Levine discusses I-4 projects and Visit Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for governor, says he’ll speed up state transportation projects like the Interstate 4 project and will expand Visit Florida if he gets to the governor’s mansion.

Speaking to reporters in Tallahassee during the weekend, he pledged to bring a “sense of urgency” to the Department of Transportation and to back a highspeed rail project linking Orlando to Tampa. Levine said he wants a secretary of transportation who is “the best and the brightest, but one more ingredient: the most impatient. If you’re not impatient, you can’t be in my administration, because things are happening way too slow. The bottom line is this — we need to connect the cities in Florida, there’s no question. We need high-speed rail.”

The ongoing expansion of I-4 is eight months behind schedule and $100 million over budget, according to reports. There also have been other recent problems with transportation projects throughout the state, including a glitch involving SunRail transactions that caused a backlog, and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University that led to the deaths of six people.

Levine is ahead in most polls but is in a five-way race for the Democratic nomination. Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham of Tallahassee; Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene; Winter Park businessman Chris King; and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum are all competing for the chance to face the GOP nominee. Levine has strong support in his political base in South Florida and is trying to expand it throughout the rest of the state.

A multimillionaire who earned much of his fortune by building a marketing firm that catered to the cruise industry, Levine also wants to focus on tourism.

He wants to expand Visit Florida, the state’s tourism promotion agency which has been the subject of bitter fights over its budget the past two years, as Gov. Rick Scott pushed hard to protect it from deep cuts proposed by legislative leaders. “It’s one thing to always say that your opponent or the other side is always wrong, but that’s just not the case,” Levine said. “Coming from a tourism background I would like to see us bolster Visit Florida.”