On Tuesday, November 4th Floridians will be making decisions at the polls that will have long term repercussions for our state.
We also have local decisions to make that will affect the future of the Tampa Bay area. Many will have made these decisions prior to that date. Mailing ballots in has become a popular way to vote, although we have learned that this is not a foolproof way of ensuring your vote is counted. “People with shaky handwriting or an unrecognizable signature should vote in person if they want to be sure their votes are counted,” we’ve been told by a polling supervisor. “If ballots aren’t signed, or we can’t match signatures to those on the person’s voter registration, we have to invalidate the ballot.”
There is a new, convenient “Early Voting Location” for south county residents. The Gulfport Neighborhood Center, 1617 49th St. S., Gulfport, Early voting locations have accessible polling equipment to help people who are challenged in other ways too. “Early voting takes place: October 20 – November 2 from 7 am – 7pm daily, including weekends.
Choosing a Governor should be the easy part for most of us. We have seen Rick Scott in action these past four years, and his opponent Charlie Crist lived in the Governor’s mansion for the term prior to Scott’s election.
Florida’s Constitutional Amendment #2 is on the ballot, involving whether or not to allow the use of medical marijuana. Proponents of the amendment say that Florida should join the 20+ states that have approved the use of this valuable drug.
Opponents say the Amendment is so vaguely worded, that the drug can be recommended by doctors for a wide variety of patient complaints. Further, the amendment provides immunity for everyone in the process of growing, processing or supplying the drug. They point to the Charlotte’s Web legislation the Florida legislature hurriedly passed after a poll said 80% of voters favored medical marijuana, as if to say “Didn’t that take care of the problem.”
Proponents agree that a constitutional amendment isn’t the best way to solve this issue. All the other states did it legislatively.
The other big controversial issue on the ballot November 4th is the transportation initiative called “Greenlight Pinellas”. Proponents say that our public transportation system is seriously lacking and that a substantial increase in funding is needed to even keep it at its current level. They argue that road congestion relief and transportation cost and fuel saving efficiencies require alternatives to buses. Most markets the size of Tampa Bay have a working public transit system. In fact of the top 24 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the USA, only Detroit and Tampa Bay do not have good mass transit with a light rail component. We are competing against those areas for employees who cannot afford the cost of auto ownership, or who do not want to have to drive to get where they are going. PSTA, which operates the current public “sub-standard” transportation system in Pinellas says they are currently underfunded.
They are using res
erve funds to make ends meet for current operations. They say current service levels will have to be cut 30% if the proposal to switch their funding from a property tax based system to an additional penny of sales tax does not pass. They say a backbone light rail component is the only way to define a dense transportation corridor to reduce future costs and keep road congestion at rush hour from getting much worse. They say that transportation in Pinellas is not working, either public or the road system, and that a working public transportation system will benefit everyone in the county. They say that an eighth cent of sales tax is the only way it can happen. They say the elimination of the property tax will save an average of $81 tax per year for property owners.
Opponents say 8¢ of sales tax is too much. The last sales tax hike was supposed to expire years ago, but keeps getting extended. They worry that the system will not accomplish its purpose and will result in public subsidies \forever. They point to MARTA in Atlanta, saying that the roads are still not working because a car is still needed to get to and from the train. They fear the same will be true here. They argue that growth assumptions used to support the initiative are not going to occur, that Florida is not growing and Pinellas is essentially built out.
PSTA says the Greenlight initiative includes a 65% increase in bus service, including 80% more on nights and weekends. The beaches would have service on 20-minute intervals 7 days a week. Eighty percent of residents in Pinellas, already Florida’s most dense population center, would have a route within three blocks of their home and their work, making auto ownership no longer a forgone necessity for many. Bus service would run 19 hours daily from 5am to midnight Monday – Saturday and until 10pm on Sundays. There would be convenient bus service to TIA and PIE. All buses would have WiFi connections aboard and a smartphone app would let you know in real time when the next bus was coming. As for light rail, the operating expense is supposedly one-third that of buses, with a $4 return for each dollar invested.
Each voter must make up his or her own minds which way to vote on this important issue. There are forums occurring all over Pinellas in October to educate you on the pros and cons of Greenlight.