(Washington, DC) - Congresswoman Corrine Brown made the following statement:
“As a Chairman of a Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee, I bring an ambitious agenda to the 110th Congress, which includes: reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, passing the Water Resources Development Act, working to improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and implementing and improving security on all forms of transportation, including ports, rails, transit systems, and public buildings. We will also reauthorize Amtrak with a budget that allows them to run an efficient and effective passenger rail system.
I also intend to work with the Federal Transit Agency to ensure that they are partnering with the state of Florida to expedite the roll out of commuter rail in Central and South Florida, as well as other areas of our state that see the advantages of commuter rail.
Moreover, I will continue to fight for increased funding for the improvement of vital social service programs. These include negotiating the price of prescription drugs, permitting the import of safe drugs from abroad, and removing penalties from the program. We will also continue to provide additional funding for the Central Receiving Center (CRC), as well as other mental health and drug treatment programs.
To help combat the increasing crime problem in Orange County and around the region, I will continue to work to restore funding to the COPS and Weed & Seed programs, both of which assist local police to deal with crime. I will also continue my efforts to expand after school and summer job programs, which have thus far proven successful in other areas of the state.
I will also continue fighting for an increase in the minimum wage, something that will help thousands of Central Floridians working in the service industry to provide for their families, while putting more money into the Central Florida economy.”
As an addendum, I am including a list of transportation projects I obtained in the Transportation appropriations bill last year, as well as the TEA-LU bill, also passed last year. This year’s appropriations bill which funds DOT has not passed yet.
Projects in FY 06 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bills:
I-4 Orlando Metropolitan Area: Land Acquisition: $1.5 million
Orange County SR 50 Road Improvements: $250.000
CFRTA LYNX Bus Fleet Expansion: $1.350 million
Central Florida Commuter Rail: $11 million (PP 94)
Orange County – Central Florida Receiving Center – to renovate single occupancy rooms: $500,000
Central Florida YMCA, expansion, renovation: $300,000
Parramore, City of Orlando, Neighborhood Revitalization Project: $400,000
Moreover, in the TEA-LU bill, (the 6 year Authorization bill that funds all transportation activities, including highways and roads, public transit systems, bridges, trails and walking paths, alternative transportation modes, and welfare to work programs) passed in 2005, I obtained the following projects for Orange County:
TEA-LU Projects:
Church Street Road Improvements: $11.2 million
LYNX Bus Replacement: $9,096,400 million
US 17-92 and French Ave. Roundabout: $400,000
Sanford Airport Access Road Enhancements: $400,000
Destiny Road Improvements (Eatonville): $800,000
Kennedy Blvd. (Eatonville): $1.6 million
Sandlake Road Improvements - $4.8 million
Total: $28.2 million
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