Truth really is stranger than fiction, to paraphrase Mark Twain.
Especially when it comes to the All Aboard Florida rail project.
On Monday, the Florida Development Finance Corp. — a quasi-governmental agency also known as the FDFC — hosted a public hearing in Tallahassee on AAF’s request for $1.75 billion in private activity bonds. The stated purpose of this hearing, according to FDFC: “To provide a reasonable opportunity for interested parties to express their views” on the proposed issuance of these tax-exempt bonds, which the backers of AAF need to move forward.
The kicker? None of the five members of the finance development corporation — including the three members recently appointed by Gov. Rick Scott — even bothered to show up. Simply put, the finance agency was just going through the motions.
And so it goes with All Aboard Florida. Since its inception, AAF and its backers have shown a profound lack of regard for the public — the Floridians who actually live, work and pay taxes here. If you’ve been following the headlines, you already know that residents have a laundry list of concerns about AAF, which proposes to run 32 daily passenger trains between Miami and Orlando starting in 2017. The upgraded tracks would also carry more and longer freight trains.
The public’s worries include both safety and quality of life — and opponents of AAF had plenty to say about both on Monday.
More rail traffic means more closed gates at crossings, which means more and longer waits for everybody — including ambulances, firetrucks and other emergency first responders.
Read the rest of the guest column here: