But ultimately, I do think that building a publicly controlled rail corridor, high speed or other, linking Tampa, Orlando, and ultimately, Miami, will carry important long-term benefits for the state. And of all the rail routes discussed for Florida, the Tampa-to-Orlando stretch has greatest potential ridership. So, I’m happy to see everyone moving forward on it. (Everyone, that is, except JD Alexander and the Winter Haven folks.)

But, in the interest of intellectual honesty, and embracing the uncertainties and potential consequences of what I support, I want to make a few points:

1) Where is CSX on this? It’s important to remember that CSX gave $50,000 to Jeb’s effort to kill HSR back in the day. The inferred quid pro quo, based on what happened, was that Jeb committed to the CSX rerouting/Sunrail plan. We should be asking what quids, pros, and quos are a part of this resurgent HSR plan. CSX has been very quiet about this. So Gary or Mike, how about emailing me an official CSX position on today’s HSR plan? bitown1@gmail.com.

2) In a related question, what are the technical possibilities for the actual lines? What I mean is, could we build a new freight line in tandem with the HSR line? Would CSX use it? Would it even be helpful in diverting freight out of city cores – Orlando, Lakeland, Plant City, Tampa, included? Does the HSR corridor give us a chance to redesign freight and passenger flow in a way that works better for everybody than the CSX-designed realignment would? Could this be an actual useful public-private partnership, rather than a public-private giveaway?

3) Are elected officials and DOT technocrats prepared for the traffic mayhem that will come while building this thing? As a four-day-a-week commuter to Tampa, I support the project while knowing that it will likely make my driving life hell for some period of time. Don’t underestimate the traffic anger policymakers in the corridor are going to face when construction starts.

4) U.S. 98 v USFP? Where should the Lakeland stop go? My preliminary feeling is that Kathleen/U.S. 98 area makes more sense, with perhaps an express bus linking the station there with USFP campus. But I’m open to argument.

5) This really should have nothing to do with Sunrail. That project is a suburban commuter rail system, designed to bring people in far-flung areas of Orange, Volusia, and Osceola counties into the city of Orlando. If you’re a business person or tourist, you don’t need a commuter train from the HSR station to Debary. You need a light rail connection, or a bus, to Disney, or the airport, or I-Drive. Now, I guess it might make sense to put the HSR station between Disney and I-drive, rather than downtown. But in that case, I don’t see why any business person would use it. Anyway, we should resist efforts to link these projects. They should rise and fall on their own merits. But, as I mentioned before, I do see a chance to explore better routing of freight, using the HSR corridor.

In this economy, CSX will not lightly walk away from more than $600 million in cash and system improvements, liability or no. FDOT probably still wants to hand that money over to the company. In fact, it’s already done so to some degree in the form of ongoing overpass improvements in north central Florida. Buddy Dyer is out begging for $20,000 in legal expense money so lawyers can try to figure out a way around the senate. Democracy in action. (Funny that with all the money spent on John Thrasher and other uber lobbyists during the session, Dyer is reduced to panhandling for this. You would think GrayRobinson would just pick it up for him.) Anyway, this isn’t over. But it’s worth taking a moment for some post mortem thoughts before this deal reveals itself as the undead zombie vampire that we fear it might be.

1) First and foremost, this plan, it seems to me, represents the apotheosis of the Florida land boom mirage of the middle of this decade. Everything about it screams early 2005. It’s the product of 2005 land values, hammered out by an imperial, sunshine-be-damned Republican governor who got rich through the classic “conservative” paths of inheritance and developer welfare and by John Mica, a corporate socialist Republican congressman who raised tons of campaign cash from Big Freight Rail and later was against stimulus spending before he was for it. It relied upon perpetual 45 degree upward growth projections for Florida’s population and international shipping container traffic, not to mention contributions from local governments that signed on when they were artificially flush with property boom tax money. CSX and company dressed up all of this in the language of progressive priorities like transit and emissions reduction – “greenwashing,” it’s called. The crash of the housing bubble, and all that ensued, eviscerated much of the underlying logic of the plan. The deal would have committed itself — and our money — to a model of Florida that no longer exists. The shape of the next plan will depend largely on the type of Florida that emerges over the next few years.

