[mr jones]

Bad news for today:

No last-minute help for Tri-Rail; service to be reduced
Legislators turn deaf ear to plea for more money

By Mike Turnbell and Scott Wyman | South Florida Sun Sentinel
6:30 PM EDT, May 5, 2009


FORT LAUDERDALE - It's the end of the line for Tri-Rail.

The $65 million state budget includes nothing to help the financially struggling commuter railroad.

A last-ditch plea for money to cover operating costs failed, Tri-Rail officials said today.

Starting Oct. 5, the number of weekday trains will be slashed to 30 from 50. All weekend and holiday trains will be eliminated.

Under that scenario, Tri-Rail can last 18 months.

But a total shutdown could come sooner if Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties pull their funding this fall. Broward County Commissioner and Tri-Rail board chairman Josephus Eggelletion said if one county stops sending money, the other two should as well.

If that happens, Tri-Rail will have only enough money to continue running for nine months, or until July 2010.

Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter said legislators should feel ashamed for not helping Tri-Rail get a $2-a-day rental car tax for operating costs, just as more people are using public transportation. But they don't.

"It's easy for them because they don't see the face of the people hurt," Ritter said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,4438323.story

Fort Lauderdale maritime museum plan dead in the water
A lengthy effort to open the city's first and only maritime museum has failed, even though backers were offered free rent in a brand-new, waterfront building.

By Brittany Wallman | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 4, 2009


FORT LAUDERDALE - The city that calls itself the " Venice of America'' and relies on marinas and boating to stay afloat will reach its 100th birthday without a museum dedicated to all things maritime.

A lengthy effort to open the city's first and only maritime museum has failed. Marine-loving volunteers couldn't raise the money to run the museum, city memos say, even though they were offered free rent in a brand-new waterfront building,

A public-private deal gave the museum its best hope, but city commissioners today will be asked to walk away from it.

The city in 2003 leased the riverfront site in the 300 block of Southwest Second Street, home of a former post office, to developers Alan Hooper, Tim Petrillo and Kelly Drum. The deal required them to build 16,800 square feet of live-work studios with retail space on the ground floor; 15,000 square feet of retail, office and restaurant space; and a 5,600-square-foot maritime museum.

The New River Trading Post was built and is open. But the museum space is empty.

Hooper said the museum group changed over the years and "couldn't raise the money. They couldn't put the deal together.''

The museum would have occupied the space rent-free, but would have had to pay $40,000 to $60,000 annual maintenance, plus the cost of operating the museum.

"We did everything we said we would do,'' Hooper said. "We built them the space.''

Commissioners must decide whether to release the developers from their commitment to include a museum and are expected to discuss what they'd like to see in that space instead. If the new tenant is a for-profit venture, the lease says the developer's payments to the city will go up.

City officials who approved the deal originally were very excited about the prospect of having a maritime museum on the river.

Former Mayor Bob Cox presented the museum idea, and his grandson, Drum, is part of the development team.

Brittany Wallman can be reached at bwallman@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4541.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,4439480.story