Traffic, traffic traffic at townhall

About 100 local residents attended the Nov. 16 town hall meeting at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church to voice their concerns to local governmental officials. (Photo: John C. Cotey)


If you put 100 residents of New Tampa in a room and ask them what they would like to see fixed most in this community, there’s a pretty good chance the majority will have a simple response:

Traffic.

It was no surprise, then, that when District 7 Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera held his second New Tampa Town Hall Nov. 16, with Hillsborough County District 5 (countywide) commissioner Ken Hagan, discussions about traffic dominated the conversation.

Whether it was the right-hand turn off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. onto Cross Creek Blvd., the connection of Kinnan St. in Cross Creek to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe, the construction on BBD or even residents speeding along Kinnan St., local residents gathered at The Venetian Events Center at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd. wanted to know what solutions they could expect.

Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera (left) and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan hosted the November 16 town hall meeting at St. Mark’s. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Even New Tampa’s East-West connector roadway (E-W Rd.) project that was effectively killed in 2008 by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, got some run, thanks to the first speaker of the night, William Martello. A 15-year New Tampa resident, Martello lamented the failed E-W Rd. project.

That project, which evolved into basically a public-private partnership (P3) venture, was a 3-mile toll road that would have connected New Tampa Blvd. in West Meadows through Tampa Palms Areas 3 and 5 to a new interchange on Interstate 275.

The project was nixed due to the objections of residents in both West Meadows and Tampa Palms, and fear of high tolls. Though dormant for years, the E-W Rd.  remains in the Tampa-Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)’s long-range plan.

Ken Hagan

Long-time local resident Jim Davison — who has run unsuccessfully for City Council against Viera and for the County Commission against Hagan, said the city or one of its affiliates is taking another look at the feasibility and affordability of the project. Davison hinted that he had a plan, which he will reveal after the holidays, that would show the city how it could pay for both the E-W Rd. and light rail for a mere tax increase of half a cent.

Hagan has been a proponent of the E-W Rd., and said he would like to see the proposal rise from the ashes and get another look.

Other options to relieve congestion on Cross Creek Blvd., Martello suggested, would be widening Morris Bridge Rd. northbound starting at Cross Creek, although widening it southbound is a near impossibility.

Martello also suggested extending Cross Creek through Morris Bridge to US 301 in Thonotosassa.

Hagan confessed to never hearing anyone ever suggest that idea before, but said he would look into it.

Naturally, the connection of Kinnan St. to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe came up, although it did not dominate the discussion, due to complaints about several other roads in the area.

One female speaker, who did not give her name, asked Viera and Hagan what was being done behind the scenes to get Kinnan connected to Mansfield, which many say will ease traffic on BBD and help local businesses.

Viera and Hagan had little new to offer. Truth is, at the moment, the connection lies in the hands of Pasco County, which has commissioned a study to determine if melding Mansfield and Kinnan is worthwhile. According to Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, most of the Pasco residents he has heard from are opposed to the connection because of the potential of increased traffic.

The Pasco study also is looking at two other connections between Wesley Chapel and New Tampa through K-Bar Ranch, but none can be done as quickly, nor would provide the relief for BBD, or the convenience, that a Kinnan-Mansfield connection would offer. That study is supposed to be completed by the end of this year.

“Kinnan has always been planned to open up,’’ Hagan said. “Pasco said that as soon as (Mansfield) was completed to Wiregrass, it would be connected. They reneged on that.”

Hagan, who spearheaded a $250,000 commitment by Hillsborough’s BOCC to build the connection, even suggested looking into using eminent domain to get the roads connected.

“We are doing whatever we can,’’ Hagan said. 

Speaking on Kinnan, K-Bar Ranch resident April Ingram may be one of those in New Tampa opposed to the connection unless safeguards are put in place.

She gave an impassioned plea for drivers along Kinnan St. to watch their speeds, and for the enforcement of traffic laws. Ingram said she and her 9-year-old son fear walking or biking around that area of New Tampa.

“We have almost been mowed down several times on Kinnan,” she said. “I’ve seen cars driving 50 mph through here. I live here so I can go outside, with my son, to ride bikes, to walk. And every day, I am scared to death we are going to be hit by a car.”

Although no one else spoke on this topic, a few people in the room nodded their heads.

Afterwards, another woman came up to Ingram to tell her she totally agreed. She said sometimes, she too wonders, “Is somebody going to die today?”

Ingram also criticized the drivers trying to make a  right turn onto Cross Creek from BBD for cutting off other drivers and essentially creating a second turn lane that backs up traffic all the way past the Hunter’s Green entrance.

