Martin County's request for $70 million in funding for a Brightline station in Stuart, Florida was dealt a blow the other day when the National Railroad Partnership Program awarded the City of Cocoa $57 million for a station but ignored the request from Stuart. Brightline is a high-speed railway that goes between Miami and Orlando, with plans to expand to Tampa. The City of Stuart had originally partnered with Martin County to build a station in Stuart, but a newly installed Commission backed out of the agreement, leaving the county to seek funding for the station on its own. The City Commissioners did not want to risk taxpayers having to fund the station if it did not receive federal funds, and so it is likely that the station may instead wind up in neighboring Fort Pierce. Who will pay for it there is an open question, but not one I particularly care about asking. I can certainly see the City Commissioner's point of view. Not only would it cost big money to build, but Brightline itself is deeply in debt, to the tune of $5.5 billion. And as the late Illinois Senator Everett Dirkson once said, a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you are talking real money. Brightline's auditors have warned that the company does not have enough liquidity to pay upcoming obligations, and fares are not high enough to generate sufficient cash flow. And believe me, those fares are much too high right now. And so, what if they built the station in Stuart and the line went bankrupt? Build it and they will come might work for a baseball stadium but probably not for a $70 million parking garage. Although on the bright (not Brightline) side, it would sure end all those fights over parking spaces at the Stuart Market on Main every Sunday. People who regularly attend that event would probably say it was worth every penny.
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