John Mica on Northeast Corridor high speed rail/transit legislation that works for taxpayers and commuters -open up NEC to competition

Fox Business News Channel - House Transportation chairman John Mica Discusses High-Speed Rail. June 7, 2011.
http://youtu.be/9V2mGU3z81g




U.S. House Transportation Comm. chairman John Mica discusses efforts at reforming American transit/transportation policy, high speed rail legislation in the Northeast corridor, i.e the Mica-Shuster Intercity Rail bill and the importance of having a meaningful public-private partnership (P3) rather than continue to rely on the failed current template, wherein AmTrak makes ALL the decisions.

June 15, 2011 http://youtu.be/k3oDTsp2Bv8

The best story I've seen on this effort to take AmTrak out of the driver's seat, which I agree with, is this one from the National Journal's Transportation Experts blog:

National Journal

Amtrak: Is It Really the Same Old Debate?

By Fawn Johnson

June 20, 2011

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., last week came up with a pretty cool way to unveil an idea that he has been tossing around for some time. His policy proposal, which comes as no surprise, is to separate Amtrak from the Northeast Corridor and open the heavily trafficked route up to private competition.

Read the rest of the post at
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2011/06/amtrak-is-it-really-the-same-o.php

http://youtu.be/2KmU2Ge_XPo

An advertisement for the X2000 train used by SJ AB -Swedish Railways

http://youtu.be/CaiP2f-s0C4

The jazz music played here in the advert made me think of the pseudo-sophisticated feel we were supposed to get from the Harrison Ford-Kristin Scott Thomas relationship in the 1999 film Random Hearts.

I love Kristin Scott Thomas, but... the constant over-the-top jazz just got me irritated instead of engaged in the narrative!

See also:

http://transportation.house.gov/

Fast Tracks USA YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/USHSR

Fast Tracks USA homepage: www.ushsr.com

Reconnecting America homepage: http://reconnectingamerica.org/

http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/

English language homepage for SJ AB -Swedish Railway:

http://www.sj.se/start/startpage/index.form?l=en

Follow-up to my post re controversial video of Washington Metro Transit Police arrest of man in wheelchair near U Street-Cardozo Metro Station in D.C.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

WRC-TV/NBC4 Washington, D.C. video: Arrest of Man In Wheelchair Raises Concerns. Metro says the man was resisting arrest; Correspondent Michelle Tetu

Story at http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Arrest-of-Man-In-Wheelchair-Raises-Concerns-122423619.html

Earlier today, Dwight Harris, the man in the wheelchair, who had a blood alcohol level of .30 at the time sought legal counsel.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Man-in-Wheelchair-Arrested-by-Metro-Police-Getting-a-Lawyer-122460614.html

This is the follow-up to my Sunday post titled, There's public policy, and then there's public policy meeting reality and being caught on video: unsuckdcmetro blog's head's up re shocking video

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/theres-public-policy-and-then-theres.html

http://www.nbcwashington.com/

There's public policy, and then there's public policy meeting reality and being caught on video: unsuckdcmetro blog's head's up re shocking video

D.C. Police abuse homeless man in a wheelchair.

http://youtu.be/D9QbFsPO00g

The above video was contained in tonight's blog post at

http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/2011/05/disturbing-video-nsfw-language.html

There's public policy, and then there's public policy meeting reality and being caught on video.

That's why I always have my camera/videocam with me wherever I go in South Florida, the capital of crazy stuff happening completely out-of-the-blue.

It's the price you pay for living in an area with lots of nice weather but almost zero awareness of the concept of the civil society.

UnsuckDCMetro's post on poor management of D.C.'s Metro system and its parallels to our part of South Florida are hard to miss. Accountability is MIA.

On Monday, UnsuckDCMetro blog had the latest in a series of amazing (and sometimes downright scary) stories about the poor government management, oversight and public outreach being done by WMATA, i.e the Washington Metro, the Washington, DC-based multi-jurisdictional agency that manages and operates the Metro train system that links Washington, D.C. to suburban Virgina and Maryland. http://www.wmata.com/

It's a story that was first picked up by WTOP Radio in Washington, the All-News station, and then picked-up in turn and linked to on The Drudge Report.

http://www.wtop.com/
Listen live at: http://www.wtop.com/?sid=599366&nid=162
The one and only Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com/

It lays out for all to see the sort of incredibly irresponsible behavior and CYA attitude of both
both its employees and management and the sort of nonchalance that has plagued WMATA for years, part of the reason, undoubtedly, that UnsuckDCMetro came into existence.

