Internet Site Gives Lakeland Plenty

Click title for story link. By ROSEMARY GOUDREAU Published: Friday, April 10, 2009 at 1:32 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, April 10, 2009 at 1:32 a.m. Readers of The Ledger's two articles about my contract with the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority might think that downtown landowners got next to nothing for their money ["City Board Shells Out $40K for Very Little," March 14, page B1, and "City Bypassed Bidding Rule for Internet Site," March 29, front page]. Please allow me to set the record straight about the work I've done on behalf of downtown Lakeland, which faces life-altering changes should the state close the pending deal with CSX railroad.AC = --> First, some background. Until November, I was the editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune, where I wrote and edited a series of editorials about the terrible terms of the CSX deal, the most expensive rail sale in U.S. history.

Winner and loser of the week

Click title for story link. Winner of the week: State Sen. Paula Dockery. It’s mainly through the sheer doggedness and determination of the Lakeland Republican that approval for the 61.5-mile SunRail commuter rail project near Orlando looks anything but certain more than halfway through the legislative session. Up against legions of SunRail supporters, Dockery has been relentless in raising questions about the deal.

SunRail foe kicking our butts

Click title for story link. I'm a choo-choo guy. But still I can admire the way Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland is kicking our butts on SunRail. She led the charge to kill it last year. She has even odds of doing so again this year.Watching her take on our local legislators is watching a woman among boys. "My objective is not to derail it but renegotiate it," she says of the deal. "But nobody is interested in renegotiating it."

SunRail friends, foes turn up the volume

Click title for story link. State legislators got two very different samples of public opinion on the $1.2 billion SunRail commuter rail proposal that awaits a key Senate vote Wednesday. First thing Monday morning, the project's leading opponent in the Capitol, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, e-mailed her Senate colleagues a summary of critical editorials in 10 different newspapers all over the state (the pro-SunRail Orlando Sentinel did not make Dockery's cut-and-paste piece, which she headlined "Florida Newspapers Say No to SunRail deal.") See Dockery's full e-mail here.

City Bypassed Bidding Rule for Internet Site

Didn't the City of Lakeland beg for help in the beginning? Click title for story link. LAKELAND The Lakeland Downtown Development Authority ignored city purchasing policy when it awarded a $42,500 contract to a Tampa woman to produce a Web site opposing a state rail plan. Anne Furr, executive director of Lakeland Downtown Development Authority Click to enlarge Jim Verplanck "It should have been bid," city Purchasing Manager Mark Raiford recently told The Ledger about the contract, awarded late last year. The city's purchasing rules call for competitive bidding on goods or services costing more than $1,500. That didn't happen in the case of the deal made with Rosemary Goudreau. And the LDDA board paid Goudreau $40,000 even though the Web site was never completed. The site was to oppose a state plan to buy railway from CSX for use as a commuter rail line. The LDDA is concerned that would send more trains through downtown Lakeland.

SunRail Lobbying Continues

Click title for story link. Backers of the planned SunRail commuter train that would run through Central Florida sent a letter to state Senate President Jeff Atwater Monday extolling the virtues of the $1.2 billion project. Signed by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty -- among others -- the two-page letter touts the anticipated economic benefits of the train, which would run along 61.5 miles of track from DeLand in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to Poinciana in Osceola County.

