(The following column by Froma Harrop appeared on the Everett Daily Herald website on March 30, 2011.)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — You’d think that a state knocked cold by the real-estate meltdown would invest in a future not based on housing bubbles. And that if the feds dangled a bag of money to help it address a serious economic drag — a gridlocked highway system that turns off tourists, retirees and business travelers — you’d think the state would grab it.
But this is Florida, where the recently elected Gov. Rick Scott has rejected $2.4 billion in federal money for a $2.7 billion high-speed train connecting Tampa and Orlando. Scott offers several reasons for this move, though not necessarily the real one.
OK, so why didn’t Scott lunge for money that could have launched America’s first bullet train and employed a bunch of jobless Floridians? Politics.
Fast trains were to be President Obama’s moon shot. Work on the Tampa-Orlando link was already so far along that it could have debuted in time for the 2012 election. The project is wildly popular in the independent-voter-rich I-4 corridor. Giving the people what they want might help Obama win Florida, so you can’t do that.
Meanwhile, the California High-Speed Rail Authority meets this week to pick projects on which to spend the $2.4 billion that Florida turned down. Scott’s snub of this grant wrapped in golden ribbons has angered Floridians of all political persuasions. Just wait until the bullet trains start streaking across California.
The full column appears at www.heraldnet.com.