Dear Editor,
As a businessman and resident in Indian River County, I would like to add my voice and some balance, to the dialogue we’ve been hearing along the Treasure Coast about the All Aboard Florida project.
To anyone following the local news, you would think the vast majority of residents here are against this passenger rail project. Well those voices – while they may be among the loudest at the moment and as a result getting more of the attention – certainly don’t speak for everyone.
We welcome the return of passenger rail to Florida’s east coast, because there are more positive outcomes (than negative ones) to be gained for all of us if we take a long-term view.
Visit Florida estimates that we had almost 100,000,000 visitors in our state this past year and that number will hopefully grow. Think about the added economic benefit to Florida if these visitors spend a few more vacation days here and travel to other parts of our beautiful state, including this area and the added visitors that we stand to get from All Aboard Florida’s nearby Orlando and West Palm Beach stations – our area’s two primary tourism feeders. I’m sure our local hotels, restaurants and attractions can get excited about the increased business they could expect.
How can this be a bad thing for the Treasure Coast?
While we are not getting a station right now, having passenger rail service make a comeback means a future stop here is a greater possibility than it ever was before. Sure, there are more trains through the crossings and over bridges, but from what I understand, these trains are shorter and run faster than freight trains, so wait times will be a question of seconds not hours as some have tried to suggest.
I’ve also read that All Aboard Florida will be paying for the safety upgrades needed at the crossings, and are helping communities like ours get access to funding to cover the cost of quiet zones. And from a recent meeting in Tallahassee of Treasure Coast business leaders and elected officials, our local legislative delegation is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to assist in the costs too.
This is an opportunity for our state! We need to look past our own backyards and think about what sort of dynamic, vibrant and economically thriving community we want for ourselves, our businesses, and our families now and for the future. As a Floridian, I want our community to have more opportunity to grow, be competitive, and flourish – not less.
So I ask our local press to be fair in how they report on the All Aboard Florida story from all sides so that we can understand both the good and bad impacts, not those of a self-interested few just because they happen to shout louder than the rest of us. And to my fellow Treasure Coast citizens I say, let’s remember how blessed we are to live and work along the Treasure Coast, and that it is because of the highways and railroad put in place decades ago, that we are able to enjoy the lifestyle we have today.
Let’s not lose sight of the possibilities a project like All Aboard Florida can bring to our area and our state, and risk stifling potential growth and prosperity for ourselves and for the next generation by focusing on the wrong things.
Sincerely,
Jim Rathbun
Vero Beach