Breaking Through The CSX No-fault Impasse

By James McGovern and Timothy Murray The Herald News Posted Mar 27, 2009 @ 05:35 PM Fall River — A historic agreement that would improve and extend the commonwealth’s rail system for both passenger and freight service, and boost the economy of the region, has been stalled for months because of an unreasonable demand for no-fault liability from CSX, the national railroad serving Massachusetts. A new federal report examining the issue, however, exposes the weakness of CSX’s position and should help break through this impasse.The deal at stake holds the future for commuter rail service west of Boston and to the SouthCoast region around. The agreement involves the rail line from Allston to the MassPort terminals in South Boston, and the Grand Junction, the line that crosses the Charles River near Boston University which is the only north-to-south freight rail connection through the city. This agreement, announced in principle last fall, also calls for raising the bridge clearance at railroad crossings west of Boston so freight trains can roll through the state with two containers stacked on each flatbed. Double-stacking will significantly expand the capacity of the system and make it more cost-effective. That’s good for CSX and for companies that ship goods by rail. It’s good for motorists and the environment because fewer trucks on the road eases congestion and improves air quality. And it helps the regional economy because Massachusetts is the rail gateway for New England. About 40-precent of all rail traffic in the six-state region flows through Massachusetts.We have come to agreement on all major elements of this plan, except the question of liability after the state buys the rail lines in question from CSX. The issue is who should be responsible for damages if there is an accident involving freight and passenger trains. CSX demands that it have no liability for an accident, even if it is the sole cause of that accident. Throughout our negotiations with CSX, the company has asserted that this no-fault provision is the industry standard, but that turns out to be incorrect.Because other states are also grappling with this same no-fault issue, Congress asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to examine the question. The GAO report, released March 26, dispels the notion that no-fault liability, even in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct, is the industry standard. In fact, there is no industry standard.The GAO report describes a hodgepodge of agreements across the country, with varying combinations of liability provisions. Furthermore, the GAO report cites a recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals that found “it was against public policy to indemnify for gross negligence and willful misconduct because this could undermine rail safety.” That’s just commonsense, and our efforts in Massachusetts should be guided by the simple notion that people and companies are responsible for their own actions.Think of it this way: a tractor trailer truck speeding out of control on Route 128, its driver drunk and barely conscious after logging 36 straight hours on the road, slams into a school bus. Who is at fault? Who pays for the damages? Under CSX’s view of the world, the truck driver (assuming he lives) and the trucking company would walk away scot-free, with all the damages paid by the state highway department.Clearly this is an absurd scenario, but it is what CSX is asking for with no-fault liability, even in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct. No-fault is bad public policy. It undermines the basis of our justice system and it creates an environment where the freight railroads would have no incentive to maintain safe equipment and operating procedures.Today, the passenger-freight liability arrangement between the state and CSX is mixed. On the lines CSX still owns, they demand no-fault. But every day CSX runs its trains over tracks already owned by the state (MBTA) and on those tracks there is a fault-based liability arrangement, with each party taking on the responsibility to pay for damages if it is at fault.That policy should stay in place if and when the state takes ownership of the tracks. At the end of the day, we all want the same things. We want to see our freight and passenger rail systems thrive and grow. To do so, however, will require the parties to come together and work in a spirit of true partnership. It will require the federal government to act and set a true national standard for these liability arrangements. And it will take the state’s resolve to use all the legal tools at its disposal to break this impasse and complete the rail plan which holds so much promise for the economic and community development of our state and New England.Timothy Murray is Massachusetts’ lieutenant governor. James McGovern is a U.S. Congressman representing the Third Congressional District.

Will state's deal with CSX be a train wreck?

Click title for story link. By Bill ThompsonStaff writer Published: Monday, March 30, 2009 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, March 29, 2009 at 10:32 p.m. Seven years ago, a speeding northbound Amtrak passenger train derailed in Putnam County, killing four people and injuring more than 140 of the nearly 500 riders on board.AC = --> .art_main_pic { width:250px; float:left; clear:left; } Investigators determined the April 2002 accident was caused by shoddy maintenance and improper stabilization of a section of the tracks, owned by CSX Transportation. As a result, Amtrak paid $12 million in damages related to that crash near Crescent City, according to an October 2004 article by The New York Times. The article noted that some claims were still outstanding two and a half years later. The Times also reported that CSX did not pay one dime, even though the multibillion-dollar company was responsible.

Commuter Rail Proposal Stagnates

Click title for story link. By LINDSAY PETERSON lpeterson@tampatrib.com Published: March 31, 2009 TALLAHASSEE - With only a month left in the state legislative session, the going has gotten slow for Central Florida's commuter rail project. A bill with a key liability agreement won't come up for at least two weeks in the next Senate committee scheduled to hear it. At the same time, the head of the U.S. House Transportation Committee has called signing such agreements an "unacceptable practice." The comments from U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., came in response to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report about the arrangements that governments make when they buy freight railroads for public use. In Florida's case, the state plans to give CSX Transportation $432 million for 61 miles of the track that runs through downtown Orlando. The track would be used for a commuter system, called SunRail.

