Fix it now

 Well, it is finally over. After more than a year of fighting with local and now regional government officials, the ill-conceived Green Swath of Death, Bypass, Beltway, Sprawlway, and most recently “Freight rail Corridor” that would have cut through rural and preservation lands in Hillsborough bringing with them certain sprawl, is finally dead. TBARTA voted Friday morning to go with the recommendations of the revised Master Plan that does not contain Corridors C or D on Map 8. George Niemann of U-CAN delivered the eulogy during public comments, and I couldn’t resist dressing in all black for the occasion.

Lies, conspiracy theories and loss of government trust are all things that came with this experience of fighting the Swath. Massive citizen opposition has killed this idea many times over, including an EAR amendment, the BOCC, the South County Transportation Plan, and finally the MPO Needs Assessment Map. That is a lot of funerals, but it was dead at the county level.

TBARTA is regional, and for some reason it thought it would be appropriate to resurrect the Swath. So, should we have ever had to wage this war in the first place? No. The good news is that the power of the public prevailed in spite of the hidden agendas, political motives, and the powerful developers that wanted to make this road a reality. Mr. Neimann asked TBARTA to please nail the casket shut this time. Maybe now they can get on to finding transportation solutions where people already live……..INSIDE the URBAN SERVICE AREA.

Here is an interesting note……..before the final vote to approve the map with the remaining routes, commissioners, appointees on the board, and mayors spoke up about specific lines that did or did not make it to the next phase. They noted the actual placement of lines, some because it would never work and others because they don’t see the exact alignment they want,and this goes on for quite some time. I have attended the last three meetings, and I found it funny that I haven’t heard them speak out about this before now with the exception of Commissioner Nora Patterson of Sarasota, who is not shy about protecting her community. In other words, turns out - they are all just a bunch of NIMBYs like me. Finally, Patterson makes an amendment to the motion that includes everyone’s concerns regarding the remaining lines. (I know you are dying to know if our Hillsborough representative, Commissioner Ken Hagan, said anything about our county……………he wasn’t there). Mayor Pam Iorio gave them a lashing for their maps, though, since she didn’t see the part of the Tampa Rail line she wanted. Bob Clifford of FDOT assured her that it was there.

Oh and there is more promising news. Chairman Shelton Quarles, former Buc, knew where the meeting was this month, and there were two great presentations given by agencies in our county (I can’t believe I just said that). Was I just so excited that the Swath was removed that I actually enjoyed these presentations? No. Over the last year I have suffered through many presentations at the BOCC, the MPO, the Planning Commisson, TBARTA, and community meetings, so I know a good one when I see it, and these two were both excellent on Friday. The Hillsborough Aviation Authority gave a great presentation on how it is  ready for mass transit. Ray Chiaramonte of the MPO also gave an excellent presentation of Hillsborough’s plans for mass transit. Both presentations showed me that our area has done their homework with respect to their plans. I hope TBARTA will do the same.

I hope this is my last post about the Swath. What can you do? Go out and celebrate!

Remember when TBARTA came out with its proposed maps with routes C and D on Map 8 (aka the revisitation of the Green Swath of Death bypass highway)? It made about as much sense as the county proposing to give away our land use and transportation planning to special interests………NONE!

Recall I asked the question several months ago about a red dot (listed as a major employer) in the middle of the Green Swath just as it made the 90-degree turn to the east. That turn now avoids plowing over my neighborhood but still appears to bisect a state park. Who is employed there at that mysterious red dot, I asked in April……..a Park Ranger? Even though the map was vague and didn’t show environmentally sensitive lands or parks, it looked to me as if it was right in the middle of a state park!

Well, TBARTA has new and sort of improved maps on their website that now depict parks. Right where that red dot was claiming to be a major employment center…………is indeed …….A STATE PARK! If this confirmation wasn’t so sad I might tout I TOLD YA SO but I will refrain. You can see the other State Parks, wetlands, and environmentally sensitive lands these two corridors would destroy. I wonder how much this effort cost the state since FDOT provided the technical support and created these maps for TBARTA from a regional needs assessment study earlier this year.

Here’s the before and after versions of Map 8:

The good news is that now TBARTA, the regional transportation authority, is suggesting that both lines — which would destroy rural and preservation areas, bring with them unwanted sprawl and, oh yeah, have public opposition — be removed. Ya think?

In the meantime, looks like the Green Swath is sporting a new summer dress as she has gone from Green to Orange, and the Purple leg of the green swath of death is now Blue. Note to TBARTA: We can fill in the blank for whatever color you choose for your ill-conceived Swath of Death and calling it the Sprawlway covers just about the whole color spectrum…………although sprawl is usually the anti-Green.