When you're a transportation agency that has recently seen people die, needlessly, it would seem to me that half-assed doesn't really cut it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metro

My comments continue after the post:

Monday, January 3, 2011
How 'bout some iPotties Instead?

There was a lot of Metro news over the holidays.

Metro started random bag screening, they paid a communications firm $1.2 million to help market themselves through "guerrilla marketing," they managed to get the government to give them $150 million with no apparent additional oversight, and they doled out cash and iPads to executives on the finance team.

Read the rest of the amazing post at:
http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-bout-some-ipotties-instead.html

Having taken the Metro into downtown D.C. for work for almost 15 years from my home on Capitol Hill, then Tenleytown and finally Arlington County for 13 years, this story is NOT exactly Breaking News, per se, to most observant transit riders standing at underground train stations.
In fact, I think I can pretty well guess where the worst offenses took place.

UnsuckDC Metro http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/, the insightful and observant blog that this story originally appeared in before being picked-up nationally, ran an amazing
story on Dec. 16th that is scary as hell, and will ring familiar to anyone living in South Florida who is observant in the ways that government works -or doesn't.

For those of you living in South Florida who have been following my thoughts in this space for four years, tell me that the actions described in the above post don't sound EXACTLY like the sort of obtuse thinking coming out of Hallandale Beach City Hall for years under the Joy Cooper and Mike Good/Mark Antonio regime, where their primary goal has always been to obfuscate, and to look at everything BUT the real problem here -genuine lack of accountability and ZERO punishment for continual, unsatisfactory performance:

Thursday, December 16, 2010
Mystery Worker Removed Barrier at Tenleytown

So much for taking some time off for the holidays.

On Nov. 16, several Metro riders were greeted with a scary sight at Tenleytown.

As they climbed what appeared to be a run of the mill broken escalator, they arrived near the top to see a gaping hole where some steps were missing because the escalator was under repair.

Read the rest of this jaw-dropping story at:
http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/2010/12/mystery-worker-removed-barrier-at.html

If you read that post, too, it's hard not to think about all the many, many longstanding issues and problems around HB that have NEVER been 'fixed' or resolved to anyone's satisfaction, least of all, ours, even while city tax money continues to flow out to sleep-walking contractors and city employees, but where are the tangible results?
Where's the accountability?

More proof of THAT lack of accountability to the hard-working citizens of this community comes via an email that soon will be going to two of Tallahassee's newest residents, Rick Scott and Pam Biondi, the new Florida governor and attorney general, both of whom I voted for.

In the weeks and months ahead, they are going to know EXACTLY what has been going on for YEARS in Hallandale Beach, Florida.

First ever full-length ad-wrapped train run in New York City is for Target's promotion of new store in Harlem opening July 25th

First ever full-length ad-wrapped train run in New York City is for Target's promotion of new store opening in Harlem on July 25th. Ten cars decorated at a cost of $250,000.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W34Mc5KvDw



Read the entire story at: http://www.startribune.com/business/97445589.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Transportation news you missed last week while you were freezing, but is it a real improvement?

Not saying whether or not I think this particular
news about Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood's
apparent change in policy is good or bad,
true or false, as it relates to what will happen
in Florida, esp. High-Speed Rail or commuter
rail funding, et al, but I thought I'd share it with
you all after I found it while looking for something
else this morning.
For a partisan website, it's actually put together quite well.

----------

Some great news slipped under the radar last week
by desmoinesdem,
Tue Jan 19, 2010 at 12:57:08 AM EST
http://mydd.com/2010/1/19/some-great-news-slipped-under-the-radar-last-week

------

Another look at the same issues.

National Journal Experts Blog
Transportation
Are New Transit Guidelines An Improvement?
January 19, 2010

Last week Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed new livability-based funding guidelines for major transit projects and rescinded Bush administration requirements that based funding decisions on how much a project shortened commute times compared to its cost. The criteria determine which projects get funded under the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts and Small Starts programs.