Train Activity Will Increase

Click title for story link. By LAURA KINSLER lkinsler@tampatrib.com Published: March 26, 2009 DADE CITY - Dade City will see a 50 percent increase in freight train traffic even if the state's commuter rail deal with CSX falls apart, a rail executive told city commissioners. Commissioners called a special workshop this week with officials from the Florida Department of Transportation and rail giant CSX to discuss how the proposed SunRail project would affect Dade City. The Florida Legislature is considering a proposal to buy 61 miles of CSX tracks for the state's first commuter rail line in Orlando. The project would require CSX to reroute more than a dozen freight trains from the A-line to the S-line, which travels through town, on their way to a massive new rail hub in Winter Haven.

Winter Haven

Click title for story link. Winter Haven touts itself as the distinctively different community to live, work and play in, and now that city officials have secured a deal with CSX, the goals that have been set for the future landscape will be attainable, those officials said.AC = --> Construction of the proposed Evansville Western Intermodal Terminal Facility in southeastern Winter Haven is closer to becoming a reality. Construction is expected to begin this year and will take 18 months to complete. City officials have said the project will stimulate economic development and provide an alternative of transporting goods and services.

Bills in Legislature Would Give CSX Free Ride on Liability

Click title for story link. Published: Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 12:01 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 11:05 p.m. Joe Follick, in a Ledger article Feb. 19, was a bit misleading about the transfer of liability for accidents in the proposed Central Florida Commuter Rail Corridor to state taxpayers.AC = --> Mr. Follick wrote that "The only thing lawmakers need to approve to complete the deal is a proposal that would make the company and the state responsible for their own equipment, employees and passengers in a crash, regardless of who might be at fault." Actually the Proposed Committee Bill 901 before the House and Senate Bill 1212 require to "forever protect, defend and indemnify and hold harmless" CSX, even for CSX's negligent, willful and wanton conduct. The no-fault principal really means that Florida taxpayers will be responsible for paying the bill in several scenarios even if CSX "or any other person or persons whomsoever" is completely at fault and even if CSX's conduct is so reckless that it results in punitive damages.

Outrage.. Florida's economy crashes, state holds $795 million in cool cash for CSX.

Click title for story link. Posted by madfloridian in General Discussion Thu Jan 22nd 2009, 03:29 PM The CSX deal is one of Jeb Bush's legacies to this state. It was rammed through in 2004 and 2005 so secretly that some moderate Republicans never knew about it. This is an outrageous situation. It really is. It is going to hurt most of Central Florida by cutting cities in half with long freight trains and destroying rural subdivisions and environment. CSX appears to be completely in charge, able to make all the rules.This editorial is an angry one. It goes so far as to ask the question about Florida:

Why Isn't Winter Haven Worried?

Click title for story link. By Laura Kinsler Tampa Bay Online DADE CITY - City Commissioners are keeping an eye on Tallahassee as state legislators debate the $1.2 billion commuter rail deal with railroad giant CSX. The 61-mile commuter rail line around Orlando would have a direct effect on Dade City because dozens of additional freight trains could be rerouted directly through the town on their way to a massive new rail hub in Winter Haven. City Commissioner Curtis Beebe worries that Dade City has been too slow to anticipate the problems additional rail traffic on the "S-line" could bring. The plan includes about $300 million for CSX to make improvements on the S-line to accommodate as many as 54 trains a day.

