Orlando’s Mayor Buddy Dyer, City Commissioner Daisy W. Lynum and Florida State Senator Gary Siplin, in collaboration with the Black Partnership and the National Circle of Friends, will host a community meeting to inform and prepare minority-owned businesses for upcoming opportunities relating to SunRail, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project.
The meeting will take place on Friday, March 6th from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm and will be held at the Citrus Bowl-Varsity Club.
SunRail is a partnership between the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and local governments in Central Florida to provide commuter rail service in the greater Orlando area. When completed, it will consist of 61 miles along existing freight tracks, connecting four Central Florida counties. SunRail’s economic potential was recently highlighted in an FDOT Study:
SunRail will result in the creation of 13,000 construction and operations jobs, a large portion of which will be created almost immediately, generating more than $350 million in household earnings.
SunRail will ultimately have a total, statewide economic impact of nearly 9 billion dollars and 250-thousand jobs over the next 30 years.
The goal of Friday’s meeting is to give minority firms a general update on the status of the project and detail the steps necessary to begin tapping into the economic benefit of SunRail.
Hopefully, SunRail will become a reality and fulfill its promise of jobs creation, particularly for minority businesses. Coming on the back of the ‘failed’ Venues project, it would be devastating if Sunrail suffered a similar fate.
