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.
It was hard to miss The Ledger's outing of Julian Mullis. It ran across the top of the local page, arguably the most read spot of real estate in the printed paper. Quick synopsis: Mulberry police arrested a man they described as in a domestic, live-in relationship with Mullis after accusing the man of throwing a plastic beer bottle at Mullis during an altercation at Mullis' house. That's right. Mullis is the victim of an alleged assault with a plastic container. And for that, his personal life gets splashed across the top of B1 as the featured local story of the day. This story, which exists solely as the means for somebody to broadcast that Julian Mullis is in a gay relationship, is an object lesson of everything that's wrong with institutional journalism in this country. It's a great example of what I think Chris was saying in his Defeatism column a few weeks ago....
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...
On Dec. 8, 2006, City Manager David Greene wrote a letter to then FDOT secretary Denver Stutler. It is a marvelously straightforward statement of the relationship between the proposed Heartland Parkway and the CSX deal, which I've always seen as the great untold story of both issues. Between them, these two proposals call for roughly $10 billion in public spending to reorganize where and how freight and people move in Central Florida. When you look closely at the effort to build this wall of money, and at who it might benefit other than CSX, more often than not you see state Sen. JD Alexander, members and alumni of Orlando's GrayRobinson law firm, and a consistent cast of supporting characters and property owners, who between them own many properties that surround the hub or line the proposed parkway route.
Four major freight rail companies control 95 percent of traffic in the US. They are CSX, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and Norfolk Southern. It should surprise no one that these Four Horsemen of the Rail Apocalypse love Rep. John Mica, R-Corporate Welfare, the Orlando-area congressman behind the CSX freight dump deal.
This morning The Ledger, a Polk County daily, wrote an editorial that should be read by every taxpayer in Orange County. In every editorial the Sentinel has pushed hard to give CSX $795 million dollars. At least the Ledger editorial board realizes this isn't a plan to build a commuter railroad, it's a plan to railroad the commuters.
A couple of news items that are near and dear to Lakelanders. (And a bonus headline.) [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 indowntown 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)
The Tribune had quite a local front in Sunday. 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.
The Orlando Sentinel tells me that the Orlando cabal held a pep rally with some of the Sentinel's editors and reporters yesterday to talk about their plans for winning approval of state funding for CSX's Florida business plan, errr, commuter rail. 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."
"Hillsborough residents with homes built before June 18, 1980, can get reduced flood insurance rates if they hurry." -- FEMA Updates Flood Maps "Teachers in Central Florida public schools are headed back to the classroom this year without a pay raise." -- Teachers 'not going to get a penny' in raises "Gov. Charlie Crist told state agency heads Thursday that he wants construction projects sped up so more money can be pumped into the sluggish state economy." -- 'Accelerate Florida' With Construction, Crist Says Bonus: Now the true costs start... "The construction of two new roads that could help relieve traffic problems that the planned CSX rail freight terminal will make worse should be top priorities for seeking state road funds, the Polk Transportation Planning Organization agreed Thursday." -- CSX Project Pushes 2 Roads Higher on Construction Request "On Aug. 29, Garcia and thousands of other Spanish-speaking Hispanics in Central Florida will read El Nuevo Dia for the last time." -- Spanish daily El Nuevo Dia Orlando about to fold One of the sillier editorials you'll read. Don't miss the reader comments. "District 19 deserves better than Mr. Siplin. But a weak opponent compels us to endorse Gary Siplin in the Aug. 26 Democratic primary." -- A weak primary opponent compels us to endorse the senator Note: MI4's Don't Miss column will be missing in action this weekend. See you Monday.
