Feinstein and Boxer Call for HSR Money to be Redirected to California
As newly elected Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio threaten to reject hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to build desperately needed high speed rail projects, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have stepped up to call on those funds to be redirected to California should they become available. Here’s the full text of the letter as emailed to me today by Senator Feinstein’s office:
November 16, 2010
The Honorable Ray LaHood
Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20590Dear Secretary LaHood:
It has come to our attention that several states plan to cancel their high-speed rail projects. We ask that you withdraw the Federal grants to these states and award the funds to states that have made a strong financial commitment to these very important infastructure projects.
California voters have committed over $9 billion in bonds to high-speed rail, putting our state in a unique position to advance this initiative quickly. Our state’s plan has widespread, bipartisan support because of the impressive potential for job growth, its impact on energy independence and its transformational role in how Californians move throughout the state. No other state is as ready, as able, or as determined to develop a high-speed rail system in the near future.
California stands ready to be a pioneering partner with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Awarding our state’s plan with these funds would have the greatest and most immediate impact in advancing the kind of high-speed rail system envisioned by both California and the Obama Administration.
Thank you for considering this request. We look forward to working with you on this matter.
Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein
United States SenatorBarbara Boxer
United States Senator
This is an excellent move by California’s two Senators. The people of California have twice now shown their support for high speed rail, both with the approval of Prop 1A in November 2008 and their rejection of anti-HSR candidate Meg Whitman in the November 2010 election. Recent polling from across California and on the Peninsula shows HSR is still widely popular.
Californians understand that high speed rail is necessary to the state’s economic recovery – we want the jobs it will bring. Californians understand that high speed rail is necessary to improve our transportation system – we want the fast, reliable, convenient travel options it will bring. Californians understand that high speed rail is necessary to improve our environment and deliver energy independence – we want to slow global warming and reduce carbon emissions by using high speed rail.
We also want to see a broader national HSR system built. We need to improve passenger rail across the country, and that includes states like Wisconsin and Ohio. It’s worse than shameful – it is tragic – if their right-wing governors want to shackle their states to driving and risk their economic futures through dependence on oil. But if they do succeed in rejecting the money, it ought to be redirected to a state where the HSR plans are sufficiently advanced where we can put it to immediate use – and that’s here in California.
With Republicans like new House Transportation Committee chair John Mica agreeing that California’s HSR project is worth funding, now is the time to increase our funding allocation. If that comes from states whose governors foolishly rejected it, well, at least we know the money will be used effectively.
Slightly OT: Wisconsin Reps. want options for high-speed rail money
They want states returning HSR money to be able to redirect the funds to repaying the federal debt.
Because $1 billion would make a significant dent in the federal debt. Right.
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Not to mention, can states even tell the feds where the money they’re returning to the feds should go?
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
If we had our own military in california, we could just whoop wisconsin’s ass and take the money… and take all their trains too. lol.
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
California Army and Air Force National Guard?
In the 1800s there was an incident when two states nearly went to war with each other.
ajmstilt Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
California GDP = 1.628Billion
California Population = 36.9million
Wisconsin GDP= 214Billion
Wisconsin Population = 5.6million
Edge = California
Eric M Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
You mean Trillion for California GDP
ajmstilt Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
yeah the . should be a ,
Victor Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
There It’s fixed.
YESONHSR Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
A pure showboat act!
YESONHSR Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I meant that for the Wisconson reps!!!
Victor Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
And they aren’t going to get their way, We might, but they won’t.
BruceMcF Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:34 am
The House may or may not be up for pointless showboatery (lord know they’ll be doing plenty in the next two years), but the Senate won’t pass it and the President won’t sign it, so its as direct an effort to con the electorate as Gov. Jobs Walkabout telling the road lobby that he could get the $810m put into roads in Wisconsin, and getting a healthy boost in road lobby campaign contributions as a result.
Alan F Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 8:37 am
We are going to get enough pointless showboating, posturing, and hot air over the next 2 years from the next Congress to last the American people a lifetime. Just have to resist the urge to slam our heads into something everytime we hear a newly elected Congressman or Senator say something mindbogglingly stupid or ignorant.