Read the rest of the posting at:
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2010/01/are-new-livability-guidelines.php

Their blog homepage is:
http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/

Nothing quite proves the lip service of FL transportation policy like Joe Gibbons being MIA on those issues in his own district

Sent this out as an email a few minutes ago to the
folks in my network of concerned South Florida
citizens and to some of the reporters who've written
about this subject over the past week.

----------------
December 2nd, 2009
1:30 p.m.

Regarding some of the recent articles and blog posts
-at bottom- on State Rep. Joe Gibbons and lots of
'huffing and puffing' about changing the dates of the
special FL legislative session on public transportation
issues because of some conflicting logistics over the
National Black Caucus annual meeting to be held
in FTL, that Rep. Gibbons is speaking at tomorrow
-a little local perspective goes a long way.

I think I sent it to many of you originally as a bcc,
but just in case I didn't, back in June, I wrote an
email and subsequent blog post on June 4th that
gets to the heart of the problem as it involves the
state's many transportation issues and what
seems to be a clear fact pattern of Joe Gibbons'
somnolence here in his own district on those
very issues.

I include it below for your perusal, along with
some other pertinent facts that seem worth
mentioning now that he is expecting the entire
legislature to change their plans because of his
self-interests.
That is, in case facts actually still matter.
---------------
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/tomas-boiton-is-on-case-south-florida.html

A few paragraphs into my post I write:

Nothing quite says lip service like folks

acting all concerned with transportation

policy and Quality of Life issues when being

interviewed by reporters, but then skipping the

chance to appear at an informative Saturday

morning event where actual concerned South

Florida citizens are present and accounted

for.

Plus there was a great speaker like Gordon Price

of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver,

the noted Smart Growth expert, who made a truly

fantastic presentation that had most attendees

wistful as they watched it, and even more angry

than they expected at seeing, once again,

how much worse this area is than it ought to be

compared to other places.

(See http://www.sfu.ca/city/bioGordon.htm and

http://www.pricetags.ca/presentations.html )

Mr. Price flew across North America from

beautiful Vancouver to deliver a powerful message

in Fort Lauderdale, and I made time to make the

relatively short trip up to the Broward County

Convention Center to hear him - and was very

glad I did, as many other attendees told me

as well.

Based on her pathetic track record and apparent

fear of actually interacting with knowledgeable

taxpayer citizens, instead of the govt. officials

and trade groups she clearly prefers to interact

with, which I've written about here before,

I completely expected FDOT Sec. Stephanie

Kopelousos to be a no-show.

She didn't disappoint, so her non-appearance

was NOT exactly Breaking News.

But where was my own State Rep., Joe Gibbons?

Or my State Senator, Eleanor Sobel?

Gibbons, the former Hallandale Beach City

Commissioner who now acts oblivious to

all the self-evident unethical and incompetent

activity taking place here in HB, happens to be

the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation

and Economic Development Appropriations

Committee, and yet was a no-show that morning,

as were South Florida Senators Alex Diaz de la

Portilla and Chris Smith, both of the Senate

Committee on Transportation and Economic

Development Appropriations.

Nice going!

Way to represent!

The folks who actually attended the Summit won't

soon forget who the no-shows were.

See also:

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/tri-rails-need-for-dedicated-funding.html

----------

Because of my longtime interest in transportation
and public policy issues, I have been to every
SFECC meeting held in Gibbons' own district
since he was elected, both here in Hallandale Beach,
as well as meetings in next door Hollywood and
Aventura.
And I've been to ones in Miami and in Fort
Lauderdale.

I've seen engaged county and city commissioners
from South Florida like Sue Gunzburger,
Beam Furr, Keith London, Zev Auerbach,
Linda Sherwood...
But no Joe Gibbons.

I think it's fair to say that I've been to every major
public transportation meeting held in South Florida
over the past 3-4 years, whether the Regional meeting
I reference above, the one held in Dania last Fall
on funding sources for Tri-Rail and commuter rail
in the state, or the one hosted by Broward County
three years ago at the Broward County Convention
Center, all of which had hundreds of people
attending.

