Who is the spin Doctor on the CSX: The Herald Reporter or the County Commission? Guest Blog by KoncernedinKendall

The MPO meeting last Thursday was one of the most chaotic and confusing meetings I ever attended. As a result, many of those who attended exited the meeting wondering out loud “What just happened? Did they accept or reject the fixed rail options for the CSX corridor or not? This confusion no doubt extended to the press, as Friday’s (Oct. 6, 2007) article in the Miami Herald Metro section entitled “County Adopts Long-Range Rail, Bus Plan for Kendall” gave the distinct impression Joe Martinez has won and we would have commuter trains on the CSX corridor very soon. Not true Miami Herald!

For the record:

The MPO board never did vote on the original proposal to accept or reject the results of the Kendall Link Study relative to the five options identified as the Preferred Rapid Transit Study, included the fixed rails on the CSX. Leading up to the confusion there was about 3.5 hours of intense debate among board members and Commissioners. And yes, it was hard to understand which board member was for or against the original proposal, except of course for the biggest bully in the room, Commissioner Joe Martinez.

In his impassioned address to the MPO board, he wanted the MPO to simply rubber stamp all five options and move forward to the next phase of the project (implementation, building, etc). Then came one of the smartest Commissioners in the room, Carlos Gimenez!

Commissioner Gimenez asked the question: If I vote yes to this proposal, what am I voting for?

That was the key that unlocked the door. The answer given by Dr. Mesa, (Director of the MPO), of course ultimately showed its face…that is, all five rapid transit options in the preferred strategy would go forward and no other technologies would be considered.

Commissioner Gimenez did not like the answer and neither did a number of other commissioners. In fact, Commissioner Gimenez basically discredited the Kendall Link study by pointing out the obvious fact that the study had a pre-determined conclusion to only consider fixed rail for the CSX corridor. Thus, a friendly amendment was offered to continue studying the situation but this time all rapid transit technologies for the relevant travel corridors should be included.

The debate continued for a while with other commissioners adding a few more details to the friendly amendment. Commissioner Pepe Diaz asked that this next study also needs to include an evaluation of a possible southern extension of the Penasaco rail cargo corridor (runs parallel to 836), which now terminates at the concrete factory, to go south to the Rinker Rock pit. This later request was key because this would allow a Cargo Consolidation strategy to be implemented by the Commission with CSX for the right of way to the entire corridor, thus allowing all possible technologies to be considered. Commissioner Souto also asked that the FEC corridor be added to this new study and evaluate possible extension to the MIA (I thought the FEC corridor had already be designated as a linear park and bike path, but what do I know). That last suggestion drew a rather stern reaction from Commissioner Sosa, as this corridor goes right through the middle of her District.

There was only one vote taken at the end and it was not on the original proposal, it was on the friendly amendment which essentially dumped the Kendall Link study results and started all over with a new study to include all possible rapid transit technologies on the relevant travel corridors. Oh yes, words like implementation and building were to be excluded in the language used. There was also some discussion that a “New Consultant” be selected given how the last one had been controversial. In any case, the FRIENDLY AMMENDMENT was voted in 15 to 1 (at least the Herald article got that one right) but this clearly did no adopt any part of a long range strategy, as the Miami Herald article declares.

Commissioner Sorenson still wanted the bus rapid transit part of the preferred strategy to be acted on and was the lone dissenter.

So, you tell me fellow bloggers, does this sound like a victory for Commissioner Martinez….by the way, the Hispanic TV and radio shows ALL repeated the SPIN that Commissioner Martinez had won a great victory and everything that happened at the meeting was of course his decision. The problem is that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth…Hitler was a great example of this. The Herald needs to write a retraction.

The fact remains that the fixed commuter trains down the CSX corridor were neither accepted or rejected by the MPO board—no transit options were. They are going to do a new study which considers all rapid transit technologies on the CSX corridor, on Kendall Drive, on SW 137th Ave, and parallel to the Turnpike from FIU to Kendall Drive. Of course these facts will hopefully be reflected in the written version of this friendly amendment, so all of us can see exactly what was voted on and what was not. The Country Attorney who’s job it is to draft the friendly amendment, hopefully after referring to his notes and viewing the VHS tape of the meeting, said a written version of this amendment will be available to the public sometime end of next week. stay tuned!