Carmody says having one MPO for a region helps.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>TalAHASSEE — Tampa Bay leaders aren't shy about proclaiming the need for more transportation dollars.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There's $1.2 billion of unfunded road projects in Pinellas County. That number climbs to more than $4 billion in Hillsborough.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Cash-starved transit agencies in both counties spend less per resident than counterparts almost anywhere else nationwide.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Local officials have considered everything from raising the sales tax to using BP oil spill settlement money to plug Tampa Bay's growing transportation<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>gap. Yet as they've scrambled to fill the void, Tampa Bay's state lawmakers have taken a pass.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Those extra buses this region sorely needs? No House or Senate member has asked for them. The expensive widening of Lithia-Pinecrest Road in Brandon? Not<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>on the list.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Legislators around the state asked for more than $700 million in transportation projects next year. The state's two biggest counties, Miami-Dade and Broward,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>together asked for about $50 million.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But legislators in Pinellas asked for a paltry $6.2 million. In Hillsborough, the state's fourth most populated county, lawmakers managed to request only<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>$1.9 million in transportation projects.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In the competitive world of infrastructure, where every dollar counts for a region ranked at the bottom for its traffic and transit, not seeking state<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>money is a missed opportunity, said Michael Case of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"Even though it might not go anywhere and they might not get the funding, this is discretionary funding set aside every year," Case said. "They need to<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>leverage every single opportunity that they get."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As millions of dollars that could shorten commutes bypass Tampa Bay, some blame age-old rivalries that pit counties, cities and transportation agencies<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>against each other in the hunt for dollars, leading to more gridlock.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"We have no vision," said Senate Transportation Appropriations Chairman Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. "In Tampa Bay, we haven't built that foundation<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>yet."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Falling behind<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>About $10 billion flows through the Florida Department of Transportation every year.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Lawmakers can request this money for a specific project and hope that it gets included in the state budget. Or local elected leaders vote on projects that<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>land a spot on the DOT's five-year work program — which is then included in the budget.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In both methods, Tampa Bay falls short.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A review of recent state budgets found that Pinellas and Hillsborough receive tens of millions less for transportation each year than similar-sized counties.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Although the general appropriations bill doesn't outline all of the state's transportation spending (such as operating costs or projects that cost less<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>than a million), it includes major projects requested by legislators and those included in the DOT work program. The bill provides a measure of how successful<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>each county is at securing money for road, pedestrian and transit projects.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In 2015-2016, for instance, Miami-Dade, Duval, Broward, Citrus, Orange and Palm Beach counties all received at least $50 million more for roads and transit<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>than Hillsborough County, which received $185 million from the state.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Pinellas was even worse off, getting about $142 million that year. That ranks closer to counties like St. Lucie, whose 286,000 population is about a quarter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>that of Pinellas.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Things improved for Pinellas this year when it landed a whopper: $330 million for Gateway Express. The project is an offshoot to Tampa Bay Express, the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>state's controversial transportation plan to bring 100 miles of toll lanes to the region.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But for Hillsborough, the disparity with other regions grows over time. Over the last three years, Orange, Broward and Duval all received at least $500<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>million more than Hillsborough. Miami-Dade, which has double Hillsborough's population, received nearly $2.5 billion from the state for transportation<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>projects. Hillsborough netted just over $500 million.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That gap could widen even more because, as this year's state budget requests show, other regions are pursuing dollars more aggressively than Hillsborough<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>or Pinellas.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Almost half the amount of this year's legislative requests — $328 million — is for a single toll road project connecting Clay and St. John's counties,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>which have a combined population that's a fraction of either Pinellas or Hillsborough. The remaining requests, or about $380 million, are for 120 projects<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>throughout the state.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Lawmakers from midsized Volusia want $27 million to widen roads and make airport improvements. Legislators in Escambia and Lake — each with populations<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>under 400,000 — are each seeking about $15 million to pay for transportation needs.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Hollywood, asked for nearly $700,000 in next year's budget to pay for crosswalks, bike lanes, street lighting and buses. Broward legislators<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>asked for a total of more than $22 million in transportation projects — 10 times what Hillsborough asked and three times the requests made by Pinellas.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"If there is a way to petition the government to get funds for your community, I don't know why you wouldn't at least attempt to get money for it," Jenne<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>said. "The worst thing that can happen is they say no."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Divided across the bay<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Several Tampa Bay officials blamed the region's lack of unity for the inertia.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For instance, Pinellas and Hillsborough each have their own transit agencies, when most major metro areas have one.