2) The politics and future of Florida rail: Fascinatingly, opposition to this deal did not break down along party lines. As Dan Tracy wrote recently in the Orlando Sentinel, senators had many and various reasons for opposing the deal. But I would suggest that grassroots opposition broke down into roughly two camps – those who like rail and transit, but hated this specific deal, and those who just generally consider rail a waste of money. I’m in the former camp. I always considered this plan harmful to the long-term prospects of rail throughout Florida because of its cost, geographical patterns, and commitment to use CSX’s lines on CSX’s usurious terms. Those people who claimed it was a stepping stone for other rail systems never, ever explained how that could be.

Many props to the St. Pete Times editorial page for recognizing this in a recent editorial:

The political and business leadership in Tampa Bay can learn a few things from the failed effort — one they foolishly embraced in hopes of securing support from Central Florida for bay area rail down the road. Tampa Bay sent the wrong message to CSX about how much this community would be willing to pay for similar use of the freight corridor. The trick for Tampa Bay was not necessarily to see SunRail succeed at any cost, but to have its terms be reasonable enough to sell the public on rail in Tampa Bay. That is going to be difficult enough under the most favorable terms to the public.

Precisely.

Indeed, TBARTA has put together what seems to me a reasonable, well-conceived plan that lays out a series of multi-modal projects and projected costs – starting with light rail [as Orlando should have] – and making it clear that it all requires publicly approved funding. Tampa and Hillsborough County may place a sales tax referendum on the ballot in 2010 to fund a light rail program. The Orlando plan had no such ongoing funding base, just a commitment from local county governments to cough up money they don’t have, forever.

Those, like me, who opposed this deal more or less from the left, recognize that transit does not pay for itself any more than roads do. We, the citizens, must decide to pay for it. I personally would vote for the Tampa rail tax in a heartbeat. I would also support some sort of statewide gas tax or sales tax dedicated solely to mass transit, with an appointed board to disperse money to projects designed with public value in mind. Hell, I would support placing a ban on construction of new road capacity for 10 years and channeling all state capacity spending into bus, rail, and car-sharing service. I’d spend much more money on rail and integrated transit plans, if the plans make sense and are designed with public benefit in mind. I’d even support kicking in money to CSX if the company acted like a partner, rather than a dictator. For me, it’s a question of value, not cost. I saw very little value, and much active harm, in this deal.

All of this will require reform of FDOT, an organization that basically functions right now as a risk free, interest free investment bank for development and business interests. On top of that, it is, in the words of one Tallahassee reporter I spoke to, “institutionally opaque.” Opaqueness and billions of dollars almost without exception make a bad mix. Someone, hopefully with a title that sounds like inspector general or St. Pete Times reporter, will now crawl down DOT’s throat over this deal and identify just how much money it may have already spent and how legal its behavior in this deal may or may not have been.

A reformed DOT, backed by a new passenger rail friendly Obama administration, could begin to challenge CSX rather than treat the company as a senior arm of the government. I voted against high speed rail twice (Sorry, Doc) because I didn’t think it belonged in the constitution. I still don’t. I remain agnostic, but convinceable, on the actual idea. But one major potential benefit would be the construction of a new, publicly-owned rail corridor along I-4, which CSX could not control. There’s a reason why CSX fiercely backed Jeb Bush’s effort to repeal HSR in 2004. Once the state commits to using I-4 to connect Orlando and Tampa, rather than the A/S line, CSX begins to lose its lucrative grip on the future of rail policy in the state. Depending on engineering realities, I’d like to see a freight line accompany the passenger line. Tie it into the A and S-line. Railroad law is complex, but I think CSX would have to allow the state to do that because of anti-trust rules. I also think it would have to allow rival Norfolk Southern to access that line through the A and S lines. [I could be wrong on this, though.] In any event, think of rail line as oil. It’s a scarce commodity that becomes more valuable the less of it there is. With the right carrots and sticks, maybe CSX could be enticed/bullied into using I-4 and freeing up the A/S line for true commuter rail for Orlando, Lakeland, and Tampa.

