Credit where it is due.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
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The decision sets the stage for SunRail to begin operations as early as May 2014, running between DeBary in Volusia County, downtown Orlando and the south edge of Orange County. Within another couple of years it supposed to go to DeLand in Volusia and Poinciana in Osceola County.
The approval ends the region’s 30-year quest to devise a transportation alternative to cars and buses. Previous attempts ranging from magnetically levitated trains to light rail options have failed
While Scott closely held his decision, he did leave hints that he would give the go-ahead, most prominently by setting aside more than $269 million for SunRail in the state budget that takes effect today.
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Maybe it was the PR disaster of killing light rail. Maybe the people Rick Scott has surrounded himself with have over time convinced him of the genuine need for working rail in Florida. And maybe, just maybe, six months of office-holding has finally injected some public responsibility for a governor whose background before was all private sector.
But this was the right decision. I didn't think he would do this. The decision to support SunRail marks a moment when Gov. Scott could have chosen to set us back a decade on rail, or allowed the project a fair shot at success regardless of his own personal doubts.
Rick Scott made the right move today. I applaud his choice.
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Did Scott's earlier refusal of federal money stop us from getting it for this project?
ReplyDeleteUnlike the light rail project, which had "boondoggle" stamped all over it, this project has solid merit. While I am not entirely sold on this project either, this one I can justify
ReplyDeleteThis is a separate thing. I don't believe this project was ever eligible for the same federal funds that Scott turned down.
ReplyDeleteBruno, how was light rail a boondoggle but this is not? If anything, it seems the lightrail was more likely to get a return than SunRail, not less.
I think there's a terminology problem - SunRail is light rail. High speed rail would have also been light rail.
ReplyDeleteHigh speed rail would have cost $2.5 billion, and had 5 stops - the airport, the convention center, Disney, Lakeland, and downtown Tampa. SunRail is about half the cost, and will serve 17 stations, mostly close in to metro Orlando.
SunRail has a chance at actually being used by the residents of the state, opening up economic opportunities, and reducing fuel use and traffic congestion. HSR mostly redistributes tourist dollars, with no net economic benefit - tourists aren't going to stay an extra day because they can go to Tampa. And there's just no way that residents in metro Orlando who want to go to Tampa are going to get in a car to go to I-Drive to catch a train.
So. One's a boondoggle. The other is merely a probably boondoggle.
A rail service that only served the metro Orlando market isn't serving the state. It's serving Orlando. That's fine with me, by the way. Having working public transit in one of Florida's most prominent, if not most prominent, cities is of extreme value to the state.
ReplyDeleteBut high-speed rail would have been a better investment because it serves a broader area and BECAUSE its serves tourists, who most likely won't use SunRail much at all. Tourism dollars are outside money coming into the state of Florida, adding to our economy rather than recirculating dollars that are already here.
And most importantly, high-speed rail was FEDERAL dollars. It would have cost the state NOTHING. To say paying zero and getting a trans-state high-speed rail system which in turn would bring in additional outside revenue from tourists looking for a hop from the Orlando airport to the convention center or Disney would have been an enormous get for Florida, and it would have been free.
Neither one is a boondoggle. High-speed rail would have been an absolute boon.
The NY Times disagrees with you, Jake. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/us/12rail.html
ReplyDeleteHow does HSR bring in more tourist dollars than are already here? Is there something more appealing about Florida with HSR that convinces a family to come here instead of going to Vegas or Europe? I don't think so. Do more convention-goers bring their families with them because now they can shuttle over to Busch Gardens instead of just going to Disney World? I don't think so. All HSR between Orlando and Tampa does is redistribute tourist dollars. And I think it's clear that it doesn't do anything for locals in terms of expanding economic opportunity, reducing their transportation burden, or improving their environment.
And I don't think it's fair to say that HSR is not a boondoggle because it's free - it's not free. It's paid for by taxing Floridians and the rest of the people around the country. Granted, it's not Rick Scott's primary responsibility to look out for taxpayers in the rest of the country, but if he's standing on the principle that HSR is a waste of money and he's not going to support waste at any level of government, do you fault him for that? Hypothetically, if the federal government wanted to give us money to send everybody in Florida to Disney World, that would be a boondoggle, right?
This is such blind nonsense. First off, high-speed rail creates jobs for Floridians because Floridians will build it. After it is constructed, they will staff it. Why would tourists like this? Because it provides an easy and cheap way to get around as an alternative to renting a car. And I bet Busch Gardens would like an easy cheap way for Orlando tourists to get over to the west coast besides the tremendously inviting option of driving I-4 in a car they are unfamiliar with. Never mind the many British tourists who don't feel driving on the same side of the road as we do.
ReplyDeleteSay it's just redistribution if you want, but it is outside dollars which will pay back any costs of the rail. That means Joe Schmoe from Maine who brings his kids to Disney will be paying back the cost of the rail, as opposed to you or me. And once again, the cost of rail to Florida is NOTHING, so this supposed boondoggle will run a profit for us very soon.
The argument about federal tax dollars buys into the delusion held at Rick Scott's governor's mansion that money from the federal government is as much a burden as state revenues. That is not true, and your own spelled out logic explains why. The revenues from the federal government are from a pot created by taxpayers nationwide. That means a taxpayer in Nebraska is contributing to this rail project as much as you and me, which makes total sense because the project is as likely to serve a Nebraska taxpayer as it is you or me. Yet we stand to reap all the profits.
Rick Scott was not standing on principle when he turned down that money. He was grandstanding. And for a bit of rhetorical splurge and some Tea Party love, the rest of us get screwed.
But jsut to return to the spirit of this post, I hope the enormous amount of national ridicule and statewide anger over his decision impacted his decision-making process with SunRail. This project is not as good a deal fro Florida taxpayers, and it is not as good a system without high-speed rail to hook into, but it is a good project to invest in regardless.
I can't quite follow the whole tickets to Disney World metaphor. I just don't see where you are going. I will remind you the President Bush in one of his first major addresses after 9/11 urged people nationwide to go ahead and still take that trip to Disney World, and our Republican governor at the time certainly didn't mind.