Joe Henderson
One of Rick Scott’s first acts as Florida’s governor was to reject Washington’s “gift” of $2.4 billion for a high-speed train running between Tampa and Orlando. Scott was panned by many for turning down the feds, but he stood firm because he said the plan could end up costing taxpayers here at least $1 billion more.
“As you know, my background is in business, not politics. But you don’t have to be an economics expert to understand that if you spend more money than you take in, your business will fail,” Scott said in a 2011 statement announcing his decision.
“Unfortunately, politicians haven’t always seemed to grasp that same principle.”
I was one of those who thought Scott’s rejection of the money was straight outta Looneyville. We were in a deep recession and Gov. “Let’s Get To Work” had just said “no, thanks” to a project that would have created thousands of jobs.
But, um … well, it looks like the governor was correct.
Part of the money earmarked for Florida’s rail project wound up in California to help link the northern and southern parts of the state, but the project is way over budget and way behind schedule. POLITICO reported the price has swelled to about 35 times the annual federal subsidy for Amtrak, and Washington Republicans have shown no appetite for increasing funding.
In other words, California is stuck. There is no long-term funding source and project planners have been ridiculed on just about everything.
To be fair, the project Scott rejected was on a much smaller scale than what California is trying to do. The Tampa-to-Orlando run was supposed to be a model other states could copy as a way to get cars off the road and steer the nation toward mass transit. And just because California has messed it up is no proof Florida would have.
The fundamental question, though, was who in the world would take a bullet train from Tampa to Orlando? Tourists enjoying the Tampa Bay beaches might have seen it as a good way to hop over to Disney, but it’s doubtful it would have been more than a gimmick for state residents.
The drive isn’t that long anyway. From eastern Hillsborough County, you can reach Disney in about an hour. The argument went that having that rail system would have spurred more mass transit projects, a notion Scott summarily rejected in the name of fiscal prudence.
None of this means the state has a mandate to stick its head in our sandy beaches on the issue of mass transit. Estimates are that about 22 million people will live in the state by 2025 — less than 10 years from now. How are we going to get around?
Roads are already jammed and getting worse, and the Florida Department of Transportation’s solution is to turn every new thoroughfare it builds into a toll road. That’s a debate for another day.
But on the issue of whether Florida should have taken the high-speed rail money, the troubles in California would seem to show the governor’s logic in turning down the cash was legit.
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Joe Henderson has had a 45-year career in newspapers, including the last nearly 42 years at The Tampa Tribune. He covered a large variety of things, primarily in sports but also including hard news. The two intertwined in the decade-long search to bring Major League Baseball to the area. Henderson was also City Hall reporter for two years and covered all sides of the sales tax issue that ultimately led to the construction of Raymond James Stadium. He served as a full-time sports columnist for about 10 years before moving to the metro news columnist for the last 4 ½ years. Henderson has numerous local, state and national writing awards. He has been married to his wife, Elaine, for nearly 35 years and has two grown sons – Ben and Patrick.
10 comments
Joshua Stubblefield
June 7, 2016 at 10:51 am
How can you say the train would be over budget in Florida just because California is over budget? Higher cost of living, more environmental regulations, and longer than the Orlando Tampa line.
Also, just because you THINK no one would have taken a train from Orlando to Tampa doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen. This isnt a connection from Orlando to Deland. It is two major cities with one on the water (Tampa) and one with theme parks (Orlando). Connecting two international airports and numerous professional sports teams. I see huge upside by connecting two thriving economies right now.
And I’m not arguing that it would definitely work. But to say Scott was right just because another state is over budget isn’t a strong correlation. Your article clearly states, “Estimates are that about 22 million people will live in the state by 2025 – less than 10 years from now. How are we going to get around?” With our legislators continuing to sit on their hands in Tallahassee, I don’t see any innovation in our mass transit system between now and 2025.
I know, it is hard to find things Scott has done correctly!
Also, just because you THINK no one would have taken a train from Orlando to Tampa doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen. This isnt a connection from Orlando to Deland. It is two major cities with one on the water (Tampa) and one with theme parks (Orlando). Connecting two international airports and numerous professional sports teams. I see huge upside by connecting two thriving economies right now.
And I’m not arguing that it would definitely work. But to say Scott was right just because another state is over budget isn’t news in my opinion.