Of course, any plan of that sort would certainly run into opposition from the “Axe-the-Tax” type folks, who acted as enemies of our enemies in this deal. And their objections are legitimate. Building true transit infrastructure would cost an enormous amount of money and would certainly require some kind statewide -and probably local – transit tax. That means referenda – or political leaders who are willing to get unelected over such a deal because its long-term benefits are so good. It would take guts. Supporting the current CSX deal brought that same level of political risk, but with no long term benefit. Thus you have the result.

3) Lakeland’s issues: I took a shot recently at Lakeland city government – minus Justin Troller and Howard Wiggs – over the letter it sent urging state senators to dismiss any communication from Lakeland-area folks who opposed the deal. The “official” position was that the city supports the deal, as long as rerouting language accompanied the final bill.

Anyway, it’s one thing to write a letter saying that people in our community have strong feelings about this deal, which we respect, but think are best addressed by supporting this deal. I have no problem with that. But don’t say – without any public discussion in advance of the letter – that some of your citizens “have conveyed the erroneous impression that the City of Lakeland is opposed to the passage of Senate Bill 1212″ – and please contact the city government only for the real scoop. That’s insulting and anti-democratic. It suggests that government doesn’t care what the people have to say and discourages public participation. Coupled with the Chamber’s literal begs for CSX deal support, this whole process has not been official/aristocratic Lakeland’s finest hour.

While I don’t have any real gripe – in concept – with the city government trying to build rerouting into the deal, it’s worth noting that this approach didn’t yield any tangible results for the city to lose.

If the rerouting – and the billion or so dollar price tag accompanying it – had been added to the deal contract, and thus enforceable in court, the city would have stood on firmer ground in warning that opposition to this deal might cost us. Likewise, if the city or DOT had secured any public hint that CSX was willing to use the Van Fleet line, they could argue that Lakeland deal opponents are taking a risk. But neither of those things happened. Instead we got meaningless legislation and a taxpayer-funded study which was then ripped away because it was only a bargaining chip.

Whatever happens in this deal, freight traffic through Lakeland will only be rerouted if the big regional powers to our east and west realize it benefits them to change the flow of freight in the state. (See the I-4 freight line idea.) No one in an executive position of power in state government cares what happens to Lakeland, per se. I think a number of people in such capacity care about I-4 corridor connectivity and development. In the best case scenario, by staking this deal in its ghoulish heart, we have kept the state and regional powers from committing to a flawed and anti-transit model and given them space to come up with something much better. Worst case scenario, they do this anyway in an underhanded end run around the senate. In that case, we’ve lost absolutely nothing and have hung a political risk around the necks of supporters.

4) My goodness, it is quiet over in Haven blog land. Surely Bob Gernert wants to insult/sic the authorities on us some more. But he’ll have to step up his game if he wants to match the “forces of evil” / “knuckledragging Neanderthals” smack coming out of Orlando.

And there you have it – for now. I look forward to writing about new subjects, though probably not as much as you look forward to reading about new subjects. But thanks for following this.

Last week, Senate Democratic leader Al Lawson said that U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, would be visiting the caucus to talk up commuter rail along with other backers such as Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. But over the weekend, Meek’s office said he wasn’t likely to be there and Brown would be out of the country. No word from Dyer despite our inquiries, but the Senate Democratic Office now says only Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, is confirmed to attend the meeting, where he’ll no doubt face a tough crowd of SunRail opponents, including fellow Orange County Sen. Gary Siplin.

Hmmmmm.

Why are U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek and Corrine Brown planning to stick their noses into the state legislative battle over the CSX deal? And why are they taking the side of a deal that guts union jobs, hands over up to $600 million in cash and product to a highly profitable private company, and harms several communities for the benefit of another. Haven’t Democrats backed quite enough corporate bailouts of the powerful lately?

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, says his phone has been ringing constantly thanks to SunRail backers, a day after he tried to gut funding for the commuter rail project from the state budget.

So next Tuesday, he said, U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer plan to meet with the Senate Democratic Caucus to try and massage concerns that the project is diverting money away from their hometown projects.

