Thoughts re role of Tri-Rail Coastal commuter rail on HB/Hollywood redevelopment, per City of Hollywood's community meeting on Monday Aug. 24 for its Regional Activity Center re-zoning, which includes U.S.-1 & Pembroke Road

Received the following email from the City of Hollywood last Tuesday and sent it and my thoughts below it out to about 125 interested and concerned people around the area.
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http://www.hollywoodfl.org/list.aspx?MID=517
Learn About Proposed Zoning Changes in the Regional Activity Center

The City of Hollywood invites you to a community meeting on Monday, August 24 at 6:00 p.m. at Hollywood City Hall, 2600 Hollywood Boulevard, Room 219 to discuss the planned re-zoning of the Regional Activity Center (RAC).

The RAC encompasses Downtown Hollywood and includes Federal Highway from Sheridan Street to Pembroke Road and Hollywood Boulevard from US-1 to Interstate 95. The Regional Activity Center land use designation is intended to encourage attractive and functional mixed living, working, shopping, education, and recreational activities, in areas of regional importance. To guide sustainable development, the City is undertaking ambitious zoning changes in the RAC to accommodate future growth, while preserving the character of existing neighborhoods.

The Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), Department of Community and Economic Development and Department of Planning have hosted a series of community meetings with residents living in and around the RAC to review the proposed zoning changes. This community meeting is open to all residents interested in the RAC re-zoning.  

For additional information, contact the Department of Community and Economic Development at 954.921.3271 or go to RAC Re-zoning.

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The map of the proposed RAC is at http://www.hollywoodfl.org/index.aspx?NID=884

I'm going to make some phone calls and find out who will be speaking at this meeting next Monday at Hollywood City Hall.

I'm especially interested in finding out if anyone from Tri-Rail will be present to publicly speak about the latest estimates and deadlines about the Tri-Rail Coastal service, since from the looks of things, there doesn't seem to be anyone locally following up on that and holding them to account in turning big words into some tangible action.

Most of you know from experience that I'm someone who has been a longtime public advocate for much-better public transit service and facilities in SE Broward County, and have long lamented publicly at both City Halls how often Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents seemed to constantly take it on the chin on common sense matters that are relatively easy to resolve policy-wise, and would be supported by the public, but, for whatever reason, always seemed to lack an advocate for the public at City Hall willing to push their own bureaucrats into action.

Perhaps because they are not considered sexy issues, per se.

For instance, to mention but a few things I've written about frequently with photos to show the sad reality of what SE Broward transit riders are forced to put up with,

1.) How about making sure there are actually some bus shelters on the east side of U.S.-1 in Hallandale Beach, instead of just one, located one block south of Pembroke Road, practically in Hollywood? Really.

2.) How many years has the Buzz #1 Express to downtown Fort Lauderdale -that begins at Aventura Mall on north-bound trips- used the two small bus benches opposite the McDonald's on U.S.-1 as their ONLY Hallandale Beach stop on the northbound trip, instead of the under-utilized SuperStop bus shelter in front of Gulfstream Park, opposite the Flashback Diner?

Yes, the expensive, under-utilized SuperStop bus shelter that the County and the City of HB required Forest City and MAGNA/Gulfstream Park to build as part of the development agreement to create The Village at Gulfstream Park.

You'll recall that the developers said they'd provide shuttle service from that site to the Tri-Rail station on Hollywood Blvd. -but they never did, did they?

NOPE!!!

Yes, as some of you may recall, that would be the same SuperStop that was used as a de facto home base by an army of homeless people for at least six-to-eight months from late 2013 to 2014, despite being located less than two blocks from Hallandale Beach City Hall and HB Police Dept. HQ.

Both looked the other way at what was happening, which made both bus riders and bus drivers angry since it was pitch-black at night -on purpose. 

How did HB City Hall and HBPD ignore what was right in front of them???

3.) Honestly, how is it that so many years after the Hollywood ArtsPark was created by Broward County that Hollywood residents have had to tolerate ZERO bus shelters at Young Circle, near the Publix, to keep them out of the sun & downpours?

That should have been done at least eight years ago, with advertising revenue used to defray the costs of several attractive state-of-the-art bus shelters at the site that's not only where the largest number of passengers south of downtown FTL get off and on, but also right near the two corners of the Circle where Hollywood City Hall and the Hollywood business community

have long claimed that they wanted to see interesting upscale retail and residential living located, to give the city some dynamic activity.

