On September 15th, the PSTA board voted 10-3 (video of the vote) to ask the Pinellas County commission to hike the millage rate from 0.7305 to 0.7500, a 2.7% increase. PSTA’s spending will increase by an eye-popping…
Four unelected St. Pete Beach city commissioners took to the dais just as the city was deciding on whether to grant conditional use permits (CUPs) for three huge redevelopment projects, each around $500 million in…
Today’s PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority) board meeting was a resplendent exercise in flattery, hypocrisy, corruption, blood and gore (meeting video). Yes, all five. The first task that the PSTA board took on, within the…
A recent Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) report on its study of the troubled Hillsborough Area Regional Transportation Authority (HART) was mandated by a Florida law that specified what “matters” were to be studied. Yet…
“No serious studies show that municipal spending on pro sport stadiums pays off,” Roger Blair told our sister publication DR in 2016. Blair was then, and remains today, the chair of the Department of Economics…
“I do have confidence in [HART CEO] Adelee Le Grand,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor told WUSF on February 14 this year. “And I hope that this investigation shows that she didn’t have involvement in the…
“Well you won,” Oldsmar Mayor Dan Saracki wrote us in a text message. “I no longer can use the city seal for my community corner [mass emails] and I have been asked to stop. Our…
In his re-election bid, St. Pete Beach Mayor Alan Johnson appears to have violated Florida campaign law at least twice. First by claiming to have a political endorsement he didn’t have, secondly by also touting…
Two days ago, St. Pete Beach Mayor Alan Johnson posted a graphic on his campaign Facebook page in which he falsely claimed to have received the endorsement of newly elected Pinellas County Commissioner Brian Scott.…
As the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) continues to fail to meet their own ridership projections, one Pinellas County beach town has shown that transit can be provided at a much lower cost to the…
Three months in to its fiscal year 2022, PSTA’s bus ridership year over year has declined another 20%, according to its own official reporting. PSTA, which is the taxpayer-funded Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, ended its…
Voters received a mailer from Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long yesterday. It was a typical mailer, but one thing stuck out like a sore thumb to one of our readers because of the absence of…
President Donald Trump today announced on Twitter funding for PSTA’s controversial Central Avenue BRT project (CABRT). The project is opposed by two of the three cities it runs through. There was no news release immediately…
Formal project assessments made by the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) and obtained by the Guardian appear to show why PSTA’s Central Avenue BRT (CABRT) project is still isn’t eligible to be funded by the FTA.…
Public records request by The Guardian revealed that zero (0) employment applications were received by Tampa International Airport for an unadvertised $223,000 per year position as Vice President of Marketing. Former TV anchor Veronica Cintron…
USF geosciences professor Ping Wang and his research team were seen driving a pick-up truck on the beach in Indian Shores on January 12th. Wang claimed to have a state permit for doing so. When…
Records obtained by The Guardian show that the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) is not eligible for funding of its Central Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (CABRT) project. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has told PSTA…
PSTA calls it the Central Avenue Trolley, abbreviated “the CAT.” Launched in 2011, the CAT was billed as “a one-seat, non-transfer ride from Pass-a-Grille to the St. Petersburg Pier.” At that time, PSTA attributed systemwide…
