News & Public Affairs
Ken Welch on all things going on in Pinellas County
02/07/13 Mitch PerryLast Call Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Pinellas County, Ken Welch, rail, transit, light rail, Rays, Tampa Bay Rays, stadium, the Pier
Pinellas County Commission Chair Ken Welch joined us for the entire hour, talking about Rays stadium issues, the Pier, a light-rail system in the county, and many other issues.
Be the first to commentTransit officials in Hillsborough are trying to get rolling on improvements listen
02/01/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: HART, transit, transportation, BRT, light rail, Hillsborough County
Hillsborough County’s transit agency is looking at ways to revamp its system, mostly by improving services it already offers. At a workshop today, community stakeholders and HART officials laid out different funding options for new projects.
More and more people are ditching their wheels and hopping on buses. According to Jeff Seward, HART’s chief financial officer, ridership is already up 3.5% over last year. That leaves a wide gap in bus service for the county that Seward said could b...
Be the first to commentHillsborough activists organize to advocate for mass transit listen
01/29/13 Ella WindWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Transit, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Referendum
Pinellas County transit leaders recently sent a referendum for the 2014 ballot to county commissioners for a sales tax to fund light rail. Community leaders and activists from Hillsborough County met in downtown Tampa yesterday to plan a movement for mass transit in their county.
Thirty local activists and representatives from unions, environmental groups, city administration and others met to begin a plan for a political movement to demand that Hillsborough move forward with planning a...
Be the first to commentPSTA forwards transit measure to Pinellas County Commission for referendum decision listen
01/23/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PSTA, transit, transportation, light rail, Pinellas County
On Wednesday Pinellas transit officials unanimously approved plans to move forward with a transit overhaul by passing the issue to county commissioners. During three hours of public comment Michael Marino with the Tampa Bay Partnership said he met more than 100 times with people in the community about what their priorities were and the answer almost every time was improved transit.
Be the first to comment"This is not a debate about taxes or trains. This is a debate about do you want to have a positive impact o...
PSTA expected to ask Pinellas County Commission for sales tax referendum listen
01/22/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PSTA, Brad Miller, light rail, transit, transportation
Board members for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, or PSTA will decide once and for all tomorrow whether or not to ask Pinellas County Commissioners to put a sales tax referendum on the November, 2014 ballot. As proposed, the measure would boost the county’s sales tax from 7% to 8% and would fund a massive transit overhaul. The improvements would include better bus service and eventually light rail connecting downtown St. Pete to ...
Be the first to commentPinellas transit officials stick to plans for merger study after HART flip-flops listen
01/14/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PSTA, HART, transit, transportation
The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority’s (PSTA) board is sticking to its guns about a recommendation to the Florida legislature that would further study the benefits of combining their agency with Hillsborough’s. Both boards had decided to ask the state to pay for a second merger study, but last week, leaders of the Hillsborough transit authority rescinded that request. PSTA CEO Brad Miller agreed with a board decision during a special meeting Monday to meet with HART once more before each...
Be the first to commentBreaking down the potential for a future mass transit system in Hillsborough County
01/03/13 Mitch PerryLast Call Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Connect Tampa Bay, Ray Chiaramonte, Brian Willis, transit, transportation, Hillsborough County
Ray Chiaramonte from the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization and Tampa attorney Brian Willis with the group Connect Tampa Bay talk about the very real prospects for a a mass-transit system in the Tampa Bay area, specifically in Hillsborough County.
Be the first to commentTampa Bay area residents are becoming more transit-friendly listen
12/27/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: transit, transportation, HART, PSTA
A Tampa Bay Times poll released today shows that a majority of Tampa Bay residents would be OK with spending tax dollars on light rail in the region.
Fifty-six percent of Hillsborough County residents polled said they would support using public funding for mass transit like light or commuter rail. In Pinellas County 60% said they’d be on board.
The poll comes after voters in Hillsborough rejected a transit-tax referendum that could have included light rail. Now planners in Pinellas Co...
Be the first to commentTampa International Airport plans to shift car rental location to free up terminal space listen
12/20/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Joe Lopano, Tampa International Airport, transit, transportation, light rail, Cuba
Tampa International Airport officials are making plans for future growth and some of the changes could happen pretty soon. The airport’s CEO told Tampa City Council members this morning that rental car facilities will likely be moved in order to free up parking spaces and cut down on road congestion around the main terminal.
The new rental car facility would be built near the post office and economy parking lots on the south side of the airport property. Tampa airport’s CEO [Joe Lopano](...
3 commentsPinellas and Hillsborough want to further study transit merger listen
12/11/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: PSTA, HART, transit, transportation, Florida Legislature
Officials for transit authorities in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties are considering merging the two systems to save money. Both PSTA and HART boards plan to ask the Florida legislature to fund a detailed study of the savings that would result from combining staff resources.
PSTA and HART already split the cost of a preliminary state-mandated coordination study. The boards will vote on a final list of recommendations and funding requests based on the results at their meeting next month....
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