Local governments continue to work feverishly to put a plan in place for Friday’s deadline to save the Orlando to Tampa bullet train, although Gov. Rick Scott continues to foolishly and unilaterally reject the rail system.
A new independent regional agency that will receive the $2.4 billion federal grant is being formed, which will in turn hire the private company to build and run the bullet train, reports tampabay.com. The arrangement is being structured such that private vendors will assume all of the financial risk for building and running the train. In other words, Florida taxpayers will not be on the hook for any cost overruns or operating costs, if ridership falls short of projections.
Will this new arrangement satisfy Scott who still may have to grant the new agency the right of way along the I-4 Corridor, owned by the state? Perhaps not.
Scott, who promised to create 700,000 jobs in seven years, is determined to turn his back on the 30,000 jobs estimated to be created during the construction of the Orlando to Tampa bullet train.
Scott, with his lack of vision and plan for Florida, should never be allowed to unilaterally reject the rail system which many commentators maintain, will more likely than not, set by the state’s growth and development at least, twenty years.