"Amid a foreclosure crisis and sour economy, the number of homeless families is growing. In Seminole County alone, more than 600 school-age children are expected to spend at least part of the year in motels, shelters or even tents in the woods, according to a new report. An additional 450 homeless children in the county are younger than 5, officials estimate." -- Number of homeless families grows amid foreclosure crisis "The campaign to wipe out most school property taxes in Florida moved to a courtroom Wednesday, with an openly skeptical state judge raising the possibility that the ambitious tax plan could be torpedoed before it ever reaches voters." -- Judge has issue with wording of Amendment 5 tax ballot "The Central Florida Regional Planning Council on Wednesday approved the proposed 318-acre rail terminal site in southern Winter Haven. The approval, with 61 conditions on traffic, the environment and other factors, has been forwarded to the city of Winter Haven." -- Planning Council Approves CSX Project "Remember the scene in "Airplane II, The Sequel" where two airport security guards get their kicks watching a special camera "undress" female passengers? We laughed about it then, but real-world technology that peeks under your clothes is now headed to Tampa International Airport, and it's nothing to smile about." -- A Step Too Far For Airport Scanners
Writer’s Note: Let me thank commenter Sean Wright for his extensive contributions. One point of clarification, though, in response to this line: “I believe this article highlight’s why you’re writing for a small town newspaper.” For the record, I don’t write for a newspaper, small or otherwise, which is why you are reading this on a blog. Most people could probably infer that on their own, but I’m here to help. OK. I promise not to say anything too snarky or gratuitous today. It’s all business. I want to address a key line of rhetorical attack that Ms. Healy and some of our friends and neighbors in the Winter Haven government and chamber and Orlando area have used throughout this saga. Here it is, distilled, in a quote from Ms. Healy’s most recent column: “Instead of representing voters in Osceola, [Paula Dockery] seems far more concerned about pleasing trial attorneys and labor unions, and about the possibility of a few extra freight trains in her hometown of Lakeland.” (emphasis mine) Put aside the dirty trial lawyers and awful working people for now, let’s consider this “just a few trains” line. Take a close look (you too, Bob) at the two property appraiser images pictures that accompany this post. Those parallel lines you see running through the heart of downtown Lakeland represent the 100 feet of right of way that CSX owns. As you can see, CSX is not using anywhere near the full 100-feet right now. The rest of it extends into downtown parking areas and sidewalks - almost to Munn Park - and even into some existing buildings, including the one housing Crispers on Kentucky (Are you listening, Publix?) and the police station. It does pinch down a bit east of downtown, and I’m not sure what the ultimate consequence of that might be. Some years ago, and I’ve seen the old photos from what I guess were the 60s and 70s, there were multiple rail lines - not one. They cut a much wider swath through downtown. I don’t know all the history behind their disappearance, but I suspect they went away at the time that freight rail nearly disappeared in the country as a whole, back in the 70s and early 80s. (That’s an entirely different, but very important story.) No one, including the rail companies, who wanted to get rid of lines for efficiency reasons, thought they were coming back. But they are, thanks to the cost of oil. If DOT pays the $600 million-plus to merge the A and S-lines into the single JD Alexander/Bob Gernert Memorial Freight Superhighway and runs it through Lakeland’s core, does anyone think CSX won’t unleash bulldozers up to the edge of its full downtown right of way? Does anyone think those multiple tracks aren’t coming back? I don’t have timetables or copies of secret plans. But at $4 gas, freight rail owns the future of shipping. In those pictures I’ve seen, the tracks and area around them looked ugly and industrial. A lot has happened in downtown Lakeland since those tracks reduced to one. Millions in public and private investment have created a walkable urban core that can rival any mid-sized city. We have grown smartly and responsibly - unlike our friends in Winter Haven and Orlando. So this deal is not about “a few trains.” It’s not about numbers. It’s about setting patterns, forever. This has always been about reorganizing Florida’s shipping economy around CSX and a few other people. Passenger rail is an afterthought. For Lakeland, this means the long-term, irreversible creation of an industrial corridor through what has become the living room of our city. It is the squandering of huge public investment spent in good faith and under the principles of good growth in the service of a plan in which we were never included. I’m not sure whay it’s so hard for the people behind this deal to acknowledge this and act in good faith to mitigate it. I welcome anyone to explain why I’m wrong. Tell me why what I’m describing won’t happen. And don’t just shout “misinformation,” make an argument. Even if Jane Healy - or Buddy Dyer or Dean Cannon or Bob Gernert or Jacob Stuart - think I’m full of it, why not just humor us? If it’s really “just a few trains,” why not call on CSX and the state to write into the deal that CSX can’t use any more of the right-of-way in Lakeland than it already does and that any new line built on the existing line must be dedicated for passenger rail? Again, if it’s just a few trains, that shouldn’t be a problem. Least of all for Ms. Healy, as a writer with no accountability. I have no idea if this would fly with anyone. But it would be one more concrete offer than anyone in any significant position has made to ease Lakeland’s concerns. That’s what so amazing to me. Lakeland, and the many east Polk residents who don’t want State Road 60 and their neighborhoods turned into the mother of all truck stops, are less powerful than the Orlando political cabal. We have been reminded of that incessantly. The only leverage we have over our future in dealing with this deal is its lack of existence. The moment it does go through, CSX and the state will say Lakeland who? Polk how? Seth what? We will be at the mercy of whatever makes CSX money. That means there is zero incentive not to fight. CSX will punish Lakeland if it’s lucrative for it to do so. If it’s not lucrative, it won’t. So there’s nothing for Lakeland to lose. I