A USF employee, Ingram said she now takes Morris Bridge Rd. home (instead of the BBD exit off I-75) because, “it can take 40 minutes trying to take a right onto Cross Creek.”

Ingram thinks a few tickets might end the problem, but has been disappointed to see a lack of enforcement by the Tampa Police Department. Hagan noted that he was stuck in that same traffic on his way to the town hall.

Viera said the city is currently studying the lights at the busy intersection in hopes of resolving the traffic build-up.

New Tampa resident Jeffrey Blank was on Ingram’s side as well.

“I’m from New York and New Jersey, so I’m used to traffic in Manhattan,’’ Blank said. “That  intersection? It makes Manhattan look good.”

Blank’s solution? Think ahead.

“Why don’t the county and city account for the traffic new developments are going to bring (before approving them), instead of waiting until it’s too late?,” he asked.

It might have been the best question of the night.

New Tampa Residents Sound Off On Local Issues At Town Hall

Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera hosted a town hall meeting at the New Tampa Recreation Center in Tampa Palms that attracted roughly 75 local residents who came to discuss a number of issues., especially those related to the traffic in our area.

Town hall meetings are all the rage this days, with the operative word, in too many cases, being rage. Constituents are demanding answers from their representatives, especially regarding healthcare issues, and the disruptions and anger make national news on a seemingly weekly basis.

A New Tampa town hall, organized by District 7 City Councilman Luis Viera and held June 5 at the New Tampa Recreation Center, however, couldn’t have gone any smoother.

“It really shows that people are engaged,’’ Viera said. “The next one we have will probably be even bigger.”

Here are five takeaways:

1. This Was A Good Idea

If you’ve ever wondered what is really bothering people in New Tampa, the town hall, which attracted roughly 75 local residents, including many of the area’s Homeowner’s Association presidents, was a good place to find out.

Outside of the usual complaints about taxes and transportation, those who attended raised a number of issues like trash on Cross Creek Blvd, local commercial buildings looking run down, bank foreclosed property causing a blight in otherwise well-kept neighborhoods and even concerns about the ability of ethnic minorities to worship safely.

This is exactly what Viera says he had hoped for when he scheduled the event. With code enforcement inspector Fred George and Tampa Police Department District 2 shift commander Kevin Schoolmeesters in attendance, some of the simpler questions raised will undoubtedly be answered. Most important, Viera said, was that a majority of those who raised concerns seemed to be satisfied with the answers.

For the bigger, more complicated issues, like transportation and the city budget, it was a step in the direction of creating a unified front when it comes to lobbying city hall for changes. Viera has already formed the New Tampa Council with this idea in mind.

“We need a collective and unified voice,’’ Viera said.

Although Mayor Bob Buckhorn couldn’t make it, his chief of staff, Dennis Rogero, did attend. And, while he didn’t really have any concrete answers for those asking questions, he was certainly enlightening and honest, even if it meant telling people things they didn’t want to hear.

More on that later.

2. The Big Issue

To quote Bob Parker of Heritage Isles, the biggest issue in New Tampa is “transportation, transportation, transportation.”

While Pasco and Hillsborough counties remain at loggerheads over connecting the two at various points between Meadow Pointe and the K-Bar Ranch, traffic is a real concern for local residents along Cross Creek Blvd.

Bob Parker of Heritage Isles tells Luis Viera that trafiic, traffic and traffic are the big issues facing New Tampa.

The City Council recently okayed plans for 400 more homes to be built by M/I Homes in the K-Bar Ranch area. “You should be ashamed,’’ Parker scolded, considering there’s only two two-lane roads in and out of the area.

“I feel like I live on an island,’’ Parker added, “and there are two causeways, Bruce B. Downs (BBD) and Morris Bridge Rd.”

That lack of options is preventing people from getting to hospitals, and making the long drives to work in Tampa unbearable. “It’s killing New Tampa,’’ he said.

Rogero said the city is well aware of the issue. “You are right, you might as well live on an ocean,’’ Rogero said. “We hear the horror stories. That’s one of the reasons I live in South Tampa. We looked here. It’s beautiful up here. But, I didn’t want to add a couple of hours in commute time to my schedule.”

That might be unsettling  — to hear the mayor’s Chief of Staff confess to avoiding our area because of the traffic — but Rogero was honest and admitted he didn’t have any answers.

Viera didn’t expect answers. But the Hunter’s Green resident is advocating for some “incremental” changes.

One that should sound good to residents of Cross Creek “Island,” is a third left-hand turn signal onto Bruce B. Downs at the very busy intersection that Viera said he will propose.

Another possibility that was raised: Putting the controversial East-West Connector back in the MPO.

