Commuter-rail panel does double-take on Lakeland's impact

[CSX CFL CR Scambuster]

Interested in Railroad History? Go to this site for a copy of the "Report of the Committee for Investigating the Affairs of the Old Colony Railroad" At one point, Nathan Carruth was the president of the Old Colony Railroad.

The link in the previous post was truncated. You can do a search on "Nathan Carruth" or the "Investigating the Affairs of the Old Colony Railroad" to access this report.

[gil]

In today's news journal daytona a story of reducing lynx bus routes. Another victim of budget cuts. Now I wonder?? Money spent on train =='s less to spend on buses? So the ppl that would use the train won't be able to get to the stations because the buses don't run in their hood anymore. What a joke!!
Only a monorail from OIA to Disney would really work. Put a few stops along the way for the locals. In a few years add another line to I-drive and downtown, but only if the incentive is there.

[CSX CFL CR Scambuster]

gil wrote:

In today's news journal daytona a story of reducing lynx bus routes. Another victim of budget cuts. Now I wonder?? Money spent on train =='s less to spend on buses? So the ppl that would use the train won't be able to get to the stations because the buses don't run in their hood anymore. What a joke!!
Only a monorail from OIA to Disney would really work. Put a few stops along the way for the locals. In a few years add another line to I-drive and downtown, but only if the incentive is there.

There is no public money to fund mass transit - buses or trains. That is the fact. Tallahassee and locals will rob money from the highway trust fund for mass transit. Road construction will suffer while they make a "half-baked" attempt at mass transit. Thus, all transportation will suffer.

The media refuses to report the true cost of mass transit. It is much more expensive than roads, but that would not support the various special interest groups and politicians that are trying to cash-in on rail transit and the tax dollars they can get.

I am one Floridian that cannot afford to pay more taxes.

[HeartofFlorida]

CommuterBob wrote:

<quoted text>
How is this project corrupt?
What polls that you have seen or what information are you basing your "fact" that Floridians oppose commuter rail? Everything I have seen and read points to the fact that they are for it.
How does Mica (or any politician) make money off of this deal? Please explain your claims of corruption. I am also against goivernment corruption, but I believe that this project is not an example of such.
Why are you calling me out to give personal information on an internet forum when you will not lead by example? I have no obligation to provide you with any details, but I will promise to use commuter rail as soon as it's available to me. I will even go as far as using it from the Sand Lake station into downtown on the opening.
I am also not a train builder/operator, nor do I work for one. Nor do I work for Congressman Mica or any other politician or government agency. I am actually a roadway engineer who will not financially benefit (even indirectly) from the passage of commuter rail.
Again, until you can provide any sort of proof of your so-called corruption, you are truly "too much crazy talk" with your unfounded statements. I am against corruption in government. This isn't like US Sen. Boxer funnelling billions to her husnand's company in gov't contracts. This is actually the exact kind of project that the FTA and FDOT should be supporting (and they are). Show us all how this project is corrupt and I will retract my statements, but just because this is an expensive capital project (and they all are) doesn't mean there is corruption involved. I challenge the "crazy talk" to prove who is making money from this deal before issuing any more libelous statements.

This entire project screams corruption and unfortunately commuter rail was the catalyst (or scape goat) for the bigger picture.

The overall scheme involves:

1)CSX ILC/Intermodel
2)Building more toll roads (Heartland Parkway, Polk Parkway Extension, Central Polk Parkway) to support the infrastructure for CSX.
3)Land Development in the Heartland (figure out which politicians own land along the route of the proposed roads that stand to gain billions; most of which wanted commuter rail to pass).
4)International Cargo Airport (in the middle of nowhere) along the route of the Heartland.

I won't even begin to go into details but like I stated, this deal is bigger than commuter rail. This is all public information.

Maybe everyone should take a step back and look at the entire puzzle instead of their own little piece.

[Winter Park Fools]

pro light rail wrote:

This is a good idea, Read the New York Times article today. Public Rail transportation use is skyrocketing due to the price of fuel. Denver has set new record highs in use. If this project does not go through when the price fuel is at 3.70 a gallon, then Florida is filled with fools.

Most of our "fools" live in Winter Park.
Commuter rail is a worthless boondoggle.
Winter Park is a community of idiots.

[Charlie Klein]

WHY HAVEN'T WE HEARD ABOUT OTHER SOLUTIONS TO THE MASS TRANSIT PROBLEM.

COULD IT BE THE ELECTED DON'T WANT US TO KNOW WHAT IS AVAILABLE. OR ARE THEY GETTING PAID BY THE SPECIAL INTERESTS TO COVER IT UP?

A BETTER BUS SYSTEM IS WHAT CENTRAL FLORIDA NEEDS AND MAYBE LYNX IS GETTING SMALLER BUSES TO IMPLEMENT THE BUS-HUB SYSTEM. Wouldn;t that be something, actually improving the bus service.
I won't hold my breath, I submitted the Bus-Hub system before the defeat of Mobility 20/20 and the Commissioners and Crotty voted to spend $44 million more on consultants, instead of improving the bus service. I believe they violated the Constitution and its Honest intent.

[Barney]

Hey Scambuster (and any one else interested)! Sean's over in another article claiming no one was willing to debate him!!!

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/orlando-sen...

[Barney]

More and more of the truth is coming out now after the fact... it is indeed a "corporate welfare" bill for CSX. The total cost (never really before dicussed) is 1.25 Billion. The STATE would pay to "double track" the A-line in the area of the "purchased corridor" (see they are NOT buying an existing track, just purchasing the corridor).

See this link:

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080529/NEW...

So, I repeat, the CSX "deal" in it's current form is NOT a good deal.