Commissioner Murman quoted in this Miami Herald article on Hurricane Irma:

If path holds, Irma could swamp Southwest Florida, Tampa coast with surge

BY JAY WEAVER AND CHLOE HERRING

jweaver@miamiherald.com

SEPTEMBER 09, 2017 7:44 PM

As Hurricane Irma began assaulting Florida’s west coast Sunday, it threatened to hit the nation’s most vulnerable target for storm surge: Tampa.

Tampa is especially prone to flooding because it is low lying with a big bay and inlets that face the shallow, warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And just about every other Gulf Coast community in Irma’s track — Everglades City, Naples, Cape Coral, Bradenton, Sarasota — is also at high risk.

Tampa leaders are all too aware of this scary natural phenomenon.

“Storm surge is real. I think it’s ‘You run from the water and hide from the wind,’ ” Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman said, urging residents to take all precautions at an emergency briefing on Saturday.

“Well, you better run from this water because if that storm surge hits six to nine feet, I know I’m going to have six feet in my house.”

Based on its track coming off the Lower Keys on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center projected storm surge — the difference between normal high tide and storm tide — reaching as high as 10 to 15 feet along Southwest Florida’s coast from Cape Sable to Captiva. The Tampa Bay area could see four to eight feet.

“If you’re in an evacuation zone, you do not want to be there when the surge comes,” NHC specialist Mike Brennan warned Gulf Coast residents. “You can lose your life. It’s as simple as that.”

The Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area — Florida’s second largest — has been rated as the nation’s most vulnerable region to a major storm surge with estimated property losses of $175 billion in the event of a 100-year hurricane, according to a Boston company that specializes in assessing the risk of catastrophes.

In Tampa, the 100-year hurricane would be a Category 4 storm with winds as high as 150 miles per hour. The last major hurricane to strike the Tampa Bay area — a Category 4 with maximum winds of 140 miles per hour — was in 1921.

“A severe storm with the right-track orientation will cause an enormous buildup of water that will become trapped in the bay and inundate large areas of Tampa and St. Petersburg,” with 50 percent of their population living on ground elevations less than 10 feet, according to a 2015 report by Karen Clark & Company.

The company rated Fort Myers No. 5 in vulnerability with estimated losses of $70 billion, and Sarasota at No. 7 with losses estimated at $50 billion.

By comparison, Miami came in at No. 4 with estimated losses at $80 billion. Miami’s coastal profile is less prone to storm surge than other areas because the continental shelf falls off steeply, the report said. But its potential property losses are still high because the city boasts some of Florida’s most expensive real estate.

Irma, which earlier in the week was projected to strike South Florida, started shifting to a northwest track on Friday toward Southwest Florida. Typically, in this region, storms travel east to west or southwest to northeast — as Hurricane Charley did in 2004, when the Category 4 storm made landfall west of Fort Myers.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this FOX 13 article on Hurricane Irma:

Local leaders: The time to leave is now; tomorrow may be too late

By: FOX 13 News staff

POSTED: SEP 09 2017 08:01PM EDT

UPDATED: SEP 09 2017 11:22PM EDT

TAMPA (FOX 13) – Tomorrow, they said, may be too late.

As Hurricane Irma approaches the Tampa Bay Area, evacuations will become too dangerous, they said. Efforts to rescue those who decided – against all advice – to stay, won’t be possible.

Hillsborough County Fire-Rescue Chief Dennis Jones said Saturday, crews are prepared to respond once the storm passes, but “during the storm, we are unable to respond due to high winds and the danger to the crews”.

Jones urged people in mandatory evacuation zones to heed the warnings.

“This is for real,” he said. “Evacuate now, so we don’t have to come and rescue you later.”

As evacuation orders went up across the Tampa Bay Area Saturday, and the entire region was placed under a hurricane warning, local leaders hammered the message home:

“Heed the warning.”
“This is not a test.”
“The time to take action is now.”

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman said anyone in an evacuation zone who thinks they can ride this storm out is wrong. That includes some of her own neighbors. 

Murman‘s home is an evacuation zone and says many of her neighbors have decided to stay put.

“That is scary,” she said. “They think they can tough this out.”  

Murman, herself, is heeding the advice and getting out. 

“If that storm surge hits nine feet, I’m going to have six feet in my house,” she said. 

Col. Chad Chronister with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office echoed the message.