Stop Winter Haven Rail Yard

Click title for story link. It is not too late to stop the proposed CSX rail yard in Winter Haven. None of the construction has started. This bad idea was first proposed quietly three years ago while Jeb Bush was governor. He favored the proposal.AC = --> This rail yard will cause pollution in Winter Haven to adjacent residential areas. The rail yard will bring endless freight trains through downtown Lakeland, which recently spent millions of dollars renovating the downtown, including the area next to the Amtrak station. We should not give up. We can contact our county commissioners and other elected officials and tell them that we do not want the city of Lakelanddestroyed by endless freight trains, long freight trains, going through Lakeland. DANIEL BARKER Lakeland

Chicago CSX Intermodal Site Devastates Lives

Is this the fate of SE WinterHaven? COPYRIGHT 2006 Chicago Tribune Byline: Antonio Olivo Apr. 10--At night, while most of Chicago sleeps, families near the CSX Intermodal rail yard in West Englewood lie awake, their homes shuddering from something that sounds like trucks falling from the sky. In daylight, they watch cracks spreading across ceilings or walls and wipe clean the black diesel dust that settles on floors and dishes--byproducts of a 24-hour operation that handles as many as 700 truckloads per day. When CSX opened the rail yard in 1998--an economic boon to the struggling South Side neighborhood--everybody knew there would be noise and traffic. The city, initially wary of the yard, negotiated an agreement with the freight hauler to pay $300,000 a year into a neighborhood investment fund as a way to turn a potential nuisance into a plus for the blighted area. But neighbors say the fallout from rail yard activities is worse than they imagined. And the money, nearly half of it set aside for homes with bad roofs, porches or windows, seems to have gone everywhere but to those in the worst spots. Portions of the $2.8 million paid by CSX so far have gone to a picture-frame shop, a suburban roofing contractor, a street-cleaning program employing ex-convicts and a project to build a neighborhood strip mall, documents show. But plans for a sound barrier have fizzled. Chicago was built around one of the nation's great railroad hubs, and from its early years, there have been conflicts between residential life and the demands of the industry. A century and a half later, the South and Southwest Sides remain crucial junctions in the nation's freight system, now dependent on steel containers weighing up to 40 tons each that can be switched from trucks to railcars to ships. CSX does not dispute Englewood residents' complaints that the West Englewood yard has caused sleep deprivation, illness due to diesel pollution and property damage. In response to a class-action lawsuit last year, in which some nearby homeowners sought to limit the yard's operations to daytime and early-evening hours, the company did not take issue with those allegations. CSX lawyers instead noted that the company is immune to such court action under a 1995 federal law that leaves regulation of rail operations to the Surface Transportation Board. That federal agency said it hasn't received any complaints about the yard. A federal judge dismissed the suit, noting CSX's contention that cutting operations would cost $500,000 a day in lost revenues. "We're working with the alderman and the faith-based organizations to try and be good neighbors," CSX spokeswoman Kim Freely said. Critics complain, however, that any benefits from the rail yard have been arbitrary. Of the 35 or so households that have benefited from CSX's West Englewood fund, mainly through a hand-drawn lottery held in 2003, most are at least half a mile from the yard, where its concert of slamming containers, horns and revving diesel engines can scarcely be heard. "Those people don't even know there is a train yard over here," said Quincy Johnson, who blames a crumbling porch and ceiling cracks in his Hamilton Avenue home on a towering overhead crane nearby that stacks room-size metal containers onto metal train beds. City officials say it is not their problem. "If there are complaints about damage and people believe it is a result of CSX, they need to deal with CSX directly," said Connie Buscemi, spokeswoman for the city's Planning and Development Department. Before the rail yard opened, city officials had sought to open an industrial park in 10 vacant acres owned by the former Conrail company. Upon learning that CSX had