Mobile City Councilman Richardson: ‘Someone is going to have to convince me that Amtrak will harm the city of Mobile’

Although Alabama’s congressional delegation is opposing Amtrak’s approach to restoring service to Mobile, given it could negatively impact the Port of Mobile, Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson, a candidate in Mobile’s upcoming mayoral election, is not buying it.

During an interview with Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Richardson dismissed the Port’s issues with passenger rail service and argued the Port should take the issue up with Amtrak and not involve the city of Mobile.

Richardson said he did not see how Amtrak’s return would negatively impact the city.

“That is not the city’s business,” he said. “The Port has a board of directors. The Port can take their issues to Amtrak, not to the city of Mobile. I’m on the board of directors of the city of Mobile. And my goal is to look out for what’s best for the city of Mobile, not what best for any other entity. My primary is goal is to look out for what’s best for the city of Mobile. Someone is going to have to convince me that Amtrak will harm the city of Mobile.”

“And let me tell you this — if you go to Savannah, Amtrak is running right downside the largest container port in America — is in Savannah, Georgia,” he said. “Amtrak can run right downside the container port. Now, Amtrak had 15.3 million visitors last year. They have Amtrak. We don’t have Amtrak. We had 3.5 million visitors. They don’t have no white sand. They don’t have no Mardi Gras. They don’t have what we have. But yet, they are far ahead of us. Look at New Orleans. They have a port. They have Amtrak. And the person that is over the Port — he came from a city that has Amtrak and a port.”

Richardson insisted the real issue with pushback against passenger rail was that it was subsidized by the federal government, which violates conservative orthodoxy.

“We don’t have no record of no city in America having the trouble with Amtrak but Mobile, Alabama,” he stated.”It’s another issue. It has nothing to do with the Port. They are against the federal government giving money to Amtrak. They don’t want it because the people who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to ride Amtrak will be able to buy a ticket. That’s what a lot of them are fighting. It has nothing to do with the Port in my mind. It has to do with Amtrak being subsidized by the federal government to make tickets available to low- and moderate-income people.”

“I’m looking out for what’s best for Mobile, and I don’t blame them for looking for what’s best for the Port,” Richardson added. “But don’t bring the Port over in my arena because I’m not going in their arena.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.