One of the more amazing parts of this whole boondoggle is it hardly costs anything it all to get in the game. You can buy the politicians off for pennies on the dollar. You donate less than 100k and you get multi million dollar contracts. The cost/benefit for these firms is incredible.
And yet the voters in California will almost assuredly maintain this corrupt one party rule because so many are dependent on government aid. California will not reform, it will collapse.
I’m sorry, but as I continue to read the travesty of this project, I actually have to laugh, but it’s not funny. I remember when working for DWR the state had to round up a bunch of blunt nose lizards from an area where the coastal project the pipeline to the coast was going in. So they rounded up all the lizards and had them in an enclosed fenced area. At some point, someone came through to mow all the grass around it and sparked a fire and burned up all the lizards that they were trying so desperately to protect. Talk about state incompetence.
It will never be completed, nor should it be, but if the “bullet train” were to be built, it would take 3 hours to go from LA to SF, 4 hours from Anaheim. You can fly there in 1 1/2 hours. If you fly, you don’t have to worry about earthquakes, union strikes or the transit crime ubiquitous to California. No one will take the train. A hint to the next Nick Shirley: look up who bought RR rights of way in the years leading up to the project’s proposal.
This is a great example of how corrupt our system has become in the age of professional politicians representing the party rather than their constituents. There was really never any serious effort to build a high speed rail line. All of these funds were disbursed by politicians to create a constituency. It's pathetic, but the parties are no friend to any citizen.
I've written a couple of Posts about this. You didn't even mention that the route COULD have gone down the middle of I-5 or alongside it, on the west side of the Valley, where obviously the right-of-way problems are already solved.
That would have left out the populous east side, where Modesto, Fresno, Merced, and Bakersfield are located, pissing off those politicians.
Furthermore, the eastern route is actually baked into the text of the 2008 bond initiative.
It’s a very well know situation where retiring state workers, especially environmentalists and engineers, form a new company or join another company of retired state employees and then get most of the contracts for new projects or repairs etc. as “consultants”.
It sounds eerily and outrageously like the “homeless” industrial complex, taking in billions of taxpayer dollars with worsening results. Will Californians ever have enough of this and actually claw back some sanity and real oversight of all of these glaring corrupt boondoggles? Remains to be seen.
Even if it gets completed, it would run at a huge loss forever. If tickets were priced to make a profit, they’d be so expensive that nobody would ride.
One of the more amazing parts of this whole boondoggle is it hardly costs anything it all to get in the game. You can buy the politicians off for pennies on the dollar. You donate less than 100k and you get multi million dollar contracts. The cost/benefit for these firms is incredible.
And yet the voters in California will almost assuredly maintain this corrupt one party rule because so many are dependent on government aid. California will not reform, it will collapse.
Exactly. California is like France, a massive grift run by the ruling elites and their minions.
reminiscent of the old USSR....too many Californians would be proud of this analogy...
Typical...and the government will call it all a success.
And the sheeple will believe the government
I’m sorry, but as I continue to read the travesty of this project, I actually have to laugh, but it’s not funny. I remember when working for DWR the state had to round up a bunch of blunt nose lizards from an area where the coastal project the pipeline to the coast was going in. So they rounded up all the lizards and had them in an enclosed fenced area. At some point, someone came through to mow all the grass around it and sparked a fire and burned up all the lizards that they were trying so desperately to protect. Talk about state incompetence.
It will never be completed, nor should it be, but if the “bullet train” were to be built, it would take 3 hours to go from LA to SF, 4 hours from Anaheim. You can fly there in 1 1/2 hours. If you fly, you don’t have to worry about earthquakes, union strikes or the transit crime ubiquitous to California. No one will take the train. A hint to the next Nick Shirley: look up who bought RR rights of way in the years leading up to the project’s proposal.
Great breakdown. It is a scam and always was. Gavin Newsom will go down in history as the biggest Ass of a Govenor that ever lived.
This is a great example of how corrupt our system has become in the age of professional politicians representing the party rather than their constituents. There was really never any serious effort to build a high speed rail line. All of these funds were disbursed by politicians to create a constituency. It's pathetic, but the parties are no friend to any citizen.
Parties?
It's a one party state!
And yet the gravy train continues while the actual train is a pipe dream.
I've written a couple of Posts about this. You didn't even mention that the route COULD have gone down the middle of I-5 or alongside it, on the west side of the Valley, where obviously the right-of-way problems are already solved.
That would have left out the populous east side, where Modesto, Fresno, Merced, and Bakersfield are located, pissing off those politicians.
Furthermore, the eastern route is actually baked into the text of the 2008 bond initiative.
It’s a very well know situation where retiring state workers, especially environmentalists and engineers, form a new company or join another company of retired state employees and then get most of the contracts for new projects or repairs etc. as “consultants”.
How do you spell, “grifters?”
It sounds eerily and outrageously like the “homeless” industrial complex, taking in billions of taxpayer dollars with worsening results. Will Californians ever have enough of this and actually claw back some sanity and real oversight of all of these glaring corrupt boondoggles? Remains to be seen.
USA Agenda 2050
Even if it gets completed, it would run at a huge loss forever. If tickets were priced to make a profit, they’d be so expensive that nobody would ride.
Waste, fraud, and abuse touches every part of Kalifornia