Connecting the Dots of “Connecting Florida” and other bogus train groups As the Florida Not All Aboard opposition movement against All Aboard Florida started circulating the facts about the speed rail, our group picked up steam, gained supporters, started educating officials and leaders…and surprised FECI management. Yes, we have accomplished what they never imagined – in a few short months we researched their assertions, plans and misinformation and we spread the truth far and wide and now we have them on the defensive. In April, when the FNAA team started meeting with county commissioners up and down the coast and attending meetings and going on public record with the truth, FEC went on the defensive. AAF/FEC’s new tactics came in the form of a propaganda email in mid May from a bogus organization called Florida Conservatives United. The mailer was a lift of graphics from their website and loaded with their sales pitch. We tracked this organization down to a Shop & Ship in Oakland Park, FL and it appears they purchased email lists from conservative organizations in the region to send out the blast. Feeling the heat from our growing organization, they formalized an entity that would appear as an independent, pro-AAF organization – Connecting Florida, “A Citizens Support Group for All Aboard Florida”. Since we know of 3 citizens supporting AAF (who aren’t shills), they had to make up an organization… and create they did. FNAA tracked this group down and found the organizer is an attorney in Miami and their domain is registered to a ‘Lisa Rosenbaum’ at an office in Stuart with a fictitious phone number. We visited the office building but no Lisa…if you know Lisa, please ask her to give us a call. While their PR firm organized Lisa’s group, they also used an apparent ‘Matt Drudge wannabe’ blogger with a website and internet newsletter, Florida Courant – Noteworthy News and Punditry. (Maybe AAF purchased their email list?) In late June, the Courant published a lead story (most often these are just links to other news outlet articles) promoting AAF with the typical ‘wonderful financial benefits with no downside’ propaganda and a link to the video of a HSR crossing an intersection…see folks, no problem. The Courant’s story was published under the byline of THE TREASURE COAST STAR, which is also a website linking readers to other news organizations’ stories and is probably one and the same with the Courant. Tricky little tactic – when you click the link to read more about a “Wabbso Woman Going to China”, you get the AAF crossing video instead. We are guessing that they are probably paid by the number of views of the video linked from their site. So, back to Lisa’s group, Connecting Florida …the first of July, this “citizens group” sent out an e-blast with ‘the facts’ and you can tell that FNAA has made an impact…they are trying to dispel all of our facts from freight to safety to financials. Naturally, it is with the same lies and obfuscations and it won’t work. Actual smart citizens understand what is happening and they are coming to our website, signing the petition and telling their friends. So once again in this David and Goliath battle, the little guys with no budget use a grassroots movement to spread the truth…and we’re winning! Please encourage your friends and neighbors to help us by learning the truth at our website and signing our petition…just like character, numbers count! Here are a few FACTS to tell your friends that FEC can’t challenge: AAF by the Numbers 349 vs 11 The total number of AAF at grade crossings compared to Amtrak’s Acela in the northeast. That’s 4,000,000 chances per year for a crossing accident or fatality. 20+ Freight trains per day…Florida East Coast, AAF’s parent company, is losing millions and needs AAF’s federal loan for the second track to handle increased freight. It will become a Fortress Flip for profit! 211 The number of crossing incidents (including 46 deaths and 59 injuries) on the FEC line in the last 10 years...before AAF speed trains! 0 The number of permanent jobs created by AAF along the Treasure Coast $Millions and $Millions… The number of dollars county taxpayers will pay for: Retrofit roads and Crossings Long term maintenance New EMS equipment and training Quiet Zone upgrades to stop 50+ horns per day *************************************************************** Here is one of the latest e-mail blasts from Connecting Florida: An email update from ConnectingFlorida.org View this email in your browser ALL ABOARD FLORIDA - DONT BE MISLEAD - GET THE FACTS TODAY We continue to read a stream of similarly worded criticism about all aboard Florida. None of this criticism has any basis in fact, so perhaps there is a strategy by some that simply dont care to know the truth to just continue to recant myth and misinformation in the hopes that it somehow gets translated into (or at least perceived as) fact. In our ongoing effort to help everyone more fully understand our project, we offer the following clarifications and amplifications as a response to factual misrepresentations. On freight. As we have said repeatedly; and as is easily validated, FECR is the existing freight