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For California’s high-speed rail boosters including their chief cheerleader, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the month of May must have felt like a month from hell. First came a scathing report by California legislature’s fiscal watchdog, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), questioning the rail authority’s unrealistic cost estimates and its decision to build the first $5.5 billion segment in the sparsely populated Central Valley between Borden and Corcoran. That segment, the LAO noted, has no chance of operating without a huge public subsidy, yet the terms of the voter-approved Proposition 1A, explicitly prohibit any operating subsidies.
These concerns were echoed by an eight-member Independent Peer Review Group. "We believe the Authority is increasingly aware of the challenge of accurate cost estimating," wrote its chairman Will Kempton in a letter to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s CEO, Roelef van Ark. The Legislative Analyst‘s Office had concluded that if the cost of building the entire Phase I system were to grow as much as the revised HSRA estimate for the Central Valley segment (an increase of 57%), the Phase I system would end up costing not $43 billion as originally estimated, but $67 billion.
I'm convinced that NewGeography is a right-wing outfit. It's run by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox. They have a long history of praising suburban areas and Republicans while bashing inner cities, Democrats, and liberals. It's all a bit much. I wish I could take them more seriously because I love reading about urban planning and urban affairs, but when there's such obvious bias, it really devalues whatever message they're trying to communicate.
Last edited by AnUnidentifiedMale; 06-05-2011 at 02:36 AM..
I'm convinced that NewGeography is a right-wing outfit. It's run by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox. They have a long history of praising suburban areas and Republicans while bashing inner cities, Democrats, and liberals. It's all a bit much. I wish I could take them more seriously because I love reading about urban planning and urban affairs, but when there's such obvious bias, it really devalues whatever message they're trying to communicate.
Honestly this article is detailed and complete, it's pretty realistic.And it's not the first article I read about poor planning on the California Bullet Train..
Honestly this article is detailed and complete, it's pretty realistic.And it's not the first article I read about poor planning on the California Bullet Train..
Yes, I realize that there have been other stories that are critical of the train, but since you said you hadn't heard of NewGeography before, I just thought I'd point out that they seem to ALWAYS be against anything that serves people who live in cities. If they weren't so obviously pushing a particular viewpoint, I'd take them more seriously.
Yes, I realize that there have been other stories that are critical of the train, but since you said you hadn't heard of NewGeography before, I just thought I'd point out that they seem to ALWAYS be against anything that serves people who live in cities. If they weren't so obviously pushing a particular viewpoint, I'd take them more seriously.
I understand your point of view.The problem in California isn't really the High-Speed Rail, it's the poor planning, it's the state's fault, it's not hard to believe I think, according to Pew Center it's one of the worst-managed state.
I like the concept of a bullet train San Diego-San Francisco, it's a good thing, but the additional costs are unacceptable.
Yes, I realize that there have been other stories that are critical of the train, but since you said you hadn't heard of NewGeography before, I just thought I'd point out that they seem to ALWAYS be against anything that serves people who live in cities. If they weren't so obviously pushing a particular viewpoint, I'd take them more seriously.
We know....what you thought you'd do is try to deflect the fact that yet another liberal concept is a disaster by shooting the messenger.
I'm convinced that NewGeography is a right-wing outfit. It's run by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox. They have a long history of praising suburban areas and Republicans while bashing inner cities, Democrats, and liberals.
are you saying that Ray Lahood is competent? it looks to me like newgeography is painting them with the correct brush.
Couple years and i'm out of here, just wish i could take my bit of paradise with me, my home on the beach, love it. People vote the same crackpots in office, and expect change, never going to happen, with the same crackpots in office, who are clearly the problem.
Change the friggin laws so that people want to start businesses, out here. 67 Billion, is a awful lot of money we can't afford. California has bankrupted itself. We have a jerk back in office in Brown, Californians deserve what we get, for voting idiots back in office.
Don't want to move to a State that has so many killer storms, we do have the best weather. Maybe a State with no income tax.
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