Stop HSR Petitions Available
You can download petitions for an initiative that will stop the sale of bonds to fund California's High Speed Rail project here (.pdf file). You can find out more about this effort at the No Train Act, Please web site.
They also have a Facebook page you can Like.
Labels: High Speed Rail
posted by Fred Mangels @ 6:31 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Yes, let's embrace our third world amenities. "At least our roads are paved!" we can always say.
Be sure an Like their Facebook page, too. URL on the original post now.
Fred
I don't want to stop the high-speed rail. If we rallied around any idea, it should be that it be produced and bought in America. The thousands of jobs that it will bring to California is not insignificant. It is an environmentally sound way to mass transit folks between major cities. Every rail system in the world is government subsidized, but the mass benefit to transporting people and goods is huge.
There is nothing more environmentally sound than a railroad.
Not to mention jobs, jobs, jobs...
Those are jobs being made with borrowed money, which means the total cost will be much more than what they're estimating since interest will have to be paid.
You'll have to explain to me, also, how HSR is going to be worth the money when all you're doing is proposing moving the same people to the same places they're already going- just faster?
It's highly unlikely to gain much in the way of additional industry, either, as some proponents have suggested.
It used to be, back when the country moved west, that trains took people to the new frontier with untapped wealth that would pay for rail and roads. This isn't a new frontier and industry- whether new or established- is frowned upon in this state.
And remember, people won't stop driving, so we'll still be putting the same amount of money into our roads and freeways. The money spent on HSR will be additional billions raised from either additional taxes or the current General Fund.
So much for busing kids to school in SoHum when we have to start paying for HSR. It will be a drain on the economy and state. Not a boost.
When gas hits 10 bucks a gallon people will stop driving you can be certain. HSR is a necessary wave of the future and a good idea for California.
I don't think gas would ever hit $10 a gallon, aside from inflation over a period of years. The companies that drill and sell gas have to be able to sell it. They have to offer it at a price that people can afford. If no one buys their product, they go broke. It's called supply and demand.
Aside from that, there's already rail established in the areas HSR is planned for. It's not like there aren't already alternatives to automobiles.
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