From
the desk of Assemblyman Jay Obernolte…
“The
HIGH SPEED Fail”
March 7, 2019___
In
the governor’s State of the State
address last month, he acknowledged that the high-speed rail project is doomed to
failure due to its enormous price tag and lack of transparency and oversight.
Instead, he has proposed to reduce the scope of the project by building a route
from Merced to Bakersfield, which makes little fiscal sense.
Just
this week, the LA Times did an
analysis on the High-Speed Rail’s finances and found that
Governor Newsom’s scaled back version is likely to come up at least a billion
dollars short – and that’s the best-case-scenario.
As
the Times pointed out, “the
rail authority has blown through original cost estimates, taking the project
from $33 billion to at least $77 billion” due to “massive increases for
environmental reviews and land acquisition” and “tens of millions of dollars in
delay claims to construction firms.”
Unfortunately,
to this day, the problems with this project continue to mount. I believe this
wasteful and costly project needs to be cancelled since it clearly, no longer
meets the promises that were made to the voters who approved it.
It’s
an honor to represent you.
