Commissioner Murman quoted in this CL article on Tampa Bay Next:
Hillsborough leaders approve five-year funding for controversial “Tampa Bay Next” project
Despite extensive opposition, Hillsborough’s Metropolitan Planning Organization board approved the toll road-centric project.
JUN 14, 2017 9 AM
Tampa Bay Next is moving forward after Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) board approved the transportation plan, despite local opposition and concerns from several Hillsborough leaders.
The MPO board voted 12-3 Tuesday night to fund Tampa Bay Next, which is a “reset” of the contentious Tampa Bay Express (TBX) project that was approved a year ago but is now defunct. The Tampa Bay Next project will add 90 miles of toll lanes to Tampa Bay’s interstates, in addition to other transportation initiatives. Tampa Bay Next is a part of Hillsborough County’s five-year Transportation Improvement Project, though Florida Department of Transportation is at its helm.
“I think we’ve made enormous progress in this year. I believe we are in a better place today than we were a year ago,” said Tampa City Councilman and MPO board member Harry Cohen. “We may not be as far as some would want us to get, but we are definitely headed in the right direction.”
However, critics are concerned and even outraged about how several of the projects outlined in Tampa Bay Next are from the controversial TBX project.
Activists who railed against TBX last year, like Tampa Heights Civic Association president Rick Fernandez, called Tampa Bay Next a “repackaging of the same old plan.”
“If we are in a new day, then TBX should be in a bureaucratic timeout. When I look at [Tampa Bay Next], it’s hard to maintain my cautious optimism because TBX DNA is scattered throughout,” said Fernandez. “When it comes to TBX, the devil is in the details. If you don’t burrow in, if you’re not really careful, you’re going to get burned. We in the neighborhoods know this all too well.”
Other contenders expressed concerns about the negative impact Tampa Bay Next, its toll lanes, and expanded interstates will have on communities, especially low-income neighborhoods.
“This is larger than a matter of transportation. It’s larger than a matter of economics. We’re talking about the future of communities in general and communities of color,” said Dr. Kurt Young, associate professor and chair at Clark Atlanta University. “When we look at construction projects, we understand that when we talk about the removal of communities in urban areas in history, they are African-American communities and other communities of color… When we look at what can come from these types of policies, we cannot sit back and allow for the same type of impact to occur in our community.”
Supporters among the large crowd of critics claimed that it is necessary for the Tampa Bay Next to continue moving forward because of FDOT’s cooperation since TBX was approved last year.
“You did the right thing for Tampa Bay one year ago by voting yes. You gave FDOT a chance to get it right. You challenged FDOT. Since then, I believe that FDOT has genuinely demonstrated a new spirit of collaboration and is making efforts to listen and respond to the concerns of and the aspirations of the impacted communities,” said Rick Homans, CEO of Tampa Bay Partnership. “FDOT has listened to the community and they are working with the community. They can always do better and we need to keep the pressure on. We need to allow this process to continue.”
Before Tuesday’s passage of five-year funding of Tampa Bay Next, County Commissioner Sandy Murman made a motion to hold FDOT officials accountable to their plans and goals for Tampa Bay Next.
Murman’s amendment to the Transportation Improvement Project requested that the department FDOT of District 7 continue their structure of communication and feedback between the MPO, FDOT, and the citizens with regular feedback and quarterly updates to the subject of Tampa Bay Next. She also requested that FDOT “provide updates on mitigation efforts for the neighborhoods, community engagement, status of PD&E, options for premium transit, and efforts to report on the human impacts of the projects and to continue their reevaluation process on the Tampa Bay Next.”
“We need to hold their feet to the fire,” said Murman.
The motion unanimously passed.
Nearly a year ago, Murman made a similar motion with former County Commissioner Kevin Beckner during an 8-hour MPO public hearing. During this hearing, MPO voted 12-4 to fund the since-dissolved TBX project. MPO also approved of Murman and Beckner’s motion to hold FDOT accountable for the transportation project.
Since then, FDOT has not held their end of the bargain, said County Commissioner and MPO Chair Les Miller.
“Every time DOT came to us, the presentation they gave us could have been done by an elementary school child. There was nothing in place to show me anything they were doing at that particular time,” said Miller. “They have yet today to uphold those stipulations that we put in place [last year]… Now, they have Tampa Bay Next. Where’s the plan? Where is the plan? I have yet to see a plan, but we want to talk about $300 million? Where is the plan?”