“It’s going to be a full-court press,” Lawson said. For his part, the veteran Tallahassee lawmaker says he still hasn’t gotten any answers out of the Department of Transportation (neither have we, for that matter) about where exactly in the state’s universe of trust funds and bank accounts it has socked away the $432 million it plans to pay CSX Corp. for the rail line.

By way of background, Corrine Brown is from Jacksonville, CSX’s hometown. Meek and Sen. Bill Nelson were sponsors of a 2007 bill laying out a $1 billion federal tax credit for freight track construction, as reported by my intrepid former colleague Lindsay Peterson of the Trib. CSX clearly has no trouble spreading aound its (almost) monopolistic wealth to the supposed party of the little guy.

From Lindsay’s story:

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has signed on as co-sponsor of the tax bill in the Senate. Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, from Miami, is a House sponsor. Since 2005, Nelson has received $19,000 from railroad political action committees. Meek has received $18,000. In 2004, Nelson spent a weekend worth $3,072 at CSX’s Greenbrier [now bankrupt] resort in West Virginia. A Nelson spokesman has said Nelson visited Greenbrier at CSX’s request, to present a legislative overview at a company meeting.

They know where their bread is buttered.

For Meek, I will say that backing a coporate socialist, union-busting deal is a peculiar move for a guy running for U.S. Senate in a Democratic primary. Are you listening Dan Gelber?

How might a responsible Democrat, even one facing regional pressures, handle this deal? Maybe the way freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando did in an interview with me Wednesday. When I asked him about the CSX deal, Grayson talked about the importance of mass transit and rail generally, noting that it’s rightfully a progressive priority. But, he said, in this particular deal, the state is paying CSX too much money and CSX has slipped what he termed “union-busting” measures into the deal. Grayson, who has little role in the ultimate passage of the deal, didn’t actually give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. But he did say he hoped the plan could be fixed. I do too. In fact, I’ll sign on right here to a deal that pays CSX less, doesn’t attack unions, and manages not to harm other cities.

I’ll have more from my Grayson interview soon, but I was struck by his ability to clearly communicate both support for transit and rail and opposition for using these progressive priorities as stalking horses for corporate anti-progrressive interests. Memo to Democrats out there, just becasue CSX – smartly – advertises on NPR and “Open Left” and puts you up at its fancy hotel doesn’t make the company your ally. This is Exxon with cool horns.

“And the clock is ticking: The state’s deal with CSX expires in June and so could a promise of an additional $300 million in federal funds to buy rail cars and help build the 17 planned stations.” — SunRail: It may be now or never for Orlando’s grand plan to get commuters off I-4, onto daily train

“While residents of Central Florida have focused on the costs and benefits of providing an alternative to driving to work on Interstate 4, Dockery has been obsessed by a far-larger component of the project: The state is paying nearly $490 million so that CSX can relocate a logistics center to nearby Winter Haven and reroute most of its freight operations to tracks that run down the interior of the state.” – Not all aboard: Lakeland would bear brunt of freight trains rerouted for sake of SunRail

“Yarbrough said SunRail would be responsible for passengers and bystanders — even if CSX were to blame for the accident — because of what’s known as the “but for” argument: “But for” SunRail, they most likely would not have been in the rail corridor.” – Central Florida commuter rail: Who pays if somebody gets hurt?

Fade in with ominous music to an image of Plant City’s Smithfield Foods Packing Plant:

Voice over: On February 17, 2009, Smithfield Foods said it was closing its meat-packing plant in Rich Glorioso’s home town of Plant City. 760 people with bills to pay and families to feed lost their jobs.

The very next day, Glorioso, their state representative, was in Tallahassee. But he wasn’t talking about his constituents. As a Republican, he opposed the federal stimulus package designed to provide ongoing health care to those workers and their families and to keep their children in decent schools.

No, Glorioso was defending the cost of a controversial deal to spend more than $2.5 billion in taxpayer money to help rail giant CSX, a highly profitable corporation, and the city of Orlando.