I was even at the somewhat impromptu meeting
held over a year ago at Hollywood City Hall hosted
by Rep, Elaine Schwartz and Sen. Eleanor Sobel
on Tri-Rail funding and related transportation problems,
that drew a few dozen concerned citizens from this
part of Broward County and Northeast Miami-Dade
County.

That doesn't make me an expert, of course, just
a concerned citizen who pays attention to what
is and isn't happening.

Given his position, a State Representative and
the Chair of a Committee that deals directly with
transportation, why is it that at these meetings,
ALL held within minutes of Joe Gibbons' district,
he's NEVER seen?

Not even at the ones NOT held during the
regular legislative session?

That seems like a reasonable question a real
reporter might want to ask him one of these days.

At some point, it's perfectly fair to say that he's
a no-show on this issue in his own area of the
state.
That time is now.

And please, if you can, explain to me why House
Minority Leader Sands and Gibbons won't
answer the basic question of what would happen
to the special session if the legislature actually
waited until Monday to start and run head into
Hanukkah?

We know the answer to that, don't we?
The predictable hue and cry that we would arise.
And yet for their own purposes, Sands and Gibbons
feign ignorance and act like they don't know that
holiday is on calendars in everyone's house and
office.
That attitude certainly explains a lot of why things
are the way they are in this state.
Second-rate, backwards and half-assed.

So what, exactly, is their clever alternative to the
dilemma?
To start on Monday and then stop on Wednesday
for a few days for the holidays and have everyone
leave town, then come back the following Monday?
And to what, use Christmas as a cudgel and
deadline?

That not only doesn't make sense but means the
public will once again be forced to listen to
Members complain about how difficult it is to get
to far-off Tallahassee from South Florida,
a tiresome complaint that doesn't elicit any
sympathy from anyone not related to them,
esp. since taxpayers are stuck paying the
ridiculous sum of $600 for Members' round trip
flights to Tallahassee because of the Legislature's
inability to run logically even during the Regular
session.
Zero sympathy!

If Joe Gibbons is genuinely concerned about
transportation issues in South Florida, why,
to the best of my knowledge, has no-show Gibbons
and his State House Committee never held a single
field-hearing in South Florida, the scene of the
crime, if you will?

In his representation of me and other constituents
in this district on these important economic and
Quality-of-Life issues, at a certain point, it's fair
to say that it's exactly what it looks like: somnolence.
He's now morphed into Rip Van Gibbons.

----------

Black lawmakers: Delay session

MiamiHerald.com - Steve Bousquet, Marc Caputo -

A special legislative session scheduled for this week on Florida rail projects has raised the ire of black lawmakers because it conflicts with their plans ...

Fla. speaker refuses to delay special session

MiamiHerald.com - ‎

AP TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- House Speaker Larry Cretul has refused to delay a special legislative session that will conflict with the annual meeting of the ...

Black lawmaker flap: House Dem leader asks for excused absence from special ...

Palm Beach Post - Michael C. Bender - ‎

Designated House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders, R-Key West, requested an excused absence from the first two days ...

Count Saunders out of special this week: He's with black caucus

Tampabay.com - Ron Saunders - ‎

And so the game of chicken/who flinches first continues between House leadership and black legislators and House Dems... Rep. ...

Black legislators seek to delay special session

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - John Kennedy - ‎

TALLAHASSEE - Republican legislative leaders Tuesday struggled to tamp down rising anger among House Democrats ...

House leaders won't delay special session for black legislators conference

Tampa Tribune - Catherine Dolinski - ‎

TALLAHASSEE - House leaders stuck today to their schedule for a special legislative session starting on Thursday, ...

Session timing at odds with national meet of black legislators; GOP leaders ...

Palm Beach Post - Dara Kam - ‎

TALLAHASSEE — Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul on Tuesday refused to delay the onset of the special session slated to begin Thursday despite ...

Speaker Larry Cretul: no dice on special session delay

Juice - Josh Hafenbrack - ‎

House Speaker Larry Cretul is sticking to his guns: The special session will start on Thursday, as planned, despite protests from Democrats that the ...

Saunders says he'll skip first two days of session

Juice - Josh Hafenbrack - ‎

How many days can the flap over the scheduling of Thursday's special session – which coincides with a national black legislative conference in Fort ...

