Tom Umberg Elected Chair of California High Speed Rail Authority Board
This will have to be a quick post – at today’s board meeting the California High Speed Rail Authority unanimously chose Orange County Democrat Tom Umberg to serve as their chair. He will serve a 1-year term, and can be re-elected to a second 1-year term but can only serve two consecutive terms.
From a CHSRA press release:
“California’s high-speed rail project is a historic undertaking – the coming year is critical as we focus on the initial construction of the statewide system,” said Umberg, who was appointed to the Authority Board in 2008 by the Speaker of the Assembly. “I am dedicated to representing the people of the state in guiding the successful implementation of the system envisioned by voters. I’d also like to thank Curt Pringle for his leadership and the long hours he has put in over the last two years as chairman.”
The Board policy requires that Board members elect a chair and vice chair from amongst themselves annually. Members are elected to serve one-year terms, and no more than two consecutive terms. Today’s election was a unanimous vote of the members present.
Mr. Umberg is an attorney with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, specializing in federal and state policy and regulatory matters. Earlier in his career, Mr. Umberg was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and Orange County. As a federal criminal prosecutor, he tried numerous white-collar and civil rights cases. Umberg was appointed Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1997. He served three terms in the California Legislature, most recently between 2004 and 2006. In the state Assembly, he chaired the Environmental Safety and the Elections and Redistricting Committees.
Curt Pringle’s term as chair had been controversial at times, although much of that controversy stemmed from anti-HSR folks looking for someone to personalize as the face of a project they don’t like. Pringle was chair during the term of a Republican governor, and Umberg might be the right fit for the first year of a Democratic governor’s (third) term.
While I don’t know the details of the relationship between Umberg and Jerry Brown – or if Umberg still has any strong ties to anyone left in the Assembly (term limits mean that anyone he served with in the Assembly from 2004 to 2006 is no longer in the Assembly) – Umberg’s relationships could help block the notorious SB 517, the sneak attack on the HSR project by Alan Lowenthal.
“, Mr. Umberg was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and Orange County. … As a federal criminal prosecutor, he tried numerous white-collar and civil rights cases. ”
Sounds like a tough nut.
I don’t know anything about various people other than what I read here (that’s because I don’t live there, and feel unqualified to comment except in most general terms), but I have to ask, why the choice of a criminal lawyer for this post? Unless you are bringing in a criminal charge on shoddy work or other problems, what background does he have for this project?
And as for those who think some other members of the board may have been full of themselves, I’ll gently remind them that some lawyers can be among the worst you’ve ever seen in the ego department.
StevieB Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 12:24 am
Umberg served as vice chairman for two years so is very familiar with the project. The other previous vice chair, Lynn Schenk, was reelected along with a new appointee from the central valley.
joe Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 5:13 am
Mr. Umberg is an attorney with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, specializing in federal and state policy and regulatory matters. Earlier in his career, Mr. Umberg was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and Orange County. As a federal criminal prosecutor, he tried numerous white-collar and civil rights cases. Umberg was appointed Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1997. He served three terms in the California Legislature, most recently between 2004 and 2006. In the state Assembly, he chaired the Environmental Safety and the Elections and Redistricting Committees.
morris brown Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Umberg old history:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1430111/posts
Assemblyman Umberg admits affair, apologizes
and more on his affair:
http://occourant.blogspot.com/2005/06/war-of-newspapers-over-umberg-affair.html
Goes with the territory these days I guess.
Peter Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Wow, a six year old affair. Amazing. He should resign immediately!
Paulus Magnus Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 12:28 am
Ditto that. What, exactly, does he bring to the table, even simply being on the board to begin with?
My guess: Umberg’s ascent means synonmouse’s dream of seeing HSR go through the Tejon Pass is DEAD. Umberg was appointed by Speaker Perez (Los Angeles) and is going to impose his Manatt perspective on things. Still he or Schenck are the only two people left on the Board who should be Chair at this point.
Many of the recent Board appointees don’t seem to have the luminary quality that Rod Diridon, Quentin Kopp, Richard Katz had. It’s sort of shame really that if Lowenthal got his way, the Board might actually being “qualified” to run the agency.
VBobier Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:15 am
Lowenthals Neandertal cronyism more likely, Padding jobs with Yes Men Who’ll do someone elses bidding. Label Me skeptical, Cause I am skeptical of Alan Lowenthal’s motives, In other words I don’t trust Alan Lowenthal, His Ex Wife Who’s in the Legislature as an Assemblywoman? Yep I trust Her, She supports HSR and that is good enough for Me.
