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Official On Hot Seat As Polk Crowd Rails Against CSX Project

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By GRETCHEN PARKER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2007

Updated: 12/07/2007 11:56 pm

LAKELAND - The head of the Florida Department of Transportation found herself at the center of a skeptical, assertive crowd that gathered Friday to question why state taxpayers are doling out $491 million for a rail plan that could wind up tearing this city in two.

The crowd of a hundred residents and officials of local governments made clear their frustrations with the plan, which essentially would take CSX's cargo trains off the rail line running through Orlando and dump them onto a single freight superhighway that would run through the heart of downtown Lakeland.
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos emphasized the positive result for central Florida: freeing up 61 miles of rail north of Orlando for commuter trains.

When pressed by the audience gathered at Lakeland City Hall, she acknowledged that the state intends to close the deal, which was never brought before the Legislature for hearings.

"We believe that this is important to the state. We do not hope to go back on this," Kopelousos said. Then she added: "There are still phases that we have to get through before any funding is going to change hands."

That came after Polk County Commissioner Bob English, seated near her on the dais, asked her if it was "too late to back out" of the plan.

Kopelousos didn't address the question head-on until a smattering of audience members yelled: "Answer the question!"

Soon after, Lakeland Mayor Buddy Fletcher turned in his seat next to Kopelousos and said to her: "I can't believe that the Department of Transportation or whomever - the Legislature - will destroy a city for private enterprise and us pay for it."

State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, called the forum and invited the secretary to attend. She was quick to emphasize that the deal was struck without ever coming before the Legislature for hearings.

She took the chance to press Kopelousos on several of her frustrations with the plan, including the fact that although she serves on the Senate Transportation Committee, she had to file a public records request to get the background material on how the deal was struck.

That includes the decision to give CSX $23 million in taxpayer money to fund the key part of the plan - easing Orlando's freight traffic burden by relocating its Taft rail yard to a massive new rail hub planned for Winter Haven.

"When $23 million of your tax money is going to a for-profit company so they can move their rail yard, then we have every right to know where that might be before it's a done deal, and there should be several locations considered," Dockery said.

She went on: "That's the most frustrating part of this deal to me, is that a state agency has the authority to enter negotiations for such a huge amount of money. This is half a billion dollars. It's certainly worth our time to understand the details of this."

It was one of several comments by Dockery that drew outbursts of hearty applause from the crowd.

"One of my biggest frustrations in this is that this deal had been put together over a long period of time but was done in large part in secrecy," she said.

The scrutiny especially is needed in deals such as this, when a chunk of money goes "to benefit one part of the state and has a devastating effect on another part of the state," Dockery said.

"I don't know what the hurry is. It would be great if we could slow down and look through all the potential problems," she said.

Boosting freight traffic in Polk County jeopardizes the only option on the table now for intercity passenger rail between Orlando and Tampa. CSX joined with Gov. Jeb Bush in 2004 to kill the other option, a high-speed rail line along Interstate 4 that had been approved by the state's voters.

The forum got a late start, after Lakeland officials took a few minutes to take the secretary on a tour of downtown and show her the rail line that would be beefed up. It bisects north-south arteries that already back up when trains pass, and it slashes through a revitalized downtown of shops, offices and condominiums.

By the end, a half-dozen residents took their chance to address Kopelousos. One was John Guest, a 64-year-old Bartow resident who built his retirement home - a cracker-style cottage - in what would be the backyard of the new rail hub.

"You, young lady, you can prevent all of this," he said, pointing a folded-up stack of papers at the secretary. "I'm going to keep talking from now on until the day I die."

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at (813) 259-7562 or gparker@tampatrib.com.

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