railroad company that has operated in the historic Flagler corridor on a continuous basis for over a century. They are an entirely different company from FECI, the parent company of AAF. The companies do not share legal structure, organization, management or any participation from operating results of their independent businesses. The two companies share utilization of a common right-of- way through separate easements. Fortress Investment Group presently owns both companies thru investment funds they manage on behalf of various investors. Each company discretely owns its assets within the corridor. It is important to note that the existing infrastructure is sufficient for freight traffic and as is, contains capacity for growth in freight volume. The investment in AAF will produce added rail capacity in the system specifically to accommodate the added passenger rail activity. As direct evidence of the independence of the companies, AAF cannot consume the excess capacity of another company so therefore must invest in Assets that it owns in order to achieve the necessary scenario to operate on its easement. So the argument that AAF is a scheme to add freight capacity is simply illogical. Moreover, the existing freight operation has numerous avenues through which if they desired to finance additional infrastructure investment they could. This would include among many others, the exact same RRIF loan program AAF is pursuing. To put a fine point on the logic gap that AAF is a way to increase freight capacity, why would anyone spend money on a passenger operation as a means to get what is otherwise available without risking or wasting that capital? Even more importantly, freight capacity could be added to the existing system without the scrutiny, investment and process associated with the ongoing AAF initiated EIS process. And finally, as to the conspiracy theory that the end game is a freight route from Miami to Orlando, one simply needs to read the lease agreements between AAF and FDOT and the OOCEA to see that AAF is specifically excluded from any freight operations or other commercial operations in this ROW other than for its express intercity passenger service. On property values. Despite assertions to the contrary, there is really no evidence that AAF will have any negative affect on surrounding property values. As reported recently in the Palm Beach Post, there are in fact many studies and historical examples that support the premise that property values proximate to rail station locations ( up to a 1 mile radius) in fact INCREASE because of passenger rail. Passenger rail traffic has not been shown to negatively affect property values for proximate property, especially where the train corridor predates the existence of the adjacent property, which is the case for virtually every property along the railroad on the entire east coast of the state. On road congestion. Some important facts. The grade crossings that exist in the most heavily developed portion of our system, where the traffic volumes on the roads are the highest and the proximity of crossings is among closest on the ROW have been thoroughly evaluated through the completed environmental impact study. The results of this analysis concluded no significant impact to traffic, service or public safety as a result of the addition of the proposed AAF traffic onto the railroad. This is in large part to the realities of passenger trains which are short, light, fast, and significantly quieter than freight trains. It is also due to the fact that the proposed improvements to the signal and communication systems on the railroad and the increased operating efficiency that results creates minimum time and frequency impacts at these crossings. It stands to reason, that when the same analysis methodology is applied to crossings with less traffic and less development, that even less impact will result. To better understand, during the operating hours for AAF and because of the speed and size of the trains, anyone along the corridor has approximately a 97% chance of never encountering an AAF train at all. And in the case of the 3% probability, the duration of the encounter is less than sixty seconds in the worst case scenario which accounts for warning time, gate closure, train passage and subsequent gate re opening. The math contradicts the hysteria around traffic congestion and public safety impacts. On safety. Every grade crossing on the corridor will be upgraded and these improvements paid for by AAF. The results will create the safest railroad in the country, with adherence to the highest standards of safety recommended and or required for operations at the speed and type proposed by AAF. In fact, as relates to safety, the results of the AAF investment will improve the situation from the current conditions along the entire route. On RRIF. The RRIF program is a loan, not a grant. It is fully underwritten by the FRA credit committee and their third party advisors. The financial viability of the business must withstand comprehensive scrutiny for approval. It is a collateralized loan, backed by the value of assets pledged by AAF and forfeited to the lender in the