Rick Geller, a local attorney who is on the Orange County Planning and Zoning Board and has
local government blog, emailed me a response to
my blog post last week on Governor Scott's rejection of the high speed rail money. He's given me permission to reprint it:
Hi, Sarah - I enjoyed reading your recent post, but please consider my thoughts on the Governor's high speed rail decision:
http://rickgellerforcc.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
http://rickgellerforcc.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated
There's no indication the Governor considered a report estimating a return on investment for the Orlando area at well over $2 billion annually. http://www.edrgroup.com/attachments/-01_Forbes-PRNewswire-HSR.pdf. These systems produce operator profits all over the world. Links are at my blog.
The Governor's decision will not reduce the Federal deficit. His alternative--expanding highways--is billions more costly. Florida taxpayers would bear at least 10 percent of the cost, even assuming DOT would fund such a proposal after this high profile snub. The reality is that shifting dedicated rail funds to highways is unlawful.
I've rarely seen more public criticism of a sitting Republican governor by members of our own party. Florida taxpayer out-of-pocket exposure was close to zero, with private industry bearing the risk of cost overruns, as well as operations and maintenance. Governor Scott apparently is unfamiliar with performance bonds in public contracts, given his reliance on a worst case scenario operator default, unprecedented among high speed rail systems worldwide, to my knowledge.
I hope the Governor gives Congressman Mica's latest proposal--a shortened airport to Disney World line--the consideration it warrants. We have close to 50 million tourists annually to sustain such a line. That's double the population of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston combined. John Mica has studied rail for years and would not lead us in a fiscally risky direction.
Rick
What do you think? Geller presents some interesting numbers and issues to debate.
This is a highly complicated topic, and anyone who presents a simplistic answer is not being honest. Building a high speed rail system is neither the solution to all our problems nor the worst thing that could ever happen to us.
I don't consider myself necessarily "anti-rail," but I'm not really "pro-rail" either.
As I said last week, building a hundred lanes on I-4 won't solve our traffic problems, and I also believe that increasing density in certain metropolitan cores is the only way to preserve as much of our green spaces as possible. Strip malls and other sprawling developments threaten our state's water table, indigenous plant and animal species, and the natural beauty that not only draws millions of tourists here every year, but also makes Florida a wonderful place to live.
An honest discussion about how our state should grow should include a frank and open discussion about mass transit at some point. Maybe high speed rail will be a part of the solution, maybe not. But even if rail is the right solution, maybe now isn't the time. I must say that I am skeptical of the promised job numbers associated with the rail projects.
It really bugs the heck out of me how the White House has decided that now - during the worst economy since the Great Depression and the highest levels our national debt has ever reached - is the time to build a lot of high speed rail systems all over the country. You and I would never buy a new car or build an addition on our house if we had just lost our job, so why is this government so obsessed with finding new and exciting ways to spend a crapload of money?
