Press Release: Regional Leaders Endorse Greenlight Pinellas Plan

Who: Advisory Committee to for Pinellas Transportation Transit (ACPT)
What:  Formally endorses the Greenlight Pinellas Plan
When:  Monday, November 4, 2013
Where:  PSTA Headquarters, 3201 Scherer Drive, St. Petersburg
Why: To help improve the future of transportation for Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area

After receiving independent confirmation of the validity of the Greenlight Pinellas Plan’s financial assumptions, members of the Advisory Committee to for Pinellas Transportation formally endorsed the Greenlight Pinellas comprehensive transit improvement plan at their meeting on Monday, November 4th.

The ACPT is made up of representatives from the Pinellas Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), PSTA, the Pinellas Planning Council (PPC), the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).  The group has played a key role in the development and proper vetting of the Greenlight Pinellas Plan, ensuring that it can stand up to the tightest scrutiny and that it will be of true benefit to bay area residents.

“Greenlight Pinellas will help create and sustain a vibrant, progressive and prosperous economy,” said County Commission Chair Ken Welch. “Lasting progress can’t be achieved by doing the same things we’ve always done.”

“I want to applaud the ACPT and County Board of Commissioners for having the wisdom to start this process a year and a half before it goes to voters,” said Sierra Club Healthy Air Campaign Regional Representative Phil Compton.  Speaking during Public Comment Mr. Compton added, “This is a very prudent approach and you’ve looked at it every which way, so you can take it to the voters and show them exactly what’s in it for all of them.”

On November 4, 2014, Pinellas County voters will be asked to change transit funding in Pinellas County from its current 0.7305 mil property tax to a 1% sales tax. If approved, that change will provide the necessary funding to implement the Greenlight Pinellas Plan.

To learn more about this comprehensive transit improvement plan, along with supporting study documentation, visit www.greenlightpinellas.com.

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