Ben E
June 8, 2016 at 2:01 pm
Every government project goes over budget, so the author is correct that this government project would have gone over budget too…
Mary Tracy
June 7, 2016 at 6:29 pm
The reason Rick Scott is out to subvert HSR is because the Koch brothers have him bought off, and they don’t want HSR. When the Koch brothers tell Rick Scott to jump, Rick’s only question is how high.
wtfomfg
June 8, 2016 at 8:49 am
LOL You liberals and your Koch brothers boogeyman. Please show me a legitimate source (hint: NOT a blog like Raw Story or Huff Po) where the Koch brothers told Rick Scott not to build HSR. I’ll wait.
Please stop with your Koch bros delusions.
The man you really need to fear is George Soros. Thanks for playing.
Lex Taylor
June 8, 2016 at 10:13 am
Florida ranks as one of the lowest states for Federal$/resident. In other words we pay a lot more in Federal Dollars than we receive back from Federal projects. I won’t comment on the overall wisdom of turning down the project.
But a severe hurdle to mass transit in Florida is that our cities are sprawling. They were designed with little planning at all and definitely not with mass transit in mind. Its great to have a mass transit way to get from Orlando to Tampa, but we don’t have any mass transit to get to local destinations in Tampa or Orlando. The bus systems we do have ride in the same clogged roads everyone else rides in. Even if you thought you might want to put a mass transit system in everything is so sprawling that the project quickly becomes very daunting.
I like mass transit a lot, I’m not sure its cost effective everywhere that has it, but where it works well and has plenty of riders… its a wonderful thing.
Without some new local mass transit solutions building mass transit from one part of a very spread out Orlando to another part of a very spread out Tampa, probably would’ve gone unused for lack of a way to get to the precise location you were trying to get to.
Richard Ballo
June 8, 2016 at 10:22 am
One of the problems with high speed rail is not in the destinations, or the speed of the train, it is the infrastructure that exists at the end of the lines.
There needs to be a system to get people from the terminus to their final destination.
A rider from Tampa to Orlando is left at the station and needs a well-rounded and integrated mass transit system there to get people to Disney or the airport. This is either busses, small light rail trains or vehicles to move people in the city. This calls for a new thought on intercity mass transit. The old bus running a scheduled route will not work in a high speed age.
In cities there is a need for smaller mass transit vehicles to move people efficiently and swiftly to their destinations. These vehicles would be larger than a taxi cab but small than a city bus, and they would run when people arrive at the station or stop. With today’s technology there is no need for a bus to run a route hoping people are there. Smart phone apps can call a vehicle: taxi, Uber, Lyft, or a mass transit vehicle and it would only stop if called. Quick and efficient movement is the key.
As for cost overruns, I have never seen a government funded project that has come in on time, or on or under budget.
Hank Kimble
June 8, 2016 at 10:27 pm
https://www.facebook.com/Floridians-for-High-Speed-Rail-and-against-Governor-Rick-Scotts-Decision-142608585802230/
Hank Kimble
June 8, 2016 at 10:29 pm
Why does everyone feel that Rail needs to make Money…Does Interstate 4 make Money….No it does not. It’s called a public service.
Lex Taylor
June 9, 2016 at 7:18 am
I’m going to do everyone a Public Service and try to educate you. Tax dollars come from real people. Second tax dollars are not infinite, just printing money has impacts on the economy that are devastating… See Greece. Third, there might be better places to spend the tax dollars. Though an exaggeration if only four people ride it a day and it cost us a billion dollars it was a waste of money and the money could better be spent elsewhere. Fourth it is okay to subsidize things, roads are a good example, but is this really something that should be subsidized? We think tourists will use the train a lot, do tourists pay state taxes? This type of train also isn’t likely to be used by the poor either.
Honestly, I hated turning down the federal money, but I’m not sure we have the state funds available to support it.
Without a quantum leap in technology, which might not be too far away, but requires driverless mass transit technology, we can’t build local mass transit that is efficient enough to make use of a high speed train from Orlando to Tampa.
Jerry
June 9, 2016 at 7:12 pm
I’m amazed that any journalistic writer would ever admit to being wrong. I’ve never seen that. I salute the article author. You have my respect and would read other articles you write.
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