California voters will have opportunity to Force Change in November.
Articles — By forcechange on March 23, 2008 2:30 am
This November, California voters will have the opportunity to pass a ballot measure that will combine public and private money in order to develop a high-speed train that would connect all of the state’s population centers (Sacramento, the Bay Area, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego). If built, a trip between the Bay Area and Los Angeles would take 2.5 hours (and is projected to cost $55 for a one-way ticket).
A newly added component on the measure would specifically encourage private investment in the project, which is estimated to cost $42 billion and targeted to be completed in 2020.
According to Assemblywoman Galgiani (D-Stockton), a proponent of the project, “If we don’t do high-speed rail, we will have to add 3,000 miles of highway and five airport runways in the state.”
It is our opinion that this is exactly the type of project that we, as a society, should be pursuing. Not only is effective mass transit good for the environment, but it is also good for the health and development of the community. Much of California has become paralyzed by gridlock. Flying from city to city is difficult because it can be hard to just drive to the airport (let alone get through security). An integrated, high-speed rail system, could greatly increase intra-state mobility, improving both the economy and civil society. Of course, intra-city transport, like subways and light-rails, are equally important. Otherwise people will have to fight the same old traffic, just to get to the high-speed rail stations.
According to a recent survey, 58 percent of Californians favor the bond and 32 percent oppose it. We will be keeping an eye on this measure and the arguments for and against it as we move towards the election in November.
[Update: Hat tip to reader Merritt for catching the mislabeling of the prior graphic.]
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What do they want to build here? A luxury train for the well-to-do. The Disneyland Express. A tourist train for recreational travelers. A train for the “classes,” not the rest of us. A fancy business train for suited professionals; like flying first class. A convenience train for Silicon Valley executives.
Who is going to pay for it? We all are. Are these the right priorities for a state in debt and in deep financial trouble? This bond issue is about state borrowing, like a mortgage we must keep paying. If you’re struggling to make your mortgage payments, are you going to borrow money to buy a Ferrari? That is exactly what we are asked to vote for with this bond issue.
“As a rule of thumb, each $1 billion of new bonds sold at 5% interest adds close to $65 million annually in state debt-service costs for as long as 30 years.” (CA State Legislative Analyst’s Office).
That means paying the debt service on the $10 billion high speed train bond will take $650 million each year from the state treasury for as long as 30 years. That amounts to $19.5 billion, almost twice the cost of the original bond. As the TV ad says, “It’s your money!”
“Other people” will not be paying for this high-speed train; it will come out of our pocket, not merely for 30 years, but forever. Could the State run into the same financial problem as the sub-prime mortgage crisis in this country? You bet.
Is this the best time to be borrowing $10 billion to build a luxury train? Will we be known as the state with high-speed trains and low-speed schools? And, you can be sure that the $10 billion is only a small, first down payment. They say total costs will be $42 billion. Wrong again. Think $100 billion.
Underestimating costs; over-promising results. It’s become standard practice by railroad promoters. $55 train tickets? In 2018? You believe this?
No passenger train in the United States has ever been profitable. Amtrak passenger rail loses many millions every year. Operating costs? Taxpayers pay. The CHSRA promises 117 million annual passengers. That means one full train every two minutes every day of the year. How dumb do they think we are?
We all should be asking who the real beneficiaries will be if this bond issue passes. Answer: the construction companies, right-of-way landowners and developers, the hundreds of consultants, engineers and contractors, lawyers and politicians, the vast railroad bureaucracies and their empire-building agendas. And, the lead contractor, Parsons Brinckerhoff, who has a history of waste, fraud and corruption.
California has serious transit needs. The Bay Area and Tri-valley need a regional transit system for a growing population. The Los Angeles Basin needs the same thing. This high-speed train isn’t even close to doing that. Instead, it will waste vast resources that could be spent on improving urban transit in both high population regions.
Talk about pork-barrel politics, if this bond issue passes, it will be the biggest boondoggle in the history of the United States.
Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. I’m wondering why you think that the high-speed rail would be just for high-end users? It seems that everyone in California would benefit from easier inter-city/region travel. Yes, there are great needs for local mass transit, but I’m not sure it is a zero-sum game. Especially since the bond measure appears to allocate just under a billion dollars specifically for improving local mass transit. Given the crowded nature of California’s airports and roads, it seems to me that a high-speed train could go a long way towards easing congestion, promoting inter-city travel, and opening up the state to everyone. Plus, if it removes cars from the road or planes from the sky, it would improve the environment.