promise you that CSX won’t spend one red cent more on any mitigation than someone in a position of power makes it spend. Why on earth wouldn’t the state offer Lakeland something to lose solely out of tactics? And no, rumblings about a quiet zone and meaningless legislative intent don’t count. And for those people who say this is the first step in a Jacksonville to Tampa rail link, please explain how that will physically happen over a right of way CSX needs for its supersized freight ambitions. I still haven’t heard it. Bob Gernert said a while back that the state would double track all the way to Tampa eventually. Really? And how does it plan to get access to CSX’s property? Once the state commits itself in Orlando to using CSX land for its statewide rail links, CSX gets to name its price and its access rules for each new segment. We are already paying more than $400 million for 61 miles. According to deal proponents, that’s the true value of the corridor. How much will that per mile cost jump, and what concession will the state yield for the next chunk, whereever it may be. Think about that TBARTA. Meanwhile, California just agreed to pay $14.3 million for 32 miles of active freight track. I’m a writer not a mathematician, but…I know, I know, somehow that’s apples and oranges. Jane Healy would serve Orlando’s best interest if she pressured her people, the state and CSX to either move the Winter Haven hub or come up with a meaningful mitigation package. But that would require strategic, regional thinking, not verbal spitballs. It would require her to drop the ego and the attitude and look for solutions, not villains. She could provide a service by calling on the state to wait for the results of the DOT study of Polk impacts and rail future that should have been done at the beginning. She could call for a reasonable compromise on the liability issue, which frankly, is not my area of expertise. The idea that we must hurry because federal money for rail transit is going to go away with $4-gallon gas, a Democratic congress, and most likely a Democratic president is laughable on its face. There is no urgency beyond the urgency of people who know they are pushing a destructive, anti-transit deal. Just take another look at those maps. Oh, and for good measure, the regional planning council should vote down the hub in Wednesday’s hearing. It’s a vote without consequence since everyone supposedly knows Winter Haven will ignore the council. It will be intriguing to see where Lakeland’s own County Commissioner Bob English, up for re-electioin, stands. Remember, he didn’t even want a DRI for the hub. Anyway, I say the council should make a mockery of a process that’s a mockery. P.S. I would love for anyone involved in this deal, Jane Healy or otherwise, to respond to anything I’ve written. Chuck is more than willing to publish serious responses here on LL.
"Sugar grower Florida Crystals is lobbying for an inland port with the development of an industrial and commercial center just south of Lake Okeechobee, smack in the heart of the state's proposed pathway for Everglades restoration." - Sugar Grower's Port Proposal May Affect Everglades Plan "Thirty-one miles of the 61-mile Central Florida Commuter Rail project has been approved for final design, project backers announced Monday." -- Orlando Commuter Rail Takes Another Step "With a boost from some tax-break incentives, Orlando-based Planar Energy Devices Inc. says it plans to establish a microelectronics plant in Central Florida within the next three months. " -- Tax incentives to fuel energy startup's presence in Orlando
"Florida voters can cast early ballots for the Aug. 26 Republican and Democratic primaries starting Monday. Many will be greeted by changes since 2006. Statewide, 15 counties -- including Lake in Central Florida -- are switching from touch-screen technology to paper, optical-scan ballots." -- Expect some changes at Florida polls when casting early votes So many reasons why you should oppose Amendment 5 and Homebuyers, Beware: Tax Aid Is Loan "Nagging complaints about some generic drugs are casting doubt on one of medicine's most widely held assumptions: that generics are just as good as brand-name versions, only cheaper." -- Rx for trouble? Generics don't always work as well as brand names, critics say. The FDA disagrees. We take a look. "In 2015, just a few years from now, Florida will be in deep trouble. Who wants the dubious notoriety of "last in the nation?"" -- Florida's Coming Medical Disaster Bonus: The Sentinel is still mad at Paula Dockery
"Heart of Florida United Way is radically changing the way it does business: going after "root causes" of hunger, homelessness, crime and family violence instead of "putting a Band-Aid" on the problems, leaders say." -- No more 'Band-Aid' approaches, Heart of Florida United Way vows "Home builders demanded answers Saturday to questions about a proposed constitutional tax amendment that voters will decide on the Nov. 4 ballot. While state leaders who favored the tax-swapping Amendment 5 promised builders their tax bills would drop, opponents assured an audience of about 100 that their taxes would increase." -- Rival claims of tax-swap backers and foes baffle Florida home builders group Editorials: "Someone in state government needs to step up and address the standoff over the proposed commuter-rail project in Orlando." -- DOT Should Review Other Options To Build Commuter Rail In Orlando "The old maxim that Central Florida officials couldn't care less about conserving resources no longer holds water -- especially when you consider how so many of them literally are now working to change the landscape." -- Smarter landscaping could help relieve water crisis Bonus: "He was a playboy bachelor, the first Republican governor of Florida since Reconstruction and a promising candidate for the vice presidency. His name was Claude Kirk Jr." -- 'Claudius Maximus' Blazed Trail Followed By Crist
Bio: Billy Townsend was a longtime government, political and general assignment reporter in Polk County and the wider I-4 corridor. He wrote extensively about Polk's unique regional identity and the issues shaping it, including USF Polytechnic, the Heartland Parkway and the CSX rail deal. Billy recently left professional reporting to take a corporate writing job, but he keeps close tabs on news of all stripes (especially political news) and the changes in modern journalism. Billy's wife is Julie Townsend, executive director of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.They live with their three children in the Lake Morton area. His work at Lakeland Local is his first as an amateur hyperlocal writer.