Both lines are Grey on the map that has them recommended for removal. So, is the Green Swath of Death finally dead? At the county level….yes. At the special interest level……..that remains to be seen.

TBARTA’s next board meeting was today up in San Antonio. You can click here for agenda details. Should I wear black for the Green Swath’s funeral or does proper protocol dictate that I at least wait until the time of death is officially announced?

What can you do? Write to TBARTA and tell its leaders what you think. If you agree with those who want to protect what is left of rural and preservation lands then feel free to send in our letter from R-LAND. We made it easy for you. It goes to TBARTA, our BOCC, our MPO and our Gov. You can access it here.

I attended the TBARTA board meeting last week. If there is a hell, then suffering through one of those meetings could be it! My concerns are with “Corridors” C and D on Map 8 Hillsborough Connections which would destroy rural and preservation lands and bring certain unwanted sprawl along with them.
The meeting started without the chairman, former Bucs star Shelton Quarles. When he later arrived, he explained that he went to the wrong location. In his defense, it sounded like he went to the location of last month’s meeting … not in his defense but… THEY CHANGE THE LOCATION OF THE MEETINGS EACH MONTH MR. CHAIRMAN!

Feeling good about regional transportation yet?

My first concern was that on the agenda it said ADOPT Conflict Resolution Plan. At last month’s meeting (which I confirmed with the transcripts from the April 25th meeting page 9 of 11, download it here: may-2008-tbarta-board-package.pdf) they said they would only PRESENT the final draft of the Conflict Resolution Plan in May. Why do I care about the difference? Because if Corridors C and D of map 8 don’t get removed, oh, will there be a conflict! Not only was it now on the agenda to be adopted, it was to be done BEFORE public comment. (Having attended enough Hillsborough County Commission meetings, I know that if an item is to be voted on then even they give us an opportunity to speak in a public hearing before they screw us). So what to do? Ask Commissioner Ken Hagan, who represents Hillsborough on that board, to bring it up? Considering the mountain of e-mails I have sent to the county commission (and have never received a response from him) combined with his actions on that board, I didn’t think he was the man for the job.

Protocol dictates that I should make the chairman aware of this before the meeting (oh yeah, he wasn’t there yet). Instead, I brought it up with Commissioner Patterson of Sarasota before the meeting. Last month, she asked for the future transportation line that would destroy environmental lands in her county to be removed, and it was clear to me from her comments that she isn’t afraid to speak up, so I relayed my concerns to her. Even though she didn’t have a problem with the Conflict Resolution itself she still raised my concerns about process and that the public should be allowed to weigh in BEFORE the actual vote (after some bickering from the board they agree to let us weigh in on the item). Dee Layne and I asked them to make provisions for citizen input regarding the Conflict Resolution Process but to no avail. Sooo, if TBARTA’s Master Plan turns out to violate our local Comprehensive Plan, then there is nothing you or I can do about it. Sounds like it will be between the local governments and TBARTA to hash it out, and according to Layne’s comments, this might be done behind closed doors and you and I will never know about it. Round One goes to The Partnership…………oops……. I mean TBARTA.

Recall that recently there has been some fingerpointing regarding the maps (or information on maps) that TBARTA put out for public comment. Commissioner Mark Sharpe blamed our MPO for inaccurate information on the maps containing the controversial lines back in April but strangely enough could not come up with the proof when asked at the May 6 MPO meeting if he had run down the source yet. Paying very close attention to these maps, I made him aware that they were from FDOT. How did I know? It said so in very fine print at the bottom! He still wasn’t buying it. Remember that conversation I had with Elba Lopez of FDOT that I thought was completely worthless? Turns out it helped me prove where the maps and info came from……..the Strategic Regional Needs Assessment done for TBARTA but…………done by (drum roll please) FDOT! They decide what goes on and what stays off of the maps they produce, so if something did not get on there ………check with them! I headed down to the MPO Policy Committee meeting armed with this information last Tuesday and brought it up, since it seemed they were still trying to get to the bottom of it at the last MPO board meeting and Sharpe’s accusations. I delivered my info and concerns about the wrongly accused and guess what? First of all, the FDOT representative sheepishly announces that indeed the TBARTA maps in question are from FDOT. As a bonus, Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena speaks up with a motion to have to the chairman of the MPO write a letter to TBARTA and tell them they don’t want the Sprawlway! Yes, she called it the Sprawlway! The motion passed. So while I went down there only to try to set the record straight………….I came away with a bonus for Green Swath opponents.

