Our May meeting began on time with the Pledge of Allegiance led by our President Pat Rathburn.
The minutes of our last meeting in February as presented on the blog were approved.
Our first speakers were FLPD Officers Tisch and Pekrol with the neighborhood crime report. The month of March had one residential burglary and two vehicle burglaries. April had 2 residential burglaries, 4 vehicle burglaries, 2 vehicle thefts and one business burglary. May had no residential burglaries, 2 car burglaries, 2 vehicle thefts and one business burglary. The good news is that all of these statistics show some improvement, however Ofc. Pekrol reminds us that these stats tend to go up in the summer when school is out. Remember that “we are the best eyes and ears in our neighborhood” and if you see anything that doesn’t look right to you, call 911 or the Non-Emergency number (954) 764 4357. FLPD has established a new unit, ROC (Rapid Offender Control) that will provide 24-hour “responders to offenders”. There are also many more unmarked police vehicles out there patrolling at all hours. The police department is planning a Crime Prevention forum in September. They will fill us in with more information as the time gets closer and we will publish anything we know as we get it. Ofc. Tisch has provided us with her email address if you have any concerns: mtisch@fortlauderdale.gov
Our next speaker was Ali Soule from All Aboard Florida (AAF). Her objective was to give us an overview of the project, an update on the progress of the project and to answer our questions. AAF is owned by Florida East Coast Industries but is totally separate from the freight division. They are conducting studies in ways to improve on horn noise, but the entire area from Miami to Palm Beach will be one continuous Quiet Zone. Presumably, the only time horns would be blown in this area would be in an emergency, i.e. a person, animal, vehicle or any object on the track.
There will be no closings at any of the railroad crossings, except for the temporary closings that will occur when they are upgrading or doing any work on that particular crossing. The NW 2nd Street crossing will be become the platform/terminal for the train in Fort Lauderdale.
There will be four AAF stations: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, W. Palm Beach and Orlando. The entire trip will take just under 3 hours from Miami to Orlando. Orlando will have a multi-level terminal, similar to the one in Miami that will connect with local modes of transportation.
The train will run at a speed of 79 miles per hour from Miami to W. Palm Beach, 110 mph from W.P.B. to Cocoa, 125 mph from Cocoa to Orlando. The train will be equipped with Automatic Speed Control.
The New River Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale will be up-graded and will have a bridge tender, however the bridge will still be controlled from Jacksonville, not by the bridge tender on site. AAF tells us that “the northbound train will cross the bridge within one minute of the southbound train for each opening, thus two trains per bridge closure, two passenger trains per hour. During daytime hours the bridge will probably be in a down position for a total of 30 minutes per hour.” Capt. Ben Stanley stressed the imposition this puts on the countless boats and yachts upriver of the bridge. There are dozens of marinas and shipyards, and hundreds of private docks that would be affected by the frequent closures of the bridge for AAF trains.
Operating hours for all AAF north and southbound trains will be 6 am to 9 pm daily. There will be 32 AAF trains per day, and an unknown number of FEC freight trains running on the same tracks.
The price of the train ticket will be “cheaper than airfare to Orlando, and comparable to driving, depending on the method of ticket purchase.”
A neighbor asked who AAF’s target market would be. “Locals, tourists and workers in the downtown areas of Miami, Ft.L and W.P.B will be the typical AAF riders.” Why would these people use AAF and not Tri-Rail? The answer was “faster, more luxurious, no local stops, but more expensive.”
A neighbor stated that he believed there would be great expense to the taxpayers and that AAF is actually a preview to the increase of two-mile long freight trains resulting from Panamax port expansion. According to AAF, there will be no expense to Broward County taxpayers. The County will continue to pay maintenance at grade crossings, as it does now. AAF is funded by bonds, the collateral is the AAF’s assets.
(Note from the CPCA Secretary: this is my best attempt to accurately report the information presented and the questions posed by our neighbors).
You are invited to email Ms. Soule at: Ali.Soule@AllAboardFlorida.com for any further information.
Our 50/50 drawing was won and generously donated back to the Association by Paul Ruble. Thank you, Paul!
Minutes by Virginia Dill Russell-Secretary