Peter Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:24 am
You complain about “Yes Men” and then state that you trust Lowenthal’s ex-wife for the simple reason that she supports HSR? That makes no sense.
Roger Christensen Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:59 am
Good point. Although Bonnie Lowenthal, who has spent much time on the MTA Board, seems to have better transportation chops than her ex.
VBobier Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 6:33 pm
She’s His ex-wife, Not His clone or lackey, People don’t always have a peaceful divorce and as Roger said She has better chops, Her Ex? He sounds like someone who maybe likes to be a control freak…
Her bill sounds better than His bill.
Peter Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Her chops have nothing to do with it. You complained about “Yes Men” and then stated that you trust a different politician because you agree with her view of one issue. I was simply pointing out the irony of in your comment.
VBobier Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
“Yes Men” as in always do what’s best for the Nimbys and not the Project.
Peter Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Ah, I see, so they’re only Yes Men if they disagree with what you want.
Risenmessiah Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:45 am
One possibility is that the bill is amended so that there are changes to whom can be on the Board, but the appointments and the agency is still not subject to Legislative control. In that way, the Board might get a little bit more higher profile people than it does now except for Crane, Schenk, Umberg and Pringle.
VBobier Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
This seems like a mistake to Me, Like changing Horses in mid stream, Not a good idea. Maybe later after the 1st 130 miles are built in the Central Valley.
Whatever happened with the meeting with Spain officials or whatever it was that some members here wanted to go to?
Jack Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:24 am
Today!
Alex M. Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 9:52 am
It’s today at the Fairmont.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Happening today. Expecting a blog post from someone who attended, which may or may not be ready by tomorrow.
Has anyone been able to find the full FL report on profitability of HSR worldwide vs FL that came out in March? I spent some time trying to find it, but no luck. I think it should be posted here:
http://www.dot.state.fl.us/rail/publications.shtm
If you are not sure which report I am referring to, it is this one:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/09/2106646/high-speed-rail-is-profitable.html
I was hoping that this study would have tables comparing the profitability of lines with some stats and data. This could potentially be used as a reference to build the case for HSR.
Andre Peretti Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Here is the SNCF 2010 financial statement (in English):
LINK
It’s a very long and detailed document but you have the key figures on page 10.
“infrastructure costs” means the tolls paid to RFF (track owner).
Maybe you can find similar documents from DB, Shinkansen, etc…
datacruncher Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 10:53 am
I’ve never seen a link to the completed report. But the March media stories seem to be based on this 5 pages of summary data about just the Florida line. The numbers match what the stories used but its not enough detail to be a real help.
http://www.americanhsra.org/whitepapers/floridaHSRridership.pdf
Donk Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 11:10 am
Yeah that seems to be only a portion of the report. The articles seemed to cite a lot of additional data about worldwide numbers as well.
Assembly acts to end independent high speed rail authority
Also: Report: California Mulls a ‘Department of High-Speed Trains’
VBobier Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Governor Brown is HSRs only hope now, Hopefully this will not come to pass or HSR is as good as dead.
BruceMcF Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 6:20 pm
I don’t see what is so bad about this one.
VBobier Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 6:40 pm
I had an anxiety attack, then read Her bill, Then posted differently. If there are two bills that are largely the same except for here and there, It might go to a committee and have the differences ironed out, hopefully something good will come out of this and that construction in the Central Valley in 2012 will not be stopped cause of this unwanted interference/meddling by the CA Legislature.
BruceMcF Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 7:41 am
at the very least, having passed one bill to set up a hsr department inside transport & housing, there is no risk of the Assembly passing a different one that is also a Senate powergrab.
VBobier Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 5:52 pm
AB145 is sponsored by Assembly Members Galgiani, Bonnie Lowenthal and is Coauthored by: Assembly Member Gordon as is mentioned here and Here for the latest text as of 06/03/2011.
In other news: Palmdale challenges high-speed rail study of alternative I-5 route
Alex M. Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Talk about overreacting.
MGimbel Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:10 pm
They’re only wasting taxpayer dollars. Given the Authority is required to study alternatives, they really have nothing to sue over.
joe Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 7:33 pm
I agree, the lawsuit isn’t going to stop the study.
No, it’s not a waste of taxpayer dollars for citizens to fight for public infrastructure. This is their economic future at stake. Their Representatives own them a fight for HSR.
