Letters to the editor

Fix the financials for rail

On May 24, the Winter Park City Commission will review the commuter rail agreement between Winter Park and Orange County. It is disappointing to see anonymous e-mails already circulating suggesting that any discussion of commuter rail indicates opposition to it. Several financial elements in the agreement pose a danger to the future financial health of our community. To reduce those dangers I recommend that the city:

1. Require Orange County to treat Winter Park in the same way Volusia, Seminole and Osceola treat their cities with proposed commuter rail stops. Orange County's position is that commercial construction will follow construction of each commuter rail stop and the income generated will fund operational costs of the system. This may be true for Maitland, with development on the Parker Lumber site. But such new development is neither expected nor desired near our Central Park stop. The effect of Orange County's position is that Winter Park residents are taxed twice for this rail system, instead of the funding coming from the county taxes as in Volusia, Seminole and Osceola.

2. If Orange County cannot be persuaded to follow the example of the other counties, place a cap on the city's share of the expenses after the first seven years of operation. Since our city referendum in March 2007, the county, without the city's sanction, raised Winter Park's costs. (This action applied to the designated share of bond and operational costs within one year of execution of the agreement.) I am pleased that current plans indicate the state may finance the construction bonds. But as written now, the agreement requires the city to pay any increase that might occur if the estimates of fee income and operational costs are too low. Unfortunately, the city's share is calculated based on miles of rail track rather than what it can afford to pay.

3. Do its best to determine how much the city would have to reimburse the county, the state of Florida, and/or the U.S government if the city should decide to terminate the stop in the future and determine if any reimbursement requirements can be eliminated.

—Kenneth F. Murrah

Winter Park

Dillaha's dangerous disaster

The Winter Park City Commission meeting of May 24 has been set aside for commission and public input, and possibly action on Commissioner Beth Dillaha's continuing efforts to terminate Winter Park's participation in the SunRail commuter rail system.

Ms. Dillaha continues her efforts to terminate Winter Park's commuter rail agreement with Orange County with the intent to terminate Winter Park's commuter rail station. (A previous move by Ms. Dillaha to terminate the agreement in January 2009 was defeated by a 3 to 2 vote.) If Ms. Dillaha wanted something other than termination of our commuter rail station she would have been working with Orange County over the past two years instead of co-opting untold hours of city commission time, spending taxpayer money for conflicting legal opinions, and proffering irrelevant and false objections in an effort to undermine the commuter rail agreement.

Ms. Dillaha is asking for the SunRail commuter trains to come through Winter Park and never stop. She is asking that we forego having our station (which is fully paid for by state and federal dollars) and face all the impacts of having commuter trains go through Winter Park while never realizing any of the benefits. A few moments of thought on this reality will make it clear that killing our participation in SunRail would be a monumental strategic disaster for Winter Park:

· SunRail is going to happen.

· State and federal funds are paying the $1.2 billion capital cost to establish the four county SunRail system.

· The city's financial exposure to ongoing costs is protected.

· Winter Park's decision was to participate or have the trains running through our town without stopping.

· The citizens made the decision to have a station in a 2007 referendum and our City Commission has both the authority and the duty to make that happen.

Winter Park citizens need to write the City Commission to demand a stop to the obstruction and a beginning to the cooperation needed to make our SunRail station a reality and a success for Winter Park.

Supporting documentation for the statements made here can be found at winterparkperspective.org/category/commuterrail/.

—Pete Weldon

Winter Park

Let Floridians vote on near-shore oil

With the massive and ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spewing millions of gallons into the nation's marine waters, now is the time for our elected government to allow us, the citizens of the state, to decide whether we want to allow oil and gas exploration in our state waters. Our state waters stretch from our beaches to three miles out in the Atlantic and nine miles out into the Gulf. I am hopeful Gov. Crist will soon call a special session and that the Legislature will pass a Joint Resolution to put this issue on the November 2010 ballot. Allow us the opportunity to amend the constitution and stop any chance of this ever happening right next to our shoreline.

I can think of no more crucial issue to Florida's economy and ecology. We rely on tourism and the trademark of white sandy beaches to create and retain jobs. If the ongoing spill had happened right off Naples, Jacksonville, Tampa or Miami, our entire economy would take a hit that would last years. It is the last thing we need to worry about. If the amendment passes, oil drilling will continue in the Gulf, just not right next to Florida.

We do not yet fully know where the massive spill south of Pensacola will end up, and which communities will have to pay the price. But citizens should be allowed to make their opinions known in November. This is an issue that supersedes Republican, Democratic or Independent partisan politics. It is an issue about our future. Let us vote.

—Preston T. Robertson

Florida Wildlife Federation