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You Want a Great Example for Tampa Light Rail, Phoenix is It (33)
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Secretive Anti-Transit Group Struggles to Attract Support (397)
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Latest Entries

Summertime Passing
If Green Is Your Thing, Green Light Light Rail
This Labor Day, Think About Your Quality of Life
Breaking the Anti-Livability Grip in Hillsborough County
Work Starts on Florida High Speed Rail (Well, Did Start)

Archived Entries

The Official Website for Transit Investement Campaign (0)
The Vote is On! (0)
I Doubt It's Really This Complicated But.... (0)
Bay News 9 On The Streetcar Extension (0)
Transit Vote Reaching Apex of Certainty (0)
Update on Rail Progress (0)
Hillsborough BOCC Vote on Transit Today (0)
Florida (and Tampa) as National Birthplace of High Speed Rail (0)
Tampa's Big O! (0)
The Next Time I Reach the Keyboard, Tampa Will Have Hardcore Rail (0)
Starting Drum Roll? (0)
Pedestrianism in Tampa Must Face Striking Reality (0)
You Want a Great Example for Tampa Light Rail, Phoenix is It (0)
Hey Florida, You're a Rail State Now (0)
Tampa Rail Presents a Singing Cowboy (0)
After So Much Excitement, Will Tampa Rail Prevail at Long Last? (0)
Answering Some Tampa Rail E-Mail.... (0)
Tampa Bay's Freshest Lounge (0)
Questioning Steve Polzin (0)
More Whiting Street Ceremony Photos Posted (0)
You Tube Response to Creative Loafing Article (0)
Hillsborough BOCC Will Get A Penny As Your Thought (0)
The Charlotte Light Rail Experience, A Tampa Presentation (0)
The DART Fart of 2009 (0)
Groundbreaking In a Twitpic (0)
Groundbreaking In a Twitpic (0)
Whiting Street Extension Groundbreaking is Friday! (0)
It's in Obama's Hands Now: Rail in Tampa, All Eyes on December (0)
HART Rendering of Hillsborough Light Rail Car (0)
Shelton Quarles Took TBARTA and Ran With It (0)
Whiting Street Extension: Tampa Poised to Change Forever (0)
USF or Westshore, Which Route Would you Pick for Early Light Rail? (0)
Seattle Opens Light Rail, Here's the You Tube (0)
Seattle is the Latest City to Begin Light Rail Operations (0)
Density Argument May be For the Dense (0)
TR Designated Rail Foe Arrested on Child Abuse Charges (0)
Rose Ferlita: I am Fully In Support..... (0)
Looking Forward - Literally (0)
Losing a Mayoral Election in Tampa Before the Train Even Leaves the Station (0)
Changing Land Use With LRT, a Video (0)
Master Plan Masterfully Presented (0)
TBARTA to Bring Tampa to Climatic Transit Expose (0)
Not One but Two Major Rail Projects Ignited in Tampa (0)
Tampa Union Station Hosts National Train Day 2009 (0)
Catching Up on Local Rail News on Easter Sunday (0)
No April Fool's Joke, It Begins (0)
TBARTA: Crucial Blessing to Hillsborough Light Rail (0)
Wayne's First Podcast Includes Light Rail Focus (0)
Tampa Rail on Facebook (0)
Running Out of Money, Running Into Freedom (0)
Should Hillsborough County Consider Wireless Light Rail? (0)
Salt Lake City's Presentation to Tampa City Council (0)
Current State of Rail In Tampa (0)
HART's New Website for 2009 Featuring Mr. Hart Throb (0)
A New Year Brings Tempe Rail (0)
Taking Note of the Blair Which Project (0)
Bailing Out the Auto Industry? Is it Important? (0)
Tough Times May Justify Iorio Initiative (0)
A Permanent Director for a New Direction (0)
TBARTA on Twitter (0)
An Update from the New York Office of Tampa Rail (0)
On the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (0)
People Driving Less Where they Can, Feds Fund Rail (0)
Stoking Rail in New York City (0)
Made it To NYC (0)
Tampa Rail Opens New York City Office (0)
Brian Blair Mocks Me (0)
Cheap Gas Abounds! Get it While You Can (0)
Tampa Tribune Backs Mayor's Action-Today Rail Agenda (0)
Local Rail Termination No Terminus for Hillsborough Rail Agenda (0)
Seeing is Achieving (0)
2008 is Summer of Hillsborough Transit (0)
Hillsborough's Light Rail Miracle (0)
HART Fired Up or Misfiring on Local Urban Rail Example? (0)
A Bit O' Money for the Honey (0)
Second Online TBARTA Workshop Tommorow (1)
Re-Visting the Tampa Rail Project (0)
Actual Hillsborough County Rail: The Drum Roll Begins (0)
WUSF Piece Brings Up Potentially Thorny Issue to Come (0)
Marion's Cog (0)
Attend TBARTA Meeting Online (0)
It's Not About the Money (0)
HART's Graduation to Rail (0)
Is it Enough that We Understand the Value of Rail Now? (0)
TBARTA Update: First Leg of Planning Completed (0)
HTTP Express Links 7 (0)
Fed a Streetcar Line? (0)
A Developing Story about Developer's Stories (0)
Rail Connection Gets Top Billing at Seaport Channelside (0)
A Sign of the Times (0)
Zippy Teco Line Streetcars are Impressive (0)
Lazy Rainy Weekend (0)
Beat the Energy Crisis: Move to Downtown Tampa (0)
Funding Basics and TBARTA (0)
Take the Same Three Day Rail Tour Right Now (0)
Meet Your Regional Transit Authority TBARTA. It's Staying (0)
TBARTA Funded (0)
Psst, Now that Pam is Away for a Few Days... (0)
Don't Under Estimate Value of Transit Tour (0)
The Tampa Bay Hardware Fire: Tampa Rail Video Posting Number 2 (0)
