It's incredible what can still get me riled all the way up here in the big city far away from it all.  Certainly the arrest of one of Hillsborough County's most anti-government ex-anti government officials to ever poo-poo rail development, on child abuse charges, is surely one of those things that can pull me away from time I was about to spend cooking me up my special Sunday spaghetti dinner.

Brian Blair has been arrested for child abuse.

Arrest record from the HCSO website.  See the full record.

Now, this shocking announcement being made, I'll be up front in saying that I'm not holding my breath for the dude.  I don't like the man's politics, I don't like his approach to people or issues, and I especially don't like the fact that he slighted HART every chance he got while in office, and, by association, to preach against the area's development of fixed urban rail systems.  He antagonized the urban rail agenda endlessly and made no secret of his despise for the Teco Line Streetcar system.  A point of issue far and removed from something as henious as child abuse, granted, but, not something I'm not surprised to hear about.  I mean, the guy was just...well, I'll leave my words to myself.

As explosive as this story is, it must be treated delicately and with some degree of respect for Brian Blair's family.  These are young kids for god's sakes and not only don't need to be knocked around as they may have been if the reports are true; they don't need the burden of pronounced political hatred projected through this incident and blazed squarely on them.  Families ebb and flow.  If these reports are true, as an individual, Mr. Blair will need counseling as will the family.  But strong families can withstand anything and whatever high emotions may exist in that unit now, may not in five years.

Fact is none of us know if Mr. Blair is actually guilty of what the charges put forth describe.  And even if he is, we don't know the entire context of what led up to the early morning incident.  All this will be forthcoming.  The ultimate irony is that he's either guilty or, and you'll all forgive me now, he's being railroaded.  We'll see.

Rose Ferlita is taking a direct response approach to the flap over her friend's alluded position on rail.  Here at TR you've already gotten my general commentary, but, and God bless this here internet, Ms. Ferlita certainly gets her turn to speak.  Which she takes:

June 8, 2009
Official Statement from Rose V. Ferlita
County Commissioner, District 1

For the record, I am fully in support of a public transportation system that is multi-modal, including light rail. Many groups have worked tirelessly towards a successful effort. Now is the time to come together. Give the public the facts, with clarity, transparency and completeness. It is our responsibility to do that; it is the citizens. right to know the details of a referendum we are asking them to support.

I look forward to November 2010, when after all questions have been answered, our citizens will have the opportunity to support a transportation system that will be instrumental in moving our community forward.

You can read the original statement at her website.  The statement is posted at Bill Dallas's Facebook Group page as well.

I Will Only Add This

I do appreciate this deceleration, and it's a good move and I believe a sincere one.  But, and I say this generally of any politician, advocate, or voter in Hillsborough County, it's not enough to be for the facts when it comes to altering the fundamental course of transportation choice in any region. 

Folks, here's the fact: A multi-modal transportation system that includes light rail is god-damned expensive to build.  That's the fact.

Pure and simple.  Hence, you don't do it lightly, and you don't do it in complete absence of appreciation for its value.  So, while I applaud anyone who wants the public to know the facts of what they are voting for, I sure as heck hope that the same people are given the facts as to value.  The ommission of value when the Florida high speed rail network was repealed was, in my mind, for instance, entirely unlawful.  You can't give people a cost until you honestly weigh it against value, which was not part of the analysis when some huge price tag was thrown out there by Jeb Bush and that murky PR firm hired to campaign for the repeal.

Building expensive alternatives to the Car Captive $tatus Quo does not take merely lopping out the rail idea with a price tag and waving it around for a quick approval or a quick rejection.  If you aren't for rail, for showing people a life where they save money with less auto expenses and more free-wheeling mobility, you aren't entirely doing the rail movement as big a favor as you might. We would all be better for not just revealing facts, but, revealing truth as well.

(whew).  Okay, now, if you want to enjoy the fluffy comfy piece that was supposed to be posted here instead today, you can proceed right along to it.

Keeping things lively around here.  Since TBARTA has officially adopted its master plan while Tampa and Hillsborough County gracefully begin working toward rail, I thought I'd take a moment to post one of my New York City videos.

Looking forward on the New York City MTA, Number 7 Line

In this clip I'm riding the Number 7 Line.  I've been riding since Bryant Park 5th Avenue and found myself lucky enough to find no competition for the train's front window.   New York City is to the rafters with fellow urban rail enthusiasts, or, families with kids, all who (often with some back-ended embarrassment about it, at least in the case of us grown adults), nudge for control of the heralded viewing window.  It's a surprisingly rare treat to find yourself able to mosie on up and take position. 

