Here is what Pam Hasterok says about John Mica's Pet Project,......good to see some realism about the flaws of the project rather than the incessant cheerleading for the "behind closed doors" arrangements with a very profitable private company, profiteering some more at the expense of the Florida tax payers:
The life or death of the rail line hinges on who's responsible for accidents. The state is buying the tracks for the passenger line from the freight giant CSX.
CSX plans to keep running freight trains on the tracks, too. If an accident occurs, CSX is demanding that neither it nor its contractors be held liable.
State transportation officials agreed. Lawmakers didn't.
They weren't pleased, either, that officials negotiated the deal in secret without the knowledge of most legislators. Unless a compromise emerges over who pays for accidents and their legal fallout, commuter rail will die next year, too.
Forget the happy talk you'll hear from local lawmakers and council members who say everything will work out.
Powerful representatives can probably pass the project through the House on sheer force of will. That won't work in the Senate.
Enough senators have enough doubts to say no, as they did before, to saddling the state with bills for an accident that is the fault of a private company.
"I don't want the state to be in a situation where it has to take care of every accident and every lawsuit when we're talking about a company that makes a lot of money," said Sen. Jim King, who represents part of Volusia County.