acquired that land and intended to use it, the city persuaded the freight company to contribute the equivalent of the tax revenues projected for the industrial park. Officials targeted a 2-square-mile area surrounding the site as the stage for local improvements delivered by the CSX fund. The money has fostered community development in a blue-collar neighborhood long starving for local investment, Buscemi said, adding that the city has not received any proposals specifically seeking to repair homes closest to the yard. Besides agreeing to pay the city at least $300,000 a year until 2018 for its operations in West Englewood, the Florida-based company has sponsored local parades and turkey drives and contributed $2,000 toward a new neighborhood community center, Freely said. The intensity of need in the neighborhood showed when the city sponsored a 2003 lottery to determine whose homes would be fixed with $300,000 set aside for emergency repairs. In an elementary school auditorium, members of a standing-room-only crowd strained to hear whether their names had been pulled from a box up on stage. Several who won had never seen the rail yard, those who attended recalled. "The people closest to the yard got a raw deal on that one," said John Paul Jones, chairman of the non-profit Greater Englewood Community and Family Task Force. Carolyn Brown won new windows, doors and some tuck-pointing on her Throop Street graystone, which sits a mile from the yard. "I didn't have the money to do any of that," Brown said of the $10,000 job. "I was lucky." Some small-business owners also have benefited. Herbert Goode, president of Silver Cloud Galleries, a picture-frame manufacturer in West Englewood, applied for aid and used the $25,000 he received to pay for glass-block windows and other renovations to the brick industrial building his company bought in 2000. "I was going to do the repairs anyway," Goode said. "I didn't get as much as I expected. Still, I was reimbursed for something, which is better than a kick in the head." James Capraro, a veteran community activist who helped city officials negotiate the terms of the fund, said local community leaders did not anticipate the rail yard's impacts. His group, the Greater Southwest Development Corp., has used $250,000 from the fund toward efforts to rehab four abandoned houses in nearby Chicago Lawn, he said. Another group, Neighborhood Housing Services, has used about $400,000 from the fund to help homeowners--none closest to the rail yard--with facade improvements. "The fund wasn't created to correct the ills of the railroad because the railroad wasn't supposed to create any ills," Capraro said. The fortunes of those helped by the fund have heightened resentment near the CSX yard, where the noise continues. "My granddaughter [is] scared, waking up screaming sometimes," said Annetta Allen, gesturing toward Janai, 6. The pigtailed girl watched hip-hop videos in their Hamilton Avenue living room, where a web of cracks zigzagged from a wall onto the ceiling. Outside, a recently paved sidewalk also had cracks. Local concerns fall most heavily at Goodlow Magnet School, which sits a block from the yard on 62nd Street, near a CSX retention pond that neighbors say is a mosquito problem. Goodlow Principal Patricia Lewis said teachers complain about groggy pupils sleeping at their desks. A concentration of asthma cases at the school also has officials wondering whether it's related to diesel fumes and dust wafting from the rail yard, though there is no evidence to support that, she said. Ald. Theodore Thomas (15th), whose ward wraps around the rail yard, agreed that residents are suffering. But he said his hands are tied by the agreement that spreads the neighborhood fund over 2 square miles. "I don't like the service area of CSX," Thomas said. "I think we're stuck with it." Ollie Mae Ervin has for years kept her grandchildren's old socks as proof of her misery. Wrapped inside plastic freezer bags, the lace-fringed toddler socks were covered with the black diesel dust Ervin says she mops from her linoleum floors most mornings. Splayed across a table like crime scene evidence, the packages carried handwritten labels that documented years of frustration: "2002, 2003, 2004, 2005." "I just mop so much all the time," Ervin said, while a diesel engine rumbled outside. "Some days, there's so much dust you feel you can hardly breathe." aolivo@tribune.com Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com. TICKER SYMBOL(S): NYSE:CSX COPYRIGHT 2006 Chicago Tribun

