Four Tampa Mayoral candidates call for Governor to reconsider high-speed rail

TAMPA - The downtown Tampa parking lot near Interstate 275 is nothing but dirt and trees in the shadow of the city's skyline where the old Morgan Street jail was torn down.

"It was the place where dreams went to die. What could have happened here was where dreams were grown, where dreams prospered," said Tampa Mayoral candidate Bob Buckhorn.

The lot is where Florida’s high-speed rail would have created an estimated tens of thousands of jobs.

When four of five Tampa Mayoral candidates gathered at the corner of Morgan and Laurel Streets in downtown Tampa, all of them expressed disappointment over the Governor's decision to turn down more than $2 billion in federal funding to connect Tampa and Orlando.

"If it does not come here, tens of thousands of jobs won't happen. A super region will be set-back and our future put on hold," said Tampa Mayoral candidate Ed Turanchik.

Private-sector firms were lining-up to bid on the contract for Florida's high-speed rail. Now the federal funding will likely be given to another state. Tampa Mayoral candidate Rose Ferlita says she'll ask the Governor to reconsider but also added local leaders also need to come up with another mass transit solution.

"I will tell you that we have to move forward. Now our focus has to be on a local initiative. Perhaps this will be resurrected and that would be pie in the sky, that would be icing on the cake. For right now, leadership demands that we do Plan B," said Ferlita.

City Council Chair Tom Scott agreed.

"In my opinion the issue is not dead. It's the opportunity for us as leaders to talk about what our plans are to move forward,” Scott said.