TOM CAMPENNI
700 SW SAINT LUCIE CRES.
STUART FL 34994
June 17, 2014
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Room 233 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Ryan:
As the Chair of the all-important House Budget Committee, you have dedicated yourself to weeding out tax-payer supported boondoggles. You have shown leadership with your opposition to “XpressWest’s FRA loan. It is important that you oppose all such loans including the “All Aboard Florida” $1.5 billion loan for high speed passenger service from Miami to Orlando.
Like “XpressWest,” “All Aboard Florida” is another example of a private company proposing rail service using tax payer financing. This is nothing more than the taxpayers taking the risks without any upside potential. The private company will have very little downside and, in the very unlikely case of success, all the reward. If ventures like these were such worthy and needed projects, why doesn’t the private sector fund them? That answer is rather obvious.
There is not one example of a passenger rail system in the United States that has been operated profitably in decades. Why doesn’t “All Aboard Florida” which once you peel back the “corporate vale” is owned by the $64 billion hedge fund, The Fortress Group, pay for the new tracks themselves? (They are contemplating buying a huge New York City property development of thousands of units spending nearly $6 billion dollars of their own money) If they are to receive the loan, it would be nothing more than an example of big corporate welfare at a time when we, as a nation, cannot afford to maintain our existing public roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
“All Aboard Florida’s” plan for high speed rail will run through countless small downtowns, such as my hometown of Stuart, on street grade without a sealed corridor which is a very dangerous proposition. The right of way they will use was created for Flagler’s railroad on the east coast of Florida in the late 19th and early 20th century. At that time, South Florida was a sparsely settled area. The state now comprises 19 million residents and is (or soon will be) the third largest in the nation.
The last time passenger trains operated on that track was in the late 1960s when it was discontinued for lack of profitability. Amtrack already runs 4 trains per day between Orlando and Miami unprofitably. Amtrack’s price is about $35.00 one way and takes a little over five hours to complete. “All Aboard Florida,” which will take 3 hours, will purportedly charge approximately $100 one way. Given that the company will be borrowing the funds to buy track and trains, how will it be profitable even with the company’s fantasy ridership projections?
I urge you to look into this and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars to fund one more corporate subsidy for one more favored company. Our government, through our elected representatives, cannot continue to be in the pocket of elite corporatists and then claim to be with we, the people.
Sincerely,
Tom Campenni