South Florida meeting won't delay special session on transportation

Sun-Sentinel.com - ‎

AP TALLAHASSEE - (AP) -- House Speaker Larry Cretul has refused to delay a special legislative session that will conflict with the annual meeting of the ...

Black legislators' caucus meeting in Lauderdale

Broward Politics - Brittany Wallman - ‎Dec 1, 2009‎

Leaders from across the nation are expected to gather in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday for the 33rd annual National Black Caucus of State Legislators ...

Rail special session conflicts with black legislator conference in South Florida

Orlando Sentinel - Aaron Deslatte - ‎Nov 30, 2009‎

By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- The Legislature will be in special session starting Thursday at 9 am, it looks like. ...

House GOP "racially insensitive," Sands charges

Sun-Sentinel.com - Josh Hafenbrack - ‎Dec 1, 2009‎

House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, warned that the Legislature's Republican leadership is verging on being “racially insensitive” for ...

Black legislators up in arms about special session date

Juice - Josh Hafenbrack - ‎Nov 30, 2009‎

Just one problem: That's a big day for the state's black caucus, which is hosting a national conference for black legislators in Fort Lauderdale from ...

Just wondering... re Broward Comm. Kristin Jacobs' qualification to be on SFRTA

It's perfectly possible that Broward Commissioner
Kristin Jacobs could actually have something of
value to contribute to SFRTA, but...
of all the many transportation Forums, Workshops
and Summits that I've attended all over South Florida
the past 4-5 years, Kristin Jacobs has NEVER
been present at a single one.
EVER.

Since I last spoke to some of you in person at some
of the recent SFECC meetings throughout the area
-where we were all in agreement that they were
the most informative and planned yet- I've
emailed you the news regarding Comm. Jacobs,
asking if you'd ever seen her at one of the myriad
transportation meetings that've been held down here,
whether over at the Broward Convention Center
or in Dania or...
(Even though I always write down which public
officials are present at any civic event I go to.)

Well, the results have been tabulated and the verdict
is that none of you reports having seen her at ANY
of these meetings, either, even if for just a drive-by
appearance.
No-show extraordinaire.
That's only confirms what I thought I knew.

I checked her bio off the web link she provides at
the bottom of this press release from last Monday,
thinking that maybe there was something I was
overlooking in her background that actually made
her a good choice, or at least a better choice than
others.

Not only is there nothing at
http://www.broward.org/jacobs/aboutkristin.htm
to suggest she'd even be average or as up-to-speed
as many of you, there's no mention whatsoever of
where she went to college, what her non-governmental
job experience is, her particular area of expertise, or,
even where she was born or when she moved here.
To me, that's pretty curious.

Frankly, I wonder whether she'd even rate a job
interview with SFRTA if she had a different name?
I suspect the answer would be "No."

(By the way, the second and third paragraph on
the official press release below are directly from
her own county bio web page.
Wow, that's not too underwhelming, is it?
Couldn't even come up with something new and
original.)

Perhaps you know something about her that I don't
about why this is a good move, and if so,
I'd love to hear it.
Something more than good intentions, though.

But based on what I've personally seen and observed
the past 4-5 years, it's hard to see this as a positive
development for anyone genuinely interested in seeing
some positive energy or enthusiasm for well-designed
public transportation in South Florida, given her own
chronic inability to actually even make it to some
pretty interesting and well-produced transportation
meetings that other South Florida citizens/taxpayers/
customers have somehow managed to find the time
and energy for, even on Saturday mornings.
Citizens like me and some of you, for instance.

If Woody Allen was correct in his oft-noted observation
that "Eighty percent of success is showing up,"
what are advocates of intelligent public transportation
in Florida supposed to make of Kristin Jacobs?

