Florida's Governor Rick Scott Announces Task Force To Review Self-Defense/Gun Laws

Following the death of Tayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman and the outrage over the failure to arrest Zimmerman immediately after the incident, Governor Rick Scott has announced that a task force will review the state's stand your ground laws and other gun laws to issue a recommendation on how to fix the laws.

"After listening to many concerned citizens in recent days, I will call for a Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection to investigate how to make sure a tragedy such as this does not occur in the future," Scott said at the time.

The task force will study Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which allows people to use deadly force anywhere they feel a reasonable threat of death or serious injury, Scott has said.
It is unknown how the law may ultimately factor into the defense case of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Martin on February 26. The 28-year-old has told authorities the killing was in self-defense.

The case has raised questions about just what Stand Your Ground allows, when it applies and whether it achieves its intended effect.

A member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Michael Yaki of San Francisco, said last week he will ask the agency to investigate such laws.

Considering that stand your ground has little utility outside one's residence, place of business, or vehicle, the law should be restricted to those situations.

Moreover, the person initiating the incident should not be allowed to benefit from stand your ground should another person get injured as a result of standing your ground. In other words, if person X follows Y and initiates a series of events that leads to Y's death, X cannot benefit from using stand your ground as a defense.

The law should also allow law enforcement greater latitude in investigating cases where stand your ground is considered. Stand your ground should be allowed as an affirmative defense, not preempting all criminal investigation and/or limiting investigations into potential homicides or other altercations. The fact is that law enforcement opposed stand your ground when it was proposed, but the Florida legislature pushed the legislation despite the now-confirmed fears of law enforcement that crimes would go un-investigated and criminals un-punished because of the loopholes that stand your ground enables.

New York Makes Bid To Capture High Speed Rail Money Rejected By Florida

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo intends to seek $517 million in federal high speed rail money that was rejected by Florida when Gov. Rick Scott killed a high speed rail project between Orlando and Tampa.

New York's rail system could desperately use the funds, and the money will help improve track and station conditions between New York and Albany, although there are a total of eight projects statewide:

The projects include:
Northeast Corridor Congestion Relief: Harold Interlocking: The largest application is for $294.7 million for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Harold Interlocking plan. This project calls for the construction of a new conflict-free route for Amtrak along two miles of the Northeast Corridor where Amtrak service must cross over a flow of MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains, resulting in significant and routine delays for Northeast Corridor service, particularly during peak periods.

The Amtrak bypass routes that will be constructed as part of this project will greatly improve reliability, on-time performance, and travel time for existing Amtrak service between New York and Boston and will provide the direct path through Harold Interlocking that is needed to make high-speed rail possible on the Northeast Corridor in the future.

Moynihan Station Phase 2 Final Design Project: The Governor is seeking $49.8 million to fund the final design of Phase 2 of the Moynihan Station Project, providing new passenger and back-of-house facilities for Amtrak. The Project will improve operational reliability and on-time performance at the station by allowing trains and people to move more efficiently through the Penn Station complex.

Northeast Corridor Congestion Relief: New Upper Hudson Line High-Capacity Signal System - Croton to Poughkeepsie: The $112 million project will construct a new high-capacity signal system to replace the present outdated signal system between Croton-Harmon and Poughkeepsie. The project will provide for higher capacity and reliability to all users and will result in improved on-time-performance and increased capacity.

Empire Corridor Capacity Improvements: Final Phase Signal Improvements Hudson Line: At a cost of $18.6 million this project will replace the final 48 miles of the Hudson Line signal system between Poughkeepsie and Albany and bury the signal cable. The current system is 30 years old and outages in inclement weather account for most of the delay affecting all trains between Albany and New York City.

Empire Corridor Capacity Improvements: Final Phase 4th Track Construction at Rensselaer Station: This $35.4 million project will complete work at the new Rensselaer Station which was opened in 2002. The funding will be used to construct a new fourth track, extended platforms, realignment of existing tracks and new signal system.

Empire Corridor Capacity Improvements: Final Phase Track Construction at Schenectady Station: The Governor would use $4.1 million to make major upgrades to the Schenectady Station. Built in 1970, the station is in poor condition with inadequate track and platforms. CDTA has designed a new station and tracks and has State and local funding in place for constructing the station. This project will provide for construction of the track and platforms and complete the funding package necessary for the Schenectady Station replacement.

