No, All Aboard Florida is not the same thing as high-speed rail. But the irony is infuriating.
AAF is the private passenger rail venture from Miami to (eventually) Orlando. The proposed Tampa-Orlando high-speed rail, which was shot down by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011, would have been federally funded as a mass-transit/economic-stimulus parlay.
Interestingly enough, however, the recent budget signed by Scott includes $214 million for a passenger depot in Orlando that is a requisite need for AAF. The budget also includes $10 million to help pay for “quiet zones” to placate residents along the coastal route. And AAF is also seeking a $1.5 billion, taxpayer-backed federal loan.
AAF is hardly a paragon of private enterprise, and the Tea Partiers can see right through it. But this is a 2014 gubernatorial re-election year, not a 2011 election-promise pander year. Besides where else do the Tea Partiers go with their vote? Charlie Quisling?
It’s well documented that counties such as Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie are up in arms about a quality-of-life, coastal compromise to accommodate the Miami to Orlando train route. Their complaints, however, have been responded to by canned, less-than-truthful emails from Scott’s office: “The state has no involvement in this railway.”
That’s not even routine, political disingenuousness. That’s a lie.
Ironically, state non-involvement would have been more the case in 2011.
Recall that the feds would have provided $2.6 billion for the Tampa-Orlando route, covering all but $280 million of the cost. Companies vying for the contract–to jumpstart high-speed rail in America and create a self-serving marketing coup–had indicated they would cover the state’s share of the cost. Also recall independent projections that belied Scott’s “on the hook” concerns. Any contingency cost factors, of course, would have been dealt with in the bid process.
Scott pulled the plug, however, before the bids were even submitted–and successfully thwarted the Obama Administration’s plans for a national high speed rail network. The president didn’t get want he wanted, the Tampa-Orlando megalopolis didn’t get what it needed, but the new governor got the Tea Party badge of honor he coveted.
And now he’s on board with a private-passenger scenario that ostensibly has no state involvement. This might even embarrass the Tea Party.