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SunRail ralliers on the right track
Today, the Capitol building in Tallahassee will look like the lobby of the Student Union when proponents of SunRail arrive. Even some UCF professors are ditching class right now to attend the SunRail Rally, offering their voices to the resounding plea for commuter rail in Central Florida.
Noise enough to boost the Central Florida economy with a $1.2 billion commuter project that could generate over 11,000 jobs?
Sounds like it.
With SunRail and other stimulus-worthy proposals on the table, legislators will have to get their hands dirty before Florida loses hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal transportation funds.
Local organizations and businesses are eager to retain that grant money, so the Central Florida community has begun pulling out all the stops. The rally is part of the Capitol Connection, and Orlando has a few Capitol connections of its own.
A coalition of eight Chambers of Commerce in Central Florida are cooperating to present resolutions of support for SunRail to Senators Lee Constantine, Andy Gardiner and Mike Haridopolos.
The Florida Senate has 40 members, so a three-man head start is good news. The rail will run 61 miles from Deland to Poinciana, and one woman, Sen. Paula Dockery, is standing in the way.
Attempting to shield her hometown from heavier Interstate 4 traffic and more frequent freight trains, Dockery has committed her agenda to killing the SunRail bill.
Considering that adding one lane to I-4 would cost billions of dollars — and that it would need to happen if SunRail is killed — this SunRail stalemate is a no-brainer, a product of political hardheadedness. It’s not even a bipartisan squabble.
Not to say that a town the size of Lakeland deserves the short end of the stick. But with the potential economic development of Central Florida in mind, SunRail makes sense. Floridians need to make voluntary sacrifices for each other, especially while shouldering a $5 billion budget shortfall.
Mickey and Minnie are down with SunRail, too.
The Walt Disney Co. is throwing their support behind the railway in order to free up congestion that turns away local guests. SunRail would create a spine for Orlando’s commuter system and encourage more urban growth rather than suburban sprawl.
Because SunRail is mapped to pass between venues like the Amway Arena and Disney World, the prospect of economic development in the region is surefire.
Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties would yield more than $981 million in commercial business sales during the next 30 years of construction, operation and maintenance, according to an economic development analysis of the Central Florida Commuter Rail.
And how can UCF benefit from all this commuter rail hullabaloo?
Assuming the economic forecasts and hypotheticals pan out, UCF will have to wait a while for the trickle-down to reach East Orlando. Transportation money is transportation money, and Florida is not cutting any part of the gap-ridden budget further to fund this endeavor.
A significant economic and political player in the Orlando community, UCF has to take a stand on the matter. And since it’s a no-brainer, the university needs to jump on the SunRail caboose.
UCF students and staff, as Floridians, should encourage projects like SunRail for their greater utilitarian scope, even if UCF is cropped out of the picture.
The increasing political involvement from the community is exciting. People are sticking their necks out in larger numbers, with more willingness and persistence.
So score two for the home team; one for the Capitol Connection and one for Disney World.
SunRail will soon learn its fate, and hopefully the Central Florida community has bolstered enough support behind the train to push it onto the tracks.