“This is not a test,” he said. “We are all going to be affected. Do not delay.”

Chronister said his agency has put additional patrols on the streets to help with evacuations, but “the threshold [for when it’s too late] is going to come rather quickly.”

“The time to take action is now,” he added.

It’s a message that comes all the way from the top. At a news briefing Saturday evening, Governor Rick Scott put it in clear terms: “If you have been ordered to evacuate, go now,” adding, “this is your last chance to make a good decision.”

He urged Floridians in evacuation zones to “do the right thing for your family.”

Governor Scott said the storm surge predictions and the projected wind strengths are “unlike anything” most people have ever experienced.

FOX 13 Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto said those who do stay behind will face several long hours of extremely high winds which will be louder than most of us have ever heard. He urged people in evacuation zones to go to a shelter.

He said anyone reluctant to do so because they don’t want to be around a bunch of strangers have the wrong idea.

“You’ll make friends for life,” he said, adding, “there’s always comfort in numbers.”

He said riding out the storm by yourself, isn’t a good idea.

“You wanna talk about a feeling of isolation? When the power’s out and it’s pitch black at 2 o’clock in the morning, and the house is vibrating – you’re going to wish you had someone around you.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Appsforpcdaily.com article on Hurricane Irma:

WHERE WILL HURRICANE IRMA HIT IN THE U.S.?

Author Floyd Cook

10 September, 2017

If you’ve ever watched how a storm surge works, it flows in fast, very fast, then it flows out.

Officials said that hurricane-force winds are expected in the Floriday Keys around daybreak on Sunday. I think it’s ‘You run from the water and hide from the wind.’ ” Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman said, urging residents to take all precautions at an emergency briefing on Saturday. The area hasn’t been hit by a hurricane since 1921.

It is then forecast to change direction and head north towards the USA stateof Florida, where a state of emergency has been called. The Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando airports shut down.

If Irma’s eye wall cuts across the Tampa-St. It was set to close at 8:00 p.m. with no word yet on when it would re-open. “The hurricane is expected to move along or near the southwest coast of Florida Sunday afternoon”.

As of early Saturday morning, the storm was still making its way across Cuba with the full extent of the damage unclear.

Evacuations were ordered for several areas in South Florida and the Florida Keys this week.

She said the storm hit at about 2 a.m., and at 4 a.m., they realized the 7th floor of the hotel was flooded.

Orange juice prices have already been creeping higher as Florida braces for the storm.

Throughout this week, Irma’s projected course has changed multiple times.

Florida’s agriculture, fishing and horticulture industries bring in $150 billion per year.

“This is your last chance to make a good decision”, Rick Scott, governor of Florida, warned residents in the state’s evacuation zones, which encompassed a staggering 6.4 million people, or more than 1 in 4 people. Almost 30,000 people had lost power, mostly in and around Miami and Fort Lauderdale, as the wind began gusting.

Some 54,000 people have already taken refuge in the 320 shelters across the state – and the number of evacuees continues to grow, Scott said.

“We are in touch with community leaders in Florida area”, Indian Ambassador to US Navtej Sarna, told PTI after a review meeting he had on hurricane Irma preparedness. “This likely will be one of the most challenging restorations that our country has ever seen”.

Jaspert made the announcement Friday telling residents; “I come to you with a heavy heart after experiencing and observing the extent of devastation caused by Hurricane Irma”.

– HurricaneTracker App (@hurrtrackerapp) September 9, 2017There is the potential that up to 20 million people lose power!

Flood-prone Miami Beach, also under mandatory evacuation order, has been emptied of people but is bracing for high waters. Almost 40% of Miami’s gas stations, for example, were completely out of stock Friday. Even 25 miles off the coast, the Gulf of Mexico is only about 60 feet deep.

Florida is also home to thousands of Indian-Americans. And visitors pump billions of dollarsinto the state’s economy every year.

And hurricane-force winds are expected to lash the peninsula as it rolls north toward Georgia. It’s unknown how many pythons are in the Everglades – estimates range from 10,000 to 100,000 – but the evidence of their presence is the eerie, near-total absence of rabbits or other small animals reported by the hunters now paid by the state to kill pythons on public lands.

Florida’s economy has been chugging along lately, showing promising signs of recovery after the 2008 market crash wreaked havoc on the state.

Commissioner Murman pictured in this Tampa Bay Times story on equal pay:

Commissioner Sandy Murman speaks on differences in pay between men and women.