Riding high, I whipped out my LG and was able to comfortably shoot a decent picture only after the train emerged into broad daylight just minutes after leaving its last subterranean station toward Flushing Queens.  Oh sure, there are a ton of these point-of-view clips out there on the internet, but only this one has yours truly behind the camera.

Folks, the new message in Hillsborough County is that you don't oppose rail.  And, more importantly, friends don't let friends oppose rail.  Especially in Facebook pages built in your name.  Undue diligence by Rose Ferlita leaves us asking oursevles: Is Rose Ferlita, current Hillsborough County Commissioner, and maybe a Tampa Mayoral candidate of the future, an anti-railer trying to sneak under the wire and gain Tampa's top spot, potentially undoing everything the current Mayor Pam has worked so hard for? 

Screen capture of FB group sans anti-rail sentiments.

Ferlita says no - and, let's be clear, she's not even an official mayoral candidate yet.  But if she isn't, she's got a reckless band of supporters out there that might well sink her before she even undocks, if she were considering.  One of them, a "Bill Dallas", apparently set up a Facebook group (not unlike Tampa Rail's with its over 200 members now, plug plug), and, in it, evidently made some pretty anti-rail sentiments.  Sentiments that smack of the type of Brian Blair or Ronda Storms, or this guy (still at it eh, "Mithras" - well so am I) that used to permeate Hillsborough County before we kicked the political sh - well, you get the idea - out of anyone who dared tried to stop the train train.

Here's what TampaBay.com quoted from Bill Dallas's FB support page for Rose:

"Can we really afford light rail? (no)," writes South Tampa Realtor Bill Dallas, asking, then answering, his own question. "Do we want to pay for it? (no) Let's grow responsibly. Rose has the experience and skills to lead Tampa."

Or shoot, just read the whole grizzly story here.

Rose seems okay - somewhat pragmatic, experienced, nice, all that.  But the proximity to a guy who seems to have a raging philosophy against urban rail development in Hillsborough County is a bit unnerving at this point, this very hard-earned state of the day where nearly every major political player is behind rail or at least behind giving Hillsborough County residents a choice.  Plus, she was pretty vocal in that initial BOCC rail-progress conniption fit last February.  What now?  In waltzes Mr. Too-Far-Right loony trying to do a Facebook favor for his preferred candidate.  Poor Tampa - and if really innocent, poor Rose!

Tommy Duncan spreads the news.

Dallas (link to his personal FB profile) has evidently removed any of the anti-rail sentiment from the group's pitch page cited by TampaBay.com, which is perhaps more unnerving in its own creepy right, though a pretty wise move these days in Hillsborough County where, if you want your pony to win, you don't call attention to any reservations about helping develop transportation choice.  But even without them, it's clear from his support page for Rose that some of the commentator members are lost-cause conservatives who would never support even a fiscally conservative rail plan the way many local, honest, republicans do.  Then again, Tommy Duncan is apparently a member of the group.  He crept in to the comment section and dropped a link to the TampaBay.com article like a bomb, a subtle message not quite favoring or dissing.  Just lettin' the other group members "know".  Way to go Tommy!

It might not be fair, folks, but it all might just be too questionable enough now to just say no to Rose as mayor unless she comes out pretty quick swinging for rail.  And heck, one supposes she's done that in the TampaBay.com article.  But, now, at the very least, the whole careening message by a guy who I get the sense thinks Rush Limbaugh was right, is a disadvantage for her in any hypothetical race that any opponent will surely ride. 

Jonathan, a TR passenger from Kansas City, writes to share a video produced for the Kansas City public that demonstrates the impact light rail can have on land use patterns.  Share it, he urges, so here you are!  Thanks John!

Imagine KC from Arnold Imaging on Vimeo.

To this aim, try not to think of a Hillsborough County or Tampa metropoliton area as you know it for the latest stage of urban rail implementation.  Think of communities that today are blighted and far-reaching, transformed into thriving custom neighborhoods considered convenient and affordable to live.  Think of visiting friends and family casually, without the stress of driving, parking, or any car handling whatsoever. 

A little background about the Kansas City light rail effort.  The area voted down a transit tax that would have developed a 14 mile starter line there, last November.  The debtate for light rail has been hot and heavy for years (and, much of it involves the colorful efforts of a one  Clay Chastain), and the defeat was certainly a disappointment.  But, as we should all note, light rail doesn't fail, light rail plans fail, and, so, the effort their continues.   You can learn more about it at KC Rail.