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Shots of the Tampa Bay History Center (0)
Quick Light on Great Report (0)
New Mayoral Statue is Tampa's Hottest Attraction (0)
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Mayor to Take Seat as Statue (0)
Can Anyone Explain this Building? (0)
Thousands on Track to Barack (0)
In the Gravy - (Lunch at Streetcar Charlie's) (0)
Meet Your TR Publisher: Tampa Rail Video Posting Number 1 (0)
Streetcar Stations by the Numbers (0)
Anyone for Lunch at Streetcar Charlie's? (0)
Grand Central at Kennedy Yields Grand Surprise (0)
California High Speed Visualization (0)
In the Shadow of Another Fallen Florida Rail Deal, National Train Day Beacons On (0)
Why You Should Have Be At Tampa Union Station Yesterday (0)
Don't Forget Tommorow at Tampa Union Station (0)
The Dream of Home Don't-Ownership May Propel Tampa Rail Community (0)
You Ought to Be in Pictures (0)
What's the Deal? (0)
Budget Woes Say Monorail Project is a NoNoRail Project (0)
Home Alone - Tower Boy (0)
Focus Back on Pam (0)
TBARTA Looks Farther for Light Rail Education (0)
Rail Support is the Sharpe Position (0)
Streetcar Shares Time On New Light Rail System Tracks (0)
It's Earth Day, Do You Know Where Your Bus Is? (0)
National Train Day Next Month (0)
Park Your Eyes Here for Earliest Glimpse of Big Streetcar Project (0)
HTTP Express Links 4 (0)
No Urban Rail Tracking this Week (0)
New Ways to Enjoy the Streetcar, Naked (0)
TBARTA Meeting Today, March 28 (0)
Downtown Tampa Will Enjoy Urban Rail Connectivity (0)
Streetcar Extension Tension To Abate During Joint HART Meeting Today (0)
Streetcar Deal Shores Up Long-Term Survival of Tampa Urban Rail's Sole Operating Example (0)
Luck of the Irish (0)
Should Tampa Union Station Allow Trains? (0)
How's That Half Penny Saved In Taxes Workin'....Ah, Never Mind (0)
Commuter Rail Always Okay, In General (0)
HTTP Express Links 3 (0)
Something Far Worse than Congestion is Happening in Tampa Without Mass Transit (0)
Commuter Rail Politics (0)
In Love With the Car Captive $status Quo (0)
Two More Weeks (0)
Truth in Conflict (0)
Regular HART Board Meeting Today (0)
What Would Ray Say? This Picture Says it All (0)
CSX Deal Integrity Hooked by Insurance - Ironic (0)
Shelton Quarles Kickoff - TBARTA Workshops (0)
Message to the Mayor's Office (0)
HART Takes Streetcar Monies for a Ride (0)
Reward Success With a Future (0)
Thin Tampa Rail Posts Leads to Posting About Post (0)
Video Posted on Central Florida Commuter Rail (0)
Another Light Rail System Not in Tampa About to Go Live (0)
Tampa Advertises for Channelside Development Manager (0)
I'm On It.... (0)
TBARTA Not So Naive, Or So Poor, After All (0)
So, Where Does Ron Stand on Mass Transit? (0)
Chapter 11 Still Means New Chapter for Tampa Future (0)
Broken Window (0)
Anti-Tax Monkeys Finally Warming Up to Mass Transit (0)
Orlando Urban Rail Doing Suprisingly Well (0)
Waking Up to Faltering Rail Transit Across the USA (0)
Train of Elephants On Streetcar Line (0)
Hillsborough County Transportation Task Force Meeting - Yesterday! (0)
America's Light Rail Climax Began With MAX Itself (0)
HART is Changing This and Changing That (0)
Downtown, Contemplating the Great Anticipation (0)
Tampa Rail Community Crossposts (0)
Introducing LRE: Light Rail Envy (0)
Past Changes Yield Ridership Surge at Tampa Union Station (0)
The Teco Line: Toolchest of Development (0)
Central Florida Commuter Rail - We Should Probably Get Excited About It Anyway (0)
Advance in Subway Building Tech Bodes Well for Tampa (0)
Learning From LA (0)
Tampa's Light Sail System (0)
Running Of The Streetcar (0)
The Boston Big Dig Party Leaves Dirt Pile Of A Lesson (0)
Merry Christmas Everyone! (0)
TBN's Whirlwind Coverage of Mass Transit and TBARTA (0)
New Link Added to TR Link Index (0)
You Can Join TBARTA (0)
Chairman Discusses Transportation Authority's Mission (0)
I Can't Believe I Have to Do This Again.... (0)
Let the Trains Roll! (0)
Please Update Tampa Rail Links (0)
Westshore Executive Director, and Tampa Rail Friend, Appointed to TBARTA Committee (0)
Welcome Heritage Trolley Subcommittee (0)
So, How'd Charlotte's New Lynx Light Rail Do On Opening Day? (0)
In Charlotte, Light Rail Opens to the Public! (0)
New HART BRT Map (0)
Major BRT Station Opening in Tampa Next Tuesday (0)
Looking for Cheap Gas? Window Shop for a New Car While You're At It (0)
Introducing the Tampa Rail Community (0)
Tampa Bay Business Journal on New HART CEO (0)
THIS Pam Sticks Like Crazy to It (0)
Police Converging on Robbery at or Next to Zelda's Cafe (0)
Meanwhile In Seattle, We Have Other Lessons to Learn (0)
Phase IIa Extension of TECO Line Streetcar System - Exposed! (0)
Charlotte, NC Election Results (0)
Vote on Future of Charlotte Light Rail North Carolina (0)
See the Most Popular Tampa Rail User Comment Ever (0)
Light Rail Proposed to Connect Airport to Business Districts (0)
Light Rail Falls Out of the Clear Blue Sky (0)
Streetcar and Heritage Trolley Group to Meet in Tampa (0)
Link Index Coming Along (0)
HTTP Express Links 2 (0)
Card Dispenser Installed at Streetcar Southern Transportation Plaza (0)