Perhaps she'll prove me wrong, but for now,
color me unimpressed.
-------
This was posted on the county's website on
October 19th at 8:45 a.m.

http://bcegov3.broward.org/newsrelease/AdminDisplayMessages.aspx?intMessageId=2371

Broward County Commission Appoints Kristin Jacobs to SFRTA

Commissioner Kristen Jacobs DATE: October 19, 2009 MEDIA CONTACT: Kimberly Maroe, Public Information Manager Broward County Commission PHONE: 954-357-8053 Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs has been appointed by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners to serve as their representative on the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA). Key to Commissioner Jacobs' vision for the future is reinventing Broward's urban corridors and downtown areas while building a sense of community through the principles of smart growth, affordable housing and easy-to-use transportation. For many Broward residents, health or age related issues make driving a car impossible. Commissioner Jacobs fought to create and fund a network of community shuttles which brings mass transit opportunities into our neighborhoods. She has consistently backed alternative transportation options that move people not cars, including mass transit, Tri-Rail and a Regional Transportation Authority. The SFRTA was created with a vision to provide greater mobility in South Florida, thereby improving the economic viability and quality of life of the community, region and state. The Authority's mission is to coordinate, develop and implement a viable regional transportation system in South Florida that endeavors to meet the desires and needs for the movement of people, goods and services. For information, call 888-GO-SFRTA or visit www.sfrta.com. For more information on Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs, visit www.broward.org/jacobs.

Release Properties

	Date:	10/19/2009 8:45 AM
	Photos:	1
	Keywords:	Government, Transportation
	News Type:	News Release

---

Released by the Office of Public Communications
E-mail: publicinfo@broward.org
954-357-6990 * Fax: 954-357-6936

Third world commuter conditions, and it's NOT South Florida but Berlin. Wie gehts?

Maybe it's because I lived for so long in
communities like Chicago and Washington, D.C.,
where taking a commuter train was both
de rigeur and common sense, but after
reading the story below about the truly
exasperating and economically brutal
transportation situation in Berlin,
all I could think of was how badly this
situation would've been portrayed on
CNN or more importantly,
CNN International, right before the
height of the South Florida tourist season
for Europeans, if this had happened here
involving an intact and thriving FEC
Corridor commuter train system along
U.S-1 that was logically connected to
both Tri-Rail and the Miami-Dade
Metro system to create the smartest
possible options for people and businesses
in South Florida.

A system that quickly and effortlessly
moved residents and tourists around
the area from airports to seaports to
hotels, museums to nightclubs to theaters
to sports arenas, from work to home and
more.

My educated guess is that it would also
show, once again, that if South Florida
didn't have bad luck/negative stories
shown on CNN, they'd have no stories
at all.

Instead, though I'm a news junkie,
I've yet to see a single TV news story
about this situation in Berlin on any
of the American cablenets, or even
on Channel Four in Britain,
which I watch just about every day
via the Internet.

Have you?
----------
Spiegel Online
'THIRD WORLD' CONDITIONS
Commuter Chaos in Berlin until December

Berlin has had to take two-thirds of its commuter trains out of service due to safety issues.It has resulted in angry locals, crowded platforms, confused tourists, near accidents, amulti-million-euro bill and political fallout. And it's going to go on until the end of the year.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,638049,00.html

See also:
TIME
Train Chaos Brings Berlin to a Standstill
By Tristana Moore in Berlin, Germany
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1912399,00.html

re John Mica's contention that SunRail is still on track; this issue barely exists in the Miami Herald's world

June 30th, 2009

The Miami Herald has not mentioned

this important story or what John Mica

has been up to the past few weeks in

his attempts to keep SunRail alive.

In fact, the Herald hasn't mentioned the

admittedly not-perfect SunRail by name

since June 13th.

But then as we've all borne witness to

over the past few years, their spotty

news coverage of non-political issues

around the state is hardly Breaking

News, itself, is it?

I'll be doing a blog post in the near-future,

long in the making, on the Herald's

very odd and mystifying coverage of

mass transit in general, and this issue

in particular, since Larry Lebowitz

no longer covers regional planning

and transportation-related issues

for the newspaper, and Alfonso

Chardy does.

The signs were clear for all to see

when the paper didn't even bother

to send anyone to cover the

Tri-county Regional Transportation

Summit that I -and many of you-

attended at the Broward County

Convention Center in FTL, many

Saturday mornings ago.

(Perhaps they were staking-out

Father Cutie, instead?)

Yet because of the nature of the

debate, that would have been the

perfect venue for the Herald to

actually incorporate some of that

multimedia element they keep

talking about, but when they had

the chance to do it, and truly help

illuminate an important issue,

they just blew it.

