St. Augustine Backs Rail Project. Will Jacksonville?

[ralpho37]

lakelander:  thanks i was a little confused about that.  im sending them an email now!

[JaxNative68]

Will the City of Jacksonville be smart, or blow another great opportunity for growth and progress?  Only time will tell.

[JeffreyS]

So no live blogging the JTA meeting today? No blame if I wanted it I should have done it.  Stephen will you be so kind as to once again get the transcript?

[fsujax]

I hear both of the JTA resolutions passed. Thanks JTA!

[Lunican]

Great! Now the Jacksonville City Council should step up and do the same.

[mtraininjax]

but will Jax do the smart thing and shoulder it's share of the burden and load?

Jax do the right thing and shoulder it's share of the burden and the load.....you really mean, will the taxpayers of Jacksonville step up and shoulder the load, because after today's tax increase in millage rate, I am sure we will be looking forward to more expenses. What you really should do is go to SJTC, with or without an umbrella, and ask the people on the southside, if they know what Amtrak is, what it does and would they ride it. The average person probably has no idea what it is, what it does and would say they are happy to drive to St. Augustine by car, if needed.

Would I like to travel by FEC rail instead of CSX rail to Miami, absolutely. But this will have to be funded almost entirely by the Feds, as the State is cutting back its rail initiatives in this and the 2010 budget and the JTA is a state funded animal as well, so they will have a hard time finding new money for new a new station.

I'd love the new transportation hub downtown, but it probably will not happen, not this year or next, not with Amtrak spending money on improvements to the existing station. In the Amtrak report, I did not see a new Jax station, but with bureacracy, there are only so many pages I can read, so I might have missed it in the thousands of pages.

[thelakelander]

The Amtrak FEC Corridor Project would be included as an intercity rail component of Florida's economic stimulus plan.  In other words it, could very well be funded almost entirely at the federal level. 

As for them investing in the current facility, who says the current facility can't become a satellite stop?  Outside of Tampa, we're the only major metropolitan area with only one remote isolated Amtrak station.  Even metro Lakeland, which is half our size, has two.  So if we're going to issue support letters, we might as well include suggestions in that letter that will benefit both us locally and Amtrak.  If it fails, at least we tried.  The worst thing we can do is to continue to stick our heads in the sand when opportunities like this come along.

[Keith-N-Jax]

I am for FEC rail to Miami.

[tufsu1]

and who pays for that Keith?

[Keith-N-Jax]

^^Read Lakes post, I assume you say that because of my other post since I am againts rasing taxes. If it can be funded by another entity then I am for it, but its our money anyway. Federal, Governement, City, isnt it the tax payer money anyway. I said what I said only to be sarcastic, because that would allow for an easier way to get to Miami other than driving a car or flying. When I really what have a good time, that usually means leaving Jax. 

[tufsu1]

my point is Americans seem to want, want, want...government should do this, do that...but don't even think of taking any of our hard earned money....this viewpoint HAS to change.

personally, I would like to see us invest more in rail, at the local, regional, and national levels...but I bet I can find plenty of Floridians who would rather we spend money widening I-95, I-4, I-75, etc.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Isnt government money our money anyway or atleast it was. I am sure that money comming out of my check goes somewhere right. The government has spent millions and billions in other countries. I wonder how many americans approved that spentniture or had a say. They just spent it, just like our own city. The government is already taking our hard earned money, so I dont blame Americans for wanting.

[mtraininjax]

30 Billion in construction stimulus and 757 billion in pork earmarks. The politicians are doing a great job with our money. Can't wait for new City, State, and Federal taxes.

[Ocklawaha]

personally, I would like to see us invest more in rail, at the local, regional, and national levels...but I bet I can find plenty of Floridians who would rather we spend money widening I-95, I-4, I-75, etc.

You'd like to see more investment in rail? So would I my friend. When you ask those Floridians that want to spend their money on those "Freeways", we should ask them how much money we made off of them last year? Also, I really want to know how wide is wide enough?

Perhaps we should put a slogan to our efforts...

RAIL, NOT AS WIDE BUT JUST AS LONG!

OCKLAWAHA

[FayeforCure]

personally, I would like to see us invest more in rail, at the local, regional, and national levels...but I bet I can find plenty of Floridians who would rather we spend money widening I-95, I-4, I-75, etc.

You'd like to see more investment in rail? So would I my friend. When you ask those Floridians that want to spend their money on those "Freeways", we should ask them how much money we made off of them last year? 

OCKLAWAHA

Be careful, or we might only have toll roads to drive on if we want roads to pay for themselves