Wondering what’s going on with transit in Pinellas? Well, the campaign for a transit referendum seeking to fund a sweeping set of improvements is making it easy for voters to learn more … over the phone.
Greenlight Pinellas will host a telephone town hall meeting on Thursday as a one-stop shop for info.
The first of three dial-in phone conferences will be open to anyone. Pinellas County Commissioner Susan Latvala and the PSTA CEO Brad Miller will be available to field questions at 10 a.m.
PSTA is hoping that voters in November will approve a one penny sales-tax hike to replace the part of property taxes that now pays for public transportation.
The proposed funding mechanism would boost transit revenue from about $30 million a year to $130 million. It would fund increased bus service, bus rapid transit and passenger rail connecting downtown St. Pete, the mid-county Carillon business district and Clearwater.
There will be two other phone conferences next week with PSTA Board Chair Ken Welch, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long and Largo Vice Mayor Harriet Crozier.
Voters will also be receiving robo-calls with more information about the campaign.
Dial-in information will be released later this week.