Smart move by All Aboard Florida: Announce you've got a builder for billions of dollars in new "train sets," then watch how fast your business pals buddy-up and your opponents deflate like a Bazooka bubble..
That's how I read Thursday's news.
All Aboard Florida, with a struggling, less than persuasive ground game in angry communities along its east coast route, badly needed some strong, positive PR.The press release from Siemens took care of that.
It's a kind of bully-boy advisory that All Aboard Florida is here -- megatons of rolling stock on the way -- and there's no turning back.
But read the PR statement carefully. Plain as the nose on your face, the whole Siemens selection thing is a crock. Nothing is different today than it was a week ago or a month ago. Nothing has actually happened.
Do you see anywhere within the Sacramento manufacturer's press release that a contract was signed? No, no contract.
Was a dollar figure quoted for even the first phase of the job? No, no dollar figure. You need a contract for that.
As the release points out, "All Aboard Florida and Siemens have been working together extensively on the development and design of the passenger rail cars ..."
They're telling you selection is nothing new, Siemens was selected weeks, maybe months ago. But being selected doesn't equal adone deal. The contract is what counts. The contract. And there is none.
Siemens is a little bit like the star center forward picked for the national team -- only there's no guarantee the national team will qualify to play on the big stage. All Aboard Florida -- even with stations built or under construction -- is still a mile away from qualification.
But we all followed the "news" like lemmings over a cliff, myself included, and wrote the Siemens-gets-selected story under big headlines. By the time I really thought about it, realized it was 90 percent hoax, the story was up on our site.
"Perpetuating the myth -- isn't that obvious what they're doing?" Phyllis Frey asked in a telephone interview Thursday evening. Frey, chair of the Vero Beach-based, anti-AAF American Coalition 4 Property Rights, said the passenger rail service is nowhere near off the ground, "even though the Florida Chamber of Commerce has raised our ire and broken the hearts of the people and businesses in the Palm Beaches and Treasure and Space Coasts by supporting it.
"Here is a project that will destroy the integrity and tourism and, yes, the business climate of our small communities," she said, "yet the chamber even promotes it on their website and sent a letter to the governor urging it."
What makes the fight against All Aboard Florida so not-over-yet -- apart from unfinished environmental and Coast Guard studies -- is that the financing is far from a wrap. Yes, the federalRailroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program (RRIF) exists to enable rail travel -- and yes, expanding passenger rail is a priority of President Obama -- but the fact is, AAF doesn't have the money yet.
Said Frey, "All Aboard Florida claims they aren't taking a dime of public money. Are you kidding me? The RRIF loan is $1.5 billion in taxpayer money at the rate of 5.75 percent for 35 years. With interest, the amount will be $2.5 billion. Doesn't that sound like a taxpayer subsidy to you?
"Lets not forget their $405 million in junk bonds at 12.5 percent, which may well be paid off with the RRIF loan," she said. "Bottom line, if AAF had to go out and apply for this loan in the market place, they could never do it. So they are totally dependent on the taxpayer. Yet they continue to run these ads promoting their independence, deceiving the public."
Frey, who supportswww.floridanotallaboard.com,has a power point presentation in which she presents six points "debunking the full complement of All About Florida myths."
She has said her organization so far has gathered 29 resolutions from city councils, county commissions, homeowners associations and civic and fire-rescue/safety groups. She said, "25,000 concerned citizens have signed our petition in opposition to All Aboard Florida."
AAF officials have said the company expects initial annual revenue of $143 million. The question is, given 5.75 percent interest on a $1.5 billion loan, and other costs like salaries, will there be enough left to make this passenger service a viable operation? And if it fails, who pays? Two Florida congressmen, Republican Bill Posey representing the Space Coast and Democrat Patrick Murphy representing the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches, aren't happy about it and are trying to get the answers.
Bottom line here is this: Southeast Florida's fight to see All Aboard Florida go somewhere else -- canceling the extra 32 train trips AAF will add to Florida East Coast Railway -- isn't over until we see a finalized RRIF loan and a rail-car construction contract.
Recent related commentary: All Aboard Florida: The Horror Behind Curtain No. 2
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
