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by Chris Jones
Keep your fingers crossed, folks. Governor Schwarzenegger, with the blessing of the California High Speed Rail Authority, will soon be filing an application with the federal government seeking $1.28 billion in stimulus funds for high speed rail construction between San Francisco and San Jose. That's about half the money needed to get this leg of the project completed. Included in the project: funds for Caltrain electrification, infrastructure improvements, and station components at the soon to be reconstructed Transbay Terminal, the Caltrain station at 4th and King, and Diridon Station in San Jose. In total, California will be seeking about half the $8 billion in stimulus funds for the entire high speed rail project. We should demand all $8 billion, because California is awesome and all those other states seeking American dollars are not.
The fly in the ointment? The results of a hearing on October 9th over a lawsuit filed by certain Peninsula cities populated by ladies who lunch and assorted other NIMBYs that may require the High Speed Rail Authority to redo some of its environmental work for the SF to San Jose corridor. This would more than likely prevent at least this part of the project from qualifying for stimulus funds due to the strict time limits required to get work started and completed.
High speed rail=sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. NIMBYs=libertarian communist Wal-Mart shoppers. Grrrr.
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If you paid $2.8 million for a typical Peninsula McMansion, you'd be upset about having a high speed train in your backyard as well.
But then again, if you paid $2.8 million for a typical Peninsula McMansion, you can go fuck yourself.
Love how in California one person can stop a project that would benefit millions. Usually because someone wealthy, loaded with free time, dislikes something that will disrupt their little idyll. Oh no, big bad train will make noise!
Meanwhile, states like Iowa (more windpower production than Cali) are starting to eat our lunch.
We need to put the Mayor in the Governor's office and things will finally get done!
Mayor Richard Daley that is...
Oh NIMBY's - where would we be without you?
I love the fact that somehow, the noisy diesel CalTrains are acceptable for these peeps but an electric train is not. And given that CalTrain service gets disrupted all the time by car crashes, malfunctions, suicides et cetera, why is it a surprise that they would need to either elevate or lower the train tracks to ensure no at grade crossings???
On a related note - anyone else find Atherton's ambivalence to mass transit by way of their pitiful "station" a joke? I laugh every time the train stops there....
The only reason they're not trying to get Caltrain shut down now is because they've tried, and tried, and tried in the past and it hasn't worked. This won't work, either, but at least it will enrich a few impoverished lawyers along the way.