PSTA Driving Outside the Lines

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• published: 15 May 2015
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Our stories focused on the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority which was an agency that appeared to be spinning out of control. Through a tip we learned the agency which received a $354,000 Homeland Security Grant to make people aware of any suspicious packages or people riding on the bus was instead used to promote a transportation tax in the county. The agency had the backing of every major political entity, major corporations, and the editorial boards of both daily newspapers as well as other media outlets. When we first started our stories, the board and elected officials blasted us for being off base. We received criticism for many of the powerful people who backed the tax, we were blasted at public meetings and we were told our stories we being manipulated by those who opposed the tax. However after Homeland Security threatened possible criminal action as a result of our stories, the agency returned the money and admitted we were right. In addition we found internal e-mails that showed the illegal use of the grant money was not an inadvertent mistake, but a concerted plan hatched by the CEO of the agency over the objections of some who worked in the agency and said what he was doing was illegal. As often happens when investigating an organization, public records requests and tips led us to more problems in the agency including the fact that there were safety issues because of lack of mandated inspections that resulted in among other things, wheels falling buses with passengers aboard and drivers on the road that according to agency policy should have been fired. However when we tried to expose those problems PTSA tried to cover up its mistake. When we made our public records requests about the past due inspections, the agency lied and said there was no list of buses that were overdue for maintenance, however when we sent the list (which we received from a source) to the agency, it had to admit what we were alleging was true. Our stories not only resulted in illegally used taxpayer dollars being returned to the Department of Homeland Security, but also the agency went into high gear to bring the buses in compliance with the mandated inspection schedule to increase the safety of the vehicles on the road.