INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — State Sen. Thad Altman found a friendly audience to his cause Tuesday morning when he called All Aboard Florida “a great injustice” and asked the Indian River Board of County Commissioners to back his request for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to rule on the legality of AAF’s contracts with the Orlando Expressway Authority.
“What’s happening as it relates to the All Aboard Florida proposal flies in the face of any, any reasonable standard in terms of allowing a region, a group of people, communities, homeowners’ associations the ability to be a part of the process, for good planning,” Altman said.
The plan, he said, takes everything that local leaders and planners know about transportation planning for their communities “and literally turns it on its head. It violates every principle that you could think of.”
The contracts with Orlando, and the interests of the Expressway Authority bondholders, give people outside the local area the final say on issues related to how the rail project operates here.
Altman said he doesn’t believe that is right, so he’s asked Bondi for her opinion as Attorney General. He presented the county with a draft proclamation, which commissioners instructed legal staff to put on the next meeting agenda for action.
Commissioners have openly been more than skeptical about the high-speed rail project, which is set to bring more than 30 trains a day barreling through Roseland, Sebastian, Gifford, Vero Beach and the rest of the county at speeds of up to 110 miles per hour.
The train’s route from Miami to Orlando, with stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, is designed to ferry tourists between those major metropolitan areas. No stops are planned in Indian River County.
Altman’s issue with the contract is that it gives the Orlando Rail Commission authority over important matters that local residents — namely, his constituents — deserve to have a say, but don’t.