CSX, Commuter Rail: Let Us See Clearly

Click title for story link. By Glenn Marston Published: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 12:01 a.m. Last Modified: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 7:48 a.m. This would seem to be CSX day on the opinion pages. We have an editorial about Gov. Charlie Crist promoting Orlando's proposed commuter-rail project. We have an op-ed column by Noranne Downs, P.E., District 5 secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation. She says a previous editorial, "Florida Holds Gold Mine for CSX," Jan. 22, misstated the commuter-rail project's cost. Then there's this column. My purpose is to speak for The Ledger in greater detail about the project cost, and to lay out the rationale and motivation for our editorials about CSX. The two editorials peg the price of the overall project, what we call the CSX deal, at $795 million. Downs says the payout to CSX would be $432 million, because certain costs, such as those for five overpasses being built to accommodate increased freight traffic along the S Line, should not be included. CSX's S Line runs down from Jacksonville through Ocala and Lakeland, and would gain much traffic that has been routed along CSX's A Line. The A Line long has been the main route. It runs from Jacksonville through Orlando.

Crist On Board For Orlando Commuter Rail

CRIST ALL BOARD FOR ORLANDO COMMUTER RAILBy KEITH LAINGTHE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDAEnhanced resources for this story:are available at www.newsserviceflorida.comTHE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Feb. 4, 2009.............Gov. Charlie Crist lent his support Wednesday to commuter rail in the Orlando area, something that was missing from the failed effort to get the project on track last year. Crist mostly stayed above the fray during what was one of the Legislature's most high profile fights last year, as opponents of re-routing freight trains and trial lawyers opposed to lawsuit protections for CSX Corp. killed the plan. But Crist said this year, he'll help make the $1.2 billion project go, supporting legislation (SB 1212) filed Tuesday that would build the train and resolve the liability issue. Last year, the plan would have freed CSX from liability for problems on the rails in some cases in exchange for use of the company's existing tracks. The new plan now backed by Crist addresses the liability issue by splitting responsibility for accidents between the state and CSX instead of completely absolving the company in the event of a mishap. The bill is sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, and Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and will be carried in the House by Reps. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, and Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando. Advocates said the proposed commuter train, now known as SunRail after an online poll of Orlando residents, would create 13,000 jobs and generate $4.6 billion for the construction sector over 20 years. Supporters also said the train would spur 113,000 construction projects within a half-mile range of 17 stations that will be built between DeLand and Poinciana and would remove the number of cars that fill one lane of Interstate 4 during weekday rush hours.Joined by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer at a Capitol news conference, Crist asked who could be against that kind of project. “It's a wonderful thing to do,” the governor said. "It helps the economy, it helps transportation, it helps people have the opportunity to move around in a way that is more clean..... And that's awfully important, especially in a state like ours that is so beautiful and continues to get cleaner every single day, so the important engine of tourism continues to have opportunity to flourish."Crist added that he was particularly impressed with the cooperation between the local governments involved in the project - the city of Orlando and Volusia, Seminole, Orange, and Osceola counties."This is an incredibly cooperative effort to do what's right, not only for central Florida, but really for all of Florida," Crist said during the news conference. "Having the opportunity to have more rail...to uncongest our interstates and our roadways is one of the most important things that we can do."Crist flashed his trademark optimism over the train's prospects in the Legislature this year, even while acknowledging last year's defeat. Several Orlando area interest groups pushed hard for the train in 2008, as they are again this year, but it was derailed by the CSX liability indemnity provisions as well a plan to reroute freight trains through a Lakeland Senate district represented by a staunch opponent in Republican Sen. Paula Dockery. The senator and the trial bar fought hard against the proposal, ultimately dooming the legislation. Advocates said last fall that it would take support from Crist to overcome the opposition and in giving it to them Wednesday, Crist said that this year will be different. "(We) tried to do it last year and this time we're going to make it go," he told supporters who filled the Cabinet room with handmade signs in favor of the train. Crist added that one reason he is optimistic is because of the new administration in Washington, D.C., which is eager to fund projects like rail. "It's about turning dirt," Crist said. "As I understand it, there are funds there to do it now. By going ahead and getting the bill approved as early as possible, we get matching...federal funds to put more coal in the engine as relates to this project." Dyer, who also chairs the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission Governing Board, also said the SunRail project is a perfect example of the kind of initiative that President Barack Obama has said will be necessary to stimulate the nation's economy. "Central Florida and the entire state are feeling the