What I don’t get about Walker in Wisconsin is whether he ever seriously thought he could re-direct the $810 million towards road projects. The $810 million came from HSIPR stimulus funds directed by rather specific Congressional legislation. Wouldn’t have taken but a few minutes to look it up. Given his margin of victory, Walker could have gotten elected without this whole no train campaign pledge. Politicians should always be careful about making specific rigid campaign pledges, you usually have to follow through on them once you get elected and they make for poor governance. Such as having to return $810 million of federal money and lose a lot of jobs & future tax revenue.
As much as I’d love to see HSR get built here in California, I’m originally from the Midwest and it pains me to see these funds diverted (even if they weren’t going to be true HSR). It’s mind-boggling to me that the 3Cs of Ohio (Cinci-Cbus-Cleveland) don’t have passenger rail service. Maybe Obama can step in and try and convince the new Governors on the plans.
I think in the long run, it will help California to have other states receive funds. It may help convince Congress to set up a long term source of funding for HSR projects. Other states probably won’t have quite the same private backing that California will have once CEQA/NEPA is cleared.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Agreed – I’m not cheering on the right-wingers in WI and OH. But if they do prevail, CA should get the funding.
Victor Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I say We request It all, Florida has enough to get started and could get a bond to cover the rest, And the NEC will wait, We need It all.
Eric M Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I’m hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that Florida decides to give back their money too. That would ne a nice chunk of change.
Victor Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Oh yeah, That would be fine with Me, More for California, Less change for the Chumps.
StevieB Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Florida because it is a short line could construct quickly. If done well the Florida high speed rail line would create more enthusiasm in the United States and improve chances for additional funding for other projects. High speed track seperate from other traffic improves both passenger and freight transportation and needs encouragement.
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Florida is only $300 million short of FULL federal financing. Let them come up with the remaining amount.
Eric M Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I agree. They are not footing anything so far, becides the ROW in the middle of the freeway, but that is lame too because all states own the land in the middle of the freeway.
adirondacker12800 Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
They specifically bought extra land so that someday the the median could be used for trains.
Alon Levy Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Or they can have Mica give them full funding.
Al-Fakh Yugoudh Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
No. Let’s hope Florida changes its mind and gives up the money. That project is very dangerous for high speed rail in America. All high speed rail advocates should oppose it.
The line could be built quickly and at a lower expense than elsewhere (it’s all flat), however it is unlikely that it will be successful in terms of passenger traffic. Considering the short distance btw Tampa and Orlando and the fact that the two cities are the epitomy of low density sprawl with nothing within easy reach from the city centers, it is unlikely that it will convince a lot of people to get people to use it in lieu of their cars. Let’s face it, when in Orlando you’ll need a car to get around, therefore people will just drive. Saving 40 min. on the trip won’t make a difference once you need to waste just as much time to rent a car at the station and drive to your final destination.
Since that line would be likely the first one in service, a failure would not bode well for HSR elsewhere. HSR opponents would use that failure as a reason to stop HSR everywhere.
It’s not a good strategy to start from a segment that is likely to fail. It will turn people off once they learn that it was money thrown away and it will need taxpayers’ subsidies to sustain itself.
KILL IT NOW! Or we will suffer the consequences everywhere else.
Al Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
This is what I worry about. Granted I’m a Californian so maybe I’m biased, but CA HSR makes a lot of sense to me, and from what I’ve read of Florida’s project, it doesn’t.
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
YOu may be right. Im thinking that if the hsr line went from inside the TPA airport terminal directly to Orlando with stops at the major theme parks, only then it would be successful…. and even then, people are likely still going to rent a car for the family. FL is a tough place to go car free, and the type of people who live and visit there are the car free types to begin with. CA is really the only true mainline, workhorse style, hsr system planned ( texas would be good but those yahoos won’t ever get it done)
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Instead it’s the other way around. It goes from Orlando Airport to downtown Tampa, with stopts at the theme parks.
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
What? why? wWho in hell wants to go to Tampa for anything. When I went to disney world in 1979 we flew into tampa, and drove to orlando. The only other reason to go to tampa is the handful of cruises that leave from there. SO I guess if they ran it to the cruise terminal. But downtown Tampa? Are you kidding? I mean have any of you ever been to “downtown” tampa? Oh lord. Spare me.
