Gov. Scott Should Just Keep His Mouth Closed About High Speed Rail
The news today out of California that High Speed Rail cost estimates have now tripled to the $100 billion range reinforces that Florida made the right decision earlier this year to protect taxpayers from just this sort of boondoggle. As I said at the time, High Speed Rail (HSR) would be far too costly to taxpayers and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits. Im glad Florida is no longer entangled in the high speed spending web.
This was the release from the Governor’s Office last week. Scott has been under fire recently for not doing enough to increase the sluggish Florida economy. The timing of the release was awkward and it comes off as defensive.
I am sure the comments will make his Tea Party base happy, but the reality is, it just reinforces to those close to the project that the the Governor’s decision to reject the Federal dollars for High Speed Rail was based more on knee jerk, political ideology than actual facts. At best, it is disingenuous of the Governor to compare the California debacle with what was proposed in Florida. Right of way issues are the primary challenge with California. Florida’s HSR right of way issues had already been solved.
Folks in Florida that cheered Scott’s decision tend to confuse the issues. The question of, “Would the project have been good for Florida?” became blurred with, “Would HSR work?” Analyzing the facts, it is hard to debate that the project would not have been good for Florida. With the stroke of a pen, Scott killed 20,000 jobs in a State desperate for some positive job news. Commercial real estate development along the HSR/I-4 Corridor would have added even more to the economic equation. ”Would it have worked?” is a more valid question to which no one has the answer. But, in the scope of things, there was no better place to attempt HSR than on a relatively short track between Tampa and Orlando.
Shortly after Scott’s rejection of Federal HSR money, he approved a State sponsored rail system in Orlando (Sun Rail), which is one of the lowest rated rail projects in the country. The initial cost of Sunrail to the State is also many times higher than the State’s proposed share of HSR costs. On the surface, this was a deal that logically Scott should have killed with the same swiftness that he killed HSR. The difference is SunRail was backed and promoted by Republican John Mika. HSR was an Obama initiative. The two decisions showed how quickly Scott could turn his back on principals in favor of partisan politics. We the people of Florida will have to pay for the Orlando train for eternity. The cost of HSR was a national initiative and had far less downside financial consequences for the people of this State.
Sadly, Florida was the loser in this partisan game. In the future, Governor Scott might consider restraining from making further comments about his high speed rail decision, considering his inconsistencies on the subject of rail.
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