As I've written many times before on my blog and said aloud at transportation forums throughout South Florida, one of the most positive things that can help jolt the Hollywood and Hallandale Beach economies -not just the downtown areas of Hollywood and HB but especially the under-developed and under-utilized areas along the FEC tracks that are perfect for Transit Oriented

Corridor related development, i.e. mixed-use building with retail on the bottom floor and reasonably-priced residential above- is reliable and safe Tri-Rail Coastal service to Downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

(Yes, as many of you know from past conversations with me, because I've seen how beautifully it works like a charm in Stockholm (especially in the fascinating and trendy Södermalm 

neighborhood that I vacationed in two years ago, which from my point of view, EVERYTHING that residents of Coconut Grove and parts of Coral Gables near the University of Miami wish they were now -but aren't.

We don't need to reinvent the wheel, we just make it possible for it to succeed as soon as possible.)

Why? Because giving people the option to be able to relax in the morning and drink their coffee or

smoothies and read a newspaper or zone out on their devices on a train before they get to work beats the hell out of driving to work thru frustrating gridlock.

And people will pay for that option.

I know because when I lived and worked in the Washington, D.C. area for 15 years, my housing options always put a premium on access and proximity to the a Metrorail station. That's why I lived where I did in Arlington County and paid a premium in rent for the privilege of always being a 15-20 minute walk to a Metro station.

Those last seven years, that meant living in a great and safe residential area of hilly Arlington less than a mile from the Ballston Metro station, which itself was located below a Hilton hotel and a block from the National Science Foundation HQ and several federal govt. agencies.

(And as longtime readers of the blog know, that was the townhouse that President Ford's 

daughter Susan used to live in, which still had the Secret Service intercom system in it when I was there.)

As most of you know, I have long felt that Hollywood and Hallandale Beach could benefit from that Coastal service faster and in more tangible and positive ways than any other two cities in Broward.

So why aren't we hearing from our elected officials about what's really going on with it?

Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth
https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

Common sense questions about public policy, process and public engagement -to say nothing of financial risk- continue to dog @AllAboardFla and the Fortress Investment Group as they seek $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds from the Florida Development Finance Corporation for their planned Miami-to-Orlando express train, via Fort lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Some observations on what we know and what reporters should have been asking all along, but were NOT.

This is an expanded version of an email that I wrote about All Aboard Florida that was sent out around South Florida and Florida this morning shortly after I received a Twitter notification from someone at the group FloridaNOTAllAboard, @FLNOTAA who describes themselves thusly:
"We are a grassroots group of citizens who have created this page to help facilitate communication and inform residents that are affected by AAF."
floridanotallaboard.com

Since I'd been planning on posting something about All Aboard Florida this week, once I received that message, I decided to write something today instead of waiting until later in the week.

Those of you unfamiliar with some of the issues here and my own perspective on the frustrating and often confounding public transportation scene in Florida may want to consult my blog post from March 26th and use that as a predicate:
South Florida has once again redefined the meaning of "Free Ride." But shouldn't we all realize by now that when it comes to #TransportationPolicy in #SoFL, there's no such thing as a free ride? But #Miami pols, @Tri_Rail & @AllAboardFla can't help themslves when it comes to taking taxpayer dollars and taking credit for something BEFORE the facts are ALL in
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/south-florida-has-once-again-redefined.html

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So, look who seems to have finally woken up from many years of his Rip Van Winkle-like slumber? 

Columnist Michael Mayo of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, who for many years was one of the few full-throated voices in the South Florida news media willing to publicly tell the truth and speak ill of the powerful, comfortable, affluent and influential of our part area of the Sunshine State. 
That is to say, the same small handful of people of means and influence in South Florida who, over the years, have become quite accustomed to them and their favorites pet causes being catered to (and indulged in and promoted) by the South Florida press corps, no matter how wrong or dubious they were regarding an issue of public concern. 
To an extent, frankly, that would be embarrassing in most parts of the country, but which has become commonplace here, where there's a real paucity of reporters with old-fashioned notions of serving the public FIRST.

