Hillsborough County Commissioners to decide future of Public Transportation Committee, but will they listen to Ronda Storms and angry cabbies?

Hillsborough area state Senator Ronda Storms today amended her bill that would eliminate the Public Transportation Commission in Hillsborough County that effectively puts the fate of that agency back with the county as well as Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace, and not in the hands of the Florida Legislature, somewhat neutering its power.  That happened today as the entire group of state lawmakers representing Hillsborough County in the Legislature met this morning to discuss their local agenda at the Gibbons Alumni Center on the campus of USF.

The Board of County Commissions last month voted last month to reject Storms' contention that the PTC should be eliminated, after Interim County Administrator Mike Merrill recommended that it would only add more work for the BOCC, and not save any money.  But Storms says the agency has been mired in scandal, and is too onerous in its regulations.  And she said this morning in introducing the legislation that the mandate that came through loud and clear last month from the midterm elections was that the public wants government to stop wasting money and increase their accountability. Hillsborough County is the only county in Florida that has such a regulatory body.

Storms also said that there had not been a "competent" cost-benefit analysis done to actually determine if eliminating the PTC would save money for the county or not.  The county's Mike Merill had said it would not.

But what made the nearly two-hour debate fascinating was about who was supporting maintaining the PTC, and who would like to see it destroyed.  Speaking in support were representatives from the most part from the limousine industry, many dressed in suits and ties.

And it was the definition of the working class who spoke out strongly against the Public Transportation Commission – cab drivers, who disgustedly recounted how they say the agency is arbitrary and unfair in how they regulate cab drivers. Many of those cabbies said they had been hounded by inspectors gratuitously and that they believe the agency was all about stifling competition.

After Senator Storms took much of the heart out of her own bill by giving the ultimate control of whether to maintain the commission back to the county and its three municipalities, Representative Seth McKeel, the chair of the Hillsborough County Legislative Delegation, asked the 50 plus speakers scheduled to give comment that they should weigh whether they wanted to speak up for or against the bill, since nothing would ultimately be decided at the meeting at the USF campus.  Democratic Representative Darryl Rouson, whose district represents parts of Hillsborough, Pinellas & Sarasota counties, said at around 10:40 a.m., roughly an hour into the proceedings, if public comment could be waived since there would be no ultimate decision, and would allow him to vote on the legislation before he had to depart for a similar meeting with the Sarasota County delegation.

McKeel said that might be fine, but he didn't think it would go over well with the standing room only crowd, many of them there explicitly to discuss the bill, or a subsequent one filed by newly minted state Senator Jim Norman that would reauthorize the PTC, as well as require limousines to be luxury vehicles and set a cap on the number of limousine permits issued each year (after debate bogged down with that bill, brought up shortly before noon after the considerable debate on Storms legislation, Representative Will Weatherford called for the bill to be tabled until later in the day, as officials like Clerk of the Courts Pat Frank and State Attorney Mark Ober were all patiently awaiting their turn to speak before the group of local state lawmakers.

Members of the public who were speaking out for the PTC said that cab drivers were literally the first face that visitors traveling to Tampa see when arriving at Tampa International, and therefore it was appropriate to have an agency oversee the conduct of such drivers, as well as maintain the safety of their automobiles.

Supporting Storms bill in the House was Plant City Representative's Rich Glorioso, who said he felt that until recently, the PTC had gotten their act together.  But he said he became upset when he and Tampa state Senator Arthenia Joyner had tried to pass a bill that would make it easier for those who wanted to complain about the PTC, but said the PTC then spent "tens of thousands of dollars" to strip the bill out of committee.  "I got turned off,"he said about the agency.

The hearing was not devoid of humor, as indeed Storms referenced on several occasions the fact that PTC regulations require that cabbies wear socks, even if they're wearing sandals, while driving passengers, a claim that has been lampooned in recent weeks.  "I don't know, maybe there's roving cabbies with offending feet that need to be governed by socks.  Maybe, I don't know, but there are more important things to do," adding, "all this hyper regulation?  It's too much."

Although the Hillsborough County Commission did initially reject Storms bill, county commissioner Mark Sharpe has asked to revisit the issue, perhaps as early as at tomorrow's regular BOCC meeting.

CL intends to follow up with some of the cab drivers we met at Tuesday's meeting to learn more about their complaints about the Public Transportation Commission.

This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2010.