Florida ranks high for workplace equality between men and women

• By Malena Carollo, Times Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 22, 2017 10:04am

Florida ranks high in terms of equality between men and women in the workplace. Pictured is Sandra Murman, county commissioner in 2015, talking about the differences in pay between men and women. | [Times file photo]

When it comes to the workplace, Florida ranks fifth in terms of gender equality, a WalletHub study released Tuesday found.

According to the study, Florida has the smallest gap between men and women for unemployment rate, second smallest income gap between men and women and the second smallest gap between hours worked by women and men.

“Women’s rights in the U.S. have made leaps and bounds since the passage of the 19th amendment,” the study reads. “Yet many women still struggle to crack the proverbial glass ceiling because of their unequal treatment in society.”

Florida also had the sixth smallest gap between pay for men and women in minimum wage jobs. The study was based on factors in workplace environment, education and health and political empowerment. Nevada came in first for workplace environment, followed by New Mexico at No. 2, Montana at No. 3 and Hawaii at No. 4.

Despite the high category rankings, WalletHub pegged Florida as No. 35 overall

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Bay Times article on the Port:

Overspending accusations spur stricter policies at Port Tampa Bay

• Justine Griffin, Times Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 15, 2017 2:24pm

TAMPA —Port Tampa Bay’s governing board approved a new spending and expense policy Tuesday amid recent reports of excessive spending among its employees.

The revised policy, which went into effect Tuesday, forces port officials to forgo renewing golf memberships or Tampa Bay Lightning season tickets and will require detailed documentation of all business and travel-related expenses. Port employees will be required to attend a training session about the new policies and to fill out a new form to document every expense.

Staff members made it clear during a presentation to the board that alcoholic beverages paid for during any business engagement — which came under close scrutiny after a local ABC Action News investigation — will not be reimbursed for employees. However, port employees can pay for alcoholic beverages for guests who could potentially do business with the port.

In addition, the board will require all employee expenses to undergo a third-party auditing procedure by Tampa accounting firm Rivero, Gordimer & Co. every quarter and annually, for review. The port’s ethics commission is also reviewing the accusations of overspending.

Several instances of overspending, which included port employees using port-paid-for golf memberships for personal use, lavish meals at expensive restaurants like Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa, and season tickets for the Tampa Bay Lightning games, have been reimbursed, said Paul Anderson, Port Tampa Bay president and CEO.

“It’s our goal to be the region’s economic leader. We work tirelessly to bring state, national and international companies and jobs to the Tampa Bay area,” Anderson said at the meeting. “Recent questions about our expenses have prompted us to take a closer look at the controls in place. We want to infuse greater disclosure, clarity and accuracy when it comes to our expenditures. It is my responsibility to make that happen.”

Earlier this month, Gov. Rick Scott appointed Mike Griffin to the Tampa Port Authority. Griffin, 36, fills a vacant seat on the board, but Scott touted Griffin as a new overseer of the port’s operations after the overspending accusations. Griffin is the senior managing director of Savills Studley Occupier Services in Tampa and is also the current chair of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

“Recently, I was concerned to see media reports detailing wasteful spending by the executives at Port Tampa Bay. The actions detailed in these reports should serve as a reminder of the importance of the oversight every appointee is charged with providing. I look forward to the Tampa Port Authority governing board reviewing policies to prevent wasteful spending by employees,” Scott explained in a statement when Griffin was appointed. Scott was a major supporter of Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida, two statewide public agencies that marketed Florida for tourism and corporate development. Both agencies faced scrutiny from legislators this year about overspending.

Port Tampa Bay board members seemed pleased with the swift action to revise and implement new policies.

“Some things that took place were unnecessary and unreasonable, but the port’s staff recognized that and have taken the aggressive steps to fix its culture,” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman said the revised policy was among the most conservative she’s seen at a public agency.

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Carl Lindell said “We don’t want to take the tools away to compete globally. This port is subject to competition. We need to assure that we’re still backing them up and giving them the proper amount of dollars to make business happen.”

Contact Justine Griffin at jgriffin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8467. Follow @SunBizGriffin.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on storm water rates:

Stormwater rate hike coming to Hillsborough residents, businesses

Steve Contorno, Times Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 16, 2017 11:41am

Single-family households will pay $36 this year, an increase of $6. Apartment complexes will now pay $18 per unit and non-residential parcels will pay $0.03 for every 1.5 square feet.