That is also to say that Michael Mayo was someone who used to be mentioned and linked to rather frequently here at Hallandale Beach Blog, in large part because of his willingness to call things exactly what they were here in Hallandale Beach and environs with respect to the illegal, unconscionable or downright stupid things that routinely took/take place at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

Mayo, to his great credit, unlike the majority of the news media in South Florida, was NOT content to just look away or merely swallow whole the PR spin served up by the usual Suspects at HB City Hall, whether Mayor Joy Cooper or her usual partners in dubious/unethical/shady shenanigans that embarrass the beleaguered residents of this ocean-side Broward city just north of the Miami-Dade County line, namely, HB City Commissioners Anthony A. Sanders and William 'Bill" Julian.

But for whatever reasons -and I have my own educated hunches- things changed with Mayo and what he chose to write about and make his primary focus.
To me and several other people in my circle of friends and acquaintances in South Florida and around the Sunshine State, he seemed to retrench, which was disappointing, given how few people seemed willing to do what he did in the first place.

The change made him seem like he not only avoided going after low-hanging fruit in our area that needed to be swatted at, but not even bother to aim for high-minded fruit on the top shelf, either.

But for today at least, he's back with some well-placed energy and moxie, asking overdue questions that others in the #SoFL media universe have been very, very reluctant or afraid to ask publicly.

"But the bigger question is this: If All Aboard Florida is such a good idea and has a reasonable chance of success, why is it falling on junk bond investors to back them, instead of AAF’s deep-pocketed corporate parent, Fortress Investment Group?"

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
All Aboard Florida bonds involve 'high degree of risk'
By Michael mayo
August 4, 2015
11:37 a.m.

Getting $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds approved by a state board on Wednesday looks to be the easy part for All Aboard Florida.

The seemingly harder part for the proposed Miami-to-Orlando express train: Getting investors to buy the risky unrated bonds (junk bonds, in financial parlance), and being able to make an estimated $105 million in annual debt payments to repay the bonds.

Read the rest of the column
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/michael-mayo-blog/sfl-mayo-aaf-bonds-20150804-story.html

This is esp. interesting in light of my tweets last week to Brian Bandell of the South Florida Business Journal reminding him of the tone-deaf and self-inflicted problems of All Aboard Florida a few years ago when it came time for them to actually engage the public in Broward County, whom they wanted to completely ignore in their original scoping meetings.

But then I started complaining about it loudly and publicly via emails, phone calls and blog posts to some responsive local officials -and certain key news media members- in South Florida, who agreed with me that given the scope of what was at stake, the All Aboard Florida geniuses core belief that they could literally force everyone in Broward who was interested in this plan -because there's a Fort Lauderdale station- to have to travel to a not-great area of downtown Miami at night, on a

weeknight when the Miami Heat were in the NBA playoffs, was probably NOT the greatest idea in the world.

But the decision to ignore Broward's residents -AAF's own future customers!- was entirely indicative of the decision-making prowess of the AAF braintrust.

Personally, I'm not against the idea, I merely find it hard to believe that in August of 2015 that there remain SO MANY basic questions, policy and process, that are both unasked and unanswered to my satisfaction, and clearly part of that has been because of the cheerleader attitude taken by so many in the South Florida press corps towards this plan.

That sort of bias and un-professionalism reminds me of the same media's attitude towards the Dolphins' terrible idea just a few years ago of forcing taxpayers to pay for stadium improvements at Dolphins Stadium, i.e Joe Robbie Stadium.

(You recall how badly that flopped, given that the owner of the team and the stadium, Stephen Ross, is only one of THE richest Americans alive today.)

The South Florida media was played like a fiddle by the Dolphins and their PR people and lobbyists, 
with several usually-solid reporters even being reduced to playing the role of little kids on "exclusive tours" of the stadium with the Dolphins then-President Mike Dee.

(Okay, you got it out of me -it was Lauren Pastrana of CBS4 News in Miami. For mojnths I watched her story out at the stadium and it made me cringe every time.)

That is to say, the media could look and listen to what was said, but seemingly couldn't ask adult questions. 
Like perfectly reasonable questions about why the Dolphins seem to have intentionally chosen NOT to repaint some areas of the stadium so that it would look worse as they and the NFL engaged in a PR battle via the media to force South Florida taxpayers to pay the freight so that perhaps the NFL might deign to have the Super Bowl played there in the future.