TBARTA made its master plan available to the public last Friday.  You can find it online right here. 

The gist of it for rail is that TBARTA envisions 103 miles of short-range rail (i.e., light rail in these parts for all intent and purposes though no particular technology is overtly proposed) running through parts of the 7 county region by 2035, starting with Hillsborough.

Rail (highlighted in red) connects Hillsborough and Pinellas County.

This chart explains rail specs to readers of the master plan.

The linked information goes into all the funding details and what not.  What I'd rather focus on beyond the rail excitement itself is the masterful effort by TBARTA to dessiminate this information throughout the web.  Tonight, for instance, they held a town hall meeting to discuss the plan.  They not only allowed participants to dial in and participate via phone conference (which they've been doing for some time actually), they aggressively tweeted the event in an attempt to draw participation and increase their reach.  Ironically, I myself was in, of all places at the time, a subway car!

TBARTA's Twitter feed tonight.  In a word: Impressive!

The adoption of a rail supplement to the region's growing transportation needs is a terrific shore-up to the work Hillsborough County has committed itself toward in bringing real mass transit options to the county.  In what seemed like a crossing of purposes at first, Hillsborough County and TBARTA managed to eek out a plan that allows Hillsborough to independently pursue a starter light rail line.  One that will pilot the red line you see above in the first image.

Introducing Tampa Rail's Content Contribution Programs

As recently alluded in a recent posting here at Tampa Rail, I am opening the doors to Tampa Rail albeit in a very controlled manner.  The intent is to save the local content generation for the site while I myself can only watch from NYC. 

There will be several of these types of programs I'm going to announce.  However, in this posting, I am happy to start with the introduction of Tampa Rail Sponsored Entries. 

The Tampa Rail Sponsored Entries program is a unique value/value contribution program for business owners or business operators that operate within one mile of an urban rail station in Hillsborough County.  It boils down to an opportunity to reach Tampa Rail's readership via the very space you're reading these words from in exchange for a business owner's positive perspective on rail as it may impact their business or otherwise enhance it.  You can read the details here, and I certainly encourage all business owners within one mile of a Teco Line station to do so.

This is just the first developed program.  Expect to find new ways to make your own TR postings at TR's public contribution information page as each new program comes online.

Tampa Light Rail News

• People Get Ready, There's a Train a-Comin'
• TBARTA Puts Regional Master Plan Before Public
• I'll Ride the Barry But Never the TB!  (posted as laugh-at fodder)
  
• Light Rail is Right Path
• Sunrail is Gone for Now
  

[ Editor's note:  The correct date of the TBARTA meeting is Friday, April 24.  Originally cited by Tampa Rail's Facts and Accuracy Department was Wednesday, April 22. ]

Circumstances being what they are for your beloved TR publisher, it's nice to be ahead of a headline for a change (or, alongside a headline at least).  Tonight I landed at the TBO.COM website just 29 minutes after Rich Shopes's Regional Transit Plan Ready for the Public went live. 

The future of transit in and around Hillsborough County is right this way!

So here it is: TBARTA is going to reveal its regional transit plan to the public at 9:30 AM.  Friday April 24.  TBARTA represents the combined transit development action for a multitude of Southwest Florida counties in including Pinellas, Manatee, and others.  It is taking root as the area's permanent wide scale transit authority, starting with its initial plan proposal such as that to be presented.

You can review all the details at TBARTA's information page.   The plan will showcase, in large part, Hillsborough County's proposed starter light rail line, presumably depicted as discussed running from approximately the campus of the University of South Florida, through downtown, and, eventually to the Tampa airport. 

Or, as Rich writes:

One highly visible piece of the plan is a train network to serve downtown Tampa, the West Shore Business District, the University of South Florida, Tampa International Airport, St. Petersburg and other job centers.

If you can't make the meeting, according to Rich, TBARTA will have the plans posted for public-wide consumption this Friday at its website. 

Tampa Rail proudly hosts TBARTA's Twitter feed, so keep an eye on that for the latest announcements as well.

An anonymous TR passenger rightly points out that President Obama is set to fund high speed rail development in the United States.  He's doing so to the tune of 8 billion dollars which will be dispersed to various projects - hypothetical and operating - including prospects such as the Florida High Speed rail network.  

In February the Tampa Tribune ran