Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Tribune article on Go Hillsborough meetings:
POLITICS
Residents have 28 chances to comment on Hillsborough transportation
By Mike Salinero | Tribune Staff
Published: September 27, 2015
TAMPA — Hillsborough County residents have just under three weeks left to make their opinions heard about the county’s transportation future.
Go Hillsborough, the county government’s transportation outreach initiative, is hosting 28 more meetings between Monday and Oct. 15. The meetings are at public libraries, two meetings per site.
The purpose is twofold: To allow the public to see and comment on specific transportation and mass transit projects that will be financed if voters approve a sales tax increase in November 2016, and to ask attendees whether the tax referendum should be for a half-cent or full penny-per-dollar.
A half cent would raise an estimated $3.5 billion over 30 years for new and improved roads, bridges, trails and expanded mass transit. A full cent increase would raise $7 billion over the same period.
The county held 36 public workshops in the late winter and early spring that were part of a seminar on transportation needs, and part information-gathering about what type of transportation system residents wanted.
In August, Go Hillsborough announced another round of 54 meetings, most of which were held at county libraries. Each site had two meetings at different times so as many people as possible could attend.
But the turnout for the second round of meetings has been light — 729 people at 26 meetings. That doesn’t include clubs and organizations that have hosted Go Hillsborough at their meetings, said Eric Johnson, the county’s director of strategic planning and grants management.
“The fact that we are hitting so many locations, both during the day and during the evening, drives some of the difference in level of turnout,” Johnson said.
“What is reassuring is both that we see new faces at the meetings we are holding … and that those who participated earlier in the process continue to stay engaged by showing up at the current set of meetings,” he said.
County Commission Chairwoman Sandy Murman suggested the meetings should be stopped in the wake of a report by WTSP 10News suggesting that the county’s consultant on Go Hillsborough, engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, was hired because of its ties to well-connected public relations consultant Beth Leytham.
But County Administrator Mike Merrill urged commissioners to continue the outreach effort.
“It doesn’t matter if there are five people at the meetings or 50,” Merrill said at the Sept. 16 commission meeting. “Those five people showed up, they invested their time and they appreciate it.”
This week’s meetings start Monday at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library with sessions at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.; and the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Library at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
Other meetings:
♦ Tuesday, Seminole Heights Branch Library, 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.; and Riverview Branch Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
♦ Wednesday, Thonotosassa Branch Library, 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
♦ Thursday, Seffner-Mango Branch Library, 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.; and Bruton Memorial Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
♦ Oct. 5, Charles J. Fendig Public Library, 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.; and Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
♦ Oct. 6, West Tampa Branch Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
♦ Oct. 8, Bloomingdale Regional Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
♦ Oct. 13, Town ‘n Country Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
♦ Oct. 15, North Tampa Branch Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and 78th Street Community Library, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
To learn more, visit GOHillsborough.org.
