How to get rail, according to Denver and Dallas

[thelakelander]

I came across this in the St. Pete Times:

The game plan

In Charlotte, they'll ride the brand new LYNX Blue Line, powered by 10 miles of overhead electric lines that plow south from downtown high-rises into blue-collar suburbs where the line has sparked $1-billion worth of development astride the right of way. It's fueled by a half-cent sales tax, a pot of money Charlotte used to tap into federal funds.

In Dallas, they'll see a 45-mile light rail network slated to double in size. In Denver, suburban high-rise condos whose owners can walk to a station and be downtown in 15 minutes.

Duncan and Hibbard see similar potential on Pinellas County's little-used rail corridor.

"A lot of the surrounding properties are either deteriorating or vacant," Hibbard said. "We'll continue to grow whether we like it or not, but you can have the density just around those stations rather than spread out across the entire metro area."

Denver and Dallas leaders have repeatedly given Tampa Bay officials this advice: To persuade voters to tax themselves for trains — even a half-penny tax — show them exactly what they'd get. Get their opinions and create a polished plan showing routes, stations, links to shuttles. Run TV ads paid for by the business sector. Pass out pamphlets with maps and schedules.

"At the end of the day, what won the election was the map," said Cal Marsella, transit director in Denver, where residents raised their sales tax in 2004 to lay down another 119 miles of rail. Two previous referendums went down in flames at the ballot box. "People want to know what they're going to get, when they're going to get it, what it's going to cost," he said.

TBARTA has started laying the groundwork for this, holding 90 community meetings and "visioning workshops" in seven counties. It will hold more public forums in July and August as it sharpens its plans. It will have an initial plan to show people by the end of the year.

Although TBARTA has discussed a seven-county referendum, a more likely scenario may be a vote in Pinellas and Hillsborough at the same time. Another big hurdle is that county commissioners would have to put it on the ballot.

No matter what, Iorio and others who want a vote on rail don't think they'll be ready until 2010. There's too much work left to do.

full article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/article612114.ece