Dear Mr. Gibilaro,

1) Thank you for the explanation for the delay in the PD&E schedule, and for bringing this to my attention. Please send me this list of concerns which is causing this delay. As you are actively reviewing these issues, I trust that forwarding this information will present little difficulty. I thank you in advance for sharing the information.

2) Unfortunately, I still do fail to see the reason for taking the extra steps and money to file for 4(f) and to perform a NEPA study in the first place if FTE "is not filing" for Federal funds. An analogy to this would be asking the father for permission to marry his daughter, going ring shopping, planning the cake for the wedding, but deny that you are getting married, that the down payment on the ring is only a perfunctory exercise and not indicative of any intention to marry.

3) Although it is true that information from your office has been offered to the news media, perhaps a more complete set of information would prevent many more misunderstandings in the future, for the press as well as the public. As a first step in bridging this gap, please be kind enough to forward me the information requested in 1) above. This would prevent my own misunderstanding and wrong assumptions on the current status of the project.

4) The car analogy you presented is excellent. However, I am a bit puzzled, as it only emphasizes further that the No Build discussion is a critical component at the earliest stage in the process, and not the reverse.

Allow me to clarify my statement.

When you are deciding to buy a new car, the first questions to ask yourself are: What are the alternatives to paying all this money for a new car at this time?

i. Can I continue to use my existing car by fixing it up? (What will the new car do for me that my existing car doesn't?) [i.e. Can we fix up existing roads? What will Suncoast 2 offer me that improved local roads won't?]

ii. Can I take public transit and have No Car at all instead? (How much will I save by not buying the car?) [i.e. No Build option?]

iii. What else should have higher priority at this time than buying a new car? (Is the hot water heater on the fritz and needs replacement? Should I buy my son --who lives in Miami and is in dire need of a solution to his transportation problem-- a new car before buying myself a new car? I am in nowhere near as desperate need for a car as he.) [i.e. Putting new tollroads in currently congested areas with pressing needs?]

iv. Is buying a new car really a need for me, or simply a luxurious vanity? (Do I really need it otherwise I can't get to work? or do I just want it because others tell me "You Need This Car"?) [i.e. Is the road really necessary? Will it actually solve the traffic problems promised?]

v. Will having this new car, in addition to my existing car, cause me more problems, more on-going cost and hardship in the future? [i.e. Will the tollroad encourage growth that would not otherwise occur, so that local roads in the area become saturated at a faster rate, forcing people to use toll roads instead of free roads to get around?]

I would also, if I were cautious, as part of the decision-making process, bring my existing car to the mechanic for a valid and expert assessment of its future potential, and would not simply assume that a new car is the only solution to my problem.

What I would NOT do, is spend time and money to research (or file) for a car loan, set my heart on a particular car, and only after that, begin thinking about the decision to buy or not to buy a new car. In other words, I would do my Needs Analysis first before I do anything else, to determine if I really need the car in the first place, that no alternative exists other than to buy a new car. I would consider whether or not it the new car will solve my transportion problem, whether it will create more future costs than I can bear, before I go out to select the actual car I would buy.

The analogy analysis which you presented takes a de facto assumption that a new car IS needed to solve my transportation problem. If that is already the decision, considering the No Car option after that point is merely an empty exercise to hide a foregone conclusion, is it not?

If we extrapolate the car analogy to the Suncoast Parkway 2: before selecting the alignment itself (i.e. settling on the model of car to buy), we must first ask questions (i) through (v). This discussion/exercise appears to be either missing, or out of sequential order in the project plan. We are already picking the car model, yet we do not even know for certain that the new car is really a necessity, or is only a vanity buy.

Thank you for your patience in reading this long note. Again, I have but a single request arising out of all these words: the list of concerns which is pushing back the PD&E schedule, as you mentioned in point 1) of your note.

Regards,