So I Attended a TBARTA Meeting (0)
New TBARTA Website Launches (0)
HTTP Express Links 1 (0)
Streetcarfest Breaks Attendance Record After All (0)
Urban Tour of Homes on the Streetcar (0)
Here's Where I'll Be Today (0)
Tampa Rail Question Handed to Tampa Police Chief - And Chief Responds (0)
Tampa Streetcar and Tampa Urban Development to Marry this Saturday (0)
A Rising Tide of Good News for Urban Rail Transit (0)
Still Bringing TR 2008 Up to Date (0)
Would You Like Transit Directions With That? (0)
More Details Posted Regarding Tampa Bus Rapid Transit Service (0)
An Update on Piloting Modern Streetcars in Tampa (0)
Has Anyone Put it All Together? We Have a Completely New Transit Front (0)
Massive Conspiracy to Blow David Pinero's Head Up (0)
Closing In On a Half Million Streetcar Riders (0)
WMNF Report on Transit Concept (0)
Streetcar Cameras Protect Tourists from Terrorists, And Others... (0)
Welcome to Tampa Rail 2008 (1)
Beating Bus Rapid Transit. We Don't Really Need To. (0)
Transit Concept for 2050 (0)
A Sneek Peek at the Preferred Transit Scenario (0)
If You Blinked, You Missed Birth of Regional Transit Blueprint (0)
Public Safety and a New Urban Core, Walking Around Skypoint (0)
Latest Light Rail Project is a Tidy One (0)
Port Authority is the Support Authority (0)
An Unofficial Station Stop At End of Teco Line (0)
Tampa Rail Community Soon to Tower With Power (0)
Tampa Rail Experiencing Ups and Downs (0)
Railroaded! Trib Extropolates on 434-Day Old Blog Posting at TR (0)
The Cities of TBARTA (0)
Transit Blog Aggregation - For the Refined Transit Advocate (0)
TBO Poll Asks What You'd Like in Mass Transit (0)
Mass Transit Critical to City's Very Viability (0)
TBARTA Meets for the First Time (0)
Forbes Blows the Cover Off What it Costs to Save a Half Penny (0)
BRT Vehicle Takes Stage Downtown - And Here Are Some Pics (0)
TIA's Light Rail Station Progress (0)
Mark Aesch Fails to Deliver Hillsborough Light Rail (0)
It's Officially About Mass Transit for Tampa (0)
Will Mark Aesch Bring Tampa Light Rail? (0)
Official Hart Release on New BRT System (0)
Taking Note 4 (0)
Make Way for Hillsborough Light Rail (0)
Funding Current Mass Transit Level is not Championing Mass Transit Advance (0)
My One Pic of the Tampa International Airport Monorail (0)
Two Whispy Twirls In the Same Transit Steam Bath (0)
Online Tool Gets A Lot of Buzz Today, But Here's to Applying Said Tool Locally (0)
Pedalling Toward Car-Free Empowerement (0)
Regional Rail Finally Gets a Back Bone (0)
National Eyes On Tampa Mass Transit (0)
40 Million For BRT: Will New Transit Friendly Hillsborough County Commission Be On Board? (0)
High Speed Rail Is Regional Solution (0)
TBARTA Is Born and How the Tampa Rail Website Helped! (0)
New Web Link Added to Regional Rail Category (0)
Streetcars Are Indeed A Magnet: The Wall Street Journal (0)
Dump the Pump Thursday, But Then Dump It For Good (0)
Gotta Fund Mass Transit People, It's That Simple (0)
Taking Note 3 (0)
Another Google Transit Enhancement for Hart (0)
Mass Transit Funding Is Issue Of The Day (0)
GPS Tells You Where The Buses Are (0)
Fathers Ride Streetcar For Free (0)
Veto Zaps Transit Money (0)
What Has The Streetcar Done For Tampa? Ask The Streetcar. (0)
How Franklin Street Will Look After Streetcar Extension: Computer Generated Mock-Ups (0)
Approved Research Project Could Herald Rolling Modern Streetcars In Tampa (1)
New Address: Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers (0)
Taking Note 2 (0)
Regional Transportation Authority is Imminent (0)
HART Director Ray Miller Dies (0)
Transit Authority Clears Senate Hurdle; Hurdles Toward House Vote (0)
Video Clip: Streetcar Pulls Into Southern Transportation Plaza (0)
Tampa's Secret Pedestrian Walk Project (0)
City Council Approves Streetcar Extension (0)
Invigorated Pro Rail Voices Making Local Strides (0)
Pam Manages New Manager In Transit Agenda (0)
Killing Me Softly With Your Wrong (0)
Mass Transit Is Pam Transit (0)
Embassy Suites Has A View After All (0)
House And Senate Panels OK Transit Bill (0)
Taking Note 1 (0)
Poking At Polk's Dilemma (0)
Tampa's Mandate For Light Rail: Pam! (0)
Rail Sails! (0)
What Does New York City's First Subway And Tampa's Light Rail Have In Common? Its Designers. (0)
Oh, There's Another Bout Of Local Elections (0)
Just In Time For Your Morning Coffee (0)
Un-Completed Streetcar System May Be Factor In First Ever Ridership Decline (-1)
Great Transit Efforts Started With Community Investment (0)
Links To Channel 8 Light Rail Stories (0)
Another In-Depth Rail Article (0)
Candidates Answer Trib's Light Rail Question (0)
Five Whiting Street Options (0)
Super Transportation In Miami For Super Bowl (0)
New Web Link Added to Organizations Category (0)
10 Years Of Tampa Rail, What's This All Been About? (0)
Mass Transit Wears Many Caps. Well, At Least One Maybe (0)
The Ybor Stogie No Fogie On Transit (0)
Light Rail Potent Issue In Mayoral Race (0)
Hillsborough Transit Study Poised To Launch (1)
Building A New City Around Jet-Setting Suits? (0)
Training TR Readers For Love (0)