The new rates, approved 5-1, also give commissioners the option of raising the rate for residents to $42 next year.

Commissioners hope the hike can help the county address a significant backlog in the kind of culvert and watershed improvements that can alleviate flooding that habitually occurs after even modest rains.

“I’m exhausted in my office dealing with situations of storm water problems. My staff is exhausted,” Commissioner Sandy Murman said. “We are trying to answer the needs. This is a quality of life issue that’s really important to our residents.”

It’s necessary for Hillsborough to address stormwater infrastructure because of its “special problems” as a coastal county that sees heavy rainfall in summer months and is susceptible to sea level rise and tropical storms, Commissioner Pat Kemp said.

Administrator Mike Merrill, however, said that while this is a step forward but many larger stormwater projects remain unfunded in the capital plan.

Commissioner Victor Crist was the lone no vote.

In 2015, commissioners raised the fee from $12 a year to $30, the first rate increase since the stormwater fee was first assessed in 1991.

At the time, county staff recommended a hike to $36 dollars a year but commissioners split the difference, fearing a 200 percent increase was too aggressive for residents.

The new rates will generate about $19.7 million a year.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this SPB article on TBARTA appointment:

Kathleen Shanahan appointed by HART to new transit board, but not without controversy

by Mitch Perry

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) voted to appoint Kathleen Shanahan as its representative on the newly reconstructed TBARTA (the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority) board on Monday, but only after debating whether it was better to appoint an elected official or a member of the general public.

Shanahan is a private businesswoman who for decades has been a major player in Republican circles in Florida and Washington D.C. Originally nominated by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn to serve on the board for a three-year term in the fall of 2014, she’s frequently discussed the importance of HART getting a seat at the table with state and federal officials to benefit the agency.

Shanahan initially declined the nomination and instead backed Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman, who was originally nominated by her Board of County Commission colleague Pat Kemp. 

But sentiment quickly grew on the board that it would be better if they selected a non-elected member of its board to TBARTA’s board.

“I don’t think there’s a confidence in our elected community at this point in time and I think it’s our responsibility to reach beyond that and bring somebody in who’s really passionate about this and has knowledge as well,” said HART board member Mickey Jacob, who then nominated John Melendez, an engineering consultant who has served on the board since being appointed by Governor Rick Scott in 2012.

During the 2017 Legislative Session, Florida lawmakers supported the proposal of reconfiguring the TBARTA board. Among those changes was altering the title of the organization from the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Agency to the Tampa Bay Regional Transit Agency, reducing the counties in the agency from 7 to 5, and creating a new 13-member board; Five will represent the specific counties in TBARTA (Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee and Hernando); two members will be selected by the mayors of Tampa and St. Petersburg; PSTA and HART will select a single memebr, and Governor Rick Scott will get four picks.

It was a major priority for the Tampa Bay area business community, though some have criticized the fervor for what on the surface seems to be a simply reshuffling of an agency that hasn’t been very relevant in the discussion about improving transportation in the region.

While Kemp and Hillsborough County Commission ChairStacy White backed their colleague Murman’s selection to the new TBARTA board; Commissioner Les Miller said a non-elected appointee to serve would be a “breath of fresh air,” a sentiment echoed by Tampa City Councilman Mike Suarez.

But Murman warned the board that the lack of a second BOCC member of the HART board could hurt Hillsborough County when it comes to funding in the future.

“Pinellas County is going to have two county commissioners on TBARTA,” Murman said. “Legislatively they have the power in Pinellas county right now, I think you need to understand that from a state perspective.”

Murman said she was stunned to see how much funding goes to places like Pasco and Pinellas Counties in the last budget. “It’s all in the political influence. And if you think otherwise, you’re just not looking at the facts.”

“Our county is far bigger than the other counties in the region and is really ground zero in the region for transportation,” said Kemp, adding that a decision not to appoint Murman would be doing Hillsborough County wrong.

But Murman said she could count the votes and realized they weren’t there for her. She then withdrew her nomination and asked that Shanahan be renominated.

Shanahan reluctantly accepted the renomination, but echoed Murman’s concerns that it would not be beneficial for HART to choose a non-elected official.

“We’re not being strategic about this and now we’ve turned it into a personality choice, which is unfortunate, because this is really an opportunity for the strength of building on regional funding,” Shanahan said.

