Wikipedia says, "Tallahassee has traditionally been a Democratic city, and is one of the few cities in the South known for progressive activism. It has had a black mayor and a black state representative." The city's population is 35% black, the county 30% black. That's quite different from other parts of northern Florida. (The state is only 16% black.) And Tallahassee is the ultimate college town, with more than 70,000 students mostly at Florida State and Florida A&M, out of the metro area's nearly 400,000 total population.
Wikipedia also says that Jacksonville is increasingly black, up to 31% in 2010. Again, it's politically different from the rest of northern Florida, the Deep Dixie counties.
I'm saying that the two Florida cities that will most benefit from the
CONO sans chef will support it. If their representatives in the legislature nag their colleagues enuff -- why does Southeast Florida get Tri Rail and Central Florida gets Sun Rail and we get nothing? -- they could probably get a lousy million or two a year in 'go away don't bother me' money. And that should be enuff.
Of course, as the headquarters of CSX, Jacksonville is a special case of its own. If CSX goes along with the
CONO sans chef, fine. If CSX hates the project, its strong voice in the city and state would be a huge problem politically.
Of course, the Mayors of Tallahassee and Jacksonville, as well as Pensacola and a dozen other towns along the way, have signed letters of support for the train. What that's worth in dollars, well, I wouldn't spend it til I get it.