Jim Davison, who narrowly lost to Viera in the City Council runoff in December, applauded his former opponent for the town hall and the New Tampa Council, and suggested a second town hall, perhaps with a more narrow focus on one topic, like transportation.

Viera said he hopes to hold another one in December.

3. Getting The Short Shrift

Rogero got an earful from local attorney Tracy Falkowitz, who lives in Tampa Palms, about the plight of the New Tampa Rec Center.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Chief of Staff Dennis Rogero explained that the New Tampa Recreation Center expansion isn’t high enough on the city’s priority list to receive funding, while Tampa Palms’ Tracy Falkowitz argued that it should be, due to the amount of money the area provides the city in property taxes.

For the second time in five years last year, the City Council voted to provide funds for a different project – the Cuscaden Park pool in Ybor City – instead of the rec center, even though a $1.5-million, 14,000-sq.ft. expansion of the facility was originally included in recent budget drafts.

Despite spending $3.2 million on renovating the Cuscaden Park pool and re-opening it last August, it was closed again in April for more repairs. It has since re-opened.

“This area has been short-shrifted every year,’’ Falkowitz said. “That money needs to come back. This amazing facility does so much with so little. We want our expansion. Every year that money allocated for here gets sent somewhere else, and it’s my understanding that this year it’s not even included in the budget.

She added, “It constantly sends the message: New Tampa, just send us your money, then sit down and shut up. That’s what we’re all being told. So as the budget guy, what are you doing to make sure the community gets what it deserves and was supposed to be given to us six years ago.” That statement drew the night’s loudest round of applause.

Rogero said, however, that it is a misconception that what an area pays in property taxes, it will get back in enhancements. It is a misconception, in fact, shared by quite a few residents.

“We allocate one big pot of general funding for the priorities of the city, city-wide,’’ Rogero said. “We don’t necessarily try to return dollar for dollar to any particular area. That’s simply not the way property taxation is set up.”

Rogero admitted that there is a need in New Tampa for the expansion — the dance and gymnastics programs have roughly 800 students and the waiting list’s cup runneth over — but as each priority is paid off, “by the time we get to the New Tampa Rec Center on the list, we’re out of money.”

Viera said he wasn’t surprised at all that people remain angry about the rec center. “It’s the reason we held the town hall there,’’ he said. “I think it’s symbolic.”

4. Did Someone Say Secession?

Falkowitz ended her comments by mentioning that instances like the rec center expansion being cut out of the budget is why the subject of New Tampa de-annexing from the City of Tampa came up in the last election (and continues to come up). “What would the city do without the funds from (New Tampa),’’ Falkowitz said, which got at least two people in attendance to clap. “We are very, very unhappy with how we have been treated by city of Tampa.’’ 

“From the city’s perspective,” Rogero replied, “we don’t feel that we’re mistreating New Tampa.’’

There were a few people in the room who didn’t agree with Rogero, including former City Councilman Joseph Caetano, a longtime proponent of New Tampa’s secession.

Viera is strongly opposed to the idea. “I’ve never thought that was a good idea,’’ he said, adding that if people knew what that entailed, they would be opposed, too.

5. Organize & Be Heard

Brad Van Rooyen, who is on the New Tampa Council, and Davison asked a simple question in regards to tax monies – how can New Tampa get the city to pay attention to its needs and to increases services to the area.

Rogero echoed what Viera has been saying, and really, the reason for town halls like this – make your voices heard.

“I have to tell you, it could be that some of you have shown up to the budget meetings,  but I can guarantee all of you haven’t,’’ Rogero said, “because there’s typically less than a dozen people there. I appreciate your emails, and your phone calls, but when it’s a billion-dollar budget and another half billion of capital improvement projects, your city council is looking at an empty room. I can’t tell you what prioritization comes to their minds. I can almost guarantee you, though, it won’t be yours.”

Talk of taxes, transportation, budgets and secession aside, most in attendance seemed to be looking for answers to simple problems, like beautifying Bruce B. Downs – Viera is already talking to officials about getting mowers out to New Tampa more frequently — and local commercial buildings and taking care of bank-foreclosed homes.

George, who admits his code enforcement department is understaffed, encouraged people to call in complaints to (813)-274-5545, because he can’t see everything.

Others remain concerned about the county’s plans to stop courtesy buses for students who live within two miles of their school, which will result in students having to cross over BBD by foot. (Walking pedestrian bridge, anyone?)

Residents seemed pleased with the TPD, and were complimentary about the service they receive, like the visits you can get from officers when you are on vacation just by calling (813) 931-6500. And code enforcement and police requests while on vacation can also be filed via TampaGov.net, the city’s website.