The people have spoken. Well, a few notables yelled and the rest lip-synched. Call the thumbs down on the transit tax a microcosm of what happened nationally. At least it was a bloodless coup. That’s how low the bar has been reset.
Tampa and the rest of Hillsborough County, which needed expanded, modern transit yesterday, will now have ever more time to ponder the implications of falling farther behind the competition. As in those we compete with for, yes, jobs. To recruit the right kind of businesses: the ones that see mass transit as a necessary asset and a quality-of-life prerequisite. And to retain those still here. Plus jobs generated by construction and the ripple effects of urban development–and redevelopment–around light rail stations.
How ironic during a recession-induced, unemployment spiral.
But it’s what happens when a region confronts a job-challenged down economy with anti-tax bullhorns and bumper stickers that say, in effect, “Moving Hillsborough Backward” and “If You Like Detroit, You’ll Love Tampa.” Now how taxing will the future be?
And let’s not forget, although it likely was lost on a number of the 47 per cent who bothered to vote, that doubling the number of buses and improving key roads and intersections in the county would have accounted for a majority (57 per cent) of the funds that would have been raised by the one-cent transit tax. And a quarter of that revenue would have been paid by visitors.
Now add the subplot that the transit-tax defeat sends the wrong signals to the feds, the already skeptical Gov.-elect Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, who’s expected to chair the House transportation committee–and is much more committed to Orlando than Tampa. Plus, surrounding, synergistic counties. There’s an 88-mile, $2.6 billion high-speed rail line designated for a downtown Tampa terminus by 2015. As of today, it will likely link up with whatever HART buses can be spared for shuttle duty. Maybe those outdated “Tampa: City of Champions” signs can be updated with: “Tampa: Where the 21st Century Meets the 20th.”
Good luck to the next mayor. Pam Iorio fought the good fight for something that had to happen. It may yet. And may it not be too late.
But a mayor’s job is to lead. Not to nod assent to the forces of the status quo because a tax is involved. It will require making the future-economic-viability-is-dependent-on-modern-transit case–not placating the masses, a percentage of whom just doubled down on being angry with government. It will require correlating jobs with overcoming onerous, transportation deficits. It will require equating sprawl disincentives with quality of life. Time is not an ally of this county or of its business hub, Tampa.