Kathy Castor: Plan to save high-speed rail will go to Gov. Scott soon

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High-speed rail supporters hope to give Gov. Rick Scott a plan within the next couple of days to save the project, U.S. Rep Kathy Castor, D-Tampa said this morning.

In a conference call with elected officials and news media, Castor said the plan is to create an independent agency of representatives from along the Tampa-Lakeland-Orlando first phase of the project that would handle the federal grant and find a consortium to completely privatize the project, eliminating any financial risk to Florida taxpayers.

“Our goal over the next day or two will be to put a written proposal in front of Gov. Scott that he can review,” she said.

Scott rejected $2.4 billion in federal funds for the $2.7 billion project last Wednesday.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who continues to be part of the efforts to preserve the high-speed rail plan in the final weeks of her tenure, said during the conference call that three steps were necessary:

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.