Rick Scott names virulent light-rail critic to HART board
Posted by Mitch Perry on Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Josh Burgin
As the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority continues to try to maintain as much bus service as possible even as revenues continue to decrease, the words "light" and "rail" are rarely if ever heard at HART board meetings. The rejection by Hillsborough voters on Election Night, 2010, still carries an overwhelming impact.
And don't expect light-rail discussions to resume anytime soon. Today Governor Rick Scott named a major critic of the rail ballot measure, Josh Burgin, to the board.
You might recall that Burgin decided in 2010 to challenge County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, a fellow Republican, in his bid for re-election to the Hillsborough County Commission. Sharpe had alienated a swath of people in his own party for his unstinting cheerleading for the rail initiative, and Burgin answered the call of those who wanted to teach Sharpe a lesson.
It didn't work, however, as Sharpe skunked Burgin in that August 2010 election.
Burgin, 35, of Plant City, once worked as vice president of information technology and social media for the Holtec USA Corporation. That's the company run by prominent Eastern Hillsborough County Republican activist Sam Rashid, a prominent critic of the light-rail initiative in 2010, and a strong financial booster of the anti-rail effort. He also provided a generous severance package to Burgin when he left Holtec, a move that was written about extensively by Tampa media at the time.
Burgin now joins a HART board that includes Karen Jaroch, a Tea Party activist in Tampa who was a prominent critic of the one-cent sales tax proposal, which would have helped pay for the construction of a light-rail line in the county.
Burgin succeeds John A. Byczek and is appointed for a term beginning February 6, 2012, and ending October 31, 2012.
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2012/02/06/rick-scott-names-virulent-light-rail-critic-to-hart-board#.TzBpEuwrKRN.facebook
Nice catch Faye, these guys are still living somewhere in the Jurassic Period, and it really goes a long way in explaining why some animals eat their young.
It's funny isn't it, the anti-rail, anti-Amtrak, anti-Light Rail, crowd (including for the most part my friend Mica) seem to have never stopped to think about some facts. The US Highway system, WHICH DOESN'T MAKE MONEY, is seen as a need, yet all of the user fee's collected in the USA barely cover 51% of the cost. Railroad's on the other hand pay for the infrastructure, maintain it, and allow AMTRAK (and in a few cases Light-Rail or Commuter Rail) to operate over it for a fee. Farebox recovery covers between 64% and 85% of its costs. But to quote John, "Amtrak is a Soviet Style railroad," wouldn't that make Highway's a "Nazi Style Project?" ;)
Florida is cursed with the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA being the home of the CUTR "transportation think tank" (one that oddly resembles an automobile gas tank me thinks). CUTR is the home of "THE NATIONAL BUS RAPID TRANSIT INSTITUTE," which has never seen a highway they didn't love or a railroad they didn't hate. Worse still, because of this cluster of surreal thought is the OFFICIAL agency advising FDOT on transportation matters. TIME TO PULL OUR HEADS OUT!