Rod Diridon, a member of the High Speed Rail board who helped to create the failed VTA light rail system, also helped kill High Speed Rail by selecting the Pacheco Pass route between the Bay Area and the Central Valley.
For now, there's no money or matching funds for High Speed Rail unless the High Speed Rail bond passes next November. Pacheco Pass supporters like Gavin Newsom say the selection of this alignment would allow the project would move forward. However, it would be delusional for people like him to think that they would get a united front to get voters to successfully pass the high speed rail bond.
Environmental groups have already expressed their opposition against the Pacheco Pass due to the environmental harm that would occur along that alignment. Cities along the northern part of Central Valley wanted the Altamont Pass that would serve their growing population. A selection of Pacheco Pass essentially is a slap on their face. Why would they campaign for something that they don't like, if they have not decided to campaign against the HSR bond altogether in light of that decision?
Pacheco Pass supporters argued that it provides the quickest travel time between the Bay Area and Southern California, which is only true between San Jose and Los Angeles, and the difference between the two alignments for San Jose is 10 minutes.
Pacheco Pass supporters also claimed that HSR is only supposed to provide transportation between Northern California and Southern California. This idea is delusional at best and dangerous at worst. Currently, airlines such as Southwest already provide a quick a affordable transportation option between the Bay Area and southern california. Why should billions of tax dollars go build something just to compete with the private sector? On the other hand, a well designed high speed rail can carry regional rail traffic, similar to the freeway carrying intercity passenger and cargo, as well as regional commute traffic. The ability of HSR carrying regional rail traffic would also attract votes because it would provide more benefits to more people who travel across regions everyday. In addition, HSR over the Altamont Pass would provide a new regional rail option between Stockton and San Jose without the BART extension.
Is it because HSR over the Altamont Pass would make the San Jose BART extension redundent the reason why Rod Diridon is so against Altamont Pass? If you look back history, Rod Diridon has a lot of undeserved credit related to the establishment and design of the light rail system. Diridon is one of the main reasons why our transit isn't working now and won't be.
Can Diridon and SVLG pass the HSR bond without the support of the environmental and rail advocacy community, who would otherwise be an natural ally? The well funded opposition is ready to campaign against any form of HSR and has already kill HSR in other states like Texas and Florida. In California, propositions to increase oil and cigarette taxes, despite their initial strong voter support, failed to pass all because of well funded opposition campaign.
It would be a great loss of opportunity to have a well designed HSR system that would transform the state, all because of Rod Diridon's boneheaded opposition to the Altamont Pass and giving up strong support from the environmental community.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
What kind of idiots are making this decision?
So they choose the route which serves the least amount of people, at a higher cost, with a route that doubles the cost of the extension to sacramento?
THe SVLG does realize people are commuting in from East Bay and over the Altamont Pass, because they want a stupid BART extension, but they don't want the more practical and useful HSR?
Since the SVLG are working against the best interest of San Jose and trying to take the rest of the state with them, let them go fuck themselves and simplify the HSR route:
- From the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco trains would head south along the Caltrain Corridor with a stop at Millbrae
- Just south of Redwood City (probably the best place for a second penisulla station since it would be southmost and trains wouldn't be going full speed anyway) the route would make a sharp turn east over the Dumbarton Bridge.
- The route would cut across the East Bay before crossing the Altamont Pass, and in phase one would head south from there.
See, it's much simpler when you just leave San Jose out entirely, the money saved there could be put towards the extensions to Sacramento and San Diego.
Brilliant right? And no one gets left out!
And once the SVLG has proved completely incompetent, yet again, at working for the Silicon Valley's interest, we put you and the Bay Rail Alliance, in charge instead.
What is omitted is the fact that if the Altamont Pass had been chosen, the power brokers in San Jose were going to come out against the whole project. Either come thru Pacheco and we are out was their theme.
Folks, its all about the MONEY. If San Jose and San Francicso don't get what they want, then they oppose the project. They want the envisioned growth and money that construction will yield.
The whole project just smells of nothing more that a WPA project and gift to contractors and land developers.
HSR is hardly dead, unfortunately.
You guys need to chill the fuck out. Did it ever occur to you that once the damn thing is built that extentions may be added on? That happened with BART afterall. So chill my friends. Approve the measure and be patient, you will get your piece of the pie eventually.
Post a Comment