Amtrak ready to spend - is Jacksonville listening?

[Metro Jacksonville]

Amtrak ready to spend - is Jacksonville listening?



The benefits of Amtrak extend far beyond what the average person thinks. They can be instrumental in not only Jacksonville's fight to implementing commuter rail, but also establishing a corridor service among Florida's major cities.  The question is Jacksonville even interested in listening?

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jul-amtrak-ready-to-spend-is-jacksonville-listening

[jeh1980]

What kind of question is that?! Yes, of course Jacksonville would be interested in listening. We are a big city, are we?

[heights unknown]

The question should be..."is Peyton and the Jacksonville City Government interested in listening?" They are the catalyst and impetus for getting this thing off and running!

Heights Unknown

[ralpho37]

Is there a way we could get an e-mail petition going or something like that?  They city isn't going to do anything unless people like us lead the way in giving them a stiff kick in the rear.

[thebrokenforum]

Embarrassing and par for the course. "Mayberry attitude" is a great way to put it.

[JaxNative68]

nothing like a nice relaxing day at the beach, cold beverage in your hand . . . and then the diesel cloud of smoke from the passing train smacks you in the face.

I'm all for an upgraded train/mass transit system throughout Florida, but can we also consider environmentally friendly mass transit?

[stjr]

nothing like a nice relaxing day at the beach, cold beverage in your hand . . . and then the diesel cloud of smoke from the passing train smacks you in the face.

I'm all for an upgraded train/mass transit system throughout Florida, but can we also consider environmentally friendly mass transit?

When I first saw that picture, I thought it was done in Photoshop!  Talk about a community's connectivity problem  !  Maybe Amtrak could sell all that prime California oceanfront land and balance its budget for good.

[ralpho37]

Trains are very environmentally friendly, especially the newest locomotives that GE and EMD are producing.  Contrary to popular belief they do not spew tons of smoke and soot into the air as they did back before the 1990's.  In fact, if you were to compare the relative fuel economies of today's locomotives to today's autos, you'd be very impressed by how environmentally friendly trains are...

[tufsu1]

slight correction to the article....Amtrak is succeful at running commuter rail service for many states.

This is a key point....yes, the City, JTA, and the TPO need to get on-board (which they've done by passing resolutions)....but the contracts are between Amtrak and state DOTs....so its really FDOT's call.

[ralpho37]

tufsu1:  Great point, FDOT ultimately decides if they want to proceed with Amtrak in these dealings.  But then in that case, isn't it true that the city of Jacksonville needs to express interest to FDOT to get onboard?  Otherwise, 9 chances out of 10, FDOT will allocate everything to the Orlando-Tampa corridor that they are so obsessed with.

[jeh1980]

The question should be..."is Peyton and the Jacksonville City Government interested in listening?" They are the catalyst and impetus for getting this thing off and running!

Heights Unknown

The answer should always be YES. The mayor and the city government is interested in listening. But I heard that there is more to it than just getting things done. But I hope they will listen.

Embarrassing and par for the course. "Mayberry attitude" is a great way to put it.

They city isn't going to do anything unless people like us lead the way in giving them a stiff kick in the rear.

I know that the city will do something. Not all of Jacksonville has this "Mayberry attitude" MetroJacksonville is thinking of  (no offense).

[Steve]

^And the Current State of JTA reflects this?

[thelakelander]

tufsu1:  Great point, FDOT ultimately decides if they want to proceed with Amtrak in these dealings.  But then in that case, isn't it true that the city of Jacksonville needs to express interest to FDOT to get onboard?  Otherwise, 9 chances out of 10, FDOT will allocate everything to the Orlando-Tampa corridor that they are so obsessed with.

It would be nice to have our council and mayor's office publicly support such a plan.  The more municipalities on board (especially the largest in the state), the better the chance for FDOT to back such endeavors.

[ralpho37]

Very good arguments all around.  I know we sometimes tend to have a pessimistic view towards these things and our City Council, but hopefully they are starting to turn their wheels.  Steve brings up a good point about JTA.  If they (in addition to MetroJax and other groups) continue to pressure the City Council about rail, maybe the light bulb will finally click on and we'll see some publicized support from them.  At this point, we at MetroJax really need to push.

[brainstormer]

I tried to find out who voted for or against this resolution, but I can't find it in any meeting minutes.  It is time we put some pressure on the folks who can't seem to get with it.  Since we can't recall them we can at least let them know we are paying attention!  I hate when politics becomes a game resulting in a loss such as this.  What was the resolution number and when was it voted upon?