Empire Corridor West: Rochester Intermodal Station: The City of Rochester plans to replace the inadequate, 37 year old temporary Rochester Station with a new Rochester Intermodal Station. This $1.4 million project would complete the preliminary engineering and environmental work.

Empire Corridor West: Niagara Falls High-speed Rail Inspection and Maintenance Facility: This project will use $1.75 million to conduct the preliminary engineering and environmental analysis necessary to construct the first heated, in-door maintenance facility west of Schenectady on the Empire Corridor West. Employees at the present facility built in 1978 service 728 locomotives, 2,912 coaches and 728 food service cars annually. The facility has no enclosed heated building to thaw out frozen equipment and Amtrak mechanics must use torpedo heaters and hand held torches to get equipment operating. This project will prepare the construction of an enclosed heated building, inspection pit, compressed plant air, and a track catch basin in which to capture water and oils.

However, notably absent among the projects is the use of any of those funds towards the construction of the Gateway Tunnel, which supersedes the ARC tunnel killed by Gov. Christie, which would enable high speed rail to access Penn Station.

Florida's High Speed Rail Project DOA; Funds Will Go Elsewhere

Despite last minute efforts by politicians and cities that would have potentially benefited from the high speed rail connection project between Tampa and Orlando, Florida's Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Rick Scott was within his rights to cancel the $2.4 billion project and use state funds towards other infrastructure projects.

 

Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields said the state cannot rely on just on roads to move people, goods and services. Scuttling the train, he said, is "just not forward thinking. We have to do something different as a state."

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, lamented the loss of jobs.

"His heart is hard," she said of the governor. "Honest to goodness, I never thought I would miss Charlie Crist."

LaHood, who envisions a high-speed rail network similar to the interstate highways crisscrossing the country, said, "I know that states across America are enthusiastic about receiving additional support to help bring America's high-speed rail network to life and deliver all its economic benefits to their citizens," LaHood said.

States that could get all or part of the money include California, Illinois, Missouri and Washington.

Scott was applauded by Robin Stublen, a founder of the Punta Gorda Tea Party and a member of the Florida Alliance, a group of fiscal conservatives, as well as Sharon Calvert, co-founder of the Tampa Tea Party.

Calvert called Scott "courageous," and Stublen criticized LaHood for still spending the $2.4 billion.

"I think sending that money elsewhere is a poor decision," Stublen said. "It's not our money. We don't have it. This is not being prudent with your money."

The seven justices of the Supreme Court all agreed that Scott had the right to send back the money to Washington, rejecting the argument of state Sens. Thad Altman, R-Viera, and Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, that the law they helped pass in 2009 forced him to take the funds and build the train.

They issued a one-page ruling dismissing the suit.

Scott has directed that $77 million in state funds be used to dredge Miami's harbor to deepen it in anticipation of new larger ships that would take advantage of the soon to be opening Panama Canal expansion. He claims that the dredging project would eventually create 37,000 jobs, while the high speed rail project was expected to create 25,000 jobs. By that measure, Scott was right to cancel the project, but if private companies were going to cover potential overruns on the rail project, it should have been sufficient to overcome the cost issues that Scott had with the project.

This would have been a great test case to see whether true high speed rail has a chance in the US.

What's dismaying is that the Northeast Corridor wont be in line for any of these funds - $2.4 billion would go a long way to replacing the Portal Bridge, and that's a project that is truly shovel ready. Why is the Administration playing games with the funds and opting to send the money elsewhere when this project directly benefits the nation's only current high speed rail corridor (which has the highest population density and usage rates in the nation to boot).

California may get a portion of the federal funds, which would go towards that state's high speed rail project. However, no one knows the real cost of that project, which has received pledges of $3 billion in federal funds, but is likely to cost $43 billion - or more than double the next highest cost for an infrastructure project in the nation's history - Boston's Big Dig that itself went significantly over budget (by more than $10 billion).

That once again highlights the nation's dysfunctional funding mechanisms for infrastructure projects and how shifts in local priorities can derail state and federal infrastructure objections. Moreover, it shows that the prioritization of infrastructure projects is simply not there. The country is more interested in building new infrastructure while existing infrastructure is obsolete and needs replacement - such as on the NEC. We can't continue looking to build new infrastructure when the existing infrastructure is falling apart and is not capable of handling existing traffic, let alone future anticipated growth.

