1. Tallahassee Democrat: Florida can't let
high-speed rail opportunity pass
by
Courtney Cunningham
CEO
Published in the Tallahassee Democrat
August 2009

2. 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.

3. 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 leads
the 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.

4. 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 from
that.
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."

5. 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?

6. #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 reduce
carbon 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.

7. 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