Back to hell — I mean the TBARTA board meeting. During public comments I bring up the concerns regarding this map debacle because I learned that there is not one member if our MPO or Planning Commission staff on TBARTA’s TMC (Transit Management Committee). It includes members of HART and transit officials from the various counties but no professional staff from our MPOs! If they had an oversight of these maps before they were released, maybe TBARTA wouldn’t need to worry about Conflict Resolution! I suggested that they put an MPO and Planning Commission staff member from every county on their committee to help resolve this issue and prevent similar issues in the future. There is some discussion like (we are only doing what the state mandate says)……..I bet you are boys, I bet you are. Later in the presentation by the TMC they assured us that the MPO is invited to every meeting. INVITED is not the same as having a position on the committee, but good try. One of the missions that the Transit Management Committee has listed on TBARTA’s website is: Provide technical assistance regarding the development and implementation of a multimodal transportation plan. Who better to give technical advice than those who know our Long Term Transportation Plan and Comprehensive Plan the best? That would be our MPO and The Planning Commission, yet the professional staff of these agencies don’t have an official seat anywhere on TBARTA as far as I can tell. I think this is important especially since now TBARTA is holding Land Use meetings ……..yes, I said land use……..I told you TBARTA’s motives were clear to those of us paying attention. Also of some concern to you Visioning fans, at TBARTA’s board meeting there was a presentation praising One Bay’s efforts with their “scenarios.” I know you are shocked.

I also questioned their process during public comments because they said the new maps would be revealed in April (they were not), and at that meeting Bob Clifford said wait until May….. and at this May meeting ………………you guessed it……NO NEW MAPS. I was attacked for my comments by Manatee Commissioner Amy Stein when she read the reply to my form letter from R-LAND and evidently thought that told me enough about the process. I agree it was encouraging, as it stated, “The committees will review the findings of the Screen One analysis, where preliminary results show that Options C and D in Connection 8 did not perform well and are recommended for removal.” My concern is the out they leave themselves in that last line…. “The committees will review consultant recommendations and make recommendations to the board in June.” Anyway, she waited to attack my comments and concerns until I was all the way back to my seat in the back of the room and sitting down…………..I wanted to reply but I would have been yelling out of order from my chair (I know, why let that stop me?), but I can wait until next month.

So while it certainly seems like these two corridors are on life-support, considering those behind TBARTA (the Partnership) have been pushing this BYPASS route since I had a bedtime, I am guessing they have a few curve balls still waiting for us. Our local opposition has been forced to go regional and our R-LAND form letter is getting good traffic from concerned citizens in many of the counties that TBARTA reigns over (these include: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Citrus, Hernando, Manatee and Sarasota). If you are so inclined to help preserve rural and preservation lands and SAY NO TO SPRAWL then the link to our form letter is here. It goes to TBARTA, Our BOCC, the MPO and even our Gov. Tell a friend (or tell 100 friends).

As TBARTA asks our Governor to give them that $2 million that the legislature set aside for them, I have to sadly say that they have not proven to me they deserve public funds. Their guise of using the promise of rail transit to gain credibility? Brilliant! Should our tax dollars be spent on an agency that can override local government, shut out citizens and benefit private companies? I don’t think so. If they want a state agency to run a regional transportation system then make them a bona fide state agency, not a quasi-state agency, where the lines are blurred and the public pays whether we benefit or not.

Ever since opponents of the Green Swath of Death [plans by local expressway officials to build a four-county beltway road through eastern Hillsborough County] thought we had at least mortally wounded if not killed the beast, many of us still worried what TBARTA might be capable of doing. Considering that TBARTA was born of the the Tampa Bay Partnership, which has been pushing this bypass for years, we suspected at first chance the Green Swath might indeed be resurrected.

Our worst fears were realized when several citizens attended a recent TBARTA workshop in Hillsborough. On Map 8 Hillsborough Connections there she was. This version is two separate pieces but appears to plow through the very same preservation and rural lands as the last ill-conceived “corridor” did but it is hard to tell since the map is vague and outdated.

Another interesting note is a red dot that appears as the Swath makes a sharp easterly turn, a dot that is listed as a “major employer.” Who is employed there, I wonder … a park ranger? The best I can tell that dot is in the middle of nature preserve. You can see how similar TBARTA’s path is to the much maligned South County Transportation Plan’s route was last year.

Could TBARTA really have been dumb enough not to have know the opposition to this road late last year? Many people doubt it. They had to have known. From last October to this past January, opponents had the Green Swath removed from every map it ever thought about making it’s home on including the transportation element of the EAR amendments, the South County Transportation Plan (which was pulled completely due to the massive opposition and public deception regarding the Swath) and the MPO Needs Assessment Map. That tells me that TBARTA either did not do its homework or just didn’t care.