Cut to Glorioso: “How much would it cost to add a lane to I-4? It would cost $2 billion.”

Back to Voice Over: I-4? (With incredulity)

Plant City’s hanging on by a thread, and Glorioso’s talking about corporate welfare and expanding I-4 in Orlando? Help the Glorioso and the legislature get its priorities straight.

Vote X.

Each of them, through committees and employee donations, provided $10,000 to Mica’s 2008 campaign, according to Opensecrets.org.

The railroads are tied for third among Mica’s largest contributors. Did I mention this is a freight deal?

What follows is the letter I imagine Winter Haven Chamber Pres. Bob Gernert and City Manager David Greene are crafting right now to set her straight.

Dear Cindy:

We read recently that you are angry about the possibility of rerouting freight traffic in ways that may affect the public spaces you’ve spent lots of money to enhance. That’s understandable. But you have to get over it. In the grand scheme of things, in this economy, public spaces must be sacrificed.

We here in the Winter Haven government and business elite are honest and upstanding about our commitments, and we’ve stated publicly that we want to help Lakeland with the rerouting made necessary partly because of our ILC.

As Bob wrote on Oct. 16, 2008: “Lakeland’s agenda includes rerouting freight traffic away from downtown. The Florida Department of Transportation is currently studying the feasibility for just such rerouting. We support Lakeland’s quest for the best solution possible.”

A map and common sense will tell you that the Van Fleet Trail line is the most efficient way to reroute freight traffic from Lakeland’s core and avoid creating a longterm industrial corridor/freight superhighway leading into the ILC. And you know, none of us – including you and Bobby Green – had any concern about this deal when it was dumping the bad parts in the middle of Lakeland’s public projects. Jack Myers even talked about how much you guys like trains, if we remember correctly. It’s only fair and right that we, who have supported and fought for this plan, embrace its consequences. We must all sacrifice a little for the greater glory of CSX, economic development, and the regional unity embodied by the “One Polk” organization.

And honestly, trains and parks and trails can coexist quite well together. We in Winter Haven have a much greater sacrifice to make. Bob’s already looking for new office space to replace the chamber office that will be demolished to make room for the revitalized line through downtown. But that’s a small price to pay to for 100 jobs or so at the ILC and the big financial boost for Phoenix Industries and Highland Cassidy. So get on board, Cindy.

Yours Truly In Freight,

Bob Gernert and David Greene

Versions of the editorial promptly appeared in The (Lakeland) Ledger and the Gainesville Sun. Two of several money paragraphs:

“Why aren’t the fiscal conservatives, or just the fiscally responsible, in Tallahassee asking why the state of Florida is paying a national corporation that made a record $2.2 billion profit last year – up 26 percent from the year before, incidentally – so much for a project that some observers say could be done for one-third or less than the current projected price tag? When a recent study declared the Orlando commuter project the costliest railroad acquisition in U.S. history – $10.5 million per mile – where were our representatives in Tallahassee demanding a reassessment of the project’s scope and cost?

DOT officials say that since the CSX money was appropriated by the Legislature in 2006 for the commuter line, hence, for CSX, it does not need the Legislature’s approval to move forward with the project. That, of course, begs the question: Who, exactly, is running state government, and what happened to checks and balances?”

That’s a damn good question.

Ah, and then there’s The Sentinel editorial board and its latest bout of rail teen angst. I made a note to myself a while back to mock them every time they write one of these hissy fit “Paula Dockery is mean” eddies. However, I’m sorry to say, I fell down on the job and missed one a week or so ago. No worries. The 17-year-olds were back at it yesterday. They’re nothing if not predictable.

In reading these two pieces – the Star-Banner’s and the Sentinel’s – side-by-side, a curious juxtaposition grabbed me: The Star-Banner referred to CSX, directly and indirectly, 18 times by my count. The Sentinel? Once, in passing. CSX is the Sentinel’s Lord Voldemort of freight quadropolies. It must not be named.

