2020 Candidate Questionnaire

Candidate for Miami-Dade County
District 3

Tisa McGhee, PhD

This candidate did not respond to the questionnaire.

How often do you find yourself walking, biking or using public transit?

If you mainly drive, what do you see as the barriers for yourself and our community to move away from car dependency?

Tisa McGhee, PhD

I honestly miss walking everywhere. When I lived on Miami Beach and Downtown if I wanted to go anywhere close, I walked or took the metro mover. Today, I rely on my car to move around, the area I live in now I don’t believe really has a walking path or provide for stimulating engagement in walking or biking. I see a barrier for car dependency as lack of access to engaging walking or biking experiences and that definitely impacts my desire.

What would be your top actions to create a better public transit system?
List up to 5.

Tisa McGhee, PhD

1. Assess the SMART plan and data from the county’s Transportation Planning Organization

2. Review all transportation funding options

3. Use data to inform decisions being made about transportation

4. Propose legislation to consolidate transportation decision making and operations

5. Work with experts in transportation to ensure informed decisions are executed

What would be your top actions to create safer streets for walking and biking?
List up to 5.

Tisa McGhee, PhD

1. Follow the recommendations of the transit alliance to build a bike network

2. Assess each of the diverse communities to learn what would make them feel safer to walk and bike

3. Develop an implementation plan that has a shorter timeline and outcome measures

Two out of three transit riders rely on the bus system.
How would you improve the system we have today and attract new riders?

Tisa McGhee, PhD

The transit system is too complicated and doesn’t allow you to get all the places you need to go. I would make the transit system that is simpler to use and more useful to more people, which would require a comprehensive redesign of the bus system. To attract new riders the transit system would have to ensure that people feel safe (related to COVID-19) and it would have to be more affordable.

Miami-Dade County has mass transit expansion plans dating back decades. What is your vision to fund and deliver transit infrastructure?

Tisa McGhee, PhD

The residents of Miami-Dade were promised mass transit in our communities over 17 years ago, and in that amount of time, little, if anything, has been done to keep Miami-Dade “moving” as it should. We need to allocate future funds on the most traffic-congested corridors of the county, as well as demand what was promised to the voters so many years ago be implemented as soon as possible – the expansion of Metrorail to alleviate over all traffic gridlock throughout Miami Dade.  Maximizing the monies that are remaining and make sure the funds are being used as intended is the best way to deliver transit infrastructure.

Multiple administrative and political entities are responsible for the planning, funding and operations of our public transportation. Would you change the transportation governance structure, and if so, how?

Tisa McGhee, PhD

I would support the recommendations of the Transportation Alliance to reform the way we “fund, plan and execute all transit in Miami-Dade” and to create a Transportation Authority.

In your opinion, what has Miami-Dade County done right and gotten wrong with regards to our transportation policies, actions and objectives during the past decade? You may describe your involvement, if applicable.

Tisa McGhee, PhD

Implementing the county-wide mobility scorecard is something the county got right. The scorecard provided data on all of our forms of transportation and provided recommendations to use moving forward. I agree and will support using data to inform our decision making.

The candidate chose to answer this optional question.

How would you incorporate equity into your transportation agenda?

Tisa McGhee, PhD
The candidate chose to answer this optional question.

How would you proactively integrate land use policies into your transportation agenda?

Tisa McGhee, PhD
The candidate chose to answer this optional question.

How would you address coordination between local municipal transit services and countywide services?

Tisa McGhee, PhD
Candidate for Miami-Dade County
District 3

Tisa McGhee, PhD