High Speed Rail in Florida coming up for final decisions

[csziggy]

Lawmakers gear up for special session

By Jim Ash • FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU CHIEF • December 2, 2009

With a deal in hand and the votes seemingly in his pocket, Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday he was confident that a special session on rail issues would go smoothly later this week. "It's all about creating jobs," he said.

When lawmakers convene the weeklong session on Thursday, they will be asked to spend $646 million on SunRail, a commuter rail system for Central Florida, and up to $15 million a year to prop up the ailing Tri-Rail commuter train that serves South Florida's three largest counties. The proposals have twice been shot down in the Senate. But lawmakers are approaching the issue with a new sense of urgency now that federal transportation officials say $2.6 billion in federal grants for a high-speed rail system could hang in the balance.

SunRail was last defeated this spring when the Senate voted 23-16 — with 13 Republicans joining 10 Democrats — to kill a measure that would have allowed local governments to tack on a $2-a-day surcharge to rental car fees to fund Tri-Rail. Supporters now say they can get the money from the transportation budget.

On Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson of Tallahassee said he is confident that 13 Senate Democrats will support the measure, as long as they receive assurances that union rail workers will be treated fairly. The assurances are needed, Lawson said, after the AFL-CIO accused SunRail supporters and the Florida Department of Transportation of using the rail deal to bust the unions. "If there was union-busting, that would be of great concern to me," Lawson said. "But I think the union is just speculating."

More: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20091202/CAPITOLNEWS/912020312/Lawmakers-gear-up-for-special-session

Could Tallahassee Lay Tracks For Commuter Rail?
Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:28:29 AM

High speed rail in Central Florida could be similar to the Charlotte Area Transit System in North Carolina.

TALLAHASSEE -- Work begins Thursday during a nine-day special legislative session that could clear the way for commuter rail in Central Florida. Lawmakers are preparing to tackle a funding plan for the proposed 61-mile SunRail line that would run from Osceola County to Volusia County. They will also debate plans for high speed rail, which could connect Orlando to Tampa and Miami.

The deal must be approved soon in order to qualify for federal stimulus funding. Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders hope to attract $2.6 billion in federal funds to build the high speed rail system. “If the opportunity now prevails that we can share in some of that, that will be shared regardless of whether we get it or not, I think it’s just an opportunity for us,” said state House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala.

SunRail’s biggest challenge is likely to come in the state Senate. Liability concerns and union opposition could derail the project.

Lawmakers started the year with a nine-day special session in January to pass a budget deficit-reduction package before returning to Tallahassee in March for their regular 60-day session.

http://www.cfnews13.com/Business/LocalBusinessHeadlines/2009/12/3/could_tallahassee_lay_tracks_for_commuter_rail.html

Penny Herman: Short-term jobs, long-term subsidies ride the rails

Penny Herman • My View • December 2, 2009

A recent editorial in the Tallahassee Democrat expressed support for commuter and high-speed rail (HSR) in Florida ("Commuter rails: Florida needs to get onboard," Our Opinion, Nov. 29). Unfortunately the devil is always in the details, and the implication that trains are a good thing and create jobs is not enough justification to build commuter systems, because of the huge subsidies required in operating cost and the exorbitant cost of construction, as shown in the vast majority of existing rail projects. It appears that the federal government is dangling a carrot worth billions of dollars that the state would like to take — $2.5 billion to build a high-speed rail system between Tampa and Orlando.

Having done extensive research on a report written by Wendell Cox for the James Madison Institute in 1997 covering the FDOT-FOX high-speed rail proposal, I learned many of the details that are not often mentioned and still apply today. (The FOX proposal was halted after a public referendum to repeal the high-speed rail amendment was approved by voters in 2004.)

Many of the arguments used for the FOX proposal are being used to support SunRail, a $1.2 billion train in Central Florida, and HSR. Obviously, if you spend billions of dollars on a construction project, you will create jobs. If you just stop there, you are missing the most important part of the equation, and the current Tri-Rail discussion is a perfect example.

