(The following story by Ted Jackovics appeared on the Tampa Tribune website on January 4.)
TAMPA — Long before Barack Obama and John McCain were nominated to run for president last year, tour group organizers in Europe were eagerly planning all-night, post-U.S. election parties.
They anticipated a new administration in Washington would enhance the U.S. image among international travelers, who had grown weary of the politics of the Iraq war and U.S. visa and airline security policies.
Since Obama’s election, U.S. interests ranging from advocates for mass transit in Tampa to tourism officials in Washington have created a groundswell of expectations for transportation and travel initiatives.
Transportation has emerged to share center stage with jobs, energy and the environment in the nation’s quest to revive its economy. Uncustomary bipartisan ties have been forged, along with prospects of intense competition for money, with sources and amounts not fully defined.
“With the economic stimulus program and then the 2009 Federal Transportation Authorization Bill, there is going to be a lot of activity in the transportation sector,” said U.S. Rep Kathy Castor, D-Tampa.
“Florida and Tampa Bay have lagged behind in planning for improvements like light rail, while the Bush administration spent billions replacing bridges and roads in Iraq. But I’ve never been more optimistic that we will have a regional plan to unlock state and federal dollars for transit,” she said.
Bay Area Needs
Seeking alternatives to Tampa Bay’s highway congestion is not Castor’s only focus.
There’s the need for a contract agreement between the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to avert more retirements of experienced union controllers, including some at the Tampa International Airport tower, while keeping FAA budgets in line.
Another FAA initiative requiring attention is a multibillion-dollar concept to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system, Castor said.
The key local transportation issue is the plan the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority expects to complete early this year to qualify for funding for possible rail, bus and roadway initiatives.
“Improving transportation remains our No. 1 public policy priority,” said Stuart Rogel, chief executive and president of the Tampa Bay Partnership, which oversees economic development for seven Tampa Bay-area counties.
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who has led initiatives in recent years to bring light rail to Tampa and the region, has proposed a number of projects, including road resurfacing and bridge repair. All told, the projects could cost $50 million and create 1,600 jobs.
“We must move beyond ideology and partisanship,” Iorio said recently.
Transportation initiatives have united Republicans such as John Mica of Winter Park with some Democrats, including Castor and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, who backs Amtrak improvements.
Long-standing political rifts will affect hopes some have for a shift in U.S. travel policies to Cuba, which could add flights to Tampa International and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International airports and trade at the Port of Tampa.
Obama has said he favors lifting restrictions on limited travel the United States allows Cuban-Americans, but he has not discussed opening travel to all U.S. citizens or loosening the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba.
Optimistic Outlooks
By the time Obama is sworn into office Jan. 20, Congress is aiming to have an economic stimulus proposal that could reach $1 trillion, including as much as $300 billion for infrastructure improvements for failing bridges and other construction-heavy projects, which could create thousands of jobs.
But no one is saying where the money for the stimulus program will come from, beyond the likelihood of creating additional budget deficits, or how it will be allocated.
“We use the word ‘hope,’ not ‘expectations,'” said Doug Church, communications director for the air traffic controllers union. “There are so many issues and problems, we are not ‘expecting’ anything.”
However, Church said the controllers union is confident because Obama understands the long-standing air controller contract dispute. The president-elect realizes addressing decades of FAA-union conflicts, widespread since former President Ronald Reagan fired striking controllers in 1980, as a key step to open communications on other aviation issues, including a new national air traffic control system, Church said.
Likewise, Ross Capon, who heads the National Association of Railroad Passengers in Washington, is delighted with Obama’s record on Amtrak advocacy as an Illinois senator.
The key will be whether America can shake itself from depending on a transportation system reliant on imported oil rather than alternatives such as rail transportation, which is more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
“We’ve been here before,” said Capon, who is looking forward to Amtrak continuing its increases in ridership.
“I thought in the summer of 1979 during the gasoline availability crisis we were home free and how wrong I was. But it is different now.”
People have gone through a number of gasoline crises and seen prices skyrocket.
“People may not read newspapers in depth, but if they see the same headlines over and over, they will put together two and two,” Capon said.
D.T. Minich, director of Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater, which markets Pinellas County’s mainstay tourism industry, witnessed an improvement in the U.S. image on a visit to London several days after the presidential election.
“lf we can do some other things that won’t cost any money, like improve the visa waiver program without jeopardizing security, we might even double the number of visitors we get from some countries,” Minich said. “Clearly, there’s a new attitude about U.S. tourism.”