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Tampa Bay is also dramatically different from other regions in the country, which tend to have only one Metropolitan Planning Organization (the entity<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>that puts together transportation plans). This puts Tampa Bay at a competitive disadvantage, said Rick Homans, president of the Tampa Bay Partnership,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>a regional group focused on economic development.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"You can see how fractured it is," Homans said. "It's incredibly inefficient."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So as other regions have legislative delegations that work together for a common cause, Tampa Bay has a delegation of lawmakers who represent rival agencies.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Homans said a DOT official told him that he finds himself acting as a referee trying to manage competing interests from each county.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"If there was one regional MPO, (DOT) could much easier take direction from that," Homans said. "It would prioritize the regional projects and the big<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>asks from Tampa Bay."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Back in the 1970s, Tampa Bay leaders decided to manage growth by conducting planning on a county-by-county basis. The area's cities hadn't grown into a<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>contiguous region like they have now. As a result, parochialism inspired separate bureaucratic domains. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Even today, only one major agency, Tampa Bay Water, represents more than one county. Such cultural and institutional separatism poses real political challenges,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>said freshman Rep. Ben Diamond, D-St. Petersburg, especially in an area with such sprawling geography and interests.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>GrayRobinson lobbyist Chris Carmody, who represents Orlando's transit agency, said having one MPO in a region certainly makes it easier to vie for money.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A single central planning group allows the involved counties, cities and leaders to align on issues and form a core unit. That's what happened with SunRail<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>in Orlando.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The commuter rail line opened in May 2014, seven years after the city of Orlando and Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Volusia counties voted on and approved<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the project.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"Every county, every city who was involved signed off on it," Carmody said. "There's accountability when there are multiple partners who can back it up."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Carmody, who once lobbied for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, didn't comment on what choices Tampa Bay agencies make. But he did say it gets complicated<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>when a region is so fragmented.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"There's inevitably going to be competition for those funds," Carmody said. "I can imagine a scenario where that would hurt one agency's chances over the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>others."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Diamond, who served on the PSTA board before he was elected state representative last year, said transportation issues in Tampa Bay come down to two issues:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>planning and funding.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"And the planning side's not working," Diamond said. "We will never be able to make the progress we want until we take a regional approach."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hoping for unification<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Some lawmakers are betting on unity. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, and Rep. Dan Raulerson, R-Plant City, filed bills to transform the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority into<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>a regional transit entity that would coordinate plans across four counties.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"It helps if you have an organized agency," Latvala said. "We get state money for HART and for PSTA, but it's not a coordinated multi-county approach."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Latvala has tried for years to change this by suggesting Hillsborough and Pinellas transit agencies merge. While Pinellas was receptive to the idea, the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority pushed back hard against Latvala.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Several transit lobbyists said that clash made it much more difficult for HART to get dollars for projects — including the regional bus ticketing system<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>that the agency listed as its No. 1 legislative priority for three straight years. HART hoped the state would pay for about $6 million of the $12 million<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>for the system. The Legislature shot down the request each time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>During that same period, lawmakers approved $9 million for express buses in Miami-Dade, $8 million for a streetcar in downtown Fort Lauderdale and $10<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>million for a bus transfer facility in Jacksonville.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Latvala is now chairman of the Senate budget committee. He's also the sponsor of one of the only transit-related bills this session. His TBARTA bill replaces<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the word "Transportation" with "Transit" and changes the governance of the board to include more appointed members from businesses.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>While the bill is a step in the right direction, Diamond said, what really needs to happen is the creation of a regional MPO. State and federal dollars<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>flow through these planning groups, which is what makes having a regional MPO so critical.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"The first step really is merging the MPOs," Brandes said. "We need to get our house in order."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>HART CEO Katharine Eagan said having so many separate agencies from the same area asking for money means those requests are smaller in size with fewer<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>champions pushing them. A regional planning group would better focus Tampa Bay so it could compete with other regions.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But with the way things are now, the transit agencies for Hillsborough and Pinellas each have separate lobbyists. Add those lobbying for the counties<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and cities pushing for different projects, and Tampa Bay's delegation is destined to be divided by its dueling loyalties.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"If you had a unified MPO, you probably wouldn't see that," Eagan said. "As it is now, we're all competing for attention."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Contact Caitlin Johnston at cjohnston@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8779. Follow @cljohnst.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>