She also said that the voters should be more involved in the process, and indirectly criticized Murman and White when she said she believe the County Commission made a mistake a year ago in not putting the Go Hillsborough transportation referendum before the public.

Shanahan, 58, serves as the CEO of URETEK Holdings, Inc., and has previously worked for Jeb Bush, George H.W. Bushand Dick Cheney over the years.

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.

ZEBRINA EDGERTON-MALOY

 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?”

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this StPetersBlog article on Tampa Bay Next:

Despite intense opposition, Hillsborough MPO votes to support ‘Tampa Bay Next’ project

MITCH PERRY

11 hours ago

For the third year in a row, the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to maintain what is now known as the Tampa Bay Next (TBN) project, despite dozens of citizens who told them that they should remove the plan from the MPO’s Transportation Improvement Project (TIP).

Although the controversial Tampa Bay Express (TBX) is gone in name, critics who spoke before the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting Tuesday night said that it’s DNA remains throughout its named successor, Tampa Bay Next.

“Is TBN just the repackaging of the old plan, or is it truly something new? ” asked Rick Fernandez, the president of the Tampa Heights Civic Association.”TBX deserves no prioritization over and above any other plan that this community might be able to contribute to the discussion. Not now and not until evaluations have been completed,” he added.

The TBX project presented by the Florida Department of Transportation more than two years ago was the biggest public works project in the history of the Tampa Bay region. The plan would ultimately remake I-275, I-4, and I-75, and bring new toll lanes from Pasco County south to Manatee County and from Pinellas County east to Polk County.

Critics have contended that the plan would negatively impact a low-income and minority area of Tampa, which had little input on what was happening in its neighborhood. They told the MPO to drop TBN from the MPO’s TIP (Transportation Improvement Project).

“This will be economically disastrous, especially for the minority residents of these neighborhoods,” said Sara Kennedy, referring to the Tampa neighborhoods that could be impacted by the construction of the project: Tampa Heights, Seminole Heights and V.M. Ybor. “Residents face noise, air pollution and visual blight streaming from stretches of concrete bisecting their streets.”

“We told you that we would never relent, and we never have,” said Michelle Cookson, part of the anti-TBX activist group Sunshine Citizens. She questioned the meaning of the reset, saying that toll lanes are in the Tampa Bay Next project, as are the letters “TBX.”

Chris Vela also called for the TBN to removed from the TIP. He called on FDOT to stop buying and moving properties in Ybor City, all part of the what the agency has called “the ultimate downtown interchange”— the widening of both I-275 and I-4.

TBX and now TBN have been consistently supported by the business establishment in Hillsborough County, and no one is more establishment than Bob Rohrlack, President and CEO of The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. He said that while the Chamber does support the project, it also supports transit, autonomous vehicles, improved busing, walkable communities, and all other viable options.

Rohrlack also called on the MPO board to make sure to follow the money requested by Hillsborough County state lawmakers to pay for removing a Tampa Heights community center which sits in the middle of potential construction for TBN.

Anne Kulig, the president of the Westshore Alliance, said her group has also maintained steadfast support for the project, but like Rohrlack and Rick Homans, the president of the Tampa Bay Partnership, she also gave praise to FDOT for their evolution in dealing with the public and the neighborhood groups directly affected by TBN.

“We hope they’re sincere. We think they’re sincere, ” she said. “They really are looking at this as a multimodal opportunity.”

TBX/TBN foe Mit Patel said the project was a parade of horribles.

“How can one project be racist, be economic boondoggle, happen to not serve the future, happen to be based on studies from 30 years ago, how it can hurt our environment? how can it hurt our air quality? How can it be downright ugly? All this in one project.”

After more than four hours of discussion, the MPO board rejected a proposal by Tampa City Councilman Guido Maniscalco to remove TBN from the TIP.

They then supported a proposal by County Commissioner Sandy Murman to request that the FDOT District 7 office provide quarterly updates to the MPO about TBN – specifically on mitigation efforts for the neighborhoods, community engagement, status for PD&E, options for premium transit and efforts to report on the human impacts on the projects.

Commissioner and MPO Chair Les Miller didn’t support the proposal, saying he had made similar motions over the past two MPO meetings on the TIP, and said that FDOT had utterly failed to provide adequate updates. Nevertheless, the rest of the board supported Murman’s proposal, and an FDOT official will presumably update them on TB Next at the next meeting in August.