Pinellas Transit in Trouble

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) has been illegally using FEMA money to illegally advertise in favor of a ballot measure to build light rail in St. Petersburg, Florida. Last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent a letter demanding that PSTA return a $354,000 grant it received that was supposed to be used to ward of terror threats, but was used instead to advertise for light rail. FEMA warned that, even if PSTA returned the money (which it has), it would still be under investigation for criminal charges for misuse of federal funds.

The double use of the word “illegal” in the first sentence above refers to the fact that, not only did PSTA misuse the FEMA grant, it shouldn’t be spending any money at all promoting the light-rail ballot measure. In the 1990s, most rail transit ballot measures lost, but in the 2000s, more have won, mainly because transit agencies began using taxpayer dollars to promote the measures start with the Utah Transit Authority in 2000.

As a pro-rail web site notes of the Utah measure, a “key to success was that the agency had put great effort into maintaining a strong, positive public reputation prior to launching the campaign. TV ads were already regularly appearing reminding the public of the benefits of the service provided by UTA. When it came time to initiate the electoral campaign, early outreach efforts had already paved the way.”

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Kudos to Tampa-St. Petersburg WTSP (channel 10) report Mike Deeson for investigating this issue since at least last March. Deeson first uncovered that PTSA was using FEMA grants to promote the ballot measure. At the time, Brad Miller told Deeson that the FEMA grant was “more than just about bombs and terrorism and police force.” Apparently, FEMA didn’t agree.

The Antiplanner’s review of the Pinellas light-rail plan found that the rail project would cost $57 for every new ride carried by transit. This means it would cost less to give every new round-trip commuter a new Tesla Model S every other year for the next 30 years than to build the light-rail line.

The Antiplanner’s analysis also noted that PSTA had gone to the trouble to calculate and publish future congestion levels under the “no-build” alternative, but didn’t publish congestion levels under the light-rail alternative. This leads me to suspect that PSTA did the calculations but didn’t want people to know the results. I expect to be in Pinellas County on September 7-10 to talk about my light-rail report with people in the area.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

One Response to Pinellas Transit in Trouble

  1. Frank says:

    “This means it would cost less to give every new round-trip commuter a new Tesla Model S every other year for the next 30 years than to build the light-rail line.”

    Where are the trolls claiming the Antiplanner is advocating giving everyone a new Tesla?

    Maybe they’ve grown tired of being called out for their straw man distortions.

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