The Herald's almost complete

indifference to SunRail's future,

and what that might mean in

Central Florida for common sense

TOD, and locally for Tri-Rail,

coupled with what I perceived to

be their very moralizing editorial

against it on May 9th, is, to me,

just another sign of its swift decline

from quality newspaper into

near-irrelevance, just when South

Florida needs the paper to actually

be much better than its been in

quite some time.

But then what would you expect

from the Miami Herald,

whose Editorial Board foolishly

backed the taxpayer-funded

Marlins Stadium, and seemed

to be okay with the City of

Miami and Miami-Dade County

NOT submitting the issue to a

public referendum, but which

not only raps SunRail, but

seems inclined to nail the

coffin shut on SunRail on

account of taxpayer costs?

Wow!

When exactly did the Herald's

Editorial Board start worrying

about costs like they were

Ohio Republicans?

Costs and basic physics didn't

and haven't prevented them from

championing a proposd cargo

tunnel to the Port of Miami,

even though, to me at least,

that's clearly going to be a

financial and natural disaster

waiting to happen.

Just in case you forgot how

things are really done down

here in South Florida, here's

a reminder:

Fired Miami Bureaucrat

Continued To Get Full Pay

http://cbs4.com/iteam/CIP.City.Miami.2.1059931.html

I-Team: Fired, Retired, But

Still Working

http://cbs4.com/iteam/Fired.CIP.Director.2.1064666.html

CBS4's Gary Nelson shoots

-and he scores!

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Daytona Beach News-Journal

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD02063009.htm

June 30, 2009

Mica: SunRail is still on track despite political setbacks

By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer

ORLANDO -- The proposed commuter-rail line connecting DeLand and metropolitan Orlando is not dead, despite two consecutive years of dramatic setbacks in the Florida Legislature, supporters said Monday.

In fact, SunRail is very much alive.

Negotiations to carve out a commuter-rail agreement palatable to wary lawmakers will be extended for six months.

The project could have been shut down today, according to an opt-out clause in an agreement between CSX Transportation, which owns the rail corridor, and the state Department of Transportation, which wants to buy it.

"We are on target to keep moving the project forward," U.S. Rep. John Mica, a Winter Park Republican and SunRail proponent, told an audience of SunRail supporters and media Monday at Metroplan Orlando headquarters.

Mica said the 61.5-mile system was necessary "for the sake of the environment, for the sake of energy, for the sake of moving people around our community."

Envisioned by boosters as a key transportation alternative in the growing Interstate 4 corridor, SunRail has been estimated to cost the federal and state governments and five local partners -- Volusia, Orange, Osecola and Seminole counties and Orlando -- $2.7 billion over 30 years, including operations.

But the project appeared to reach a dead end this spring when, for the second year running, the state Senate rejected legislation needed to make it a reality.

Controversial language addressing liability for accidents, budget woes and union opposition helped lead to the defeat.

On Monday, Mica said proponents were working to address each of those issues.

Perhaps most important, he said CSX had agreed to revisit the liability language.

As proposed this spring, it would have shielded the rail company from up to $200 million in damages to commuters or other people in the corridor, even if CSX caused the damages through its negligence.

The FDOT was slated to pay CSX $432 million in a purchase deal, but CSX would have leased the corridor for freight traffic so its trains also would be in use there.

"The long and the short of it is CSX has agreed to look at new terms of liability in which there will be certain limits, I believe, and responsibility for CSX in case of negligence," Mica said. "I don't want to get into specifics."

In a statement, CSX said it planned to continue discussions for six months at the request of elected officials.

"Those discussions will center on whether options exist to bring the transaction to a successful conclusion," according to the statement.

Company spokesman Gary Sease declined to elaborate.

If SunRail proponents are able to hammer out a revised proposal, it could go before the Legislature in a special session this fall, said Sen. Lee Constantine, an Altamonte Springs Republican who's been shepherding SunRail in the Senate.

Constantine said lawmakers likely will have to go back in the fall for at least one other issue, anyway.

"Having it in the light of day by itself with very few other issues I think would be a real positive for us," he said.

Other changes discussed Monday include a potential state application for transportation stimulus money for the project.

Using additional federal money could free state transportation dollars for projects in other parts of the state and potentially soften some lawmakers' budget-based opposition.

Although much of the recent wrangling over SunRail has been happening at the state and federal levels, local officials almost certainly haven't had their last look.

