George Forte intends to mark the bubble next to "no" if a penny sales tax turns up on the November ballot. ...more

December 23, 2009

There I was, sitting at my workstation, minding my own business, when it hit me like a runaway train: a barrage of e-mails, phone calls, press releases, news stories, Facebook posts, blog entries, text messages and Twitter tweets, all revolving around the rally for mass transit improvements in Hillsborough County and beyond. ...more

December 18, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida's passenger rail bill into law Wednesday in ceremonies in Tampa and three other cities while delivering the message that new rail equals thousands of new jobs. More than 150 Tampa Bay area elected officials, business people and transportation advocates turned out at a vacant lot just south of the intersection of Interstate 275 and Interstate 4, where a high-speed rail station is planned for a proposed Tampa-to-Orlando route. The bill will improve the state's chances at winning federal stimulus money for the high-speed rail line that could be built by 2014. It also will jump-start the $1.2 billion SunRail project planned for Central Florida, create a new statewide rail authority and dedicate additional state money to Tri-Rail, South Florida's faltering commuter line. The high-speed project could provide as many as 15,000 construction jobs beginning in 2011 if the Obama administration approves the state's $2.5 billion high-speed rail bid, state officials said in its federal stimulus application. "Jobs, jobs, jobs is what it's really all about," Crist said. ...more

December 17, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida's passenger rail bill into law this morning in ceremonies in Tampa and three other cities while delivering the message that new rail equals thousands of new jobs. ...more

December 16, 2009

a barrage of e-mails, phone calls, press releases, news stories, Facebook posts, blog entries, text messages and Twitter tweets, all revolving around the rally for mass transit improvements in Hillsborough County and beyond. ...more

December 16, 2009

Lakeland lawyer D. Burke Kibler III was a believer in growth, whether it was expanding the Holland & Knight law firm or ensuring young lawyers received the proper experience and seasoning. ...more

December 15, 2009

Gov. Charlie Crist is scheduled to sign Florida's rail legislation bill, which won legislative approval last week, at events Wednesday in Tampa, Tallahassee, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. ...more

December 15, 2009

Special interests won the day in Tallahassee last week. For two years, a coalition of my Florida Senate colleagues demanded that the state Department of Transportation renegotiate a sweetheart deal with CSX Railroad for a new commuter-rail line around Orlando. ...more

December 13, 2009

Proponents of building a commuter rail system to service the Bay Area received some welcome news this week when the state Senate easily passed legislation to push forward the $1.2 billion transportation project. ...more

December 12, 2009

Anyone setting odds on Florida's chances next month to get as much as $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money to build a Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed rail line might consider this: ...more

December 10, 2009