Don't bail out Brown for spending enormous public money on HSR instead of on CA schools. Vote NO on Prop. 30. Issues Beyond Palo Alto, posted by Robert, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 30, 2012 at 11:12 am
Regarding Prop. 30, let's not forget that Gov. Jerry Brown is responsible for a large part of the school funding problem. He's the one that pushed through state funding of the High-Speed Rail boondoggle at enormous and still growing expense to the public, a minimum of $100 billion. And let's not forget the articles that reported that he cynically provided substantial local district perks to State Senate legislators to induce them to vote to support his proposition, which barely passed, 21-17. He thus put California in much deeper debt than it already is. Now he hopes to be bailed out by Prop. 30's tax increases. The money committed to HSR by Brown could have and should have been used for our schools. I refuse to vote to increase my taxes in order to make up for the huge shortfall caused by Brown's poor decision to use an enormous amount of public money for an unnecessary boondoggle, ego-feeding legacy, and union-payback-for-help-in-his-campaign-against-Whitman project, one that is likely to be an albatross around the neck of the state and its citizens for decades to come. A YES vote on Prop. 30 bails Brown out and allows him to get away with his warped priorities. A NO vote on Prop. 30 will hold him accountable for his cynical, wasteful, and self-serving decision on HSR.
Posted by Anon., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Oct 30, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Why spin this in the context of bailing out Brown ... it's not Brown that needs bailing out, it's our schools.
I agree with you mostly on High-Speed Rail, but rail is the fastest most efficient way to transport freight on the scale that American cities are spread apart ... assuming the HSR is at least partially for freight transport, and we do need investment in improving our infrastructure.
My complain about HSR has always centered around the plan for the Peninsula corridor, which is absurd to have it running up whole Peninsula where the trains currently run.
There was an interesting program on PBS the other night called Race 2012, about the political race and the question of race. It is clear that much of this Conservative economic concentration is about NOT paying for children's education that we - mostly older, mostly white, mostly taxed American feel that are not indicative of our values and who will sustain what we think of as our American legacy. The problem is that killing the public schools is like cutting off our noses to spite our faces.
Jerry Brown when he was running for office said he was going to find out whether when the question is put to Americans whether they will pay for their country or not. At least if we say no it should be understood for what it is.
Posted by Ducatigirl, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 30, 2012 at 2:04 pm
I am so disappointed in Jerry Brown. But, then, he never had children and probably doesn't have a real clue about the school situation.
Also, he has lived in Tokyo, and should k ow that it takes a huge, huge city like that for HSR to even break even. Some countries, such as Spain, France, and Germany, find their HSR is losing money. Germany discontinued its ICE (intercity express) line years ago. The only place in this country that it might reasonably work,is the East Coast Megalopolis area. It really requires an enormous amount of ridership to pay for itself.
I honestly do not think Jerry Brown studied this well enough. HSR could well sink itself and the state. As could the current school situation
"ICE trains operate all over Germany, with connections to neighboring countries.
With a maximum speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) these high-speed trains connect major German cities at hourly intervals. International ICE trains connect Germany with Austria (Wien, Innsbruck), Belgium (Brussels, Liège), Denmark (Copenhagen, Arhus), France (Paris), the Netherlands (Arnhem, Utrecht, Amsterdam) and Switzerland (Zürich, Interlaken)."
But don't you have a story about how you were riding on an ICE train and something happened or your husband meta man on an ICE train who told him that HSR dosen't work????
View in an RSS Reader
E-mail this topic.
Print this topic.
