By Dan Sullivan
PoHo contributor
Dear Attorney General Bill McCollum,
There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I think I’ll just go ahead and say it: I think we should see other people. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a great guy and all, but I’m just not so sure I can handle a serious relationship with you for governor. It’s not you, it’s me. Well, actually, it’s just you.
The controversial Orlando light rail plan, known as SunRail or the CSX deal to opponents, just won’t die. Today’s Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the city’s mayor, Buddy Dyer, is vowing that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to trying to figure out how to resurrect the twice-killed plan.
The leading idea?
The Central Florida light rail plan known either as SunRail or the CSX deal remained alive in the Florida Senate, barely slipping by an important committee vote yesterday.
The Orlando Sentinel reports:
The $1.2 billion project may need to go before another committee, or it could end up on the Senate floor for a vote that would determine its fate. With nine days left before the session’s scheduled adjournment May 1, supporters want to go to the floor soon, though it is not certain they have the 21 votes necessary to win in the 40-member chamber.
The would-be train eked out a 4-3 vote in the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, but the swing vote – cast by Sen. Chris Smith, D- Fort Lauderdale – was less than enthusiastic.
Smith’s vote came only after sponsors allowed him to attach a local-option rental-car surcharge, a $2-a-day levy that would require approval by a county commission supermajority and a county’s voters in a referendum. South Florida legislators are hoping the tax could raise as much as $40 million to support their Tri-Rail commuter system.
SunRail has been opposed by some because it would pay hundreds of millions to CSX for 63 miles of track. Some Lakeland residents oppose it because CSX would then re-route its freight traffic hub through downtown Lakeland.
The controversial SunRail proposal, called the CSX deal by detractors for its purchase of 60+ miles of freight track and rerouting that freight traffic through downtown Lakeland, is set for a climactic vote in the Florida Senate today.
The bill had been stalled in the Senate for weeks, but proponents hope they have secured enough votes to pass the Transportation and Economic Development Committee. The horse trade? A $2 surtax on car rentals to help fund South Florida’s own transit system, Tri-Rail.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
“I think we’re getting close,” said [Fort Lauderdale Sen. Chris] Smith, considered the swing vote on the committee, though it’s not certain how anti-tax Republicans will view the rental-car surcharge.
And even with committee approval, SunRail still must garner 21 votes in the full Senate. That could be difficult, according to Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, the train’s leading opponent.
“The true vote on the project will be on the floor, and it will not be close,” said Dockery, who has boasted that she has lined up as many as 26 votes against SunRail.
Here’s a counterpoint to Kelly Cornelius’ most recent post on SunRail, an op-ed from the president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Mark Wilson:
Commuter rail helps create jobs
America is in a recession, and Floridians have not been spared. Florida’s unemployment rate is 8.1 percent, higher than the national rate of 7.2 percent. It seems as if every day, newspapers throughout the state report layoffs by Florida companies. Last year, Florida lost 255,000 jobs.
Times are tough, and the full attention of our elected leaders should be given to economic recovery, transition and job growth. While Florida is faced with the same economic challenges as the rest of the nation, we are fortunate to have a governor who understands the need to invest in long-term transportation solutions even in these tough times.
By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist
This new CSX deal is so ugly it would make a freight train take a dirt road. It would cost taxpayers $1.2 billion, but according to this recent Orlando Sentinel article, that number could go up. According to a recent news release from Senator Paula Dockery, an opponent of the deal, the number is actually at $2.66 BILLION! She had the Florida Department of Transportation do a detailed cost estimate and this is what it produced.
Wasn’t this rotten deal only a paltry $649 million last year? I guess train track prices don’t go down in a recession, and neither did the number of disturbing details about this deal. Still present are the liability issues sticking taxpayers with the bill for negligence, the location issue (that send freight trains through downtown Lakeland) and, of course, there is that little matter of the cost. Not to mention the backroom way in which this scheme was originally cooked up. Taxpayers are getting totally railroaded. Some research finds that CSX is not a stranger to screwing Florida taxpayers; check out this article.
