Update - In a cross-linking kudos, it looks like Tampa Tribune writer Rich Shopes has given TR the nod in his blog today! I may not much like the mainstream media but I sure do like mainstream media publicity! ;)

Today's contribution comes from the Tampa Tribune in Missing the Train. Rich Shopes provides an exhaustive recap of where we've been with rail in the past decade or so, what went wrong in earlier attempts, what's still wrong, and what probably needs to be done to make things right and to propel Mayor Iorio's light rail plans in the right direction.

It all basically boils down to lack of money and lack of political support, but also lack of political cohesion. The read is rather pessimistic because you'd swear it's too daunting to ever re-pursue a local urban rail agenda ever again. But I look at it this way. It's more of an affirmation about how much we lost and were set back when we lost our place in the federal money line, and whether or not we as a community could ever be so stupid to let that happen again. If we didn't need or want rail any time soon, that was no excuse to bust up the progress we had already made to advance the agenda in the event we changed our minds. Killing our place was a strategy by those who despised transportation choice, and there was no excuse for it.

None.

So, read Shope's article and conclude we're as stymied as ever if not more; but also read it as a warning to retort anyone who ever argues against at least positioning ourselves for transportation choice, even if we aren't sure we yet want it. The damage a few ultra conservatives who have done this to our community in the past will linger for decades. We can't let that happen again, ever.