Yesterday the SF Examiner editors came out in support of the $40 billion bond issue high-speed train between SF and LA. I quite naturally said - Say What?? Excuuuse me?? The SF Examiner agree to the LTE and published.
Rail boondoggle?
Your high-speed railway editorial is a prime example of the taxpayer-robbing thinking of legislators (“High-speed rail’s hidden benefits,” July 11).
Supporters claim it would eliminate airport expansion plans, reduce out-of-city road traffic, beat traffic congestion and facilitate travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco. To fund this grandiose program, taxpayers will pony up $40 billion in bonds, not including interest payments.
If it’s such a great deal, it’s a wonder no one has formed a high-speed train corporation to raise the funds to build the project. Or that free enterprise hasn’t issued long-term high-speed train bonds to be repaid from ticket sales, like the old days of railroad building.
The fact that Sacramento and Washington plan to force taxpayers, even those who don’t ride the high-speed train, to fund this scheme when free enterprise hasn’t bothered with it tells you all you need to know about the project.
Now that #47 has officially chimed in, again today, with the majority of federal #USgovt having his back ( despite fruitless vain unproductive petty non-stop ad nauseam vitriol from US CA Sens Alex Padilla & Adam Schiff, & amidst an increasing frenzy of SF/CA Voters dissatisfied with the status quo, perhaps the LPSF should also add to Saturday’s Agenda : “Opposing & Redirecting All Funding to the California HighSpeed RapidRail ‘BulletTrain Boondoggle’ ‘Train Wreck’”.
This would put the LPSF squarely on the side of the interests of struggling SF TaxPayers/ Workers/ Business Owners, footing the bills, & consistently update old previously declarations at odds with this dimwitted dumbass theft from TaxPayers which should have been handled more easily & efficiently & expeditiously by the Private Sector ( IF#USgovt regs didn’t prevent the feasibility of such potentially profitable, meaningful, sustainable & useful & state-of-the-art world-class infrastructure — IF We lived in a FreeMarket/Libertarian economy — driven by Consumers simply “voting” with their dollars without #USgovt meddlers throwing wrenches into the works ). It should also shore up support among @LPofCCC & other @LPofCal & regional activists & donors on a state-wide issue.
“Opposing & Redirecting All Funding to the California HighSpeed RapidRail ‘BulletTrain Boondoggle’ ‘Train Wreck’”
Whereas:
Since 2008, The [ Democrat-controlled Legislature & GOP Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger ] state-appointed high-speed rail Peer Review Group has officially stated that this project a. has more than “**TRIPLED in costs**” from original US$33.5Billions proposal; b. will take significantly more time to finish; c. won’t meet estimated 2hr40min trip times; d. will carry far fewer passengers than estimated to make it even minimally economical & sustainable; e. with current unfunded & truncated track plans that fail to connect the service to existing Amtrak connections make it practically “USELESS”; & “F”. falls short of ALL promises made to California Voters.
President #47/Trump has recently reiterated, Tue 4 Feb 2025, that this project has “The worst overruns in the history of Our Country” & now promises to begin Federal “investigations” into its corruption.
There is now ZERO chance that the California High-Speed Rail Authority will receive essential [ #47/Trump-approved ] Federal Funding for this year, or over the next Four ( 4 ) years, to reliably continue construction, procurement & planning, designs & requests for proposals.
Billions of dollars in already secured current Federal funding can be used alternatively to improve Amtrak & other Infrastructure serving current commuters & existing communities in San Francisco & beyond ( if not returned to the Treasury as #47/Trump has called for ).
Now that Starchild’s Friend, Fresno Libertarian Nickolas Wildstar@therealqball has also chimed in yet again, today, I reckon it is prime time for the LPSF to do so again, while the CAHSR, like “deportations,” is a hot topic in the msmSnews:
“Nope. Never did and never will. California could’ve had a high speed rail by now and for a cheaper price tag had I been elected governor. Maybe next time the people will get it right!” 1:34 PM · Feb 10, 2025
