Letter to the editor

SunRail is going to fail

In a letter titled "Seize economic power of rail", published June 3, Mr. Charley Williams romanticized commuter rail as a tourist/shopping trip/cultural/sport/go-out-to-eat rail. All at one fare per person. Two trains to come have lunch in Winter Park. Maybe once a year, like I did recently and disappointingly — but entertainingly — to Ybor City on Amtrak, if you call being panhandled on a train entertaining. And consider all the intervening and competing destinations (e.g., Church Street Station and Disney) between Tampa and here.

People who see SunRail as some kind of salvation for Winter Park are going to be hugely disappointed. Mr. Williams talks about the other nine square miles. SunRail to Central Park will do little for the still-blighted western section of Fairbanks Avenue and all of U.S. Highway 17-92. I'm ashamed to drive on either roads and know they are Winter Park.

But here are the primary reasons SunRail, as well as high-speed rail, will fail:

First, SunRail as contemplated is on one hand, way ahead of its time — people in Central Florida are not anywhere near ready to exchange cars for mass transit; and on the other hand, it is way behind the times; an at-grade, diesel-powered train as our first foray into the big leagues is nothing short of embarrassing.

Right now I am surveying to find out the details of why 200-250 parents drop off and pick up their students each day at Glenridge Middle School, and to try to encourage them instead to have their children walk or bike to school. The FDOT District 5 bicycle and pedestrian coordinator told me that "This is the second generation of households with two cars … It's a cultural shift." Similarly, these same drivers are not going to magically convert to mass transit users. I know I won't. Why? It's too inconvenient to my lifestyle, both business and personal. And I hate driving!

Second, real estate developers are not going to be rushing in to develop and re-develop land along a freight line anytime soon. Orange County has a de facto moratorium on new residential development because there are 80,000-plus permitable homes on the books already. The smart money says Lake Nona, perhaps Innovation Place/Way, are going to steal all the juice. Another nail in SunRail's coffin before it has belched its first emission.

Third, as for our existing passenger rail transit (Amtrak), another embarrassment, intercity passenger rates are so low that trains only run once each day, each way to/from Orlando/Tampa. Will high-speed rail — a huge mischaracterization of how slow that service must run due to both alignment restrictions and too many stops — suddenly create demand? I sincerely doubt it. Portal to portal, in this sprawled state, the current paradigm of automobile travel will win every time, unless we heavily tax fuel and/or fuel prices rise so high as to make mass transit really attractive. People may be stuck in traffic, but they're also stuck in a car mentality, and they ain't getting out.

I'm all for mass transit. I would love to see it succeed. Make it free, heavily subsidize it, but make it make sense. SunRail is all about politicians, lobbyists, business-as-usual and wishful thinking. And not a damn thing about efficiently and cost-effectively moving working commuters.

—William Shallcross

Winter Park

Projects, mailers show city's health

I've been hearing lots of doom and gloom recently about finances in the city of Winter Park. It seems our civic duty is to worry about civil servant pensions, salaries, potential costs of commuter rail and how our fair city will manage in these desperate times. If you listen to the city commission meetings, you'd think this was a real problem.

But I propose an antidote to these nattering nabobs of negativity. Jump in your car and drive down Morse Boulevard from Park Avenue. You'll be blocked by a streetscaping project that will be beautiful, but I guarantee isn't free. Once you make a U-turn due to the ongoing construction, you will see the remaking of our "treasure", Central Park. Again, I am sure it will be beautiful but it isn't free. After passing this massive project, turn into Hannibal Square, where a new gymnasium will soon be replacing a … gymnasium. Again, I am sure this will be beautiful, but it isn't free. Continue on your bumpy ride on Pennsylvania Avenue, which looks like a road project experimentation lab. Note the large equipment on the side of the road and in Mead Garden. Are there more tax dollars being spent on Mead? Close your eyes! Finally, arrive at your home and sift through the mail to find an ornate card, worthy of a Martha Stewart wedding. It's from the city of Winter Park Tree Preservation Board telling me things like trees provide shade and homes for critters and birds. Wow! Who knew?

All of this activity is happening in the "worst of times." Thank goodness the economy stinks, otherwise we wouldn't be able leave our homes due to all the public projects and all the fancy postcards from the city telling us how wonderful we are.

The next time a politician or a board member or a civil servant tells you about tough budget times, remind them of these worthy, but expensive projects. I am sure all can be justified, but let's be honest: If we can afford these projects and postcards, we can certainly afford $350,000 in seven years for commuter rail. This is the good news.

So, what's the bad news? Due to the dire financial straits of our city and the looming financial catastrophes in the world, the city commission has decided there will be no free hotdogs at this year's Fourth of July celebration in Central Park.

—Pitt Warner

Winter Park