I really don't know what to make of this story running in the St. Petersburg Times.  Personally, I don't think as many people are as confused about the high speed rail project and the proposed light rail project as the story's very existence seems to validate.  This supposed confusion can't possibly be generating new opponents among those who might ever be inclined to embrace light rail.  If they're confused, as far as I'm concerned, they were never for a rail project to begin with and are simply looking to add to their own fire of resistance with malicious obfuscation.

In the off chance there's some legitimacy to the point, let me explain in a nutshell that the high speed rail project which we associate with Obama's blessing, is a Florida-wide one that happens to involve Tampa as the system's starting point.  It involves a high speed rail connection between Tampa, Orlando, and, eventually many other parts of Florida.  This is the system that is going to happen no matter what happens with any tax referendum in Hillsborough County, in November.  It's a done deal.

The light rail system, by contrast, is a system that will run in and connect points within Hillsborough County, similar to subway systems in larger cities, or, light rail systems up and running in places like Dallas, Charlotte, and Phoenix.  The actual route is not yet decided but will be a starter line that either connects USF to downtown, or, downtown to Westshore and the neighborhood of the Tampa International airport.   Ultimately, it will be a system of both the USF and Westshore lines, and then some.  If you want to see the routes under consideration, you can visit HART's web page devoted to the topic and download the 2 PDF files you'll see linked there.

Incidentally, contradicting a point I may have made earlier, it now does seem, by looking at those two PDF maps, that an effort is being made to make sure that either light rail line does in fact wind up connecting to the High Speed Rail terminal in the first build.   In that case, this is a matter of 2 separate projects, one funded and ready to go (the high speed rail), and one as of yet to be (the pending voter-approval and Federal funding), coming together to form a seamless rail connection network.