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Pinellas commissioner says he’s frustrated with Hillsborough for voting no on Go Hillsborough

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Solving Pinellas’ transportation issues will take a collaborative, regional effort, Pinellas County commissioners told a Seminole crowd Tuesday. That’s why the failure of the Hillsborough commission to put a half-cent transportation tax on this November’s ballot was so disappointing to at least one Pinellas commissioner. “I’m a little frustrated with our friends in Hillsborough,” Commissioner John Morroni said. “Not to give the people a chance to vote on it was really bad in my opinion.” Morroni’s comments were made during a “community conversation” the…

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Ed Narain gets no love for advocating that Florida cities should be able to hold their own tax referendums

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A couple of years after Hillsborough County voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax referendum on transportation, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn talked about getting Tallahassee lawmakers to back a measure that would allow big cities like Tampa the ability to place their own tax referendums on the ballot. It received little support from the local delegation, and was never even proposed as a bill. Flash forward to Tuesday’s luncheon hosted by the Tampa Bay Partnership, where state Representative Ed Narain expressed a similar desire,…

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Nonpartisan Gulfport City Council race goes partisan

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Gulfport municipal elections are supposed to be nonpartisan, but party politics have come out in the city’s lone City Council contest. Though voters will never see it on a ballot, incumbent Dan Liedtke is a Republican. His challenger, April Thanos, is a Democrat. In a recent mailer, Thanos called Liedtke out as “a Tea Party conservative.” Liedtke fired back with a social media post countering her mail. But instead of defending the claim or attacking his opponent’s progressivism, Liedtke instead…

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Central Avenue BRT will serve as St. Pete’s premium transit

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Downtown St. Petersburg will be connected to Pinellas County  beaches via First Avenues North and South with a Bus Rapid Transit line using a $500,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, according to the state agency. During a sunny news conference in front of one of Central Avenue’s many wall murals, FDOT Secretary Paul Steinman called the Central Avenue BRT route “premium transit” necessary to create a “fully integrated transportation system.” The new route piggybacks on the existing Central…

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Rick Kriseman lays out 2016 legislative priorities

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St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman was first up at a Pinellas County Legislative Delegation meeting Tuesday to lay out his list of priorities for the legislative session next year. Two of his proposals are repeat asks from last year that were not approved. That includes funding for a Bus Rapid Transit pilot program that would create an express bus route connecting downtown St. Pete to the beaches along First Avenues North and South. Powerhouse State Senator Jack Latvala left a…

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Hillsborough County Sheriffs Dept. will continue to investigate Go Hillsborough process

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The Board of Hillsborough County Commissioners on Wednesday reaffirmed that they want Sheriff David Gee’s office to conduct an investigation into the contracting out of the Go Hillsborough transportation proposal. They also rejected a proposal by Commissioner Stacy White that would kill the county’s deal with contractor Parsons Brinckerhoff, which was suspended two weeks ago. And they voted to hold a comprehensive review of their transportation options after the next meeting of the Policy Leadership Group taking place on November 5.…

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Reacting to media report, Hillsborough County internal auditor to again review Go Hillsborough effort

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Although there was already a 94-page investigation conducted by Hillsborough County’s internal auditor earlier this year that gave the thumbs up to the county’s contracting of the Go Hillsborough public outreach program with engineering consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff, the Board of County Commission today voted to have internal auditor Peggy Caskey conduct another investigation immediately. The motion by Commissioner Kevin Beckner came two days after a report by WTSP-Channel 10 reporter Noah Pransky that investigated local public relations and communications guru Beth Leytham, and her involvement as…

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