SunRail

[bulldogger]

OK, so the Amtrak station is historically important. Um, maybe I am missing something here that for some reason this could not happen, but wouldn't it then make snese to have service to it to keep it in use, instead of letting it rot away?

And please tell me that you made up that comment about tatooed students taking the train in to Winter Park. They can't really be using that as an ecuse in this day and age?

I'm not coming back at you specifically... probably moreso at the previous post.

There is nothing historic about Amtrak, unless Winter Park was the first Amtrak station EVER. Otherwise, it has the same historic value as a bus stop on 17-92.

[JRS1]

OK, so the Amtrak station is historically important. Um, maybe I am missing something here that for some reason this could not happen, but wouldn't it then make snese to have service to it to keep it in use, instead of letting it rot away?

And please tell me that you made up that comment about tatooed students taking the train in to Winter Park. They can't really be using that as an ecuse in this day and age?

I was talking to this lady who at first seemed opposed to a stop there. then, when I started talking, she backed off and then started telling me what the common "fear" was from people visualizing Valencia students using the station... then she kept talking about tatooed people. She had me confused, b/c I wasn't sure what the hec she was talking about. THen I ducked away and got into the car to talk with that rep.

some of these WP-types are wackos, they really are. I live there too, but damn. Some of these people protest without knowing what they are talking about. Apparently, Valencia's WP campus has more students enrolled than Rollins does. Someone I think is using scare tactics to brainwash the locals-- I really believe this.

[Go Gators]

1. WP residents are crazy nuts. They are idiots that don't know what they're talking about;

So, because they dont want a train station in their city that they live their lives in...that makes them crazy nuts and idiots? Hmm......

[pip]

So, because they dont want a train station in their city that they live their lives in...that makes them crazy nuts and idiots? Hmm......

good point, note to forum;

let's replace "crazy nuts and idiots" with "narrow minded, misinformed, reactionary knee-jerk, think they know it all, know nothings".

how's that?

Edited March 12, 2007 by pip

[bulldogger]

good point, note to forum;

let's replace "crazy nuts and idiots" with "narrow minded, misinformed, reactionary knee-jerk, think they know it all, know nothings".

how's that?

thank you for clarifying

[Go Gators]

good point, note to forum;

let's replace "crazy nuts and idiots" with "narrow minded, misinformed, reactionary knee-jerk, think they know it all, know nothings".

how's that?

Again, why all those words? Thats an awful lot of intolerance from the preachers of tolerance. Maybe the WP'ers dont want the train station to be full of grafitti 3-4 years down the road...theyve worked hard to keep WP what it is. Because they disagree doesnt make them misinformed, or any other things by any means.

[bulldogger]

Again, why all those words? Thats an awful lot of intolerance from the preachers of tolerance. Maybe the WP'ers dont want the train station to be full of grafitti 3-4 years down the road...theyve worked hard to keep WP what it is. Because they disagree doesnt make them misinformed, or any other things by any means.

I don't think the problem is so much that "all" Winter Park residents are against the rail. The problem is that a lot of people want to believe the worst things about "new" things. Rail is new to Central Florida. In general, fear comes from not knowing. Fear of the dark is not knowing what is around you. Fear of rail is not knowing what will come with rail. If people that don't want the rail spread the word about it like "bad" things will come with it, then of course, the uninformed people will not like the idea of rail. It is going to happen regardless if Winter Park accepts the idea of it. When the land values of downtown Orlando increase along with Deland, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Deltona, Kissimmee, Poinciana, the Sand Lake area, Winter Park will sit there with their Central Park. That's not bad, but when the Millenia Mall got built and less shoppers were going to their precious little shops along Park Avenue and WP cried so much that the Sentinel wrote an article about how bad business was for them, it's sad to hear that they are against rail. They better not cry that the Winter Park Village starts losing business when the adults start going to movies downtown, because it will be their own little punk kids that are left to go to the movies in WP. And when there are less adults in that area, those kids will act up and start trashing that village. You know the residents that live near the village (yes, the blacks) will get blamed for it, though. And when the mid level national chains all leave that Park Ave because there are more people visiting downtown, I don't want to see an article in the Sentinel with WPers complaining about their problems of not having enough businesses to sustain their area.

