I know that I may be the only CA person here, not completely sure thou. A real real sore spot in my life is the Dem (Jerry Brown) Bullet Train that was started and 6.2billion sunk into it and it will NEVER be completed.....bad bad decision to begin with but the spend crazy Dems pushed it on. We have a long history of Dem governors, starting with Pat Brown, his son Jerry Brown and now Gavin Newsom the destructive gov in place now. CA politics is so so stinkin deep blue. Governor Jerry Brown has long been an advocate of a high-speed rail system for California. In his first two terms as governor (1975–1983) he signed legislation into law for the study of a high-speed rail system. In 1992 in his run for the Presidency the United States he continued to show his support for it. Then, in 1993 the Intercity High-Speed Rail Commission was created to conduct studies and prepare plans.[2] At the federal level, in 1992 the San Francisco–Los Angeles rail corridor was proposed in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act as one of five high speed rail corridors. In 1996 the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), was established to begin formal planning in preparation for a ballot measure in 1998 or 2000.[3] The ballot measure was originally scheduled to be put before voters in the 2004 general election; however, the state legislature voted twice to move it back, first to 2006, and finally to 2008 when 53% of voters approved the issuing of $9 billion in bonds for high speed rail in Proposition 1A.[4] The U.S. Congress enacted the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA), which among other things required the states to develop passenger rail plans. In May 2013, the California DOT released its 2013 State Rail Plan.[5] This helped provide a new perspective that viewed the HSR project as the backbone of a statewide rail modernization plan. This has been used by the Authority in allocating funds to other state rail systems that support passenger rail goals and feed into the HSR system. Financing[edit] For Initial Construction Segment (ICS), in the Initial Operating System (IOS) area:[6] $2.6 billion (Proposition 1A) and $3.2 billion (federal) to build the first section from Madera to Bakersfield. $252 million in federal funds and state Proposition 1A funds for designing and planning the Phase 1 and Phase 2 system. $250 million added in 2014 budget year in Cap-and-Trade funds (not listed in 2014 Business Plan). $600 million added in 2019 from selling bonds.[7] Total = $6.902 billion
It has been said over the years that the U.S. government is the worst in the world (among advanced nations) at running businesses. Amtrak and the USPS are often used as examples. The same probably applies to California since it seems to be the U.S. government in the worst light. There is no reason that a high speed rail system between L.A. and S.F wouldn't work.. It WOULD work in any other advanced nation. France, Germany or Japan would have it going in a few years. UK may be able to do it as well. We get so bogged down in environment and graft that things just can't be done. There have been proposals here to run a commuter light rail system into Anchorage from areas distant. I originally thought it was a great idea, but when I reviewed the plans, I saw they were extravagant and would set up so they wouldn't work. I think if they had brought a Japanese consultant across the Big Pond, they could be shown how to do it. If California used existing right-of-ways and made it simple with a regular schedule and no frills, they could get the job done. They won't, so it will crash in a mire of cost over runs and construction issues. Sorry, @Joy Martin.
All these big ideas and many are so wasted and go no where, just like this big push by CA to go to high priced electric. If one wants a second car, let them buy there $60-K + . I so happy that I live in a gas apt. Electric in homes is OK I guess for the higher income population. I like gas cooking, all I've ever used.
They tried to push through a high speed train here in Wisconsin about 10 years ago. We all stood up and said no. I wonder if it was a green energy ploy.
My take on the boondoggle is somewhere hidden in all these huge taxpayer checks handed to Ca for their rail system went to into a lot of politicians bank accounts in the form of services and provisions to actually make it happen. You know they all ran out and invested heavily in land acquisitions that would be apart of the system so they could make a killing. If people only really knew what happened to all the money then look no further than that first large hand out of money just after Obama took office. A lot went into solar energy solar panels production. No other than nancy the thief got her share by putting a large loan in her brother in laws name. Naturally the program went bankrupt and the money was never paid back. It helped her to pump up her portfolio of criminal money that she and the others say is legal for them to have insider trading but not for American citizens. When will people finally wake up and put her and the rest into a nice retirement prison cell.
Interestingly, that was not supposed to be possible at the Federal level originally. The Founders never thought that legislators would be so unscrupulous as to exempt themselves from the laws they passed, and, if they were, that the voters would boot them out of office. Sadly, they were wrong on both counts.