Shouldn’t our elected officials and representatives on TBARTA have conveyed the message about the Swath? I think so. So is this just another case of poor leadership in Hillsborough or is this something even more sinister considering the tricks citizens have endured before regarding this Swath. Ken Hagan is the representative from the county commission and the staff representative is Ned Baier, who has been the target of civic complaints about the Green Swath.

You can contact Commissioner Hagan at hagank@hillsbouroughcounty.org and Mr. Baier at baiere@hillsboroughcounty.org. I did. I never heard from Commissioner Hagan but I did hear back from Mr. Baier. I also heard back from an e-mail to Commissioner Mark Sharpe through his aide, and he told me that he had spoken to Mr. Baier and was told TBARTA was aware of past concerns and they were not using an “old” plan. They were looking at transit possibilities to include rail, expressways, BRT, etc and they were working with FDOT. He also suggested I contact Elba Lopez of FDOT which I did … and I am still dizzy from the circles she talked in truly avoiding a solid answer to almost all of my questions … for example:

What year and make was the map you used?
Answer: Well, it was a modeling process.
Question: So you didn’t use a current map?
Answer: It was a modeling process for transit.

I could fill the entire page with these types of not-so-useful answers. I encourage you to call her and see if you can do better. FDOT’s number is 813-975-6000 ask for Elba Lopez. Good Luck.

While TBARTA might be crying poor when it comes to rail and maybe even asking you to vote on financing it, when it comes to toll roads I suspect they will have plenty of developers … errr … I mean investors willing to pony up the cash. Here would be where the public-private partnerships would come in handy. The reason informed citizens are so opposed to this Swath is because it is clearly not about transportation; it is about opening up land outside the Urban Service boundary to sprawl.

Finally, could they really have been dumb enough to have left it GREEN? Yep! Opponents had Planning Commissioners, MPO members and the papers alike calling the route the GREEN SWATH of DEATH last year and Wayne Garcia even used it for the title of his article Green Swath of Death.

So you might think, well, go out and be activists and let your voice be heard (AGAIN) and yes, that is a great idea except it doesn’t appear that they are listening. Many people attending the meetings say the usual suspects of big $$$ developer interests are there stuffing the comment boxes. How does the average citizen compete with that and how would most people even know what TBARTA is? Citizens feel they are losing what little voice they have in the county and question how local voices be heard on a regional level? See Mariella Smith’s post as well as the comments on Sticks of Fire.

TBARTA ,to many of its proponents, seems to be the Great Rail Hope, and many seem more than willing to overlook its obvious shortcomings if they deliver that dream of rail. If our county does not toe the line (the urban service line that is) and maximize densities within the urban service area, that little rail dream will most likely become a financial nightmare. Is TBARTA truly about delivering rail or is this about development? Read Mr. Jones (who is on the “citizens” advisory committee to TBARTA) recent commentary in the Tribune’s Bay Area Must Move On Its Transit Future. Note that this “citizen” is also the Vice President of Operations at Newland Communities, which you might recognize as Fishhawk and other massive developments around the area. Do you think he represents “citizens?” Common sense tells you we need transit solutions where people ALREADY live, not out in rural areas and through preserved lands.

Handing our transportation planning over to a regional authority to create allows local politicians to evade the heat on unpopular decisions such as toll roads and that goes for our land use decisions as well. The county has proposed to have ONE BAY (also spawned by The Partnership) take the lead in a Visioning Project, which would combine land use and transportation. Combining land use with transportation sounds good on the surface, but letting a public private partnership drive this diminishes what little role citizens have and puts this into the very hands of those who would profit from it.

I think a more objective route would be to have our land use and transportation planned by our Planning Commission and MPO (because that is what they are set up and trained to do) and hold our elected officials accountable for our growth plan. We can then use agencies like TBARTA to implement rather than create our plan.

What can you do? Make noise and a lot of it. TBARTA just held one round of workshops and they are promising more. This isn’t just about the psuedo-Green Swath of Death; they will have maps of all of their ideas throughout the region. Take a look at what might be planned in your neighborhood and tell them if you agree with it or not and give them your ideas. Will your voice carry equal weight with a developer’s voice? You might want to bring along 10 neighbors with you just in case. Or ask TBARTA to have a meeting in your neighborhood to discuss your concerns and leave them your comments online. You can access their website at www.tbarta.com

Interesting to note that on TBARTA’s home page had a map without the new and improved 2 headed green/purple swath of death on it. It says click here for the latest map so I did and again NO SWATH. I got very excited and put the word out that they must have just removed it. My fellow NIMBYS informed me that I had to go to the top of the website and click on Master Plan to see the Swath. Nice game of hide and seek.

(Since this was written, the green swath map has been removed entirely. TBARTA says it is updating all its proposed master plan maps.)