This isn’t an attack on HSR – it’s an example of the economic importance of rail in “nowhere” CA.
This lawsuit illustrates how important HSR is to CA and how it will further unify CA with critical transportation infrastructure.
VBobier Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Of course “nowhere” doesn’t exist anymore, Except in delusional little brain washed minds. Like Syno and Morris the kitten.
John Burrows Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 12:33 am
Threatening to sue because you feel that the absence of HSR will devastate your economy—How un-nimbylike
Joey Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:01 pm
To be fair, they already DID study the Grapevine alternative, and eliminated it long ago. I’m not saying that conditions haven’t changed since then though.
joe Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:31 pm
They did a study, made a decision and then they began to do more work in the selected area.
Conditions haven’t changed, the knowledge about those conditions has changed.
My preference is to build to Palmdale and service those communities. Is it costly? Maybe. The aqueducts that bring cheap water to LA were costly.
synonymouse Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:40 pm
I am beginning to think Morris is right. This thing needs to die. Too many morons, too much corruption, fuggedabout. **** Palmdale.
political_incorrectness Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 11:22 pm
It will be dismissed as the CHSRA is only following CEQA in studying all alternative routes.
adirondacker12800 Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 11:50 pm
They studied the alternate routes years ago.
BruceMcF Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 7:38 am
the AA process has since revealed new information ~ a study to determine whether the project risk of the Tejon Pass is offset by the project risk of the southern half of Palmdale/Sylmar seems prudent
the prospect of a judge ordering the CHSRA to not find out seems distant.
This was sent to me in the last few days. It is from a speech Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin made earlier this week (I split it up for easier reading, the original shows as a single paragraph).
“Also on the Downtown Agenda in this next year, the City will begin the next phase of planning for the future High Speed Rail station and its surrounding area. Speaking of high speed rail, let’s talk about that for a minute. I get asked about this all the time – is it really going to happen? I love HSR! I hate HSR! Don’t take my property. Please take my property – I want to move anyway! This is my take on what’s going on. I absolutely believe in the importance of high speed rail to our city and to our state and am a genuine supporter.”
“Turns out, there are some critics of HSR. Some of the criticism is legitimate. These issues must be worked out, and we need the best minds at the table resolving questions about alignment, financing and operating models. But, some of the criticism is simply political in nature, and I’ve got a problem with that. I represent a City that stands to benefit tremendously from high speed rail, and I don’t want political motivations masquerading as genuine concern about the project.”
“Bring legitimate issues and concerns to the table and let’s see whether there’s a way to deal with them, and let’s expect to resolve those issues and to see high speed rail birthed in the United States in Fresno, California first. Because, state and Federal governments are going to spend billions…billions and billions…on maintaining and operating our existing roads and highways every year in this state anyway. Guess what? Those systems are failing. Even if we had the money to give every single Californian their own personal highway – it’s still going to take us 3 hours to get to San Francisco and only an hour on a fast train. The High Speed Car just isn’t going to do that for me. High speed rail has transformative potential, and because of that, it’s worth it to try to find a way to make it work.”
“Cut the politics. Help solve the problem. ”
http://www.fresno.gov/News/PressReleases/2011/State+of+the+City.htm
Jack Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
That’s My Mayor! I voted for her!
D. P. Lubic Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
“The High Speed Car just isn’t going to do that for me.”– Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin
I like that.
Of course, Reason, Cato, etc. will have an answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL2vaSNbPbo
The reality is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCy04rqbVxo
Jack Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
If they would just let us drive 220 on the freeway we’d all be fine.
Peter Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I like that idea. We just need to figure out how to keep the tires from exploding…
adirondacker12800 Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Make them out of steel and put them on a guideway made out of steel…..
BruceMcF Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
You still have problems with losses to drag at that speed ~ maybe hook several together so they can get the aerodynamic benefit of being … wait a minute, I got to Wiki the technical term … ah, yes, “entrained”.
adirondacker12800 Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Even when they are hooked together for aerodynamic efficiency they’d still have to carry around a lot of fuel. Maybe someone could figure out how to use electricity to do it, that way the fuel is stationary. Perhaps a wire strung over them and use the metallic guideway to complete the circuit….. Nah, this is all just too far fetched….
D. P. Lubic Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Hey, what do we do about deer? I’ve hit a few, and do they tear up a car, and they aren’t all that big, much smaller than a moose, a bear, or a cow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K0Vd_r24Yo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6HctM4fAhg
Peter Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Simple.