Staff Reports
The All for Transportation campaign is out with its first video advertisement this cycle, just less than a month before Election Day.
The ad began running on cable and broadcast channels Friday.
It packs several messages into just 30 seconds, targeting voters sick of traffic, those worried about safety, and anyone who might have lingering fears over new spending.
“Waiting to solve our traffic and road problems is, well, making us wait,” a narrator begins the ad in a voice-over of footage of a driver stuck in traffic.
“We have a plan,” it continues. “The All for Transportation Plan will fund solutions to our county’s greatest needs — less traffic, safer roads and faster commutes.”
It then goes on to cite projected population growth of 700,000 new residents and ensures voters that revenue under the plan “will be distributed fairly to all parts of the county.”
And for the fiscal hawks out there: “Our plan has citizen oversight, placing funds in a lockbox, protecting tax dollars.”
The All for Transportation referendum will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot in Hillsborough County. It would levy a 1-cent sales tax in the county on most nonessential goods and services, with things like groceries and medicine exempted.
“Nov. 8 will be a historical election for many reasons but in Hillsborough County, the most important item on your ballot is the very last one — the choice to start fixing our broken transportation system,” All for Transportation Co-Chair Tyler Hudson said in a statement.
“The All for Transportation plan is a long overdue investment in improving roads, public safety, and better transit options. We are incredibly thankful for the support our effort has seen so far and are confident the citizens of Hillsborough County will once again vote YES for transportation.”
The All for Transportation plan seeks a balanced approach to meeting the county’s transportation needs, including a 54.5% general funding allocation. Of that, 28% would be spent on maintenance and vulnerability reduction, 26% on congestion reduction, 27% on transportation safety improvements, and 12% on transportation network improvements.
Of the total revenue raised, 45% would fund transit network improvements. The remaining half-percent of funding would go toward planning, data collection, analysis, grant funding and oversight to ensure projects are consistent with the Long Range Transportation Plan set up by the Transportation Planning Organization.
Data shows 44 people are killed in traffic accidents on Hillsborough County roads annually, with the Tampa metro ranking in the Top 10 nationally as one of the most dangerous places to walk.
Transportation fatalities in Hillsborough County have risen nearly 40% since 2014. Estimates show the tax would save more than 1,100 lives, avoid more than 55,000 injuries and prevent more than 140,000 car crashes, which would also reduce traffic congestion.
Investment under the plan would create more than 350 miles of safety projects, fill more than 1,400 miles of missing sidewalks and reduce fatal and injury crashes by 35%. It supports 500 miles of new streetlight corridors on currently unlit roads, which contribute to nearly 40% of pedestrian deaths.
Four years ago, organizers with the group All for Transportation successfully ushered in the plan, with 57% of voters backing the 2018 referendum.
A series of legal challenges derailed the tax, bringing it back to the ballot this year. This year’s initiative is largely the same as the 2018 referendum, with few minor changes.
Unlike in 2018, which was placed on the ballot by voter petition, the Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-2 to place the question before voters again. That move remedies problems identified in previous legal challenges.
The new language also eliminates a restriction on expenditures for road widening and shifts a half-percent allocation from transportation planning to road improvements, changes meant to appeal to a broader segment of voters.
One comment
Andy W.
October 10, 2022 at 4:57 am
The first time this group, All for Transportation, led by a Washington insider and special-interest lobbyist, convinced a majority of voters to approve the increase in sales tax, the Supreme Court declared it illegal. That’s why my wife and I have already voted no by mail.
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