Now the newspapers in Southern California are editorializing against the biggest scam in American history, the choo choo to nowhere. They have signed billions in contracts with no money to pay. They have used eminent domain (government theft) to take hundreds of homes and businesses—and created slums and ghettos. This an agency they lied to the public to get a bond passed—they laughed when they admitted they lied about the route, the cost, the ridership and how long it will take to build.
“The treasurer issued the bonds in spite of a legal challenge that seeks to obtain an injunction on the expenditure of any bond proceeds for the project. Opponents contend that Assembly Bill 1889, signed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown, improperly relaxed Proposition 1A’s requirement that funding only be released for a “usable segment” of the project, and that the 119-mile segment between Madera and Shafter does not meet this definition. A Sacramento superior court will hold a hearing on the case on Wednesday.
The Central Valley segment is officially budgeted at $7.6 billion, though the Federal Railroad Administration in December said that costs could be as much as $10 billion, which would exceed the Authority’s $9.4 billion total budget.
Fraud, corruption, abuse of the taxpayers and property owners—this is an agency they has the morals of Madoff and the ethics of Senator Leland Yee. At what point will the public revolt.
Photo courtesy of skew-t, flickr
High-speed rail still on wrong track
By The Editorial Board, Long Beach Press Telegram, 4/24/17
There are personnel and funding developments affecting the California high-speed rail project, but the plan’s outlook continues to be bleak — particularly for taxpayers.
First came the news on Thursday that State Treasurer John Chiang’s office sold $1.2 billion in bonds for the project, the first bonds issued from the funding authorized by Proposition 1A, by which voters narrowly approved the project in 2008. Under Proposition 1A, the state may issue $9 billion for the high-speed rail project and $950 million for commuter rail and other passenger rail projects in the state (plus an estimated $9.5 billion in interest costs).
The treasurer issued the bonds in spite of a legal challenge that seeks to obtain an injunction on the expenditure of any bond proceeds for the project. Opponents contend that Assembly Bill 1889, signed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown, improperly relaxed Proposition 1A’s requirement that funding only be released for a “usable segment” of the project, and that the 119-mile segment between Madera and Shafter does not meet this definition. A Sacramento superior court will hold a hearing on the case on Wednesday.
The Central Valley segment is officially budgeted at $7.6 billion, though the Federal Railroad Administration in December said that costs could be as much as $10 billion, which would exceed the Authority’s $9.4 billion total budget.
The day after the bond sale, the California High-Speed Rail Authority issued a news release announcing that CEO Jeff Morales will be stepping down early this summer after five years on the job. Among his accomplishments touted were getting construction started in the Central Valley, securing financing and three procurement bids, and supporting “thousands of jobs.”
But both construction and financing problems continue to plague the project. “The bullet train is years behind schedule, faces stiff opposition from state Republicans and has failed to identify sources of funding necessary to complete even a partial system,” Ralph Vartabedian notes in a recent report on the troubled high-speed rail project for the Los Angeles Times.
Even the job-creation argument is suspect. We are reminded of the story about economist Milton Friedman visiting the site of a canal project during a trip to Asia in the 1960s. He noticed that the canal was being built by many workers with mere shovels and inquired as to why there was no heavy earth-moving equipment. “You don’t understand,” a government bureaucrat who accompanied him replied. “This is a jobs program.” Upon hearing this, Friedman retorted: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”
The point is that not all work is productive work, and those high-speed rail workers’ efforts could be put to better use than for an unnecessary bullet train project that will likely require massive ongoing taxpayer subsidies, and that relatively few people will use.
The High-Speed Rail Authority has repeatedly ignored the pleas of the residents, farmers and business owners that will be negatively affected by the project, and has played loose with its cost, ridership, ticket price and other numbers. Let us hope the courts put a stop to its spending on dubious financial plans before more taxpayer money is sent down the wrong track.
About Stephen Frank
Speak Your Mind