Some day.

Maybe!

A basic question I have had and never seen answered adequately is how will the City of Fort Lauderdale and/or Broward County government and All Aboard Florida legally keep the Fort Lauderdale train station-cum-transit center from being over-run by the army of transients and 
homeless, which has been the sad reality for the Broward County Transit main HQ off Broward Blvd. & Andrews Avenue the past few years, as anyone who has used it or gone to the McDonald's next door well knows.

It's both sad and tragic on many levels and... made worse by the fact that it is within two blocks of the Broward County Govt. HQ building and Fort Lauderdale City Hall.

But that everyday reality is also why some people don't use public transit and specifically don't go THERE.

Despite the fact that both are places that people ACTUALLY go to in real numbers.

If the public doesn't buy into a Fort Lauderdale train station/transit center right away, or have doubts about their safety and that of their family, no amount of PR spin and attempted media manipulation will prevent it from quickly becoming a No-Go Zone.

Another White Elephant monument to South Florida's long history of elected officials and "insiders" being persuaded/conned into forking over taxpayer dollars and rights for what was supposed to be, after all, yes, a private enterprise endeavor.

"But the bigger question is this: If All Aboard Florida is such a good idea and has a reasonable chance of success, why is it falling on junk bond investors to back them, instead of AAF’s deep-pocketed corporate parent, Fortress Investment Group?"

Yes, what is the reason for that lack of enthusiasm?

You can follow Lisa Broadt, aka @TCPalmLisa for live coverage of the meeting.

LIVE on #Periscope: ...and the real action begins...it's public comment time. ALL ABOARD HEARING, PART II #TCPALM https://t.co/NgV4Q4nVgK

— Lisa Broadt (@TCPalmLisa) August 5, 2015

I encourage you to do so.

Adios!

Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth
https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

South Florida has once again redefined the meaning of "Free Ride." But shouldn't we all realize by now that when it comes to #TransportationPolicy in #SoFL, there's no such thing as a free ride? But #Miami pols, @Tri_Rail & @AllAboardFla can't help themslves when it comes to taking taxpayer dollars and taking credit for something BEFORE the facts are ALL in

South Florida, and NOT to its credit, has once again redefined the meaning of "Free Ride." But shouldn't we all realize by now -after so DOZENS of fatally-flawed transit decisions and an equal number of poorly-executed plans- that when it comes to #Transportation Policy in #SoFL, there's no such thing as a free ride? 
But #Miami pols, @Tri_Rail & @AllAboardFla can't help themslves when it comes to taking taxpayer dollars and taking credit for something BEFORE the facts are ALL in

Below is a slightly-expanded version of an email that I sent out early last night, after reading the article and tweets below, to just under 200 concerned citizens, pols and news media reps in the Sunshine State, and to transportation reporters and columnists across the U.S.A.
I was not able to send all the tweets to them, so... include them here

Tri-Rail would offer free rides to Overtown district residents in station deal http://t.co/A8dWMJ0PHA
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) March 25, 2015

Miami Herald
Tri-Rail would offer free rides to Overtown district residents in station deal
Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald
March 24, 2005

Tri-Rail would offer free passes to large numbers of Overtown residents in exchange for public funding of a new Miami station, part of a deal aimed at piecing together $69 million in tax dollars to bring the commuter line to a privately funded train depot downtown.

The largely state-funded Tri-Rail would offer free passes to residents inside Miami's Overtown/Park West taxing district in exchange for extracting about $30 million from the entity for construction of a Tri-Rail platform in All Aboard Florida's rail complex that's about to begin construction in downtown Miami.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article16221608.html

LETTER TO THE EDITOR . . . . . . Terrell N. Fritz' Letter to the Miami Herald Editor regarding 'Why We Need Tri-R… http://t.co/vzbMOhcpvP
— Terrell N. Fritz (@TNFritz) March 26, 2015

Miami Today
Tourist taxes add-on a creative way to finance vital transit  
Written by Michael Lewis on March 25, 2015

If Miami-Dade commissioners succeed in a creative drive to increase two of our three tourism taxes by one percentage point each, they can amass more than $60 million a year to build mass transit.

Anyone who tries to get around this county knows how vital this is, because bonding this guaranteed revenue could provide several billion dollars to start building transit immediately.