Many of the residents are misinformed. They are being misinformed. The news reporter that I saw covering the rail issue was spreading misinformation last night. She said that if the city votes No, then they can have the rail some place else in the city. The vote is to have it on city property ANYWHERE, not just Central Park. That is misinforming voters before they go to the polls. That is beyond biased news reporting. Journalists are supposed to give as much information as possible. Journalists are not supposed to give an opinion and support it. That is what someone giving a speech does. That is propaganda. Propagandist news is something we live with everyday unfortunately and the people of Winter Park may just... miss... the... train...

Edited March 13, 2007 by bulldogger

[FLClarkKent]

I wouldn't call them crazy or nuts. I wouldn't even call these vocal opponents to a commuter rail stop in Winter Park elitist or snobs (although I think that's debatable).

What I would call them is myopic. And a little naive.

A gentleman recently wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Orlando Sentinel referring to Winter Park as a "village" that didn't need a commuter rail stop because it wasn't a commuter town.

Again, that's all debatable. But it was a statement that summed up the intense inward focus that many people in this area have. It really drove home what I think is our biggest urban development problem. Winter Park (and you can substitute Maitland, or any other city in the region) isn't a fiefdom in far-flung isolated corner of the world. It's part of a much larger urban area. And every city needs to take part in shaping how this larger urban area is developed.

If we don't address our collective traffic issues, Winter Park will very much become a "commuter town" - as it already takes quite some time to get in and out of the city. It will only get worse. And if we don't address our collective traffic issues, our entire metro area will becme a much less desirable place to live - therefore making Winter Park a much less desirable place to live too.

[Metro10]

Most likely WP residents make enough money and can easily pay for the constantly rising of gas prices to fill there super nice cars. This allows them to shun the idea because they will drive to where they are going to go because they know that they will not utilize the train as much. I think we need as many alternative options to driving as we can.

[sunshine]

Winter Park votes on commuter rail today

Christopher Sherman {sodEmoji.|} Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted March 13, 2007

Winter Park residents who answered their home phones about 7:30 p.m. Monday may have heard a familiar voice: "Hello. This is Congressman John Mica."

Today is election day in Winter Park, but Mica isn't on the ballot. And the voice wasn't a pre-recorded message common to campaigns.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/...-home-headlines

[JRS1]

well, on the WP issue... whatever. Look, I know rich people. I know rich people who are normal and down to earth. But then there's the isolationist types who down't know jack about anything. One of the people I was talking to even admitted that her stance on rail was a gut feeling she had, not based on any objective information. I told her about METRA and Tri-Rail not having ruined the nice suburbs they ran thru. So what does she do? She just backs down and admits she didn't know what she was talking about. She represents a mentality of a lot of those WP residents. THese are the people who vote and influence others to vote like them.

there was even another lady bold enough to call out the rail guy who was shutting the tour down after 2.5 HOURS, stating "why can't I get on... they advertised that we could tour the train." Hey lady, where the hec was your lazy @ss from 1:30 to 3:30? And you have the audacity to sport attitude about it... like someone owes it to you? THat's the WP mentality.

[FLClarkKent]

well, on the WP issue... whatever. Look, I know rich people. I know rich people who are normal and down to earth. But then there's the isolationist types who down't know jack about anything. One of the people I was talking to even admitted that her stance on rail was a gut feeling she had, not based on any objective information. I told her about METRA and Tri-Rail not having ruined the nice suburbs they ran thru. So what does she do? She just backs down and admits she didn't know what she was talking about. She represents a mentality of a lot of those WP residents. THese are the people who vote and influence others to vote like them.

there was even another lady bold enough to call out the rail guy who was shutting the tour down after 2.5 HOURS, stating "why can't I get on... they advertised that we could tour the train." Hey lady, where the hec was your lazy @ss from 1:30 to 3:30? And you have the audacity to sport attitude about it... like someone owes it to you? THat's the WP mentality.

