Florida Senate President - Bullet Train Will Derail

[Ocklawaha]

This railroad will actually come back to life as Virginia and North Carolina surge past Florida because their projects make sense.


Could be we'll stop it just in time...

Well Yippee Ki Yay, SOMEBODY in Tallahassee has come to their senses and plans to block the "bullet train to nowhere." Even though it seems to be for all the wrong reasons, but better to shoot a rabid dog then keep it because it's the only chance you think you'll have to own a pet...  Kill this damn project and let's get on with something that makes sense, like the 90mph trains down the East Coast of Florida.

Haridopolos drop-kicks high-speed rail

By Keith Laing, The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE â€" Newly-inaugurated Gov. Rick Scott has not yet signaled whether or not he will get on board with a high speed rail connecting Tampa and Orlando, but the Senate president says he won’t go along for the ride.

Supporters have argued that the long-sought train would be mostly paid for with federal money. But speaking with reporters late Tuesday night during Scott’s inaugural ball, Senate President Mike Haridopolos said that even if the state only has to pay $300 million instead of the full $2.6 billion, the price tag is still too high.

“My take on high speed rail is if we’ve got to (pay) $300 million, I’m not going to go for it,” Haridopolos told the News Service of Florida. “We can’t afford $300 million. It might be 90 percent off, but it’s still $300 million we don’t have….. I’m not going to borrow from the Chinese to build a railroad that a lot of people don’t want.”

Federal officials say the project is the most shovel ready one in the nationwide network President Barack Obama envisions eventually rivaling the federal interstate highway system.

Haridopolos’ insistence now that the state should not pay for rail appears at odds with his voting record. Haridopolos was among 27 senators to vote in favor of a bill that cleared the way for the state to purchase existing freight rail tracks for the proposed SunRail commuter train in Orlando. The sweeping late 2009 rail package, which supporters argued then was necessary to win federal money for the high speed train, also provided about $15 million annually to cash-strapped Tri-Rail in south Florida.

A month later, U.S. transportation officials announced they were awarding $1.25 billion to Florida for the Tampa-to-Orlando train from the federal economic stimulus, half of the money the project was expected to cost. Since then, the feds have put another $1 billion on the table, bringing Florida’s total higher than any other state but California.

A spokesman for Haridopolos told the News Service of Florida Wednesday that the Senate president did not have any other further comments on rail, declining to explain the difference between the current discussions about paying for rail and the ones that took place in 2009.

As for Scott, in his first official remarks as governor, the new governor made no mention of the rail project. But he used his high-profile inaugural address to make the case for not spending state money for new projects, which could resurface when he announces his decision on the bullet train.

“Floridians have entrusted us with their tax dollars,” Scott said in his speech. “They worked very hard for those dollars. They badly need their money for their needs. We must treat those resources with the respect they deserve â€" and keep our demands to a minimum.”

Scott also took several swipes in his inaugural address at the administration in Washington, D.C. that is dangling the money for the train, which could be another indicator of his leanings on the project.

SOURCE:http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/01/haridopolos-drop-kicks-high-speed-rail.html

OCKLAWAHA

[tufsu1]

well that sure is interesting since Haridoplous voted in favor of previous bills that have gotten us this far.

that said, it may not be an issue....several of the private consortiums have hinted that they would pick up the cost.

many people in Florida are so worried about Rick Scott and his agenda...I would be far more concerned with Haridopolous and Dean Cannon from the Florida House....if $300 million is too much to spend on rail, then $3 billion to widen I-4 would certainly also be too much....they are basically DO NOTHING people.