Now Mia-ftl-Orl would be an hsr line worth building. What are they thinking? You know what… Florida doesn’t even need high speed rail. Besides the trains are just going to get hit by lighting everyday and get blown off the tracks by hurricanes anyway. Florida should focus on bolting down its trailer parks.
Alon Levy Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
The ROW the state acquired goes to downtown Tampa but not TPA, and to MCO but not downtown Orlando. The ultimate intention is to eventually serve Miami, and to put all three cities on one line, it’s slightly less circuitous to go through MCO than through downtown Orlando.
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Want to hear something really dumb about FHSR?
It’s not intended to link with SunRail. SunRail that Florida had to finance in order to get any federal HSR funding…
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Florida does have rail supporters, and one of them is from Tampa (although he has been in New York for the last year or two); big on rail, primarily light rail, but sees the need for intercity (HSR) too.
http://www.tamparail.org/
jim Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Jimsf: Who in hell wants to go to Tampa for anything.
Tampa is an OK place, particularly downtown. If I could live with a thunderstorm at 4PM every day, I’d even consider living there. Orlando is appalling and Miami not much better.
HSTSheldon Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Jimsf: Who in hell wants to go to Tampa for anything.
Greater Tampa is a nicer and bigger town than Orlando and they have the beach nearby. If it were not for Walt Disney World, Orlando would be a two bit town nobody ever heard of.
Alon Levy Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
If it weren’t for her lack of wheels, my grandmother would be a wagon.
adirondacker12800 Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
..somebody wants to go to Orlando. MCO was the world’s 27th busiest airport in 2009.
synonymouse Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
It appears that Richard Branson is interested in the Florida hsr but thus far no involvement with hsr in California. Are there any detours to appease local pols and developers in the Florida scheme?
And of the ultimate question is as always is the “investment” truly at risk or is it taxpayer guaranteed? The purpose of private investment is to bring real-world entrepreneurial expertise to counter the braindead cheerleading of the consultant-contractor-labor complex.
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
what you call the consultant contractor labor complex is nothing more then american professional class and working class people with good jobs doing work in america, for pay in america, as americans and they are no different than anyone else or any other business in america that votes and lobbies for their best interests be it the dairy industry, the retailers, the hospitality industry, the restaurant association, famers, the beef industry, the people who make candy bars, or the NSSIA even, so just get over it.
Alon Levy Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
The consultant complex is largely not doing good jobs. It’s basically managers extorting the public to get themselves paid upper-class wages. The contractor complex is about foremen and contractors extorting the public to get upper-class wages, and the unions getting paid upper middle-class wages with 2 people doing what elsewhere in the world gets done with 1.
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
bs
Alon Levy Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
You really don’t want all Americans to get what people are getting in France and Italy and Norway and Belgium, do you?
YesonHSR Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
A Tampa to Orlando segment is of course the very first step and without the leg onto Miami it may not make any money so they truly need to get down south.. if the Florida project is not built it will be very hard I think to get a true dedicated high speed rail funding on a federal level we have to have more than one system in the planning construction that says how the USA is… the California project Florida’s project and a major overhaul in the Northeast corridor would have enough political support to get a dedicated funding built into some bill.. otherwise we’ll be stuck out here by ourselves
Alon Levy Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 9:05 am
What I don’t get is why they insist on making phase 1 so marginal. Phase 1 should be the most important segment, to maximize early ridership. California is doing it more or less right: phase 1 should be LA-SF. Florida should be doing Miami-Orlando as phase 1, not Orlando-Tampa.
Eric Fredericks Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I’ve talked to some of the planners working on the Florida HSR project. They got me really excited about it. Sure, it’s not going to be as robust as the CA system, but, still think it’s still going to get good ridership. I haven’t been on I-4 in a long time, but I know back in the day it was a nightmare for travel. You can’t take light the novelty factor of a marketed “high-speed train” for tourists coming to Florida. If it’s done well, it could be an attraction in itself (168mph is not slow, and not that much slower than 220 which will only be reached at a few points along the CA HSR system).
I also believe I heard two other interesting points: They are looking for places to connect Sun Rail with the HSR. Also, Disney has also been talking up the potential of a community like Celebration around the Disney station.
BruceMcF Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:48 am
Wisconsin could technically still be reversed ~ the agreement was completed, so the Governor is turning back money already committed, which includes the state having to refund the money already spent.
