To all railfans in Florida -- make sure you vote NO on proposed constitutional amendment 6 -- the repeal of the high-speed rail initiative. 4 years ago, the voters of this state voted to support the construction of a high-speed rail system between Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, and now, 4 years later, there is a group who doesn't believe there is enough money for the project, so the repeal of this ALREADY-APPROVED amendment is on the ballot this year!! So make sure you vote NO on Amendment 6!! A "no" vote means you SUPPORT the construction of a high-speed rail line.
(this is NOT a paid political announcement)
Posted by Kairho (Member # 1567) on :
If anyone cares, the Florida proposal to repeal the high-speed rail system was overwhelmingly passed. Thus, there will be no h-s rail in Florida's future...until the next attempt at amending the constitution.
As an aside, does any other state amend the constitution for operational-type activities? We just passed a constitutional amendment to let two counties vote on something! Jeesh!
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
It is sad to see this fail in the sense that it is sad to see any rail initiative fail, but when you realize what it had become, basically hizacked by Disney as an access line to their park, it probably deserved to fail.
As to the constitutional ammendment. May not still be true, but when I took the basic Political Science course on State and Local Government, Louiisiana was held up as the example on this front. At that time (1967) it ran to something like 3000 pages. This sort of thing results from the nature of the ammendment process. If it is too easy you get a lot of things in it that have no businees being there, simply because something being a "Constitutional Ammendment" sounds much more impressive than simply being an "Act of the Legislature"
After all, a Constitution, whether federal or state, is supposed to be the basic document of government, and as such be immune to fads. For that reason, the US Constitution and many (most?) state constitutions have an ammendment process that requires several hurdles and a passage of time to ensure that any ammendment proposed has widespread, consistent, and strong support.
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
We need all the high speed rail initiatives we can get in this country of ours! It's more than embarassing that we have almost none in operation besides in the NY to Boston corridor. Look at such in Spain, Japan, Germany, France and Italy!
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Posted by Kairho (Member # 1567) on :
Unfortunately, the Florida constitution does not have any of those necessary precaustions. Anyone can get it amended simply by having enough signatures to get it on the ballot (something like 25000?) and then a Yes vote.
As to the h-s rail in Florida, it wasn't going to happen. Too expensive, too few riders, and was to be supported mostly by tourists for leisure travel, not business or commuter travel. Add to that Disney's shenanigans and it had little support from other than the companies who would profit.
Posted by North American Railroader (Member # 3398) on :
I, living in Florida, would have loved to see a high speed rail network here (Miami-Orlando-Jacksonville, Tampa-Orlando-Jacksonville, Jacksonville-Tallahassee-Pensacola), But it was just way too expensive. The price tag for the system would have been an expensive proposition for the nation, but for a state? It would have bankrupted an already hurricane ravenged state.
Posted by Pojon (Member # 3080) on :
Do you remember the rumpus made when Dade County (Miami) in Florida was about to begin construction on the 27 mile elevated rapid transit train route from Hialeah to South Dade? It was declared the most expensive rapid transit system to ever have been built in the USA! It took a long time to build, had many cost overruns and was criticized by the President Ronald Reagan as being more expensive than giving each person in Dade county a new Cadillac each for his own use! Thank God and Dade County, the State of Florida and the federal government for it's funding! It has meant a lot to making more efficient interconnected transportation to the Dade county bus system, the State Tri-Rail lines to West Palm Beach, etc. It brought a civilized reliable rail route to circumvent the horribly congested road traffic in the area and is now an "old" staple in the transportation scene of the giant and growing Miami area.
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Posted by Kairho (Member # 1567) on :
There is a significant difference between intra-metropolitan area "commuter" lines and intercity long distance lines.
Tri-rail is indeed essential, but at the northern terminus, how many riders take that westbound curve to continue north, a few hundred miles further to any metro area?
[This message has been edited by Kairho (edited 11-08-2004).]