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Tallahassee Democrat: Florida can't let

high-speed rail opportunity pass

by

Courtney Cunningham

CEO

Published in the Tallahassee Democrat

August 2010



For the first time in many years, the federal government is taking a real interest in

high-speed rail.

The Obama administration has proposed a package of $8 billion dollars for high-

speed rail (HSR). Last month, the House Transportation Appropriations

Subcommittee put an additional $4 billion on the table for HSR. These are first-year dollars. More money will come each year.

If the Congress follows the bipartisan House Transportation Committee

leadership, then we will see another $50 billion added. Over the next several

years, we are looking at $62 billion in available grant funding for HSR.



There will be an intense fight over this money. But, this isn't going to be a partisan

battle; this is going to be a state and regional fight. Republicans and Democrats all

want to bring the buckets of money to their states. Florida is well represented at

this critical time, with Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, the ranking member on the

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. From this position, he leadsthe Republican House members on all transportation issues— airports, highways,

seaports, transit and railroads. Even though Congressman Mica is in the minority

party and he's not a senator, he is one of the most powerful members of Congress.

He appreciates and understands what public transportation investment can do for

our state.



Earlier this year, my firm organized a visit in Miami with Congressman Mica and

local leaders, including County Commissioners Barbara Jordan and Dennis Moss,

to discuss transportation funding issues. At that time, Mica stressed the

importance of investing in transportation infrastructure. He hasn't wavered fromthat.

Last week, Congressman Mica told me, "Building transportation infrastructure

will improve the lives of Floridians through job creation, greater strength and

efficiencies in the economy, more transportation alternatives and improved

quality of life. Sound investments in transportation can serve as the backbone of Florida's economic recovery."



The congressman is right, and in order to be taken seriously, Florida has to buck up

and show that it can manage a commuter rail before it can hope for a real shot at

HSR. Florida, along with 39 other states, applied for federal funding for HSR; the

applications in total requested about $101 billion, but only $8 billion to 12 billion is

available right now.

During the last legislative session, a proposal to add a $2-per-day fee to rental cars

transactions died. This fee would have provided Tri-Rail with a desperately needed

dedicated source of revenue. Some legislators didn't vote for it because they didn't

want to vote for a "tax increase," but I have an answer for that: Those legislators

should simply say that they voted to raise taxes on people who don't live here, so

that they could create jobs for people who do.

But, we can't hope to get high-speed rail if we let our only commuter rail in the state

go under because we don't want to raise taxes on tourists. We need do whatever it

takes to get high-speed rail in Florida. Why?



#1: Infrastructure investment creates jobs. Think about how much money

we're talking about. Just $12 billion is about equal to eight or nine Port of Miami

tunnel programs. It equals about three rebuilds of Miami International Airport. It's

24 Marlins ballparks. It is six times the I-595 project in Broward County, which is

Florida's largest public works project. Again, this is just first-year money. HSR would

add countless jobs to our economy.

#2: We need it. We can build only so many more roads and add only a few

more lanes. We need to be able to move a lot of people at one time. We need to be

able to get people off the roads and into clean, safe, reliable public transportation.

# 3: We need to save the environment .Well, each of us really needs to reducecarbon emissions or our carbon footprint. Our greatest carbon emissions come from

driving. Let's get off the road. I would rather take HSR to Orlando than drive or fly.



So, we have the need and we know where to get the money. We need the state

leadership to support Tri-Rail. Letting Tri-Rail disappear would show the federal

government that we can't be trusted with a small commuter rail, so why give us the

nation's first HSR? Put another way, if your teenager wrecked your old SUV because

he was careless, would you let him drive your new Porsche?

Florida, let's show we can be responsible.

© Courtney Cunningham

see democrat high speed rail by courtney cunning ham

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