Tri-Rail is a South Florida commuter rail system operating at near record levels of ridership, but it still requires an 80-percent subsidy of $40 million to $50 million annually to cover its operating cost, and it owes the federal government $256 million. Three counties it serves are experiencing budget woes and are therefore cutting back on their subsidies, which could cause it to fail.

More (with analysis of existing commuter rail projects in Florida): http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20091202/OPINION05/912020303/1006/opinion/Penny-Herman-Short-term-jobs-long-term-subsidies-ride-the-rails

And just because it was lumped into the stories about high speed rail by Google:

Americans for Prosperity to Host Tea Party Against SunRail
Posted: 9:41 AM Dec 3, 2009

On Monday, December 7th Americans for Prosperity will join with the Tallahassee Tea Party, the Florida Taxpayers Union and local talk show hosts to hold a Tea Party against SunRail.
Reporter: Press Release
Email Address: [e-mail]

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Press Release:

TALLAHASSEE─

On Monday, December 7th Americans for Prosperity will join with the Tallahassee Tea Party, the Florida Taxpayers Union and local talk show hosts to hold a Tea Party against SunRail.

The event will be held from 4 - 6pm outside the Capitol in downtown Tallahassee. Paula Dockery will be one of the speakers, and the event will be emceed by AFP State Director Adam Guillette.

"This train boondoggle is the wrong proposal at the wrong time,” stated Adam Guillette. "Our legislature should focus on ways to cut wasteful spending, not increase it!"

SunRail has been repeatedly defeated in the legislature but a special session was recently called with the intent of passing the multi-billion dollar proposal. Dockery has been a longtime opponent of Sunrail and has led the fight against it in the Senate.

Americans for Prosperity is the nations premier grassroots organization with over 30,000 members in Florida.

What: Tea Party Against SunRail
When: Monday December 7th, 4-6pm
Where: State Capitol
Who: Paula Dockery, Adam Guillette, John Hallman and others.

Comments:
Posted by: Tom Location: Tallahassee on Dec 3, 2009 at 10:36 AM

"Americans for Prosperity" is described as a grassroots organization, but research shows these outfits are funded and orchestrated by big businesses that don't want anybody limiting their profits and bonuses. Even notice how many signs and T-shirts at those teabagger events are professionally printed? Where did the money for that come from? Go to the Corporations records at Dept. of State and you'll see that "Americans for Prosperity" is a Washington DC outfit with cushy 10th-floor office space. The people who show up at these events and take up the pre-printed signs and shirts are being played for chumps.

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/78412017.html

[rstampa]

1. Rally for High Speed rail in Tallahassee

Florida's governor Rick Scott, has rejected the High Speed rail plan from Tampa to Orlando and Miami. The voters voted yes for the rail back in 2008. And the Feds would give us 2.5 billion dollars for the project. Our crooked Governor today rejected the plan. Let us march on Tallahassee to overturn his decision?

[lovefreedomfairness]

2. High speed rail

honestly I believe the billions that the govt would give us for HighSpeedRail would be so much better spent
to change the Florida electric utility (FPL) to solar

because one - we are in Florida the sunshine state

two - because imagine if the whole state or at least 50% got their power from solar
that would mean lower electric bills by thousands per household every year boosting our economy
helping people with their budgets

three - it would make the environment cleaner

four - it would make us more independant and less susceptible to price inflation when prices for oil sky rocket
and we wouldnt have to worry about higher electric bills

five - it would create jobs that would pay it self back in the long run

six - honestly high speed rail may create jobs but once its built hardly anyone will use it and it will have deficeits every year
and may bankrupt the state as opposed to solar which will not only pay itself in the future stimulate the economy for years to come if every house hold has about $1000 in their pockets year after year

7 - it will also decrease demand for oil and may help lower the prices