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Okay, so what exactly did I miss the past few weeks? Here's a collection of links and commentary that should update TR's cursor placement. Consider it a sort of Easter basket filled with overdue TR goodies, sans chocolate bunny. |
Whiting Street Expansion
I am especially excited to read that the Teco Line Whiting Street Extension has received additional shore-up funding. At some point the economy is going to begin trending upward and now seems like the time to invest in the infrastructure that will make living in the Ybor/Channelside corridor more attractive. The way I figure it, the streetcar extension will be ready for the residential upswing that Tampa's new downtown capacity now allows for.
Light Rail Progress
It almost goes without saying how thrilled everyone should be now that Hillsborough County has an official seal of action toward rail. This is something that one of the area's original rail advocates, Ed Turanchik could only push so hard for back in the 90s. The area ultra-conservative commentators are hard work generating negative comment threads at many of the attached articles above. It would be great if every rail advocate laying eyes on these words could take time to post a retort and help to counter the tone. After all, the freedom of expression doesn't apply to just everyone who "hates taxes" or "big government" - it applies to good people who want to make a progressive difference, too.
Florida Matters: Transportation
Here's something I thought worth separating from the fray. It's a WUSF Florida Matters piece on local transportation including Hillsborough's new focus on dramatically improving it (TBARTA actually references the same program in its current Tweet below). As producer of Tampa Rail I was contacted to participate in an interview. It would have been cool to see me in this clip, but since I am after all where I am working hours that I work, it proved difficult to pull together - even with a remote out of NYC which was considered.
Tampa Rail Social Media Count
The Tampa Rail group on Facebook now has 211 members while the Tampa Rail Twitter feed has 65 subscribers. The role of each these Web 2.0 platforms within the TR show space is a bit unclear. For instance, I haven't figured what scope of content the Twitter feed will send. News about Tampa rail in general, or, news about the TR website. If both, by what balance? Still, what's encouraging to me is that so many people remain bonded and energized by the Tampa Rail web effort even though I've such a scant connection to the area now.
Finally, You as TR Editor
In order to compensate for my lack of Tampa presence, part of the plan in my transition was to widen the channels readers like you have to the public face of TR. That is, the very space on this site you are looking at right now. If you have special advocacy concerns, high-value access or perspective, or, perhaps a business or entity that will be positively impacted by the development of urban rail lines, my plan is to open this space up for your direct input and control. I have outlined these plans and am working now to incorporate them into the TR code. Soon, TR will not be just my voice, but the voice of many others.
Overall, I'm too soon in my transition to know for sure whether the development
of my binocular view agenda and celebrification of the Hillsborough
County pro-rail effort will be a success, but clearly there are many
people out there willing to stick by the site's side and, more
importantly, advocate the certain: Tampa and Hillsborough County's
light rail future.