So How Is The Tampa Rail Community Doing? (1)
A Streetcar Runs Through It (0)
Saving On Mass Transit Tax Is Expensive For You And Your Family (0)
The New York City-Fication Of Tampa, Transportation Choice Is Critical (-1)
You Tube Videos Shed Light On Hillsborough Light Rail Experience (-1)
Mass Transit Is The Reason Pam Runs (0)
Streetcar Extension Will Seek Public Input (0)
Yet More Tax Support For Hillsborough Transit (0)
Media Roundup, And Tampa Rail's New Jackass (0)
Flurry of Rail News (0)
Summing Up New Board's Rail Attitude, Trib Style (0)
Manatee Mulling Light Rail - Or Is It? (0)
Embassy Suites Downtown Opens At Tip Of Tecoline Streetcar Line (0)
Citizen's Advisory Committee Efforts Appear to Pay Off (0)
Rail in Pinellas Park (0)
Hart's New Website (0)
New Hillsborough County Commissioners Open to Mass Transit and Rail (0)
Rail Meeting # 1: Strategy (0)
The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round - Rapidly (0)
Tampa Tribune Brings Back Message Forums (0)
Regionality Move Gets Cool Reception From Pinellas County (0)
It's the Mass Transit, Stupid (0)
Portland Light Rail Started as Highway Balk (0)
Transportation Top Topic (0)
If There's Anything Local Candidates Know This Year, It's To Support Rail! (0)
Streetcar Fest is Most Successful Ever! (0)
Getting the Ball Rolling - Let's Merge Bus Networks (0)
No Time For Wishy-Washiness in Rail Movement (0)
Annual Streetcar Fest This Saturday (0)
Comprehensive History on the Rail Debate in Tampa (0)
Have a Hart, Stop Calling it Hartline (0)
Folks Stuck With Mass Transit Are Sticking With Mass Transit (0)
The Chosen RNC Site Has Something Tampa Doesn't (1)
Miracle Tool Puts Tampa Transit Ahead (0)
Hart Ridership is Gangbusters (0)
Letters Seem to Agree, New Look at Rail is Good Idea (0)
Do Sidewalks and More Roads Mean Better Rail? (0)
Beltway Proponent Suggest Rail Role for Beltway (0)
Tampa Rail Reaches 100 Comments. But Where Else Can You Spout? (0)
Bringing Rail Back to the Front (0)
It's Official, We're a Rail Attic: For Now (0)
New Urban Rail Movement in Hillsborough is Fire Hydrant of Material (0)
Pam Iorio: Blow Dust Off Hillsborough Rail Plans (2)
Good Thing Tampa Rail Endorses Joe Redner (1)
Attitudes Have Sure Changed (0)
New Candidate Poll: Marylyn Mulhern (0)
Last Mile Foils Intercity Rail Transit Again (0)
Things are Getting Done, or Maybe Not (0)
Temple Terrace Citizen Connects Decline in Community to Existence of Hartline (0)
Bay News 9 Blogger Gets Screenload of Mass Transit and Rail Support (0)
Candidate Forum Re-Aired This Afternoon at 4:30 (0)
Beltway Versus the RIGHT Way Discussed on TV (0)
Troxler: It's a Godzilla of a Road Plan (0)
Facing the Music in Mass Transit, Candidates Grin and Nod (Most of Them) (0)
Candidate's Forum on Mass Transit (0)
And Now an Extremely Rare Word From Our Sponsor (0)
Carl Zimmerman Wants to Hear From You About Mass Transit (1)
Streetcars In Tampa, It's About Time (0)
Streetcar Expansion Has Study Money (0)
Tampa Leaders Balk at 2nd Rate Status to Orlando (0)
Light Rail Consultants to Begin Work in Tampa (0)
Orlando Commences Commuter Rail; Tampa Commences...Roads! (0)
Transportation Choice: Which New Road Do You Want? (0)
Tampa Rail in the Tampa Bay Sun (0)
Warning: Focus on Rail and Not the Rail Trip Can Doom Rail Option (0)
Conservatives Driven to Mass Transit Investment (0)
Teco Line Streetcar Shines for the Shriner Imperial Session (0)
Things Are Rosey for Hartline Buses, and Getting Rosier (0)
Responses to Questions Regarding Regional Rail Are Positive (0)
Tampa Has Big Role in Orlando Urban Rail Evolution (0)
Bay News 9 Asking If We'd Use Mass Transit System (0)
The Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Board That Wasn't (0)
Major Trib Story Revitalizes Tampa Rail Focus (0)
Tampa Rail is Back, So What Was That All About? (0)
If We had a Decent Light Rail System (0)
Okay, So Where in Florida CAN You Get To by Rail From Tampa? (0)
Kudos on Union Station Anniversary (0)
See the Teco Line Streetcar Whiting Street Extension for Yourself (0)
Trib Columnist: Mile for Mile, Light Rail Would Have Gone Further in Future (0)
Regional Transit Authority is a Step Closer (0)
Tampa's First Light Rail Station May Open October 1, 2015 (0)
Pre-1947 Tampa Streetcar System Map and Brochure (0)
Believe it or Not, Pedestrians Can Now Stop Traffic (0)
Brian Blair's Study Complete (0)
Tampa Monorail Project Springs to Life. Surprise! (0)
Hooper Harps About Transit Woes and Frustration (0)
Continuing to Address the Need for Mass Transit (0)
CSX Has Tampa Urban Rail's Prized Right of Way (0)
Florida Avenue as Tampa's Mass Transit Future (0)
New Web Link Added to Current Events Category (0)
Pinellas Monorail Falls to BRT (0)
Streetcar is Whiting for Expansion (0)
Downtown Parking Needs Resolution; Costing Tampa (0)
More Defense for Tampa Streetcar (0)
Fixed Guideway is Affixed to Map (0)
New Web Link Added to Light Rail Category (1)
Heavily Criticized Systems Bloom (0)
New Web Link Added to Regional Rail Category (0)
Hillsborough MPO and Multimodal Transportation (0)
Welcome to the New Tampa Rail (1)

