Without further ado, we kick off our Proposition Series at the beginning with Prop 1A. Posters Daniel Brezenoff and Dennis Smith sound off on their thoughts, so feel free to let them know what you think.
Daniel Brezenoff
What it does: Under the name “High speed rail bonds,” allows the State to borrow up to nine-billion dollars for choo-choo trains.
Pros: We are in dire need of alternatives to the automobile.
Cons: We are broke, and don’t need more debt.
How I’m voting: NAY.
I wish I could vote yes, but this bill is just too vague and I do not trust our lawmakers to follow through. Although it says it’s for high-speed rail, actually any old train can be funded with these loans. If we spend nine billion on a hypothetical bullet train, it’s going to be much harder to ask for more money to build a real one later.
Will it pass? Doubtfully. It’s too expensive for recession time.
Trivia: A non-stop, high-speed train can get from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just under four minutes. How long with stops? Three days.
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Dennis Smith
Prop 1A: Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond I am in favor of high speed rail and our state and region would be better served with more use of the rail lines we have. Having spent three years in Europe riding rails to shop, riding rails for vacations and weekend trips, I am very familiar with well run rail systems. That said, this proposal would create a $20 billion bond that would cost on “average $647 million per year”. But when constructed would cost “probably over $1 Billion annually; at least partially, and potentially fully, offset by passenger fares.” If the state has $647 million annually available to pay this bond, then up to a billion; it should use the funds to fix existing infrastructure first. As for high speed rail, if it is economically viable let the private sector take on the costs and risk—and all the environmentalist lawsuits fighting where the track would be laid across the state. I do not think our state government needs to be in the rail business. Our state has proven it has an inability to properly manage funds and bonds (what happened to our bonds to fix the Delta and watersheds?). My vote is No on Prop 1A.
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