This town is way too cynical about Big Ideas, and if we keep it up, we'll stay mired in our little backwoods swamp.

So let me suggest that we suppress our cynicism for a bit and embrace the potential of the newest big project before us: high-speed rail.

Unfortunately, the possibility of high-speed rail from Albany to Buffalo has gotten entangled with the controversy of the day, Renaissance Square. Reasonable people can disagree about whether Ren Square's bus station should be built a few blocks north, at the train station. But some of Ren Square's supporters are hooting not only at that idea but at the very idea of high-speed rail.

Their argument: It's simply not going to happen. It'll take forever to get the right-of-way for a high-speed track. It would need not only some of CSX's land but also private property along the line. That could require condemnation, with all of its risks and delays. High-speed rail is just another big dream being promoted by the usual fluffy-headed dreamers.

So is high-speed rail just the latest Grand Scheme? Not to Representative Louise Slaughter, who put together a bi-partisan coalition of Upstate members of Congress. And not if you talk to state DOT officials. Both insist that: 1) The Albany-to-Buffalo high-speed track will cost about $3 billion; 2) we stand a good chance of getting $1 billion from federal stimulus funds; and 3) high-speed rail could be coming through Rochester in three to five years.

Slaughter and DOT Communications Director Skip Carrier say the high-speed track needs only part of the CSX right of way. CSX once had four tracks; it has abandoned two, so there's plenty of land available. A CSX representative has been at the meetings with federal and state officials and members of the House, at which planning is developing, and Slaughter and Carrier say they believe negotiations with the rail company will be successful.

"Clearly they want to be a part of what's taking place," is how Carrier puts it.

"Never in my years here have I seen anything go as well," says Slaughter.

Slaughter's critics, noting her early opposition to Ren Square, say she and Duffy are using high-speed rail to try to kill the project. Slaughter says she doesn't care whether Ren Square gets built or not. She says she's been talking with Canadians about an Albany-to-Montreal rail line and another from Montreal to Toronto and Buffalo. "That would give us the biggest economic development area in North America," she said. "I'm not doing that to stop Ren Square."