The headline, and the underlying behavior, sounds like taking a piece of cake away from a naughty child and giving it to the kid with the halo over his head. The entire high-speed rail debacle, from Washington on down, has become a fraternity house food fight.
There's a lot going on in this article about Governor Scott refusing the federal stimulus dollars because of the debt burden it would impose on Florida if the high-speed rail project were to be built.
The case we have been making in this blog is -- repeat after me: It's not about the train; it's about the money.
When other states jump into the breech and lay a claim to the funds rejected by Florida, it becomes clear what this is all about. When Senior Senator Chuck Shumer of New York says,
"Florida's loss should be New York's gain. Other states may not be ready to unlock the potential of high-speed rail, but it is a top priority for upstate New York. We can put these funds to use in a way that gets the best bang for the buck. The administration should redirect these funds to New York as quickly as possible."
he is ignoring the emerging consensus that the most appropriate HSR corridor is the Northeast corridor, from Washington to Boston. Shumer is more interested in bringing federal dollars into New York State, whether it makes sense to run a high-speed rail from New York City through upstate New York through Albany, Syracuse, Rochester to Buffalo, or not. That was the old New York Central route, which I rode numerous times as a kid. It's now Amtrak. "Best bang for the buck?" C'mon, Chuck. Start treating us like grownups.
How many times must it be said that only the most populous regions, with the largest cities, warrant additional inter-city transit capacity. And, maybe it should be HSR, or maybe not. Where's the analysis?
The only possible qualifying region is the NEC. California fails that test. So does Florida. We're going to have to drop the "Wouldn't it be nice to have a speedy train?" approach and take a much more rational, data based look at HSR in the US.
And, we certainly need to clear the air about whether HSR is merely a costume or disguise for massive fund transfers from Washington to "deserving" states and Congressional districts. The picture we now have is states, like angry dogs, fighting over a bone.
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White House To Rick Scott: We'll Spend Florida's High-Speed Rail Money Elsewhere
First Posted: 02/16/11 02:53 PM Updated: 02/16/11 03:29 PM
Sam Stein
HUFFPOST REPORTING
stein@huffingtonpost.com
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WASHINGTON -- In a bit of political hardball, the Obama administration on Wednesday said it would send $2.4 billion in stimulus money to other states should Florida Gov. Rick Scott not back down on his rejection of the federal government's national high-speed rail project.
Speaking just hours after Scott announced he was abandoning the project due to cost concerns for the state, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney relayed the president's preparedness to simply send the allocated money to other locales rather than, say, use it to lower the federal deficit.
"We think that is an unfortunate decision," Carney said. "This goes right to the essence of what we have been talking about here. There has been a lot of bipartisan support for the need to create the kind of modern infrastructure in this country that will enable us to compete. High speed rail is very much a part of that and we will make sure that that money is used elsewhere to advance the infrastructure and innovation agenda that is essential for economic growth.
"We believe that the money that is allocated for high-speed rail as part of the Recovery Act is essential to the infrastructure agenda that this president has," Carney added later. "Again, it is part of the president's priority and it is essential to us to build an infrastructure that allows us to compete in the 21st Century."
Carney's posture, delivered during his inaugural briefing, isn't the first time that the specter of one state building its own high-speed rail system on another state's dime has been raised. Shortly after Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) took office he declined to accept federal money for Wisconsin's rail system upgrades. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) responded quickly by affirming that New York would gladly take the un-cashed checks.
All of which has caused Democrats in Florida to lash back at their newly elected governor for his conservative braggadocio.
"It's eating our seed corn," said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), referencing the colloquialism that when times are tough, and one is hungry, you're supposed to plant seeds for crop, not eat them.
Scott's argument against high-speed rail is that it is prohibitively expensive for the state, with cost overruns potentially forcing Florida to fork over $3 billion in matching funds. But those numbers, supporters of the project say, are drastically overstated if not pure fantasy.
The federal government has already put aside $2.4 billion in stimulus funds for Florida's portion of the national project. In state, supporters have spent $66 million to build a high-speed train between Orlando and Tampa. Nelson's office, meanwhile, has said that the state would only be on the hook for another $280 million and that the senator was in the process of looking at alternative ways to raise the money to alleviate Scott's concerns.
UPDATE: Sure enough, on Wednesday, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released a statement urging the Obama administration to redirect the more than $2 billion in high-speed rail funds from Florida to New York:
"Florida's loss should be New York's gain. Other states may not be ready to unlock the potential of high-speed rail, but it is a top priority for upstate New York. We can put these funds to use in a way that gets the best bang for the buck. The administration should redirect these funds to New York as quickly as possible."