This reluctance to talk about CSX is key to maintaining the fiction that this is a commuter rail deal. It’s not. For the 60 billionth time. It’s a freight deal. It’s the state-funded implementation of CSX’s Florida business plan, which focuses on cash, not commuters, I promise you. If you understand nothing else about this deal, understand that. Freight deal, freight deal, freight deal. Did I mention it’s a freight deal? Orlando’s commuter rail plan is the teeny little loin cloth barely keeping this bloated naked body of corporate welfare from being so obscene that Polk Sheriff Grady Judd would arrest it. (Sorry. Got a little graphic there.)

Anyway, the Sentinel’s latest makes one other thing clear: THE ORLANDO CABAL IS WORRIED. Brave Sir Charlie may well rescue them. We’ll see. But pleading for his intervention is a far cry from last year’s “Shut up hicks and assorted little people and take what’s good for you,” isn’t it?

There are couple of specific paragraphs below I want to highlight and respond to:

Commuter rail’s remaining opponents are trying to use the ailing economy as an excuse to win over state senators skittish about spending money on new projects (especially outside their districts).

They’re doing so even though the $432 million the state has agreed to pay CSX for the rail line sits in a transportation trust fund that can’t be used to pay for, say, non-transportation projects in other regions of the state.

Like say, the Lawton Chiles trust fund couldn’t be used to fill budget holes.

Anyway, I find it peculiar that the state has $432 million earmarked to pay CSX for the rail line when its original press release said it was buying the 61 miles of the A-line for $150 million. It would be fun to read how the Sentinel explains the disparity between those two figures. But that would require them mentioning CSX. So I’ll tell you. It’s for the funding of the robustly profitable CSX’s business plan to become a de facto freight monopoly in Florida. Did I mention it’s a freight deal?

And they’re doing so despite the fact that commuter rail has few equals in its ability to stimulate the weakened economy. It’s expected to generate thousands of construction jobs and help rejuvenate retail, commercial and housing sectors.

A few temporary construction jobs at the Winter Haven, which CSX says it will build with its own money if it loses the state’s contribution. And then 110 permanent jobs. That would be $600,000 per permanent job if my math is correct. Don’t know what other jobs they’re talking about. They manage never to be specific. And rejuvenate retail? Not so much in downtown Lakeland.

But several senators outside our region remain concerned about how their support for commuter rail in Central Florida could be used against them by rail opponents. Last year, egged on by Paula Dockery, the Senate’s leading commuter rail foe, trial lawyers threatened to run attack ads against senators who supported the trains for Orlando.

The correct phrase is corporate welfare foe. But, of course, correctness doesn’t matter.

Elected to serve all the state’s residents, the governor could promise senators outside Central Florida that he’d work next on getting similar systems for Tampa and Jacksonville. And he could promise that he’d help deflect any false or misleading attacks aimed at them for supporting a system that, despite what opponents might say, would bring Florida more jobs and better transportation options.

Indeed, Gov. Crist does represent all Floridians, including those who are not CSX shareholders, in the Orlando Cabal, or JD Alexander (Another name you’ll never hear in a Sentinel editorial. All those conflicts are incovenient.) Crist could insist that the deal be renegotiated, with an eye towards rewarding inclusion and fairness, not raw power. But since he’s never bothered to address a single question about the impact of this deal on the communities it harms, I’m banking more on the People’s Governor’s political antennae and self-interest than his concern for the People. Let’s make it clear: As of now, Charlie Crist supports spending at least $600 million – depending on how you look at it – on implementing CSX’s business plan. That should prove great comfort to the teachers not getting raises – or getting laid off.

And finally, “he could promise that he’d help deflect any false or misleading attacks…”

Two words: Bring it. The Sentinel is big on citing “misleading information” without ever citing what’s misleading. Maybe the Sentinel, so confident in its position, should sponsor a debate for the benefit of the governor. I volunteer. I’ll show up anywhere, anytime, with anyone. I would love to have a civil, rational discussion of misinformation. Somehow I doubt Gov. Crist will participate. But the offer still stands for whoever’s writing these works of art. Let’s have at it, in front of people. I’ll come to you. We can do it in Jacob Stuart’s living room. Or for the assembled legislative and lobbyist alumni of GrayRobinson. We could fill the DeVos Arena. I’m easy to reach.