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Wednesday 9/8/10 (1 days ago)

Summertime Passing

Posted by tdave365 under Photography Teco Line at 11:15:29 PM
Score: 0 | Comments (0) | Make Comment | Demote (0) | Promote (0) | Focused: 57 | Permalink | Digg It | Read the Nut

The Rant

Here in the big(ger) city, I'm having the first somewhat cool evening I can recall in awhile.  It reminds me that the fingers of summer are fast breaking.  Then I found this on my hard drive.  It's an awkwardly skewed picture of Dick Greco Plaza.  It was part of pic set that, going by the time stamps, had to be among the very last taken before I hustled my caboose up to these parts.

As I have no rant I merely seek to share these final days with a nice picture, Tampa style!

Summer at Dick Greco Plaza

Tampa Rail Express Links

News

Tweets by HART

 

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Monday 9/6/10 (3 days ago)

If Green Is Your Thing, Green Light Light Rail

Posted by tdave365 under Initiatives Tampa Rail Project Video at 10:12:01 PM
Score: 0 | Comments (0) | Make Comment | Demote (0) | Promote (0) | Focused: 78 | Permalink | Digg It | Read the Nut

The Rant

Back to the work week!  How's that office/cubical/shared work pit feeling today? 

Great!, let's get down to business.

Aside from the interesting article below about foreign interest in getting the HSR build between Tampa and Orlando below, there's not much to ramp up with just yet. Therefore I thought I'd plug this light rail advocate video, new to You Tube this month.

Irony alert: The video appears to be produced by the Auto Channel. This is refreshingly harmonious nod from an unlikely viewpoint.  Transportation choice is not about cars versus rail, it's about the availibility of choice and the wisdom (and business sense) to provide it.

Tampa Rail Express Links

News

 

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Sunday 9/5/10 (4 days ago)

This Labor Day, Think About Your Quality of Life

Posted by tdave365 under Editorial at 12:41:20 AM
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The Rant

This labor day weekend, question your quality of life.  Is a single-mode choice for getting around, your car, contributing to a completely comfortable lifestyle that maximizes your persuit of freedom and expression, or, is it your ball and chain?  One that ties up a good portion of your budget, leaving no choice for happiness with your family or other persuits that could define you outside your labor role in the time you spend on earth.

Tampa Rail Express Links

News

Tweets by Moving Hillsborough Forward

 

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Saturday 9/4/10 (5 days ago)

Breaking the Anti-Livability Grip in Hillsborough County

Posted by tdave365 under Investment Campaign Mass Transit Politics at 12:44:38 AM
Score: 0 | Comments (0) | Make Comment | Demote (0) | Promote (0) | Focused: 96 | Permalink | Digg It | Read the Nut

The Rant

Note the first express link below about tax initiatives pushed during the recession.  They quote a guy from some anti-tax organization who tells us that people have reservations about approving community investment plans during economic downturns.   I balk at that of course because most people who are not sitting around all day "afearin' the dang gum government gonna' take all our money", understand that recessions are temporary.  If anything, the flush of jobs such initiatives can create, if left to get off the ground in time, help to speed up recovery.  A retroactive period of constructive introspection during these hard times is exactly what Hillsborough County needs.  When things pick up again, which they will, an emerged transit system will mushroom Tampa with opportunity and prosperity!