I doubt the new Governor in Wisconsin much cares so much about the impact on the state as he does about the positive impression that “the stand” makes to his road lobby support and to the radical right wing in his primary electorate. But he might try to soften the damage and hold onto the funds for work along the Hiawatha Line from Chicago to Milwaukee.
And last I read, Florida is more up in the air than definitely rejected, so the month ahead should clarify that. Disney, for one, wants the HSR, and they have a number of people in Florida state government who take their calls.
Kasich, on the other hand, couldn’t take take the money if he wanted to. The Republicans invested a lot in demonizing the 3C Quickstart project to avoid Strickland being able to run on landing the funding.
In January, the party line in the Board of Control will be 5 R, 2 D: 2-1 each from the Senate and the House and the Governor’s appointed chair. After demonizing the project, even if Kasich changed his mind on the project, flipping two of the four legislators on the Board would not be very likely. The only money spent is on the Design, and the State will continue that toward completion until the USDoT tells them to stop: its the delivery of a final design that is the deliverable on the $25m Design commitment.
Alan F Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 7:42 am
If I have followed the news from Wisconsin correctly, Walker is not opposed to improving the current Milwaukee to Chicago Hiawatha corridor, so the funds allocated to that corridor in the HSIPR stimulus & FY10 grants should be safe. It is the $810 million Milwaukee to Madison extension that he has opposed and is now trying to pass the blame onto the Obama administration for not allowing him to re-direct the funds towards highway project or some vaguely defined other rail projects in WI.
Alan F Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 8:18 am
CA HSR has done pretty well in getting a sizable chunk of the $10.5 billion of HSIPR funds allocated so far. While I think the CA HSR is the most important project in getting true HSR established in the US, service won’t begin until 2020 – and that is if everything goes right. California is a big state, it should be able to get more federal and state funding from here now that the HSR project has gotten it’s initial segment funded.
If Wisconsin ($810 million) and Ohio ($400 million) do indeed return the money (Ohio is a certainty to do so at this point), I rather see most of the funds go towards additional upgrades on the other partially funded corridors in the mid-West and east.
In the Mid-West, the funding focus should be on completing the 110 mph upgrade and increased daily frequency service for the Chicago-St. Louis and Chicago-Detroit corridors. Get those 2 corridors to the sub 4 hour travel times called for in the Mid-West Regional Rail plan and watch ridership take off. Both of those corridors are good candidates for 125-150 or 220 mph electrified service, but it will take a long time to get the studies and planning done. Meanwhile get them up to 110 mph peak speeds.
The other corridors that could use more funding are the Empire corridor in NY, Keystone in PA, SE HrSR in VA and SC, New England projects and for that matter the NEC & the Amtrak owned New Haven – Springfield MA line. The Surfliner and Capitol Corridors in CA could also use more funds. Funds spent on those will result in improved service and increased ridership in only a few years, not 10.
Of course, what we really need is a minimum of $5 to $6 billion a year of sustained HSIPR funding, preferably $8 billion, to make real progress on improved intercity passenger rail. Figure $1 to $1.5 billion a year for CA and FL HSR, $1.5 billion a year for the NEC, and $3 to $3.5 billion a year for the Cascades corridor, CA Surfliner & Capitol, Mid-West Regional Rail plan (for the states that are interested), Empire corridor, Keystone (including a major extension to Pittsburgh), New England, SE HSR corridor in VA & NC, Florida FEC. Everybody else can get planning and engineering study money and narrowly focused project money, but they have to show that they are willing to put up state money for construction projects and operating subsidies before they can get major funds for new corridors in their state or states.
It looks like we will instead be getting a high seed bus network instead:
http://www.theonion.com/video/obama-replaces-costly-highspeed-rail-plan-with-hig,18473/
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I find it interesting that that link is also on the Authority’s twitter feed.
Nadia Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Like the Jay Leno one that was on their twitter feed too – it was quite offensive to the friends in Fresno!
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Yeah, they need a better PR person in charge of the twitter feed.
