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purposes. I don't think I personally would have thought of it. And what about the reverse of that idea? Perhaps there are shopping attractions in our County that would benefit from a train stop with customers arriving by train from other areas? 7. Bring Commercial Air to back the County again. The AAF project might be of assistance to those who are serious in bringing commercial air travel back to Vero Beach and Indian River County. That could be mutually beneficial to both sides of the equation, commercial air interests and AAF interests, not to mention Indian River County. 8. Increased tourism. If we sell tourism properly in our county, and if that is what our Chambers of Commerce in Vero Beach and Indian River County truly want to accomplish, it cannot hurt to have the railroad stop here. We have some fine hotels and restaurants and of course the beaches. A new hotel is being built in Vero Beach that is only two blocks from the train tracks. The proximity of Disney assets in Indian River county doesn't hurt either 9. Attending Business meetings in other cities. Having an AAF stop in Indian River County would make attending business meetings in the other cities simpler. Staying off 195 which is supposed to be one of the deadliest freeways in America is always a plus. Driving on 195 is positively scary in Miami. 10. Resources in existence could be used for a station (The old power plant). This was my wife's idea. It was near parking and has lots of parking on its own. The old power plant is an asset of the City of Vero Beach. It is vacant. It has ample parking for a station and is situated nearly next to the existing railroad tracks. 11. Increased Safety. Even if AAF never stops in Indian River County, we would still benefit from safety by the very nature of the upgrades to all of the crossing in this county. A fringe benefit might be if the City of Vero Bach or the County elects to "go all the way" by putting in the increased safety measures that are above and beyond what the Federal railroad administration demands. This additional safety measures would eliminate all of the horn blowing that is a major objection of those opposing AAF and it would also silence the whistles of all the existing (and future) freight train traffic. Of course, another benefit to his increased safety is that AAF is going to pay for ALL of the mandatory upgrades. The county would have to pay for the optional safety that would result in silencing all horns. Also, after a few recent trips on 1-95, I think AAF has a valid point about relaxing in the safety of rail travel versus doing combat on the freeway! 12. Revitalize downtown Vero Beach Parts of Commerce Avenue in Vero Beach and other nearby locations to the tracks are not the best face of Vero Beach. I doubt if anyone riding that train and seeing those sights would elect to come here for a visit even if there was a stop here. However, an AAF train stopping here could be the catalyst for a rejuvenation or reinvention of downtown Vero Beach. 13. More Jobs. There are never enough jobs these days. Some jobs will be created by AAF in Indian River County even if they don't stop here. Even more jobs would be created if they did stop though. A young local college student by the name of Logan Smith has also suggested that a stop in Vero Beach might very well lead to more business during the "Snowbird off season" and provide more work for college students who could use a financial boost. Of course many new year-round jobs would be created in local businesses IF a stop became a reality. 14. National Defense. There are some who would say that this is baloney, but the Federal Aviation Administration, The Federal Highway Administration( think Freeways) and the Federal railroad Administration are all part of National defense planning. In WWI, the Florida East Coast Railway was taken over by the Government for the duration of the war. The same was done before FEC's time during the Civil War. The US Military has an Ic..A.a.