Scott scraps Orlando to Tampa rail project

One step forward and two backwards. Scott prefers gas guzzling cars and careless big oil companies as the solution. This is not progress.

Gov. Rick Scott rashly acted in his own political interests and sacrificed the best interests of Florida Wednesday by rejecting federal money for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. It is a reckless, devastating decision that has nothing to do with the merits of rail and everything to do with Scott's obsession with courting the tea party movement and fighting the Obama administration. Florida's state legislators and members of Congress should explore every option in salvaging a project that holds so much promise for the state's economy and Tampa Bay's future.

If Scott were an honest broker looking out for Floridians, he would not have killed the project before putting it out to bid. He would have waited for an updated study on ridership and costs. The contention Wednesday by his press office that Scott has inside information is not good enough.

Scott took aim at the federal deficit and the Obama administration, which he intends to fight on every front regardless of Florida's needs. He fails to mention that the high-speed rail money is already committed and that Florida's money will just go to New York or another state with more vision. The reaction to such a foolish decision was biting and across the board. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he was disappointed, but noted: "There is overwhelming demand for high-speed rail in other states." U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, blasted Scott for a "devastating lack of vision," and U.S. Rep. John Mica, the Winter Park Republican who chairs the House transportation panel, urged the governor to reconsider. State Sen. Jack Latvala, the Clearwater Republican who chairs the state Senate's Transportation Committee, said Scott's move was premature: "We've cut off our noses to spite our face."

That's putting it mildly. Scott did real harm to the Tampa Bay area, which has worked on a regional basis for years to improve area transit and to build the start of an integrated light rail system. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said she was "terribly disappointed," calling the move a "bad decision for all Floridians" that sends "a terrible message" to the business community. The state's powerful business lobby, Associated Industries, which had supported the rail plan, should be ashamed for kissing up to Scott by rationalizing the governor's move. In downtown Tampa alone, Scott's decision undermines tens of millions of dollars in public investment in housing, parks and retail. And it dampens the ongoing effort in Pinellas and across the bay to bring a major new mass transit initiative to the table.

The governor who travels in his private jet should look out the window the next time he flies over traffic-clogged Tampa Bay and Interstate 4. And when he looks for someone who could have created thousands of jobs and didn't, he can look in the mirror.

Americans love cars. Best to replace them with more fuel efficient vehicles. Trains don't work on a mass scale here.

We've been partying off the froth of the real estate bubble for years now. Scott's dragging the state back ... .

Let me see if I am following correctly:

Bad - accepting federal money to build a high speed train system in an area that has been preparing its infrastructure for it

Because future usage is uncertain and there are big capital outlays.

Good - spending $$$ to deepen a port

Even though it hinges on a foreign project that isn't complete, future usage is uncertain, and there are big capital outlays.

Good Gravy .

Florida lawmakers have one week to cobble together a complicated deal that would give the $2.4 billion Gov. Rick Scott rejected Wednesday to another entity, such as Amtrak. But it would require approval of Scott, Sen. Bill Nelson just announced. "Right now, time is our enemy," he said. Members of Florida's congressional delegation met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who outlined the deal Thursday afternoon. LaHood left without comment but was visibly rattled by Scott's move.

Why would Gov. Rick Scott just say no to $2 billion in federal funding for a bullet train already approved by that the GOP-led Legislature ? a project that would create thousands of jobs for Florida?

Many people are asking that question after the governor canceled plans for a high-speed train line between Tampa and Orlando, which eventually would extend to Miami?s intermodal center near the airport. Many of those caught by surprise, in fact, are from the governor?s own party.

State Sen. Paula Dockery, an early supporter of Mr. Scott?s ?Let?s get to work? campaign, noted, ?It would be more prudent? for him to allow private companies to bid for the project and show how they would pay operating costs and any cost overruns before turning down the deal. As it is, she told the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau, there are seven teams from 11 countries ready to compete to build and run the bullet train.

Ms. Dockery is right. It was imprudent for the governor to unilaterally turn down an initial $300 million in federal stimulus dollars already appropriated by the Legislature ? in fact, he has no constitutional authority to do so. Florida Senate Budget Committee Chair J.D. Alexander and Senate Transportation Committee Chair Jack Latvala wondered as much, too.

This is a case of the governor putting his ideology before common sense ? even if it means turning down 14,000 jobs and eventually as many as 25,000 by the time the Miami leg would be completed.

Mr. Scott says the project would put Florida taxpayers at risk because of potential cost overruns and that ridership figures are too rosy. Those are good reasons to question the project?s viability ? except U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Chairman Mica worked hard in bipartisan fashion to ensure that Florida would not risk a penny because private companies bidding on the project would assume all cost overruns and operating expenses.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/17/2071609/scotts-high-speed-imprudence.html#ixzz1EG9ONVA7

I think this will get really interesting before it's over...

A veto-proof majority of the Florida Senate tells federal officials to give Florida $2.4 billion in bullet train money, even though Gov. Rick Scott wants to reject it


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/17/2072075/scott-rebuked-by-26-senators-over.html#ixzz1EGB0WHoE

Scott’s high-speed imprudence - Editorials - MiamiHerald.com

Why would Gov. Rick Scott just say no to $2 billion in federal funding for a bullet train already approved by that the GOP-led Legislature ? a project that would create thousands of jobs for Florida?

Many people are asking that question after the governor canceled plans for a high-speed train line between Tampa and Orlando, which eventually would extend to Miami?s intermodal center near the airport. Many of those caught by surprise, in fact, are from the governor?s own party.


I think this will get really interesting before it's over...

And no matter what an overly-optimistic company might agree to,if its special-purpose entity for Florida high-speed rail got in seriously over its head and walked away from the project after spending, say $3 billion (including the feds? $2.4 billion), what options would the state then have? With no way of repaying thefeds? money?now turned into concrete and steel?it would have nochoice but to spend state tax money finishing the project and then subsidizing its operations.

A team led by Oxford University Professor Bent Flyvbjerg studied more than 258 infrastructure megaprojects across the world and found passenger-rail systems experience cost overruns of 45 percent on average. If the current Tampa-Orlando cost estimate is off by that average ? 45 percent ? the project would need an additional $1.2 billion.

..

Just as worrisome: These types of large rail projects don't just cost more than expected to build; they cost more to operate. Flyvbjerg's research finds: "There is a massive and highly significant problem with inflated forecasts for rail projects. For two-thirds of the projects, [ridership] forecasts are overestimated by more than two-thirds."

The Florida Senate has enough votes to override any Scott attempts to kill the high speed rail project. It's gonna get really interesting if the House follows suit:

Veto-proof majority of Senate rebukes Rick Scott over high-speed rail | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

Another interesting bit from Senate budget chief JD Alexander:

JD: Dear Gov., I think you broke the law | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

A top Senate Republican, J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, told the governor in a letter Thursday that he may have broken state law by his push to sell two state planes used to ferry his predecessors and other elected officials across the state.

The letter came one day after Gov. Rick Scott angered and disappointed both Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature with his decision to reject $2.4 billion in federal aid to build a high-speed rail line between Orlando and Tampa.