Did I mention it’s a freight deal?

photo credit: Chuck Welch for Metro i4 News

Why aren’t the fiscal conservatives or the fiscally responsible in Tallahassee asking why the state of Florida is paying a national corporation that made a record $2.2 billion profit last year – up 26 percent from the year before, incidentally – so much for a project that some observers say could be done for one-third or less than the current price tag? — State Budget Priorities: Florida Holds Gold Mine for CSX

The Ledger editorial writers understand what so many reporters in Central Florida have missed with their questions about train noise and city versus city squabbles. The CSX deal is corporate welfare at a time when the citizens of this state can not afford to pay for basic services.

I urge you to take the time to pass along The Ledger editorial to your friends and family. Take a moment to explain the history of the commuter project. Remind them this isn’t a deal for a commuter railroad, this is a deal to railroad the commuters.

photo credit: by Chuck Welch for Metro I4 News

[ONE QUESTION WASTED]
Townsend interviewed in Ledger’s “Five Questions”

Last night the Ledger posted an article where Lakeland’s paper of record asked the Downtown Lakeland Partnership’s Julie Townsend* five questions about her organization’s continuing fight against Florida wasting taxpayer dollars to give CSX corporate welfare.

Yes, the project that used to be called Central Florida Commuter Rail. The project that used to be responsible for forcing CSX to build a new ILC in Winter Haven and running many more longer trains through downtown Lakeland.

You remember that don’t you? But I guess the Ledger believes we have always been at war with Oceana.

Back to the Townsend questions. I finished the article and wondered why 20% of the questions ere wasted on:

CSX officials have said that if the purchase of the 61 miles of track goes through, there will be money available to help to install quiet zones along the rail corridor in<0x00A0>downtown Lakeland, but if the deal falls through, the quiet zones are probably off the table. Which is a bigger issue for the DLP: quiet zones or the increased number of trains the Orlando deal will bring?

Townsend gave a courteous answer “To my knowledge, CSX has never offered to pay for quiet zones….”

I wish she had said, “Stop misleading with talk about quiet zones. It’s the wasted tax money and traffic stupid. It always has been” (To paraphrase a Bush.)

File Storms Under Aquatic Birds (genus Gavia)

Part of our reading area has a state Senator, Rhona Storms. She was in the news recently:

The economy is a shambles. State revenue is in a free-fall. House leaders in both parties stand accused of misusing their political powers. This week, state Sen. Ronda Storms identified another menace: The Dewey Decimal System — Libraries Offer Plenty For Storms To Stew Over

Some might give Storms credit. The Dewey Decimal system is a proprietary product of OCLC. Libraries use the company to catalog books and must pay a small price per item placed in their catalog. (Assuming they want to use OCLC’s common cataloging info. They could save the money and not join with OCLC, but it would cost them more to do all their own original cataloging. Trust me on this one. I spent seven years dealing with OCLC and catalogers on a daily basis.

There is a system that is owned by the American people: the Library of Congress system, but cataloging under that system also has costs.

Storms proposes libraries use the BAM method. You know where bookstores place items under big signs in some odd sort of order. You know how easy it is to find the book you need at Borders or Books-a-Million?

(I’ll wait for my sarcasm challenged daughter to catch that last sentence.)

OK, it is simply silly that Storms believes only “little old librarians” will be upset to lose proper shelving of books. So will every single library patron. It’s not a miracle that you can look up a book and go to a shelf and find it properly placed. It is the result of a lot of hard work and a precise system of cataloging.

It may save a few dollars to not use Dewey, but I promise that when your child needs that book on loons the night before the paper is due…you will be glad you don’t instead find a biography on Rhonda Storms.

And as a bonus, this headline from today’s Ledger:

Woman Accused of Biting Hubby’s Thingy

Seriously? “Thingy”?! It’s a penis people.

The Orlando Sentinel, where the Ledger got the story, wasn’t much better: Angry wife jailed after biting husband’s you-know-what

Note that the Sentinel’s URL does reference “penis.”

