Oops judge puts halt on Cali high speed rail initiative (illegal, Barack Obama)
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Well it appears the money tree isn't really there after all............
"A Sacramento County judge dealt a major blow to California's high-speed rail project Friday, ruling that the agency overseeing the bullet train failed to comply with the financial and environmental promises made to voters when they approved initial funding for the project five years ago. Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny said the California High-Speed Rail Authority "abused its discretion by approving a funding plan that did not comply with the requirements of the law" and has failed to identify "sources of funds that were more than merely theoretically possible."
This judge has attempted to represent the people of this state, but they'll work around his objections and bulldoze this project through, no matter what. They don't care what it costs, whether we can afford it or not, or the environmental impact.
This is the first I've heard about a tunnel for water. Wonder where that water is supposed to come from.
"To have a judge finally validate those concerns, it's completely uplifting," he said.
Building the bullet train is among the highest priorities for the Democratic governor, who has sought to promote the project as a long-term investment in the state's transportation network and a way to address serious pollution in the Central Valley. His other major infrastructure project is a $25 billion twin tunnel system that would ship water through the Central Valley to Southern California.
Read more here: Judge: Calif. high-speed rail violates initiative - AP State Business News - The Sacramento Bee
The funding hasn't been halted and it is unclear if the judge has the power to even do that.
There is no funding. They want to spend the stimulus money on it before getting into any "funding" which doesn't exist. Where is Biden on all this? He's supposed to be overseeing the stimulus money spending. Looks to me like 3.3 billion dollars is getting tossed into a trash can. All the rest was too so I guess he doesn't really care.
"Officials have said they intend to first spend $3.3 billion in federal money before tapping the bonds. The federal money, part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package, is contingent upon California completing the first phase of the project by 2017, requiring what officials say would be an unprecedented construction pace.The judge said the plain language in the initiative indicates that financing and environmental clearances should be completed for the first 290 miles from Merced to the San Fernando Valley, which is estimated to cost anywhere from $24 billion to $31 billion."
I don't see any of the usual hi speed rail utopian dreamers commenting on this development.
After the last half dozen debates on various liberal-fanatic issues, they have so few legs left to stand on, they can't reach their keyboard or even see their monitor screens.
The question for me becomes what are the alternatives for a state like California? We have to look at each state's individual situation right? California has well over 30million and the population is going to keep growing.
The state as a matter of reality is going to have to spend massive amounts of money to allow commerce, travel to work, etc for all of those people. If the state determines if we can get more people to use public transportation, that might save us money and lessen the environmental impact from all of that car pollution, then I don't see that as a financially irresponsible choice.
It is not a choice between spend that money or don't spend You'll either spend that money on expanded rail services and some other forms of public transportation like buses, which might lower costs in the long term on roadway construction expansion and repairs with the congestion, and negative environmental impact which is going to occur in a state the size of California with that many people.
Now this solution won't necessarily work every where, but in highly populated places, with overcrowded roads and expected population growth, public transportation is really just a choice to spend money there versus spending it on other things related to transportation.
If everybody who will eventually wind up paying for this monstrosity, were told the amount right now he would have to pay, how many of them would agree, and write the check?
BTW, this high-speed rail project is estimated to cost $117.5 billion when all is said and done.
That's roughly equal to the state's entire annual budget, added on to what the state already spends... and it can't even pay for what it already spends.
Unless people who live outside of California, and who will have virtually no chance to ride on it, agree to shoulder some of the cost. Remind me again, why they would want to do that, while paying for their own states' projects at the same time?
Think of it as $11,000 for every man, woman, child, and illegal alien in California. Or $44,000 for every family of four.
Basically, every family can turn in the next two (or three) new cars they buy, to pay for this white elephant... if they could afford new cars, which many of them can't in the first place. But if they could, this would take them away.
GREAT plan.
Kudoes to this judge. I wonder how long his decision will last?
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