I always try to remember the source of the "but we're in a recession" messages.  These are vicious anti-tax, anti-transit, pro-selective-livability people who never support community investment.  Think about the obvious here.  Were these people at all likely to support rail development when times were good?  Will they change their tune when the economy does turn around?  No, of course not.  There will be a new reason to oppose rail and general livability - one that moves and changes with the times and keeps their backwards philosophies self-viable.  These people don't make intellectual arguments, they're ideologues and it's high time their grip on Hillsborough County ended.

Tampa Rail Express Links

News

Tweets by TBARTA

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Thursday 9/2/10 (7 days ago)

Work Starts on Florida High Speed Rail (Well, Did Start)

Posted by tdave365 under Florida High Speed Rail Video Investment Campaign at 10:26:14 PM
Score: 0 | Comments (0) | Make Comment | Demote (0) | Promote (0) | Focused: 104 | Permalink | Digg It | Read the Nut

The Rant

Something I really wished I hadn't let go by awhile back without celebration was the announcement that work had begun, offiicially, however tepidly, on the High Speed Rail line between Tampa and Orlando.  Alas, we can relive the moment now thanks to 10 News Connects.  Of course, we do have to accept the commercial.

The work simply involves collecting samples up and down the corrider, but that's a start.  It's real.  It's happening.  Yay!

The video also goes deeply into the local power sentiment that high speed rail won't succeed without light rail.  I would agree that it won't carry the same seamless punch to the city without it, but, my personal hope is that by virtue of the station's proximity to downtown, it will be considered walkable to at least a few residential high rises.   Thus making living in Tampa and working in Orlando about as common as it is for those folks up here who commute regularly from Conneticut or even Pennsylvania to work in New York City. 

Anyway, I'm still a bit shell-shocked at all the neat rail stuff you lucky folks get to live with as it emerges all around you.  If anyone posts pictures of any of the work being done on the line, transit referendum voting activity, or, anything therein, don't hesitate to let the readers here at TR know about it.

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Wednesday 9/1/10 (8 days ago)

Two Modern Transit Solutions Come to Tampa - CGI Style Anyway

Posted by tdave365 under HART Video Transit Tech at 9:17:14 PM
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The Rant

HART has been posting some really great stuff on its You Tube channel.  If they'll pardon the direct embed here's an exciting one that shows off what a light rail station in downtown Tampa will look like.

And here's another I found interesting.  It's a clip showing off how priority lighting will actually work with HART's upcoming MetroRapid bus rapid transit service.  Now, this one is a little surprising.  My impression of signal prioritization was that a bus travels on a road alongside all other vehicular traffic and, as it approaches a stoplight, it changes it to green, or, in some cases, prolongs an existing green light.  Well, as you can see in this video it means something entirely different.  In this demonstration, a bus travels along in the right lane of a 2 lane road (Nebraska Avenue perhaps).  Rather than change the traffic light for all traffic in the road, it changes the light in its own lane only.  So, it's possible you'll be sitting waiting for a green light alongside a HART bus when suddenly the bus goes.  Be careful! :)

I suspect in reality this is just a variation of signal prioritization.  One supposes that because HART produced this video, this will in fact be how it works for some stretches of the line, which is pretty cool and clever.  It explains how integration on such a narrow straightaway like Nebraska will be pulled off.

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Tuesday 8/31/10 (9 days ago)

First Opposition Attack Against Rail Fails

Posted by tdave365 under Mass Transit Politics Investment Campaign at 12:54:49 AM
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The Rant

Here's a way to blow ten thousand bucks fast.  Support a campaign against Mark Sharpe with hopes of "punishing" him and the rail cause at the polls months ahead of the actual vote for transit investment.  Opponents believed that targeting and bringing down Mark would be the first tangible salvo against this unstoppable movement for quality living overtaking Tampa and Hillsborough County.  But in the end, instead, they were hit with the reality of their own delusional assessment over what people in Hillsborough County really want for its future.

Carried by the very wind of Democracy that anti-taxers hate with such passion, Mark Sharpe prevailed in his election not by a squeaker, but a stomper.  A crusher.  A mangler.   Read:  55 to 45 percent. 

This unsurprising election outcome in favor of Mark made fools of the small but fiesty self-righteous group of individuals determined to keep Tampa a rural metropolitan entitled only to a select few.  Let's jubilantly re-read "Antitax Group Starts Campaign Against Mark Sharpe" at TampaBay.com's Bay Buzz, now, after the fact, when it reads at its silliest.

Ten thousand dollars to "defeat" Mark?  Sure, while the anti-taxers crow about the economic wisdom of a solid civic project such as the introduction of Tampa's first modern urban rail line, they see nothing wrong with squandering money with the reckless abandonment of a hundred fat cat pork-driven politicians which they claim to accurately identify and hate, on such a lost cause as defeating Mark and rail.  Sure, let's trust these guys with serious input on Hillsborough County economic policy.

You might accuse me of over-reaching the significance of failing to de-throne Mark, so in my defense I'll wrap this rant up by quoting Doug Guetzloe, the dude who actually chairs the creepy group behind the selective-livability agenda for Hillsborough County, and who was he himself largely responsible for rounding up so many stray and idle dollars to help lead that charge. 

As reported by Janet Zink over at Bay Buzz - quoting Guetzloe:

“Mr. Sharpe’s election provides a barometer for the November election," Guetzloe said. “If he is defeated in the primary, we think that will give us continued impetus to win in November.”

 -- So Guetzloe, how's that "impetus" workin' out for ya today?