Deadline Day For Florida's High Speed Rail Project

Today's the deadline day to get Florida's high speed rail (HSR) project back on track. Backers of the project say that any cost overruns would be borne by the private sector, eliminating the key concern for GOP Gov. Rick Scott, who also claims that the money would be better used upgrading ports to handle larger ships once the Panama Canal upgrade is completed:

"We have addressed all of the governor's concerns," said Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. "We have structured this so that if there were cost overruns the private sector would take care if it."

Iorio, along with the mayors of Orlando, Lakeland and Miami, signed an agreement that calls for local authorities to take over the project with the help of the private sector. They presented their plan to Scott Wednesday.

"If there are operational short falls -- private sector. This is a true public-private partnership," Iorio said. "This is what governors all across the country want and we had structured this in such a way that there would not be risk to the Florida taxpayers."

Scott's office did not respond to CNN's request for a comment on the agreement.

Scott has said that he believes there would be a greater long-term benefit to the state if the money were used for other infrastructure projects.

"I want the money for our ports," he said, noting the expansion project now underway at the Panama Canal and the growth of economies in Central and South America. "Put that money into the Florida ports. That's where we want that money spent."

But LaHood said the funds were specifically allocated for high-speed rail and can't be switched to other projects.

Proponents of high-speed rail believe Florida is the ideal location for an inter-city system. The Tampa to Orlando project would be the first leg in a line that advocates hope to extend to Miami and eventually Jacksonville in the north of the state.

If that's the case, then let this project go ahead and see if Florida can get HSR up and running. It would be a tremendous test case to see if the country can get anything approaching HSR.

Meanwhile, funding to get key improvements on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) are still lagging - particularly the Portal Bridge project that should be separate from all the discussions about the Gateway Tunnel/ARC project.

The Portal Bridge is a project everyone agrees upon, yet no one in the NJ delegation seems to be able to secure funding - and that includes Sen. Frank Lautenberg whose name adorns the Secaucus Transfer for all of his support of mass transit. Time for him to put up and shut about about his ongoing feuds with Gov. Chris Christie and secure the funding for this project that has been on the drawing boards for years and which all the relevant parties - from Amtrak to NJ Transit to the state and federal authorities - recognize as critical to improving the on-time performance of the NEC and increasing speed on the corridor to reduce travel time between Washington DC and Boston.

UPDATE:
Benjamin Kabab at Second Avenue Sagas takes another crack at trying to figure out how to get a cross-Hudson River tunnel done. His takeaway:

The overarching issue with ARC, Gateway of the 7 line extension is one of local government and expenditures. Who stands to benefit most from the new tunnel — New York businesses who can bring more commuters and tourists into the city or New Jersey residents who will find their commutes quicker and less stressful? Should New Jersey pay for transportation improvements that only incidentally end up in New York or should New York add more to the pot for a tunnel that adds to its economic allure?

The answer to those question is, obviously enough, probably both. To realize a new cross-Hudson rail tunnel, New York will have to add more to the pot, and they likely should. In an age of stretched state budgets though, it’s tough to see where the money will come from, and we may be in for a long wait until the next tunnel breaks ground.

Actually, he leaves out the point that a cross-Hudson tunnel is an interstate venture and Amtrak improvements would vastly improve interstate travel along the NEC. Expanding slots for NJ Transit helps the daily commuters that not only commute into Manhattan for the day, but the reverse commuters who go elsewhere. A 7 line expansion would greatly improve regional transit capabilities since a New Jersey resident would have a 1-seat ride from Secaucus all the way to Flushing, and the related access to more subway lines. It's a project worthy of further study and should be up for federal funding just as surely as the other rail projects.

Christie was right to demand that New York get in the game and pony up more funds to make the tunnel work - the ARC project could have been salvaged had New York come up with the funding to cover overruns, which was a major concern that New Jersey taxpayers would be hit with billions in overruns.

Meanwhile, talk about increasing the New Jersey gas tax to fund mass transit keep ignoring that the state's taxpayers are the most heavily burdened in the nation based on their overall tax burden and that increasing the gas tax would be a further regressive hit on all taxpayers.

Yet, at some point, that gas tax will be raised to cover transportation projects that are absolutely needed and vital to New Jersey infrastructure - both mass transit and highways. There are too many projects that are needed, and which lack the needed funds to happen anytime soon.

UPDATE:
The Florida Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Scott has the authority to cancel the project. With this project all but killed, I can only hope that New Jersey and New York take advantage of the $2.4 billion to get the Portal Bridge project underway, and to get a head start on the Gateway/ARC tunnel project.