Florida High Speed Rail Option and Elimination

[Ocklawaha]

NOTE: THREE THREADS ON HIGH SPEED RAIL HAVE BEEN MERGED INTO THIS THREAD.

OCKLAWAHA

[BridgeTroll]

You are far more efficient than I Ock!

[Shwaz]

stop thinking of this as just Tampa to Orlando...think of it as the first leg of a system that connecs to Miami, Jacksonville, and the rest of the country.

the same things (road to nowehere, connects nothing) were said about the interstate system in the 1950s....not too many say that now.

I agree completely that we could provide just as good (perhaps better) service by expanding existing Amtrak routes....but no one in DC or Tallahassee seems interested in funding that either!

Just like the skyway... we've all seen the original plans and know the outcome. What makes this so different?

[mtraininjax]

Jaxport fixing the Miracle Mile now costs 50 million instead of 3 million and will take several years. 500 million to dredge to 50 feet. 700 million to dredge in Tampa to make them Post-Panamax ready, 150 million in Miami for the same.

Look around the state and see the jobs that the ports create, and then the temporary jobs that a bullet train would have created. If you can't see the difference in these jobs, then by all means lobby for the bullet trains.


There is only so much money in the pot and Scott has done the right thing to turn it down, when the state has more pressing ways to generate jobs, good long term jobs.

[Doctor_K]

Certainly you are not encouraging people to not vote.  Seems kind of undemocratic somehow.  Besides... plenty republicans did cross the aisle in the past election only to get their collective foot stepped on by lack of dem turnout.  We simply cannot fight all your battles Faye...

Like me.

Also - did Scott kill 71,000 jobs, as in, there were 71,000 people who were employed and now are not?  Or were none of them hired yet and had started work?  So, while 71,000 haven't been created, none have been lost.  Right?

BTW - before someone goes painting me as defending him, you need to read my other posts on the matter

[Doctor_K]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/16/news/economy/middle_class/

Faye, I refuse to put any weight into an article that states the following:

In 2000, President Bush also weakened the government's oversight of complex securities, allowing financial innovations to take off, creating unprecedented amounts of wealth both for the overall economy, and for those directly involved in the financial sector.

Poor writing and poor editing.  Dubya wasn't even in office in 2000.  Clinton was.  Oops.

[tufsu1]

Ugh, well that's that I guess. Florida residents are hereby doomed to decades of servitude to our Lord, the great automobile.

Thanks a lot, you stupid douche bag. I'm outta here.

actually I'm thinking servitude to Lord Voldemort

[Doctor_K]

Ugh, well that's that I guess. Florida residents are hereby doomed to decades of servitude to our Lord, the great automobile.

Thanks a lot, you stupid douche bag. I'm outta here.

actually I'm thinking servitude to Lord Voldemort

Can we please start referring to Rick Scott as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

[tufsu1]

Jaxport fixing the Miracle Mile now costs 50 million instead of 3 million and will take several years. 500 million to dredge to 50 feet. 700 million to dredge in Tampa to make them Post-Panamax ready, 150 million in Miami for the same.

Look around the state and see the jobs that the ports create, and then the temporary jobs that a bullet train would have created. If you can't see the difference in these jobs, then by all means lobby for the bullet trains.

There is only so much money in the pot and Scott has done the right thing to turn it down, when the state has more pressing ways to generate jobs, good long term jobs.

If it was state money, fine...I agree that the higher priority is to the ports

But it isn't...this is/was Federal money...and as shown just this week in the President's budget, there isn't much federal funding on the way for port dredging projects (be it Miami, Jax, or Savannah).

[tufsu1]

Here's how folks in Tampa are reacting

http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/article1151975.ece

btw, Republican members of the Legislature aren't much happier....Sen. Latvala and Dockery have been scathing in their comments...and Sen. J.D. Alexander has stated that that the Governore doesn't have the authority to do this.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article1151937.ece

[Shwaz]

In all of the "reactions' included in this article... not a single one refutes his reasoning to cancel the project.  

[wsansewjs]

LMFAO! Someone is already editing on Wikipedia...

"Florida High Speed Rail WAS a planned high-speed rail network in the U.S. state of Florida. Initial service would have run between the cities of Tampa and Orlando, with plans to then extend service to South Florida, terminating in Miami."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_high_speed_rail

-Josh

[mtraininjax]

But it isn't...this is/was Federal money...and as shown just this week in the President's budget, there isn't much federal funding on the way for port dredging projects (be it Miami, Jax, or Savannah).

So where is the private money? Scott is right, if a private company is not willing to spend 208 million on this, why shoud the state risk overruns, and possibly be on the hook for the 2 billion if it goes sadly wrong. That 2 billion could dredge a lot of ports.

Panama Canal is expanding and Post-Panamax is a reality. High Speed rail is not a reality. The President needs to wake-up that more jobs can be created with dredging than with rail.

[Ocklawaha]

Here's how folks in Tampa are reacting

http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/masstransit/article1151975.ece

btw, Republican members of the Legislature aren't much happier....Sen. Latvala and Dockery have been scathing in their comments...and Sen. J.D. Alexander has stated that that the Governore doesn't have the authority to do this.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article1151937.ece

...And the whole room full of the above mentioned persons know as much about rail transportation as our local politico's do. NADA!

This entire project was a hard sell by Disney officials to convince the State of Florida that a high speed train between Orlando and Tampa, via their parks, was needed more then a train that served the towns along that corridor.

Every bit of the reaction seems limited to "FREE MONEY", "FREE MONEY", "FREE MONEY", and not to the merit of the project, or in this case, the lack thereof.

I'll withhold my support until the "HARTSFIELD ATLANTA-PANAMA CITY FLORIDA"  bullet train is announced, at least that one would carry an occasional bikini clad beauty, which is worth about 1,000x all the rat dung in Disney. When mtraininjax and I agree on anything to do with railroads it's a stellar event.

OCKLAWAHA

[mtraininjax]

Ock - Agreed!