An anonymous TR passenger rightly points out that President Obama is set to fund high speed rail development in the United States.  He's doing so to the tune of 8 billion dollars which will be dispersed to various projects - hypothetical and operating - including prospects such as the Florida High Speed rail network.  

In February the Tampa Tribune ran Could Stimulus Plan Bring High Speed Rail to Tampa in which members of the Florida High Speed Rail Authority (yes, they are still with us thankfully) were very excited by the mere possibility.  And, indeed, according to their most recent web updates, they are aggressively persuing a slice of the pie to get the project up and moving again. Their call for action begins with a letter to Florida Governor Charlie Crist.  It offers affirmation of the authority's enthusiasm and reminds that the funds for the project are in the clear: They won't require a state funding match.

Click on the image for the complete letter sent to Governor Charlie Crist in response to Obama's initiative.  Warning: It opens as a PDF file.

For Tampa this is an important development - one nicely synched with Hillsborough's generation of light rail buzz.  Imagine if you will that the two projects zip nicely together on a relatively similar time line.  If that happened, I don't  know what kind of Tampa I'd be setting foot back in when I got off the plane 10 or so years from now.  As Obama says, it's going to be leaner and cleaner, that's for sure.

(Note: I find the Huffington Post write-up about all this to be the best)