Read the rest of the column at:
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2015/03/25/tourist-taxes-add-on-a-creative-way-to-finance-vital-transit/

"@Tomas_Regalado Opposes Miami Grand Central Station’s @Tri_Rail Coastal Link". Chkoutt my contribution @transitmiami http://t.co/jJm0q8fHWv
— Carlos Markovich (@camarkovich) March 25, 2015

"The @CityofMiami is taking the brunt of paying for the #TriRail platform." http://t.co/GOVIaXrCuR @RaquelRegalado pic.twitter.com/0eMjFaYnc9
— DailyBusinessReview (@dbreview) March 25, 2015

Will somebody, anybody, please fund Tr-Rail Downtown. http://t.co/hLtkVBPSHj pic.twitter.com/nGRrC9uD1g
— Curbed Miami (@CurbedMiami) March 25, 2015

#SoFL in nutshell: @transitmiami @NewsbySmiley @BrowardCounty - .@Tri_Rail didn't get on @twitter until Jan. 27th and on @YouTube last month
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) March 19, 2015

Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization is holding back transit. Here's how to fix it. http://t.co/fwNhfR1170 pic.twitter.com/E9pE91LBsq
— Miamitude™ (@Miamitude) March 19, 2015

Because others wld pay more! @BrowardCounty @beamfurr Comm. Hardemon said @Tri_Rail leaders told him #Overtown residents wld ride "for free"
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) March 19, 2015

@JessicaGKwong #Miami mayor will veto attempt 2 pay 4 project 2 bring commuter trains fm #PalmBeach #Broward http://t.co/3MgFJCLyTC #SoFL
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) March 19, 2015

Miami Needs Real Transit Solutions http://t.co/FjIbh7mH1U pic.twitter.com/rtJF14hmaG
— Miamitude™ (@Miamitude) March 17, 2015

Tri-Rail's operator wants Miami-Dade County to shell out $8 mill for the train service's expansion to downtown Miami. http://t.co/KDm8tHTUSo
— Miami Today (@MiamiTodayNews) March 14, 2015

Plans to expand Tri-Rail to downtown Miami is a "once in a lifetime opportunity," @MayorGimenez said. For background: http://t.co/oSepB9mofs
— Lidia Dinkova (@LidiaDinkova) March 9, 2015

Tri-Rail seeks funding to open downtown Miami station http://t.co/Ll9ZEdqtWg via @trdmiami #Miamirealestate
— Jetset Realty (@jetsetrealty) March 4, 2015

My update on the planned light-rail to link Miami & Miami Beach; details on proposed P3 financing. http://t.co/240wtG6r3G @MiamiTodayNews
— Lidia Dinkova (@LidiaDinkova) March 4, 2015

@FixMetroMDT If only U & @twitter existed in 1970's, B4 so many bad ideas, ill-conceived notions & sloppy execution became norm in M-D. :-(
— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) February 27, 2015

Miami-Dade transit committee: Let's move planned transit projects beyond just ideas on paper; let's find the funding. http://t.co/wMq8Bz80SM
— Lidia Dinkova (@LidiaDinkova) February 26, 2015

Greater Miami officials plan a trip to Colorado where they're to study how a sweeping mass transit system is being implemented. #transit
— Lidia Dinkova (@LidiaDinkova) February 24, 2015

Miami Today Editor Michael Lewis says a plan to reduce auto traffic lanes on BIscayne Blvd. is not a good idea. http://t.co/7VMfIBQ02W
— Miami Today (@MiamiTodayNews) February 21, 2015

For an existing passenger train, Tri-Rail, to link to downtown Miami, $68 million in public funding is needed. http://t.co/cM3l1lSe5r
— Miami Today (@MiamiTodayNews) December 4, 2014

A few things worth knowing while you digest the facts and anecdotes above and try to make sense of it all:

In case you forgot -or never knew- the person who led the effort to change the City of Miami's former CRA district and create a new CRA district -done as part of the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County's foolish efforts to build a new taxpayer-built baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins- is none other than Marc Sarnoff.