effects of the nationwide recession," Dyer said, "Everyday we hear more and more about communities that are in desperate need of projects that create jobs and jump start spending. We hear about needing shovel-ready projects. Today, we unite to tell the residents of Florida and our state legislators, who have a very important vote coming up on this in a few weeks, that SunRail is an economic stimulus and we are ready to roll." Like Crist, Sen. Constantine said the legislative fight over the train would be different than it was in 2008. "Last year there was a great deal of confusion about this issue," Constantine said. "The local folks back home and the DOT have worked tirelessly to work with all of the various local areas, whether it be Tampa Bay or Polk County, to make them understand the importance of this issue. We in the Legislature...are trying to do everything we can to alleviate the concerns of our fellow members."Specifically, Constantine said the new bill would tackle the concerns of lawyers and residents of Lakeland and Polk County. "We have worked very hard with the trial lawyers to eliminate the sovereign immunity issue and get them to feel comfortable with this issue," he said. "We have been working very closely with the city of Lakeland to let them understand that we're there to help them. In the bill filed yesterday, we actually have put language in bill to alleviate a lot of the concerns of Lakeland and we pledge to continue to work with them on the concerns they, and any other area of this state, have." That's why Constantine said he shared Crist's optimism that lawmakers would be ready to get on board with the train proposal this year. "We're going to continue, we're going to work through this and we're going to make it happen in Senate," Constantine said.However, in a letter to Crist after it became known that he would endorse the train proposal - and in an interview with the News Service after Crist's announcement - Dockery again girded for a fight over the train in the upper chamber. "It's not that I'm not in favor of the commuter rail," Dockery told the News Service. "I am not in favor of the deal as negotiated. What I was asking in my letter is 'let's sit down and open up this agreement.'" In particular, Dockery said, she is not in favor of the amount of money the state will end up paying CSX for the use of its 61 miles of track in addition to the $615 million it will cost to build stations, purchase train cars and acquire land for parking lots. The plan currently calls for another $432 million for expenses related to freight track, which Dockery said should be dealt with separately. "I don't think the governor understands the entire project," Dockery said. "I think he is only focusing on the commuter rail aspect of it. But as we all know, when it comes to things like this, the devil is in the details." The details, Dockery said, are what bother her the most about the bill championed by Crist and several lawmakers Wednesday. "This is one of the poorest negotiated deals I have ever seen," she said. "I can't imagine why the Florida DOT would behave so poorly on behalf of taxpayers." Dockery said Massachusetts was negotiating a similar deal with CSX for roughly the same length of track, but that state is paying much less. "We are talking about spending $641 million to buy 61 miles," Dockery said. "That's $10 million per mile. This is the most costly rail sale in the United States. The state of Massachusetts....has the same hang ups with liability as Florida, but they are paying $1.5 million per mile." As she said in her letter to Crist, Dockery said she hopes to be able to talk with the governor soon about her problems with the bill. "If we were to open up that agreement, we could have commuter rail go forward and we could have a win-win-win for everybody, including the communities negatively affected by the freight rail. I haven't heard back from the governor, but I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to sit down and explain to him how commuter rail can be a win-win for everybody."Whether or not that conversation happens remains to be seen, but Dockery said Crist's support of the rail plan would likely not change its legislative outcome. Dockery said she is already meeting with fellow senators to rally opposition to the plan. "I think the battle will again be in the Senate," Dockery said. "I really don't anticipate there will be enough votes. I don't think senators want to go home to explain transferring liability from a private company to the taxpayers. The governor is a likable guy, and he's very charismatic, so his support will be important, but I think the outcome is going to be the same as last year." --END--2/4/2009Illuminating the Sunshine Statehttp://www.newsserviceflorida.com

Dear Cindy Hummel

Click title for story link. Cross-posted from Metro I-4 News. As you may have noticed, two of the possible freight realignment routes - seemingly the only available routes - for downtown Lakeland involved reactivating the track that became the Van Fleet Trail between Wildwood and Auburndale. At least one of them would then reactivate closed tracks that run through the very heart of downtown Winter Haven, which would make for wonderful poetic justice. And at least one would run into a new park in Auburndale. In a shocking development, government officials with Auburndale and Winter Haven are less than enthusiastic about those ideas.Auburndale Special Projects Director Cindy Hummel reacted with “total fury” to the route that would run through the park, according to the News Chief. 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

Why Is It So Hard For The Sentinel To Say "CSX"?

Click title for story link.

The Ocala Star-Banner took a hatchet recently to the state’s $1.2 billion CSX/Orlando freight expansion and dump deal, both in a straight news story and in an editorial. 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?”