Score one for the pro-rail, pro penny cent sales tax forces in Hillsborough County.
No, not that the county commission voted 5-2 to officially put the one cent sales tax referendum on the November ballot last night for transit projects – that was pretty much a foregone conclusion- but that in the battle for public opinion, the supporters of the referendum more than doubled the opponents at the public hearing at the All People’s Life Center in northeast Tampa.
Although it was far from standing room only, there were approximately 400 citizens in attendance for the discussion and vote, which ended at 9:40 p.m., a bit shorter than the four hours commissioners had carved out for the meeting (Less than half of those amount – or 174 people- signed up to speak, and not all of them actually did actually stick around for their turn).
Commissioners moved the meeting to the All People’s Life Center, essentially a large high school gym (with the acoustics to match), because of the anticipated public turnout, which was the first meeting devoted exclusively as to whether the BOCC should vote to allow the public to decide whether to raise another penny to the county’s sales tax to pay for light rail, buses and improved roads. If approved, the sales tax increase would raise approximately $178 million annually, and according to the Hillsborough MPO, cost the average family in the county $142 annually.
There was a solid pact of Tea Party and Tampa 9.12 members sitting up front in red in the middle section, flanked by a sea of pro-transit supporters wearing a dizzying variety of green of various shades throughout the rest of the building.
Commission Chair Ken Hagan concluded the evening by admitting once again, that he doesn’t believe in the proposal, and doesn’t believe it will pass in November. But invoking the patron saint of the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, Hagan said the appropriate vote was to “let the people decide.”
There are five Republicans on the BOCC, and the issue has divided them. As expected, Jim Norman and Al Higginbotham voted against the measure (Norman again called it a “terrible plan”, and Higginbotham said the process has not been transparent enough) while the others, Hagan, Mark Sharpe and Rose Ferlita have had to lay out in detail why they support having the vote.
Sharpe has been the consistent cheerleader for the measure, and it’s become a mission for the former Navy officer. He’s already has taken blows in public forums debating the issue in front of predominantly conservative audiences. No one on the board has researched the issue as thoroughly, and he will be prominent the rest of the year in advocating for it.
Commissioner Rose Ferlita has at times appeared to be the most conflicted. Several times over the past few months she has railed from the dais during board meetings at newspaper reports that have criticized her on her deliberate methods, methods that she says has simply been a way of trying to acquire sufficient information about the proposal, which has many parts to it. Last night she said that it’s been her duty to be so diligent, accurately indicating that public confidence and trust in public officials have never been lower. With reservations, she supports bringing the measure to a public vote.
Commissioner Kevin Beckner, a strong proponent of the one cent sales tax plan, smiled broadly when he called the evening a tribute to democracy, after saying that he had concerns that the discourse might not be so civil (invoking the now infamous health care town hall meeting with Kathy Castor that made national news last August).
But the night was mainly about the community -politicians (like Mayor Iorio and City Councilmembers Thomas Scott and Mary Mulhern), activists, USF students, and concerned citizens alike who said that the measure was about moving forward as a community.
In that respect, they were joined by most of the opponents, such as GOP Congressional candidate Mike Prendergast, in calling for the board to simply vote on having a vote in November, so the citizenry can decide for themselves whether they want to tax themselves to pay for the transportation plan, which in addition to beginning the first legs of a light rail system (that ultimately would spread across seven counties in the Tampa Bay area), but also for improved bus service and for road projects.
Chris Beamer, a student at USF, said that in a student election on the proposal, it was successful on a 51%-30% vote. He said, “to be perfectly honest, Tampa is an ugly city compared to Portland, where there’s economic growth.” He said that as he contemplates whether to stay in the area now that he’s near graduating or moving to what he considers in Portland a “prettier” area, he said he’s learned that one can complain and make a lot of enemies, or ” you can stick around and make things better.”
Opponent Michael Capria said the vote would open up a “Pandora’s box,” adding “this light rail is not light,” while Shirley Wood from Lithia Pinecrest said she and the rest of her neighbors wouldn’t benefit a lick from light-rail, calling it a “rail to nowhere.”
A few speakers mentioned the ongoing oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as further ammunition to begin to fund a light-rail system. The Sierra Club’s Phil Compton said “The best thing we can do to protect our beaches is to have transit here in Tampa Bay. Give voters the choice, so we can have a choice.”
Although the level of discourse was civil throughout the evening, activist Kelly Benjamin did lash out at Commissioner Jim Norman during his two minutes at the mic , where he said Norman was smiling as he spoke. “Jim Norman, you are responsible for a lot of the problems in this community,” he said. ” I think this is far more important than a stadium…we cannot allow misguided growth to continue.”
So now the battle will begin for public approval really gets started. Should be fun.
(And we’ll have more on some of the people supporting and opposing the measure in next week’s CL, which will be online in a few days).
This article appears in May 13-19, 2010.
