Community leaders and members gathered on the Hillsborough (Community) College Ybor City campus on Oct. 13 to hear from Doug Gordon, podcast co-host of The War on Cars and co-author of “Life After Cars.”
The discussion was a good warmup for the canvassing that transit activists will do in Tampa over the next couple weekends as the early voting windows takes locals to Election Day.
Gordon spent some time biking Tampa’s streets and provided a professional outsider’s assessment of his experience. Gordon called out that the public art he encountered was excellent but often seemed to be filling empty space. This desolate feeling continued for him in places like Marion Avenue in downtown, a bus-dedicated road he flashed a picture of and said “who would want to spend time here?”
This liminal feel carried through for him with too much downtown podium parking, which distances the first floor of apartment living to the fifth or sixth floor, and too many one-way streets, which Gordon labeled “city killers”. He also said that despite it not being too hot, the rare shade of a tree brought huge relief from the heat and more of that is needed.
Gordon called out that the bike network’s use of physical barriers, and not just plastic poles and paint, were beyond what he sees in many other cities. This communicates respect to bikers by showing that they deserve dedicated infrastructure. Gordon also remarked on Tampa’s exceptionalism in the sheer amount of large, clean trucks, many of which were lifted to meet an average adult’s eye-level to the top of the hood, an encounter that any speed he said would surely kill him.
He did, however, have nice things to say about East West Green Spine Cycle Track, and designated lanes for cyclists.
Presented by Activate St Pete, WalkBikeTampa, and Transit Now, Gordon was also joined in discussion by Transit Now Tampa Bay co-founder Dayna Lazarus, Tampa City Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s Ray Roa, and Pedal Power Promoter’s Christine Acosta.
Questions from the audience loomed largely around how to inspire others to see the issues they all saw with the car-dominated living situation in Tampa. The guest speakers all agreed that plenty of people see the problems, and it’s best to focus on activating those already convinced rather than convincing those who are not.
Hurtak said she loves the Ola Avenue road, and even started a morning ride on the weekends to show her neighbors how to get downtown from Seminole Heights. She also mentioned how in Tampa people are welcoming to those who want to join a cause, rather than exclusionary of those who maybe haven’t lived here as long, something Gordon—who also appeared in St. Pete on Oct. 12 along with St. Petersburg City Councilman Richie Floyd and transportation advocate ara Tara Lynn Hubard—said he hadn’t heard as a quality in any other city.
Lazarus also said that she spent her childhood exiled in the ‘burbs where transit options lacked,. Part of her approach to growing transit to is take anyone who shows a remote interest in making better and encouraging them to do one little thing about it. This Saturday, and every Saturday until Election Day, Lazarus’ grassroots organization is knocking on doors to canvass for pro-transit candidates on the November ballot and against Florida’s property tax cutting Amendment 3.
If passed, TNTB says the proposition could slash the budget for the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority by at least 18% by 2035 and reduce the operating budget by 26%. “…routes and frequencies will be completely eliminated,” TNTB said.
The group meets in Seminole Heights in the morning, and is done no later than 12:30 p.m.
More information on Canvass for transit with Transit Now Tampa Bay, happening Saturday Oct. 24 & 31, and starting at the at Rivercrest Park gazebo in Tampa, is available via transitnowtb.org.
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This article appears in Oct. 15 – 21, 2026.
