Valley Mayors on High-Speed Rail

I have resisted stepping into the high-speed rail issue, despite the tempting targets of the thinly documented but often repeated claim that HSR will create 450,000 permanent jobs, and optimistic ridership projections.

If we are going to do it, we need to be smart about it (such as taking another look at the Altamont vs. Pacheco pass decision).  Being smart about it is also the point of the op-ed by north Valley mayors, including Stockton's Ann Johnston, in today's Sacramento Bee.

California is challenged with building a technological wonder rivaling the economic and social impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad. Instead, the California High-Speed Rail Authority appears set on building a rail line to nowhere that only provides critics with 66.4 miles worth of reasons to attack the project.

The staff proposal runs from the rural region of Borden with a couple of hundred people south of Madera to Corcoran – population 25,000, including 13,000 inmates.