Reality Check Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
That may be, but there’s nothing wrong with posting the Onion’s hilarious HS Bus story. Nothing wrong with a sense of humor and a great laugh.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
This really shouldn’t be funny, but somehow, it is anyway, or at least part of it is. . .
http://users.lmi.net/tcs55/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_plunge
http://www.slate.com/id/2152895/nav/tap1/
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Did anybody else notice that the bus color scheme looks a lot like the California HSR’s blue and gold?
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
omfg that made me laugh out loud.
Al-Fakh Yugoudh Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I support it for the Midwest. There is nothing as safe as a bus traveling at 160 mph on an icy freeway.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Didn’t you know? We had a high-speed bus back in 1976; there was a film about its first run, called “The Big Bus.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPpBGsFddao&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8E0mazRe4k&feature=related
Only cockpit shots I could find.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3y7zDZnyq0&feature=fvw
Have fun.
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
An articulated, nuclear-powered, bus. Right. That’s even worse than “Supertrain”.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Jim, you live out there, can you explain how Hollywood can pick such projects to spend money on? I went through the trouble to put together what I still think is a pretty good TV series about the adventures of railroad men on the job, has a great setting in the modern steam era, but I couldn’t sell it to save my soul.
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Hollywood is a fickle place. You have to find the right person at the right time. Its a business first and foremost and has little to do with art. There are no doubt millions of screenplays and millions of feet of discarded never seen footage in los angeles landfills from the past 75 years or so. You can’t take it personally it not you, its them. However, trains, being in the political spotlight recently, may make be making a big or small screen debut again. Watch for it.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Actually, we do have something out right now. It’s called “Unstoppable,” and stars Denziel Washington and Chris Pine; the director is Tony Scott, of “Top Gun” fame. It’s (very) loosely based on an actual incident in which a freight train got away from a yard engineer in 2001, ran for miles and miles under power, until another freight crew coupled on with their locomotive and dragged the speed down enough for another man to climb on and stop the thing properly. The locomotive was CSX 8888 (movie’s locomotive is 777 of the ficticious Allegheny & West Virginia), and the 8888 has since been nicknamed “Crazy Eights” and “Lil’ Runaway” by the people who work around it. The movie has a lot of extra “Perils of Pauline” elements to spice up the action, such as a near collision with a passenger train, a hit at the tail of a freight train, a hit at a horse trailer at a grade crossing, and a derailment and enormous explosion of another set of locomotives attempting to stop this thing (Ha! Every try to start a brush elimination fire with kerosine, which is basically what diesel fuel is? You almost have to light it with a blow torch, and then you watch a flame about the size of one from a candle gradually spread the fire.) Even crazier is a sequence in which these freight locomotives go around a curve with the inside set of wheels in the air. That location, by the way, is in Beallair, Oh., across the river from Benwood and Wheeling, W.Va., which is where I’m originally from.
Having said all that, this movie is far from the worst such rail flick I’ve seen; outside of that extra action stuff, it’s really not too bad, and did a fairly decent box office. Interestingly, the crowd that went to see it was primarily over 25 and something like 50% female (supposedly unusual demographics for an action movie).
Others that were awful , much, much more awful, included “Supertrain,” “Atomic Train,” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” the latter made in the 1970s and starring Joe Namath and Barbara Eden (whom I do have to say still looked pretty hot!) Much better films have included “The Train,” (Burt Lancaster, star, and John Frankenhiemer, director, ca. 1964), “Union Pacific” (1939, Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck, Cecil B. deMille, director), “Narrow Margin” (original version from 1952), “Denver & Rio Grande” (1951 I think, and the subject was the Royal Gorge war between the D&RG and the AT&SF), and Walt Disney’s “The Great Locomotive Chase” (1956). Other people have mentioned the wonderful atmosphere of travel on the 20th Century Limited, as portrayed in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” but based on some of the guys I know, a lot of that was wishing they could make that trip in the sleeper with Eva Marie Saint!
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
all that extra unbelievable stuff they added to the fire and crash scenes, that’s hollywood lol. As for Eden, she’s eternally hot.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Aye, and that goes for Barbara Stanwyck and Eva Marie Saint, too!
HSTSheldon Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
I suspect the 50% female demographic has something to do with the fact that Denzel Washington was involved. Just my suspicion, could be wrong!!
Joey Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Saw it. Certainly not realistic, but entertaining nonetheless. Another argument (if a weak one) for PTC too ;)
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
hey man, supertrain was cool!