* – Townsend is the wife of Lakeland Local writer Billy Townsend, but that makes no difference to me.

photo 1 credit: Cat Carter for ylakeland

photo 2 credit: becflies2001

(Cross-posted at LakelandLocal.com)

First, and most remarkably, Executive Editor Janet Coats and Publisher Denise Palmer co-wrote (one wonders how much co-writing was really involved) a top of the page declaration that the paper would not cease to exist after the Super Bowl, as various rumors have suggested in recent weeks.

But it didn’t stop there. The piece went on to compare news hole and coverage with the Trib’s arch-rival, the St. Pete Times. The Trib’s piece concludes, with stats to back it up, that the Trib is providing more local coverage generally, and far more Tampa and Hillsborough coverage specifically, than the Times. It also sought to portray the Times as disguising the level of its own content and newsroom cuts.

I’ve never really seen anything like it in a major publication. On the other hand, I have long thought newspapers and other journalism institutions should engage each other – not just on business issues like this, but on coverage and public issues. I think it is that the real strength of the blogosphere relative to traditional news.

And as a bonus, there’s a big interview with John Mica, R-CSX, the congressman from Orlando who is the driving force behind the rail deal. It’s a beaut. You need to go read it for yourself. This guy is a piece of work. These types of printed transcripts of interviews tend to obscure personality. Not in this case. Here’s one key excerpt:

Tribune: One of our concerns with the Orlando rail plan is how it might affect Tampa and Lakeland. CSX told us they are moving more freight trains to this side of the state and wouldn’t allow passenger trains on freight lines here. What are your thoughts on that?

Mica: That’s not true. What they have said is that their plans right now wouldn’t be to do anything. I don’t have a proposal from this area. That’s why I’m saying this area has to get in the mix. Most of existing rights of way are owned by CSX. If you pee on CSX’s parade in Central Florida, do you think they’re going to cooperate with other entities?

Uh, yes it is true, unless you pay CSX giant access extortion fees and put it in complete control of all rail policy in the state and build it whatever it wants. Trust me, pee or not pee, CSX is not going to “cooperate with other entities.” It is going to dictate.

Say this with me for the 8,000th time: John Mica doesn’t care a whit about commuter rail. Mica cares about using taxpayer money to construct a single, massive freight rail corridor through west Central Florida and otherwise putting in place CSX’s business plan for the state with no consideration for how it affects communities. The crappy Orlando system is a fig leaf.

photo credit: theogeo

They seem to have momentum on their side, but it seemed that way last year, too. So we’ll see.

But no matter what happens, this is great: “Central Florida rail backers through MetroPlan Orlando have met privately with their counterparts in Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and South Florida over the last six months to get all four regions on the same page behind Central Florida’s plan.

For starters, expect backers to launch a new marketing campaign for the project dropping the “Central” from Central Florida Commuter Rail and calling it something other than commuter rail.”

Two thoughts:

1) More secrecy. Hmmmm, because, of course, this project has suffered from too much transparency. If any transportation official in any region thinks this plan, as currently constructed, doesn’t delay or drive up the cost any plan they might have, they are fools.

2) They are going to rename it. Hee. But the name can’t have “Central” or “commuter” in it. Hee hee. The cabal doesn’t want anybody to know that the Central Florida Commuter Rail Plan is a Central Florida commuter rail plan. A destructive boondogle/corporate giveaway by any other other name…

Anyway, in the spirit of regional cooperation so on display here, let’s help out our friends from Orlando and have a little fun. Send in your suggestion for a new CSX/Commuter Rail name.

If you don’t want to comment, you can do it by email. Reach me at bitown1@gmail.com. Here’s a couple from me:

“The $1.2 billion state and federal implementation of CSX’s business plan.” – Admittedly, not very catchy or creative.

How about the “John Mica post-Congressional cushy freight rail employment plan?”

All right, smarty pants, see if you can do better. Remember, no “Central,” no “Commuter.” After careful scrutiny, I will select a winner. The lucky submitter gets a used gift card and my appreciation. If that’s not enough, go Blagojevich yourselves.

Cross Posted at Lakeland Local

photo credit: Liquid Lucidity