The Iorio Transit Express

If it’s Wednesday, it must be the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce. Another stop — from Seffner to South Tampa — along the transit-express campaign for Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.  

This day it’s the INDOUS gathering  of 150 business executives and entrepreneurs at Tampa’s Wyndham Hotel to be wooed and won over. On display: the familiar Iorio modus operandi: humor, articulation and details. Wonkish details about why voters should approve the 1 percent sales surtax for countywide transportation system construction: roads, buses and light rail.

“We’re non-political; we don’t endorse; but we care about regional issues,” explains Suleman Makhani, president of the 11-year-old Indo-US Chamber. “The mayor is obviously podium friendly. She’s passionate about the transportation issue and well-informed. She did a good job educating her audience. And we do ask tough questions. Accountability, timelines and so on.

“She said yes, it’s a tax increase. But then laid it out. Here’s what’s at stake. Here’s what the area needs to be competitive. She made the case.”

And she stayed late to talk one-on-one.

Bully transit pulpit in tow, Iorio has been averaging about two such sales-pitch sorties a day over these last many months. From pointing out the prospect of HART “flex service” to Sun City seniors to touting economic development to the Exchange Club of Tampa Bay to reminding Plant City residents that they could see regional bus service for the first time. She also has a 30-second TV ad airing.

For several years prior, the mayor had lobbied local, state and federal officials for mass transit and prodded the county commission on light rail. Modern, competitive transportation has become a thematic mainstay of her annual State of the City speech. She also taught an honors course on mass transit at USF.

With mere months left in her second term, Iorio has been spending her remaining political capital on roads, buses and light rail. Forums, debates, summits: she’s there. Too much literally rides on upgraded, modern transit, underscores Iorio, for her to be a stay-at-city hall mayor.

“I can’t personally meet with 600,000 voters,” says Iorio. “But I get out as much as I can. It’s that important.” That’s why it’s Westchase one day and Westshore the next.

“This is not a sound-bite campaign,” she emphasizes, although “something for everyone,” a mantra line from that video spot, arguably could qualify. “It’s about education. It’s about the totality of the plan.

“Twenty-five percent will go for roads,” points out Iorio. “And then we’re talking about massive  improvement to the bus system.” Indeed, more buses more often can resonate with those not enamored of rail. In fact, nearly a third of the $180 million a year the transportation tax is expected to generate will address–indeed, double–countywide bus service.

“Right now, for example, if you miss a bus on Nebraska Avenue, you wait another 30 to 40 minutes,” notes Iorio. “If this passes, it’s five or 10 minutes.”

And if this doesn’t pass? The ramifications are a lot more than prolonged bus-stop tedium.

“It would be terrible,” states Iorio. “If we are the only major market without modern mass transit, we will fall so far behind the competition, I don’t know how we’ll recover. How are we going to attract the next Apple or Google? Who would want to invest in an area without modern transit?  I talk to corporate and sports (most recently World Cup) people all the time. Mobility is huge to them.

And how would it look–and work–if 21st century, Orlando-to-Tampa high-speed rail, with its terminus in downtown Tampa, is forced to link up with 20th century shuttle buses?

“Yes, I am passionate about this,” understates Iorio. “This is about progress. And economic development. And jobs. It can’t be about stagnation or a lesser quality of life or not doing everything we can to lower unemployment (12.4 percent regionally).”

More Than A Vision

Iorio can come across as a visionary, as Avenue of the Arts and Riverwalk proponents will tell you. But she also relishes the role of pragmatist, as skeptics of the first iteration of the new Tampa Museum of Art can attest. In the midst of a recession–and the accompanying cacophony of anti-tax rhetoric–she’s carefully adhering to an inclusive, bottom-line approach. Jobs–from construction and civil engineering to retail ripples from light rail-station locations–is a critically key talking point. The scenario for future economic viability can’t look like a leap of faith.

“Without financial accountability, I would never have signed on,” says Iorio in that TV spot. “Every penny will be in a dedicated trust fund and a citizens watchdog committee will oversee every penny spent…This will lift us out of the economic downturn and create real jobs in the private sector.”

And help elevate the Tampa Bay region from that ignominious rank of 60th in Forbes’ list of the biggest metro areas in the country when it comes to transportation.

“‘No’ resonates, but it’s not a solution to the problem,” stresses Iorio. “We can’t let ideology get in the way. The problem will persist. And then it will cost more. Then it’s 2020 dollars or whatever. We get more (ironically recession-skewed) bang for the buck now than any other time.

“I believe in best practices and technology and ‘job well done,'” says Iorio. “This is a calculated  plan. One of the most studied and peer-reviewed plans this area has ever seen. Plus we also learn from seeing how it’s been implemented in other areas. This just makes sense. We can’t be mired in the past. It’s the next step in the development of our community.”  

But there’s another step first. It’s Tuesday, Nov. 2. So, what’s the perspective from City Hall–from a mayor who knows a thing or two about election dynamics?

It will be a close call, one way or the other, predicts Iorio. Absent the economic albatross, she notes pointedly, the odds would be a lot more favorable. She doesn’t disagree with recent polls that show pro transit-tax sentiment pulling even with that of naysayers. She knows that having supportive editorials in the two local dailies helps, as does backing that eclectically ranges from the Sierra Club to the business establishment. Moving Hillsborough Forward has underwritten color maps, robo calls and TeleTown Hall meetings.

But there’s a sizable number–perhaps 35-40 percent–of residents who are of the no-tax/no-way persuasion, she figures. She’s certainly seen and heard from some of them on the hustings. There’s also concern about off-year turnout. Iorio estimates about 55 percent. Tops.

The wild card is the seeming ubiquity of off-putting, negative campaigning. It could deter some voters, especially the younger, pro transit-option demographic.

Iorio’s adamant about keeping the transit campaign on the high road. “My reputation is connected to this,” she points out. “I only involve myself in positive efforts. A negative political environment is not good. It’s not good for reigniting the economy.

“We’re not demonizing the other side,” adds Iorio. “We’re keeping it factual, and we’re keeping it positive. To disagree is part of the process.”

And if Iorio had her supervisor-of-elections druthers, she’d like to see the transit-tax initiative somewhere other than the back of the ballot. She’s in favor of a separate, mailed ballot for referenda issues.

“I still say 50-50,” is how Iorio handicaps it. “A bare margin one way or the other.”

The final word on the eve of All Hallows and All Things Political: “Unemployment is terrible. This is about jobs; this is about quality of life; and this is about every region. We have to have it.”

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