Significant changes to already negotiated agreements would put SunRail back before the Volusia County Council, said County Chairman Frank Bruno.

Only one council member -- Jack Hayman -- has voted against SunRail so far, citing uncertainties about long-term costs and ridership.

james.miller@news-jrnl.com

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This story includes multimedia on the URL

Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-commuter-rail-csx-062609,0,43843.story

Orlando Sentinel Exclusive

SunRail commuter train might be back from brink

By Dan Tracy, Sentinel Staff Writer

June 26, 2009

Just days before facing a potentially crushing deadline, the SunRail commuter train proposed for Central Florida might be chugging along again.

Backers of the $1.2 billion project have won a crucial negotiating extension and likely will be heading back to the state Legislature, which has scuttled the plan twice before, most recently two months ago.

"It's far from a done deal. But what we have is one more chance," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who chairs the local SunRail committee.

Added state Sen. Lee Constantine, R- Altamonte Springs, and a prime SunRail supporter: "I think we are off life support. We're still not healthy, but the prognosis is improving."

A key development was the waiving of next week's deadline to buy tracks from CSX, the Jacksonville train company that owns the line SunRail intends to use.

CSX officially agreed this week to back off the June 30 cutoff date to give lawmakers another chance to consider the plan, company spokesman Gary Sease said.

"We are talking to the Florida Department of Transportation and local officials about options to continue the transaction," Sease said, declining further comment.

Without CSX, it would have been impossible for the train that would link DeLand in Volusia County with downtown Orlando and Poinciana in Osceola County to ever materialize.

Insurance still issue

But SunRail still remains far from becoming a reality.

Most vexing remains the problem that stopped SunRail in the Legislature the past two sessions: getting an insurance policy.

The state Senate has twice balked at approving a $200 million pact that assigns liability in case there is an accident. Opponents contend the plan placed too much risk on the state and not enough on CSX.

Dyer said SunRail hopes to blunt that criticism by having CSX assume more risk, particularly when its employees are at fault.

Critics also have decried the high cost of SunRail, saying it amounts to corporate welfare. It was an especially effective argument during the past legislative session when lawmakers were forced to raise some taxes and fees, raid trust funds and rely on federal dollars to plug a $4 billion hole in the budget.

But U.S. Rep. John Mica, R- Winter Park, said he hopes to win even more money from the federal government — close to $250 million — from the nearly $800 billion stimulus package approved earlier this year by the Congress.

"More federal money, less state money," Mica said. "We'll get as much as we can get there."

Some of the money saved by the state could, in theory, be diverted to the struggling Tri-Rail commuter train in South Florida. Constantine tried to win votes in that region last session by offering to back a $2 surcharge on rental cars, but South Florida lawmakers turned him down.

Now that Tri-Rail is facing layoffs, service reductions and a related loss of federal funding, Constantine said, they might be more willing to work with SunRail supporters.

Mica previously has applied for $300 million in federal funding. About $40 million was aside for SunRail in the current budget, he said.

Special session?

Constantine and Dyer said they could bring SunRail back to the Legislature when it meets early next year or during a special session.

The most probable scenario, Constantine said, is a special session called during September or October, when regular committee meetings are held.

"Let's tee it up," he said.

Likely standing in the way will be Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who successfully led the two previous fights against SunRail.

Dockery, whose hometown would be forced to accept extra freight rerouted by SunRail, has argued the commuter train is too expensive and the insurance policy is loaded against the state.

She was traveling Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

The attempt to resurrect SunRail largely came together Wednesday, when Dyer flew to Washington to meet with Mica, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and representatives from CSX, the Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak.

Dyer and Mica both characterized the talks as "very positive."

The federal representatives, Dyer and Mica said, stressed that SunRail is critical to state hopes of building a high-speed train because they want it to connect to anther form of mass transit, not just a large parking garage.

Florida is seeking $2 billion in federal money to pay for a 90-mile link between Orlando International Airport and Tampa with a train capable of going at least 110 mph.

Ten areas have been declared eligible by the government. Besides Florida, other likely applicants include California, North Carolina, the Pacific Northwest and Pennsylvania.

As much as $8 billion is up for grabs. The Obama administration might start awarding grants by the end of the year.

Dan Tracy can be reached at dtracy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5444.

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