Yes, the outgoing City of Miami commissioner at the center of this story, now a paid CRA Director, and, oh yeah, someone trying desperately to elect his wife as his successor on the Miami City
Commission. Really.
Hastag: #Context

Now perhaps those of you who doubted me last year when I -alone in South Florida- publicly asked why the one-and-only public All Aboard Florida public scoping meeting scheduled in Miami-Dade County last year was taking place in a crime-ridden area that future users of the train between Miami and Orlando would never willingly visit without an ample display of security.

In case you forgot, this one-and-only AAF public scoping meeting in M-D was scheduled to be held at night, during the week, at a place where, IF you entered its address on Google Maps like I did and looke at it via Street View, what you saw was the side of a liquor store with debris everywhere.
Again, REALLY.

As opposed to, well, having it at a centralized location in the county with plenty of parking spaces outside and plenty of air conditioned seats inside on a hot day that would ACTUALLY draw future paid train passengers for rides to Orlando?
Afterall, AAF is trying to cast as large a net as possible for passengers, aren't they?

Trust me, for their business plan to be successful, their core audience can not consist of just poor people and people who lack a car to make the drive up to Orlando.
But look how clumsily and amateurish it was handled when they had lots of time to decide what they were going to do?
That's called portent, my friends...

Yes, but then THAT is precisely the kind of planning we've come to expect from the same AAF folks who've always got their hands out for more for the public purse, forgetting that many of us still recall how much they bragged and patted themselves on the back early on for how much theirs was a "private" enterprise.

The same people who did NOT even plan on hosting a public scoping meeting anywhere in Broward County for its taxpayers and consumers last year until I embarrassed, shamed and publicly flogged them, via several high-profile emails and blog posts that were cc'd to the South Florida, Orlando and Tampa Bay area  news media, and a handful of people with power and influence in Tallahassee with
an interest in logic intersecting with reason at least, well, OCCASIONALLY in public policy

Me, via the blog last May, which generated more than a few not-so-happy phone calls and emails to people who thought they'd pulled a fast one:

More Transit Policy Woes in South Florida: With stealthy and self-sabotaging friends like All Aboard Florida and SFRTA/Tri-Rail, pro-transit advocates in South Florida don't need any more enemies; 'All Aboard Florida' fails to schedule a single public scoping meeting in Broward County this Spring despite Fort Lauderdale being a proposed station, while SFRTA chief refuses to answer a simple question -Will Hallandale Beach have a station under the proposed Coastal line plan?; Just because you're pro-transit doesn't mean you have to ignore displays of transit incompetency or mismanagement when you see it!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/more-transit-policy-woes-in-south.html

After I publicly outed AAF's ill-conceived plan to ignore the very Broward public -and its future customers- who'd no doubt be asked to pay in some manner or form towards a new public train station and assorted infrastructure in Fort Lauderdale, they wised-up and decided to throw one together in Fort Lauderdale.
Wow, talk about disrespecting their own core consumer audience!
WHO would intentionally do THAT???

Not that the people at AAF and the assorted City of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County geniuses have yet to figure out how they'll keep Fort Lauderdale's sizable homeless population from camping en masse in and near any new public train station.
That, of course, is proposed for but a few blocks from Broward County's present central bus depot, off Broward Blvd.

You know, right in the middle of the area where, as has been reported upon for MANY years, homeless people drink (and often defecate) everywhere, as is entirely self-evident to anyone paying attention.
With the City of Fort Lauderdale City Hall but a stone's throw away!
But they just ignore it.

Why?
Unfortunately, because like so many levels of government in South Florida, with rare exceptions -like open-minded Coral Gables City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, whom I knew and trusted implicitly from her years of being an Assistant City Manager and City Manager in Hollywood, who consistently talked-the-talk and walked-the-walk on transparency and public input on public policy- they're always thinking that a PR-driven strategy will inevitably trump a logical and well-planned public policy and goal that actually requires genuine public input.

But what they almost always fail to appreciate is that the public buying-in, if the plan is smart and sound, esp. financially, almost always results in genuine public success achieved SOONER, not just the mere illusion of it.

That same unfortunate attitude I think also explains why so many public places in Florida in general and South Florida in particular seem so resolutely mediocre, second-rate and ill-conceived.

Is that what we really want with train/commuter stations that ought to have been built 40 years ago, when I was a kid growing up in North Miami Beach, which perhaps could have kept South Florida from physically expanding beyond reason -and infrastructure- including building stadiums and arenas far from core supporters, when logic would have seen them built near well-planned train stations, which would have benefited everyone, including the team's bottom line?