You're right - it is an isolationist stance. It's almost as if many of these people believe that if Winter Park ignores the growth that's happening all around it, maybe it will go away.

[bulldogger]

It's 9:30 and I'm still at the office working. If anyone is watching the news, can you post the preliminary results of the vote from Winter Park regarding the commuter rail.

[orlandonative]

It's been approved.

[spenser1058]

I take back anything mean I've ever said about the Winter Park NIMBYs - I've been following local politics for more than 30 years and they totally surprised me tonight - God bless their pea-pickin' hearts

[JFW657]

Heard it on the news a while ago. What great news.

I never could see what the big deal was to these obstructionists. How big can this station they want to build be, anyway???

Seems to me they could just use the existing Amtrak station, or maybe add on to it a little. In either case, I can't imagine the building being very big or taking up much land.

But I guess when you're talking about the Winter Parkies precious little town, it's like some sort of sacred ground to them that can never be defiled by anything that would benefit the rest of the area.

[sunshine]

Voters in Winter Park say 'yes' to rail station

But newly elected city commissioners differ on where to put it.

Christopher Sherman {sodEmoji.|} Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted March 14, 2007

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/...-home-headlines

[Dale]

I'm shocked at the vote. But now the mayor is leaving himself some wiggle room, saying that he wished the vote had been more decisive.

[orlandonative]

I'm shocked at the vote. But now the mayor is leaving himself some wiggle room, saying that he wished the vote had been more decisive.

I saw that comment as well, since when is a majority vote not good enough that some politician doesn't have to throw in his two cents on why it should be more decisive? He was then nice enough th throw in this little comment, "The city, however, should continue to push Orange County to cover more of the operating and maintenance costs." It starting to now look like the next battle is to determine the exact location for the stop? I agree with JFW657 that this should be something that could be easily integrated into the existing Amtrak location. I do not believe that the plans for stop locations are calling for some grandiose structures. Hopefully this is something that can take place behind the scenes without hendering the entire line.

Oh well, congrats to Winter Park you guys finally got one right

[bulldogger]

Seems to me they could just use the existing Amtrak station, or maybe add on to it a little. In either case, I can't imagine the building being very big or taking up much land.

Is there any way to get federal money for the Amtrak station separately and then add it to the funding since they may be conjoined? I know someone mentioned earlier in a post that WP is responible for the Amtrak station, which isn't maintained well.

[mrh3]

Not to be dour, but didn't the voters of Florida approve the FOX train? And didn't the governor champion an effort to render it effectively useless? Is there any chance that some renegade WP'er might follow the same path?

[JFW657]

Not to be dour, but didn't the voters of Florida approve the FOX train? And didn't the governor champion an effort to render it effectively useless? Is there any chance that some renegade WP'er might follow the same path?

Probably not, because everyone knows that this is a relative bargain, and it's easily implemented.

Almost no construction or traffic disruption compared to what it would've entailed to build those other lines.

And with the cost being a small fraction of what high speed or light rail would've been and the feds picking up the tab to boot, I doubt there would be any incentive for the higher ups to let that happen.

Let's just hope some group of sore losers doesn't try to hold it up in court forever with lawsuits.

[orlandouprise]

are there any plans in place to add lightrail in the near future?

[Metro10]

are there any plans in place to add lightrail in the near future?

Check out www.cfrail.com

[monsoon]

Is there any way to get federal money for the Amtrak station separately and then add it to the funding since they may be conjoined? I know someone mentioned earlier in a post that WP is responible for the Amtrak station, which isn't maintained well.

This is actually possible if Amtrak and the CR are to share the facilities and it was made into some sort of multimodal facility. In fact there may be additional money available depending on what is done with the station.