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Tom Rask

Government critic Barb Haselden now seeking seat on Pinellas Commission

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Barbara Haselden, a St. Petersburg insurance executive and prominent opponent of the 2014 Greenlight Pinellas transit tax referendum, is running for the Pinellas County Commission. Haselden has her eyes on the District 6 seat being vacated by a retiring John Morroni. Haselden was the leader of No Tax for Tracks, the citizen-driven group formed to oppose Greenlight Pinellas, the referendum which asked for a penny increase in the sales tax to pay for expanded bus service and a 24-mile light rail system linking St. Petersburg…

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For ‘Dem-witted’ Florida Democrats, stop arguing and get to work

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

In case Democrats haven’t figured it out yet, they are in a position of increasing irrelevance for a couple of big reasons: They consistently have been outworked, and they apparently can’t understand what’s actually happening in Florida and this country. The election of Donald Trump is just the latest in what has been a series of events that left Democrats dazed and confused (apologies to Led Zeppelin). I was reminded of that Saturday when an enthusiastic and large crowd (yes,…

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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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Janet Long lashes out at transit critics

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long was not happy. Last Monday, the board of the Hillsborough County Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) inserted revised language into a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with PSTA to ensure that the agreement did not mean that the two transit agencies would be merging or preparing for a sales tax referendum pending because of it. That rankled some board members, who said that the agreement is simply to officially collaborate on more issues going forward. Upon…

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Jack Latvala says his GOP colleagues have their “heads in the sand when it comes to transportation”

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Incoming Florida Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Latvala said Friday a lack of mass transit in the Tampa Bay area has become a bigger problem than ever, and he blasted his fellow Republicans in Tallahassee for failing to lead on the issue. “We’ve got a lot of folks in my party that just bury their head in the sand when it comes to transportation,” the always outspoken Clearwater Republican said, addressing dozens of people who gathered at 8 a.m. to hear him speak at the weekly “Cafe…

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The end for SaintPetersBlog

Ever since I acquired the rights to the perfect domain for my efforts — FloridaPolitics.com — I knew that one

Pro transit group Connect Tampa Bay dissolves

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Two years after the one-cent transit tax known as Moving Hillsborough Forward bit the dust at the polls in November of 2010, a pro-transit group named Connect Tampa Bay was formed to restart discussions on expanding transit options in the Tampa Bay area, including light rail. Their efforts were pivotal in restarting the conversation about transportation in the county, which led nearly a year later to the formation of the Hillsborough County Policy Leadership Group, which would ultimately craft the Go Hillsborough plan,…

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Transit tax foe to Pinellas County commission: Reprimand or fire county administrator — or else

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Two anti-transit-tax activists fired off emails to Pinellas commissioners this week demanding that County Administrator Mark Woodard be disciplined for discussions he held with Mike Merrill, the Hillsborough county administrator. They were reacting to a report in the Tampa Bay Times that Woodard had met with Merrill to discuss, among other things, regional transportation issues. According to the May 3 article, the two had discussed simultaneously asking voters in both counties to approve a half-cent sales tax to pay for…

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