Proving the old adage that where there’s a will, there’s a way, TBARTA and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio reached a deal that will allow Hillsborough County’s light rail agenda to move forward without the potential defect of regional incongruence. 

According to   TBARTA supports Tampa Rail Plan, HART will plan and launch the system, but once up and running for a time, the system will be rolled up under TBARTA.  Essentially, it’s a concession that the best party in a position to begin building light rail sooner will get to do so, while the best party to continue operating it fiscally and with a proper regional perspective over the long haul gets to do so, as well.  

The end result here: things are getting done.

Get ready for an addtion to the local vernacular:  The USF Line.  Running system will start from USF campus.

As the article notes, this is a crucial political moment because it disarms any remaining vestige of objection within the current Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners who might have found fodder in any conflict between TBARTA and HART.

This was all hammered out late last month.  Shortly thereafter on March 5, Mayor Pam issued an editorial to the Tampa Tribune which was basically a recharging declaration for rail and transit oriented development, all sans looming TBARTA conflict.   It is a brilliant document of focus that puts everything that’s about to happen in Hillsborough County into perspective, with rail as a major component. 

In reading it, I find an example of tightening the conceptual presentation surrounding the system.  The trend, as I myself have settled on long ago, is to refer to the system as a starter line than that starts at the USF campus but will eventually reach the Tampa International Airport, and all counties beyond.  Pam gives historic name to the first leg: The USF Line. 

Everyone in town knows where USF and TIA are which makes describing the overall system easy (maybe too easy since it leads some to conclude that this is the intended scope of the system and thus find cause to criticize progress); and, each of these institutions has functional implications that go well beyond just Hillsborough County.  USF and TIA are solid anchors for the complete system’s eventual construction and cross over into other counties.   

The same editorial makes a most concise point about how and why attention to a high quality fixed guideway transit plan makes sense for Hillsborough County, even while it may take a concurrent investment. 

Our recent economic meltdown may very well spell the end of an economy that has flourished only through the ebb and flow ofconstruction. We have consumed vast agricultural lands, destroyed environmental wetlands and have created a complete dependency on the automobile. The lessons we take from this crisis will determine the investments we make and the economic fate of theTampa Bay region.

A second event that also occurred in 2008 was the price of gas rising to $4 a gallon. This resulted in a near panic among people who saw the filling of their gas tank consuming a larger portion of their paycheck. Most of our cars are gas-guzzlers, and most people live many miles from their jobs. What we learned from this period was that the price of oil is controlled by global forces beyond our control. Further, that our level of oil consumption in the United States far outpaced that of other nations. And finally, this development has locked us into a pattern of consumption that is not sustainable.

- Mayor Pam Iorio

You can download a PDF of the full editorial from this page.