The Silver Rail Blog

At a Board of Directors meeting in Lakeland, Florida, held on Saturday, February 19, the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers Board of Directors passed a resolution encouraging Florida Governor Rick Scott to reconsider his decision to kill off Florida's high speed rail program.

Scott's decision to return Federal funds allocated for the line to the Federal government sets an ominous tone for passenger rail in our state.

A copy of the resolution by the FCRP Board can be found by clicking here. 

FCRP members are encouraged to contact the Governor's Office and encourage him to reconsider his decision on HSR.

Contact information can be found on the Governor's website: http://www.flgov.com/

--Jackson McQuigg

From WDBO Radio:

http://wdbo.com/localnews/2011/02/gov-scott-sen-nelson-talk-rail.html

--Jackson McQuigg

Representative John Mica is proposing saving a portion of the Tampa-Orlando high speed rail line killed off by Governor Rick Scott earlier this week.

But it is only the segment which runs through his district, from the Orange County Convention Center and Disney to the Orlando International Airport that he proposes saving. The line would no longer go to Tampa.

Other alternatives are afoot, including the creation of an independent, intergovernmental agency which can accept the Federal funds in place of the State of Florida, which bailed out of the project this week because of a unilateral action by the Governor.

Governor Scott continues to put idealogy and politics before the interests of his state and on Friday issued a conservative doctrinaire condemnation of President Obama's spending to justify his decision not to accept Federal grant money for the high speed line.

It is interesting to note that the Federal funds that Scott is "refusing" are actually Florida dollars. Florida citizens and corporations paid over $136 billion in taxes to the Federal government in 2007; approximately 90% of those dollars returned to Florida through Federal spending here.

From the Tampa Tribune:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb/18/182242/scott-sticking-to-guns-on-high-speed-rail-decision/news-highspeedrail/

--Jackson McQuigg

From the Tampa Tribune:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb/18/scott-sticking-to-guns-on-high-speed-rail-decision/news-highspeedrail/

--Jackson McQuigg

From the Tampa Tribune:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb/18/lawmakers-seek-control-of-high-speed-rail-project/news-money/

--Jackson McQuigg

Now things are getting interesting!

From the Miami Herald:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/17/2072075/scott-rebuked-by-26-senators-over.html

And analysis from Tampa alternative weekly Creative Loafing:

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2011/02/17/furious-reaction-in-florida-senate-to-rick-scotts-rejection-of-hsr-funds-1-gop-state-senator-saysthe-bottom-line-is-he-cant-reject-this-money/

--Jackson McQuigg

From Tampa alternative weekly Creative Loafing, more on the fallout from Governor Scott's decision to shut down Florida's high speed rail program:

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2011/02/17/scotts-rail-fail-the-aftermath-the-outcry-the-recall-movement/

--Jackson McQuigg

From the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/high-speed-rail-lahood-scott_n_824596.html

--Jackson McQuigg

From the St. Petersburg Times:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/plans-afoot-to-find-way-to-build-high-speed-rail-line-without-state/1152056

--Jackson McQuigg

The Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers, which endorsed Florida's high speed rail project, is in extreme disagreement with Governor Rick Scott's decision to effectively terminate Florida's high speed rail project.

Not only does it kill off a project which would have brought attention, infrastructure improvements, and jobs to Florida, Governor Scott's decision sets a very negative tone for future passenger rail projects in our state.

Governor Scott's letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood about the refusal of Federal dollars for high speed rail can be found at his website here. The letter is filled with flawed logic about passenger rail programs in general.

Going forward, where do the Federal grants set aside for Florida go? Could they be reprogrammed for other passenger rail projects in Florida?

Let's be clear. Not a chance.

In the first place, that is not how the Federal high speed rail grants program works.

In the second place, given comments Governor Scott has made about Tri-Rail, Amtrak, and SunRail, his freezing of state funds for SunRail, as well as his latest decision regarding the high speed rail program, it should be very clear what Rick Scott's stance on passenger rail projects will be in the future.

Rail advocates should be concerned-- and prepared to fight for passenger rail improvements as never before.

--Jackson McQuigg