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Tampa Bay Tea Party transit critics get their say at forum

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Whatever adjective(s) you may wish to use to describe Sharon Calvert, Tom Rask and Barb Haselden, “effective” has to be one of them. The three Tea Party-aligned citizen activists have led the opposition to the two major public transit initiatives that have gone down to defeat over the past seven years, and contributed strongly to a third never making it to the ballot in Hillsborough County in 2016 (they also proudly add the failed referendums in Polk County in 2010 and…

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HART board approves agreement with PSTA – but not without considerable debate

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The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority board approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate and collobarate with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), but only after adding additional language clarifying that it is not a move towards a potential merger or a regional sales tax increase. That language was needed ostensibly to assuage the MOU’s critics, including HART board member Karen Jaroch. “The MOU is very vague and I keep questioning what is the need for this? And I haven’t…

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Don’t forget about Shawn Harrison as a possible candidate for Tampa mayor

in Peter by

In his “As We Heard It” column, Patrick Manteiga writes that candidates of all stripes are starting to measure their strengths for a potential run for Mayor of Tampa. Among the names the plugged-in Manteiga mentions are the obvious contenders, like former police chief Jane Castor and current City Councilman Mike Suarez, as well as Councilmembers Yolie Capin and Harry Cohen. Also in the mix, Manteiga says, are Hillsborough Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez, Public Defender Julie Holt, former state Rep.…

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Tampa City Council takes issue with Bob Buckhorn’s decision to close park to homeless

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

In the lead up to last weekend’s Gasparilla events, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn tweeted with tongue firmly planted in cheek that, “Next year we build a wall and make the pirates pay for it.” But on Thursday, Councilman Frank Reddick and some of his colleagues criticized the very real wall – or fence, actually – that the Buckhorn administration constructed at a cost of $32,000 around around Phil Bourquardez Park in Tampa Heights in late December. For years, the park had become a gathering for…

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Tampa City Council hears more about FDOT’s “reset”on TBX

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Jim Boxold, the head of the Florida Department of Transportation, announced last month that he was calling for a “reset” regarding the Tampa Bay Express, acknowledging that the rollout of the controversial multi-billion dollar toll lanes project hasn’t been as smooth as the department had originally intended. To its critics, that would be an understatement. They contend that the state agency hasn’t taken their seriously at all their concerns about what the project might do to the neighborhoods in Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights and V.M. Ybor.  When…

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By only 65 votes, Luis Viera defeats Jim Davison in Tampa City Council special election

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By just 65 votes, Luis Viera defeated Jim Davison in the Tampa City Council District 7 special run-off election, taking 50.64 percent to Davison’s 49.36 percent, a difference of only a single percentage point. Viera received 2,588 votes to Davison’s 2,523, just 65 votes out of 5,120 cast. The special election was held to succeed Lisa Montelione, who was re-elected without opposition to the North Tampa district seat in early 2015. Last fall, Montelione announced that she would run for the state Legislature,…

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Uproar at Hillsborough DEC meeting; City Council, School Board members leave in disgust

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

After a rough start, Hillsborough County Democrats re-elected Ione Townsend as party chair Monday night. A raucous first 50 minutes of the group’s reorganization meeting culminated in five Tampa City Council members and two Hillsborough County school board members leaving the hall in disgust when they were not allowed to participate in the Democratic Executive Committee election for local officers. In a related development that skewed the final tally of his race, Alan Clendenin, vice-chair of the Florida Democratic Party and…

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