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Sunday 8/29/10 (11 days ago)

Wealthiness Does Not Equal Truthfulness

Posted by tdave365 under Investment Campaign Tampa Rail Project Mass Transit Politics at 10:10:37 PM
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The Rant

Those opposed to transportation choice in Hillsborough County made a mid-summer dispatch from their hidden cave hideout to advise Hillsborough County residents that the vote in November would be to spend $300 million for a rail system in Tampa.  PolitiFact, an online project by the St. Pete Times to sort out these assertions more scientifically than one may appreciate from websites like mine (or theirs), gave that loony scare tactic a "barely true" rating

Picture of pants on fire.If it helps to delineate more precisely, feel free, then, to call the opponent's assertion an outright lie.

Actually, the article agrees that the "cost" of light rail around $300 million might be (loosely) correct under some circumstances (and again, the word "cost" somehow implying "of no value" - which is in and of itself completely bogus anyway).  But the article clarifies that the investment tax will not actually be going 100 percent to rail.  Rather it will fund bus and road projects in the more comprehensive agenda that most people want and expect.  Second, the entire rail project will not be limited to the city of Tampa nor was Tampa capable of authorizing the referendum in the first place - Hillsborough County Commissioners, to their credit, did that. 

In reality, the completed rail system, not the starter line that kicks all this off (and not the high speed rail rail system coming to Tampa which is something completely different), will actually reach as far as New Tampa, Brandon, and Town 'N Country. 

From the comments (TR Motorman Joe):

I think the opposition will be using the 300M figure so it is important that supporters to emphasize that figure won't happen for 10 years, it won't ONLY be for rail, and the rail won't ONLY be for those that live east of 275.

HART says they expect the average burden of the tax to be about $12 dollars per month per family. If Tampa's light rail resembles Charlotte's from a development perspective, operations are paid 30% from farebox revenue and about 70% from subsidies. However, the property tax increases from homes and businesses along the route make the 70% subsidy a wash...in a down economic market.

Light Rail is both a transportation and redevelopment initiative. (emphasis added)

The successful synchronization with rail projects in Pinellas will likely even mean a trans-bay rail system.  The vote in November will of course result in an action horizon that involves the starter line that will either connect downtown to the airport, or to the USF area.  But from there, the transformation to county and regional reach begins.

Shame on the secret organization behind those mailings, and shame on the elitist Sam Rashid.

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Sunday 8/15/10 (25 days ago)

Secretive Anti-Transit Group Struggles to Attract Support

Posted by tdave365 under Organizations Mass Transit Politics Editorial at 4:05:27 PM
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The Rant

Moving Hillsborough Forward has called to action a commentary brigade via its Twitter feed.  So, in addition to making my comment at the TampaBay.com editorial in question, Without Mass Transit, Tampa Bay Businesses, Economy May Face Slow Death, I also dropped in on the Tampa Rail Facebook page to give Tampa Rail Group members the heads up.  

There, on its wall, I found a link someone cited to a "fan" page of those who oppose a livable and commercially viable Tampa Bay region.   The  group calls itself "No Tax For Trax", and, get this, despite some clear investment in its off-Facebook fortress site, it has attracted (snicker) just 21 fans. 

Image of No Tax for Tracks Group Page

Hillsborough County Residents don't want rail!  Well, these 21 Hillsborough County residents don't, anyway.

There's your awesome roar against rail folks.

By contrast nearly all venues representing a pro-transit platform number in at least the hundreds.  The Tampa Rail FB group, for instance, leads the pack at a whopping 359 members (and, as an aside, its Twitter feed has 513 presumably pro-rail followers).  Bring Light Rail to Hillsborough County follows up with 241 members.  We have to assume that this is a microcosm that projects into the thousands if not tens of thousands of voters when overlaid on the population at large.

I'm making fun, perhaps.  But it does go to show that the "anti-tax" people are a small, tightly controlled group, who remain secretive and inaccessible if not vocal and determined to spread their dangerous propaganda.  It doesn't appear for instance, that the No Tax for Tracks blog even allows comments to its postings, which is something I find atypical of such ideological websites.   Like the strong dictatorships in North Korea or Cuba, public feedback is considered intolerable and a gross infringement against the State.   Yep, that's how these people think.  All (snicker) 21 of them.

It's encouraging but we should not become complacent.  There's a real tendency to believe the vote for transit in Hillsborough County will succeed in November, because inertly, we all believe that good things take care of themselves.  We believe Jesus or the gods we pray to will take care of this for us if only to beat back the evil and insidious bad seeds that lurch their way about on Earth.  We forget, other closed and "secret" groups like the KKK flourished in their day despite the evil they represented.

Polling booths are, in a sense, mechanisms.  Sometimes a radical group can take advantage of the self-assurance of the good, or, apathy of the general, to produce an "energetic majority" during elections.  The commentary brigade that prompted this posting in fact, was to counter-address the dominant role these 2 dozen or so people play on local media message boards.  Drop-ins to these boards are actually led to believe by this orchestration that there is a fierce anti-rail investment sentimentality in the county.   Just 21 welfare-dependent types like Ralph-Hughes can sit around all day and pull this false perception off in short order.  What all this means in the end is that Facebook membership counts mean squat.  It's the votes that count and the votes Hillsborough County pro-transit residents must produce.

I encourage everyone to look at their content as linked to above if only to shore up their conclusive support for transit.