As a longtime public transit advocate, in Chicago, D.C./Arlington County as well as in South Florida, I think not. 

But just because we see the important role of public planning and public transit doesn't mean we support breaking the public bank to do so, and pretend that car-centric South Florida is, overnight, going to become transit-friendly, and therefore can sign-off on gold-plating everything so that Marc Sarnoff can see his reflection on a plaque of names for years to come.
What are -and where are?- the benchmarks that AAF and Tri-Rail should have to reach in order to get the deal they want?

My experience is that simplicity and ease-of-use will count for more with the people who actually use a train station in the future, since that's what they will tell their friends, family and work colleagues,
and no amount of PR dollars can ever equal that.

The powers-that-be need to create train stations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale with the same mindset used to create the current international airport in Oslo, where so many first-time visitors feel exactly as I did in 2013: completely at-ease and not the least bit confused or overwhelmed.
Something I know about from using O'Hare so often for so many years in the 1980's while living in Chicago, Evanston and Wilmette.

Trafikken steg med nesten 3 prosent på #oslolufthavn i februar. http://t.co/8D8aVxxqzM pic.twitter.com/7LFe7aDCKk
— Oslo Lufthavn (OSL) (@Oslolufthavn) March 9, 2015

You actually WANT to linger.
That surely counts for something, no?

Heia Norge! #osl

Reverse engines! Reluctantly but prudently, All Aboard Florida wises-up and agrees to have a Fort Laudedale scoping meeting after all, on May 29th; 5 weeks later, still no response from SFRTA Executive Director Joseph Giulietti about whether or not Hallandale Beach will have a station as part of their proposed Tri-Rail Coastal plan

Fresh from my email Inbox and into your transportation stream of consciousness...


---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: All Aboard Florida
Date: Thu, May 16, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Subject: AAF to host additional open house in Fort Lauderdale for EIS process

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May 16, 2013 All Aboard Florida and the Federal Railroad Administration announce an additional public scoping meeting/open house in Fort Lauderdale as part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. The EIS will evaluate the potential environmental and related impacts of constructing and operating an intercity passenger rail service between Orlando and Miami with intermediate stations in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. The public scoping meeting/open house will be held on Wednesday, May 29, between 3:30 and 7 p.m., at the Holiday Park Social Center, 1150 G. Harold Martin Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. We invite you to attend and share your comments on the project. There will not be a formal presentation or comment period. Information from previous public scoping sessions will be shown at this venue. If you cannot attend but wish to submit a comment, they must be mailed or emailed to Catherine Dobbs, Transportation Industry Analyst, Office of Railroad Policy and Development, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590, or catherine.dobbs@dot.gov. For more information on the meetings, please contact Public Affairs Manager Ali Soule, 305-520-2105, or eis@allaboardflorida.com. Thank you, All Aboard Florida Team Please visit our website for more information and share this email with interested parties so they can receive updates from All Aboard Florida. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

-----

My May 6th blog post, below, about my perspective on the public outreach efforts of All Aboard Florida and SFRTA/Tri-Rail, left no stone un-turned -or thrown if it deserved it

For those of you who are curious, I have still never received a response to my April 12th email to SFRTA Executive Director Joseph Giulietti about whether or not Hallandale Beach will have a commuter train station as part of their proposed Tri-Rail Coastal plan, which currently shows no proposed station here in their released plans.

Tomorrow will make five weeks and counting since I wrote it, which itself, was the second effort to get an honest answer from SFRTA/TRi-Rail, with my previous email never getting a response, either.

More Transit Policy Woes in South Florida: With stealthy and self-sabotaging friends like All Aboard Florida and SFRTA/Tri-Rail, pro-transit advocates in South Florida don't need any more enemies; 'All Aboard Florida' fails to schedule a single public scoping meeting in Broward County this Spring despite Fort Lauderdale being a proposed station, while SFRTA chief refuses to answer a simple question -Will Hallandale Beach have a station under the proposed Coastal line plan?; Just because you're pro-transit doesn't mean you have to ignore displays of transit incompetency or mismanagement when you see it!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/more-transit-policy-woes-in-south.html