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Tampa City Council members want Port Authority to reconsider Streetcar funding cut

Posted Aug 18, 2011 by Christian M. Wade

Updated Aug 18, 2011 at 03:16 PM

Tampa City Council members want the Port Authority to reconsider its decision this week to cut funding for the city’s historic streetcar.

On Tuesday, the Port Authority’s board of directors voted 4 to 3 to discontinue its annual $150,000 contribution to the streetcar system, a move that will force the streetcar’s board of directors to tap into its already strained endowment to meet operating costs for the 2012 fiscal year.

Thursday night, council members were expected to approve sending a letter to Port Authority board, asking them to reconsider the funding cut.

“They’re setting it up for failure,” Fran Costantino, a member of the Ybor City Development Corporation, told council members at a meeting on Thursday morning. “I don’t get the logic. We need that streetcar, it’s so important for the historic district.” 

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, a port authority board member, vigorously opposed trimming the $150,000 contribution, although he reiterated his solo opposition as a city council member a dozen years ago to the streetcar he said has no value as a transportation element.