case of any default. In this way, the loan us secured by the assets that are funded by the loan. Finally, the program was specifically designed to incent projects like AAF that deploy private capital to improve the railroad infrastructure of the country by reducing the cost of interest so companies can invest more on assets that create value and improvements to the countrys infrastructure. Moreover, the program specifically looks for projects that also create economic development ( check for AAF) improve railroad safety ( check) and generate environmental benefits( check again!). For all if these reasons, we believe AAF is an ideal candidate for participation in this fully appropriated and long standing program. On profitability. Those who suggest that no profitable passenger railroads exist or are possible, simply do not have command of the facts. There are numerous passenger services that provide what AAF proposes ( express intercity service)and that have service characteristics very similar to what AAF proposes (market size, distance between cities, trip time, road congestion) that are also profitable private sector enterprises. Looking no further than on the east coast, the best US analog is the Acela service operated by Amtrak in the northeast corridor. On a stand alone basis, this service operates very profitably and in fact provides subsidy to he remainder of the Amtrak system that provides other kinds of services that do not offer the business model we are pursuing. Around the globe many other models were the base of our business planning as a result of in depth study of the conditions, characteristics and factors that contribute to successful business operations. All aboard Florida can not only replicate the factors for success, it is further benefited by a more diverse customer base that is a reflection of the overall Florida economy, and as owners of the Right of way and infrastructure, we do not pay access fees for the use of infrastructure owned by others. Those that say passenger rail cannot be profitable do not know what we have learned and obviously have not fully researched the topic before offering a definitive opinion. And finally, on benefits. To those who claim no benefits from AAF there is the following list of facts to the contrary. 1. All Aboard Florida will generate significant economic output that benefits everyone. Billions of dollars of new economic activity. Those who refuse to accept the results of the professionally conducted study that quantities this output have no been able to refute these facts. They simply refuse to accept them. Meanwhile, other respected economists not connected with the project at all have reviewed the study and have validated the results. These benefits are undeniable. 2. AAF creates jobs. Thousands of jobs. Construction jobs, operating jobs, support jobs, permanent jobs. Ask anyone that gets one of these jobs or whose job is supported By AAF if this is a benefit. 3. AAF generates tax revenue. Millions of dollars of new tax revenue to local and state and federal coffers. Whether these taxes offsets costs for existing public services or help fund new or increasing costs, if you live in Florida, these revenues benefit you. 4. AAF will improve the safety of the existing corridor. As discussed earlier, this benefit is a direct result of the AAF investment and is a tangible benefit felt along the entire corridor. 5. AAF will improve the operating efficiency and reliability of the railroad through investments in new signals, communications technology and physical plant improvements to bridges and railroad capacity. These improvements mean better operation for bridges, and more efficient joint operation of both freight and passenger traffic in the corridor. These improvements mean less impact to local communities and are a benefit that is exactly what most seem to desire. 6. The significant investments made by AAF into the corridor will pre-fund the vast majority of the costs associated with improvements needed to affect quiet zones along the corridor, eliminating the need for trains to utilize horns as a public safety warning. AAF represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to realize this benefit at the lowest possible cost, the quickest possible time frame and the easiest possible process. In addition to the investment, AAF has expressed willingness to assist with needed engineering, bidding and even construction management of the process as evidence of our commitment to supporting the realization of this benefit. All of these benefits are over and above those that result at the station locations we will develop. All of these benefits are felt by every community along the route of our service, so when the suggestion is made that there are places along our route for which there are no benefits, once again the facts do not support the argument. Copyright © 2014 Connecting Florida, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website. Our mailing address is: Connecting Florida 2100 SE Ocean Blvd Stuart Florida, FL 34996 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:50:56 +0000
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