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Thursday 8/12/10 (28 days ago)

HART's Blog and Heart for Mark

Posted by tdave365 under HART Mass Transit Politics at 3:28:17 PM
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The Rant

Image of browser with BLOG in the URL bar.I mentioned this in my previous post - Hartline has launched an official transit blog dedicated to Hillsborough County, thereby settling once and for all any issue of topic dominance among local Tampa bloggers in regards to mass transit.  I bring it up again now because Hart issued a formal press release today which makes it official by most standards.  You can visit the blog at http://gohart.blogspot.com/.  The site is part of an apparent wider effort to go horizontal in social media to promote local transit and get people talking about local transit.

In addition to this, one thing I absolutely wanted to make sure that I caught up on post-content drought is an article I spotted via Time Magazine online "Can High Speed Rail Get on Track".  The piece discusses the prospects of high speed rail in America and makes mention of President Obama's visit to Tampa to launch just that.

Finally, I notice that Mark Sharpe has picked up an unexpected opponent for his bid to seek re-election.  Some members of Mark's party have denounced his support and leadership in the advance of mass transit in Hillsborough, but remember, these vocal lots tend not to be actual Republicans but rather borderline libertarians who rellish the tax-cheating (read: state-welfare-dependent,  it turns out) Ralph Hughes, or, hot-head Brian Blair.  If you are a real Republican, however, you probably already support him for pursuing what makes good business and fiscal sense in fighting for transit, or should.  He's going to need all that he can get!

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Sunday 8/8/10 (32 days ago)

Missing the Train

Posted by tdave365 under Site News Tampa Rail Project HART at 11:03:06 PM
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I have “missed” so many milestone moments in Hillsborough County’s path to rail in the past 2 months I disgust myself. I know, I know, the irony must be as astounding to you all as it is to me. It must be astounding that at a time when the federal government, Obama himself in fact, launches true high speed rail right from Tampa; that when when the light rail vote this blog has hoped and longed for, finally materializes; that when the first streetcar extension linking downtown to Tampa’s new residential districts rolls out its track bedding and raises actual catenary poles on Franklin Street; that when, in general, every star lines up perfectly for Tampa's urban rail future. It must be astounding that this site, one that for over 10 years as these things were happening only in the hypothetical plane, that has beat the drum and hailed the eventuality of urban rail in Tampa in all that time, that, at this pinnacle moment when it’s all actually happening, suddenly clams up.

Yes, I know: WTF?

Well, long time visitors know the crux of the reason is that I left Tampa nearly 2 years ago to come live and work in New York City. Try as I might to lessen the impact of 1,000 miles distance, ground and local content based on spot effort has predictably dried up. From my vantage point, I only learn what’s happening in regards to urban rail development in Tampa from the web itself - I am no longer divided in content meat between something like a glorified RSS feeder for existing web content on the subject, and a content source - the latter which I could be when I showed up at important meetings or took pictures of work in progress or other events. Rather, Tampa Rail is virtually 100 percent the former now with a dash of my voice here and there, and all less in volume at that. By the time you see anything here you’ve more than likely seen or heard about it in the local MSM, or, even websites operated by the stakeholders themselves (which by the way is an excellent thing). I admit, it’s all a challenge, and, unfortunately, it’s one I’m not meeting well. There’s just not a lot of motivation in chasing headlines compared to originating them.

The other huge reason is the fact that, as the issue of rail has heated up, those stakeholder websites I mentioned have multiplied. This month, for instance, HART released its own transit blog (which includes a shout out to TR in its latest entry by the way, kewl!). To put it simply, the social media PR specialists - people who do websites and blogs for “real” - have moved in to manage the rail message directly, particularly as it relates to the current tax campaign. Much as I would have ever hoped, all the transit sites involved in this evolution are rich with regular content that dwarf even the online content of the previously energetic anti-transit crowd. What this all means of course is that, at the same time, it leaves this site much less relevant.

I’m not giving up, however. I’ll do no such drastic thing as that while I’m still trying to settle in and maintain employment in the big city. Now more than ever when you think about it, is a good time to re-orient and take my time doing so. The stakeholders and your local media are doing just fine propelling Tampa to its greater future!

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Tuesday 6/15/10 (86 days ago)

Light Rail in Hillsborough County -- It is Prophesized

Posted by tdave365 under Site News at 4:17:18 AM
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That's right everyone, I've been away from the TR a bit thanks to another important project of mine.  I'm still watching things from afar, though.  Meanwhile, I'd say all the major pro-rail outlets have everything covered.

As for my project, anyone who knows me knows that I develop little "prototype" web applications for the sheer fun and creationism of it.  The one that has been keeping me extra busy this past month has been Headline Prophet. 

www.headlineprophet.com

Headline Prophet Screenshot

Headline Prophet, Great for the Planet -- bad for Tampa Rail, sorry -- I still love you! :)

It's a web site where you can discuss news before it happens.  For instance, news like groundbreaking for Hillsborough County light rail!

Drop by the site and play the game.  The hard part is over and I'll be back here pretty soon!

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What is the Brigade?

Many Tampa area news outlets allow for open public commentary in comment sections associated with indidvidual stories.

The anti-transportation choice lot in Hillsborough County has long dominated these high profile convsersations in any story covering the advance of rail, and indeed, any pro urban living vision story for Hillsborough County that happens to run. The Tampa Rail Comment Brigade consists of TR readers like you willing to show up and punch back. Retort, refute, bury, and make clear to the majority casual readers: Support for rail in Hillsborough County is the dominant reality.