The news that TBARTA would not be conducting the survey itself was welcomed by Sharon Calvert, a noted Tea Party member in Hillsborough County running for County Commissioner against GOP incumbent Victor Crist in District 2 this August. A major critic of the light-rail initiative that lost in the county in 2010, Calvert criticized TBARTA during the public hearing portion of the meeting because she claims the agency still lists rail in its master plan.
As the meeting progressed, she wasn't the only one to ask pointed questions of Bob Clifford, TBARTA's Executive Director.
TBARTA was created by the state in 2007 to work as an independent special district, working as an agency overlooking transportation problems for the seven counties that represent the Tampa Bay area.
Tampa City Councilman Mike Suarez, who also serves on the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), expressed frustration that several agencies are working locally on transportation, but none are coordinated with one another. "I'm a little bit confused about all of these studies going on," he lamented.
Board member John Melendez shared another concern of Suarez ? that HART is barely mentioned at all when one reviews TBARTA's website. "I'd like to see more communication between the two agencies," he said.
Clifford discussed a number of issues TBARTA is currently working on, such as transit from USF to Wesley Chapel, a study for which began last year.
That seemed to tick off another HART board member, Dr. Steven Polzin from USF. He mentioned that HART had spent $1.7 million on its Alternative Analysis in 2010, which could have included the same information needed to study a USF-Wesley Chapel corridor.
Citing the "frustration that some of us have that we're cutting bus routes and raising fares trying to keep this going," Polzin said some of the studies that TBARTA is working on were "so far in the future, they could be irrelevant when we make decisions." He added that some of the things that TBARTA is working on appeared to him to be "grandiose," and "far downstream."
HART board chair Fran Davin then offered that she was hearing a "lack of clarity about how decisions on what to study or what not to study are being made."
Clifford explained that much of TBARTA's work is done with the guidance of the Florida Department of Transportation.
Later on, Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe said the money being spent on transportation studies was "chump change" compared to the amount that needs to be spent on fixing roads.
He and Murman then spoke about an analysis recently presented to County Commissioners by the >Urban Land Institute. Their assessment? That there are loads of plans in the county, but not nearly enough communication between the various agencies. And also that many of those plans are never enacted.
"They said there's no connectivity," Murman added. "That's what I want to see. I want to know who's in charge. That?s been my whole thing since I became a County Commissioner."