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
For reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertrain
http://nbc_supertrain.tripod.com/
Oh, that soundtrack! No wonder Abba sounds so good–it is good, compared with all that was around it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvF7dIVVKGQ
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
wow how did I miss that big bus movie back then! kewl.
D. P. Lubic Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
I think I prefer a nice, peaceful, boring train ride. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwyCoQuhUNA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh7fQz4xzW4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wNYLK4Ut0k&feature=related
Also keep an eye on the House. Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) will become the GOP majority whip. I haven’t seen where he has taken a stand either way on HSR, but hopefully he sees the benefit to his district and will also push for more federal dollars.
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
From the Hollister Freelance: “Last month, McCarthy joined other Kern County officials in voicing support for building a high-speed rail maintenance facility in Shafter.” They picked this up from McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
Seems like he’ll be in favor.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
McCarthy, like Devin Nunes, has benefited from gerrymandering to produce a very safe seat. Coastal San Luis Obispo County and the more Latino parts of Bakersfield were cut out of his district (the former given to Lois Capps, the latter to Jim Costa).
That’s not gonna happen in 2012 with the passage of Prop 20. It’s unclear what the 22nd will look like, but either way, McCarthy won’t have such a safe seat. He’s from Bakersfield, so he has to worry about picking up the Kern County portion of CA-20 and whittling down his safe seat (or he could simply gain more Republicans at Devin Nunes’ expense, though I doubt they’ll district his seat in with Tulare County).
In any case, McCarthy will have to be attentive his constituents’ desire for jobs and public support for HSR. Nunes can spin conspiracy theories as much as he likes, but McCarthy has real power as the Chief Deputy Whip, and if he stays on board with HSR, that will make a big difference.
datacruncher Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
McCarthy is also the protege of former Rep Bill Thomas. Thomas is supporting both HSR and Kern County’s HMF site. Thomas’ support will likely influence McCarthy.
The GOP will make it formal Wednesday that McCarthy will become the Majority Whip.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Good point re: Bill Thomas. Roy Ashburn, State Senator from Bakersfield (termed out this year), is also a supporter of HSR, though his changes to Prop 1A have been somewhat problematic (including the ban on subsidizing operating costs).
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
I can’t say this without choking but I think maybe at least ca republicans aren’t quite as bad as those from the rest of the country, ( they know they are in a losing position here forever so they have to moderate their views) ACtually, I take that back. They probably suck just as much.
BruceMcF Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:55 am
It could be a distance effect ~ the worst get the widest notoriety. There are Ohio Republicans who are less bad than Ney and Boehner and Kasich, but those are the poster-children for the Ohio Republican Party.
Victor Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Can You say If there are enough Republicans for HSR that Boehner will either change His anti-HSR tune or not become speaker? I would hope so, As that’s two Republicans that are Pro HSR and Mica said that there are others. Question is, Are there enough to force the issue down His throat?
Peter Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
It’s not just a matter of numbers, it’s also a matter of who these specific Republicans are. Mica is powerful, as is/will be McCarthy.
Victor Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
We can only hope they won’t be sidelined by Speaker Bonehead…
jimsf Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
that guy ugh. He makes me ill. What a sleazy little tv crybaby.
datacruncher Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 7:35 am
With the House #3 GOP party leader and #1 Dem party leader likely both from California after today, that could be a lot of clout for California and the state’s HSR. Hopefully this is one situation where they will work together.
YesonHSR Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
The problem at this point is its becoming a political football… that’s just terrible because it’s actually truly worth something and of course since Obama likes it… it’s bad!!
BruceMcF Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 6:59 am
So the question is whether they adopt the simple and easy slogan, “All HSR bad”, or the more complicated slogan likely with more clout among independents, “Obama is doing HSR the wrong way”.
Given their money base in Big Oil ~ I’d guess the first rather than the second.
But Obama & LaHood’s “spread the money around” strategy has been vindicated ~ if it had all been put into one or two big signature projects, the fight would have been focused in one or two places, while with the number of projects breaking ground this coming year, the opponents were faced with a game of whack-a-mole. They’ve killed two and maybe a third, but they needed to kill more than that to prevent the demonstration effect from kicking in.