One Bay Releases its Final Vision

It's a vision of what many people want the Tampa Bay region to look in the coming years. One Bay released its plan, which touts "smart growth" concepts such as the proposed Hillsborough light rail system. But now they have to transform this plan into reality.

It's a document that's five years in the making. A region-wide group called One Bay has held countless seminars asking people how they view the future of the Tampa Bay area. It's an idea led primarily by business interests in seven counties, as a way to direct growth to major transit corridors, for example.

Steve Seibert is with the Collins Center for Public Policy in Tallahassee.

"But it's not just about growth - it's how you live," he says. "What's the quality of life for people in this broad community and what does it mean for our children and their children? It's about stewardship for how we can live better and how others can live better."

As an example of regional cooperation, officials from Polk, Pasco and Manatee counties expressed their support for Hillsborough's upcoming referendum on funding a light rail system.

One of the speakers at the One Bay conference was Robert Grow. He helped found the group Envision Utah, which was instrumental in getting a new light rail system built in the greater Salt Lake City area. Residents there have voted three times to tax themselves to build and expand the system. He spoke Friday at the One Bay Conference, where he says Utah residents recently voted for another tax to speed up completion of the system.

"Passing taxes is tough, and it's tough where I come from, just like anywhere," says Grow. "And so it was a real community-wide effort to help people understand that in the long term, having a balanced transportation system, with walking and biking and great transit system and a good road system are all essential elements of the future we'd like to leave for our children."

Grow has one tip for Tampa Bay backers of a region-wide light rail system: stop worrying about the recession and keep plowing ahead, because traffic and congestion will only get worse.