Wait… Is Gov. Newsom Canceling The High-Speed Rail Line Or Not? (Walking Back?)

Hotair ^ | 02/13/2019 | Jazz Shaw

[SeekAndFind]

Yesterday, our writer, Allahpundit took a deep dive into the somewhat shocking announcement that Gavin Newsom, the new governor of the Golden State, was canceling California’s massive, decades-long cash sinkhole known as the high-speed rail line from LA to San Francisco. It seemed like a fairly common sense decision, given how much cash has been poured down that particular rathole and the ballooning estimates of the additional bills to come. But it creates some very sticky political terrain, particularly at the dawn of the Green New Deal (GND) era. Perhaps that’s why Newsom appeared to be walking the announcement back the same day he issued it, according to a statement from his spokesman. (Miami Herald)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office says he is fully committed to building a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

That’s despite his comments Tuesday that there “isn’t a path” right now for the project…

Newsom said the project would cost too much and take too long. But his spokesman Nathan Click said he’s not walking away from it.

Okay, so if we put the two statements together (the one from his speech and the one from his spokesman), Newsom is saying, “I’m fully committed to finishing this project that will cost too much and take too long and for which we have no path to completion.” That’s got to be one of the most California statements ever recorded.

It sounds to me like somebody came and put a bug in Newsom’s ear after his initial remarks. Apparently, nobody is allowed to rain on the GND parade of AOC and her new, socialist colleagues. As AP alluded to yesterday, if a stupidly expensive project is a bad idea in one state, why not roll it out across the entire country? And if the California boondoggle goes down in flames, that would be some seriously bad PR for a national progressive agenda of rail lines replacing planes.

Just for the moment, let’s assume that the high-speed rail project really is canceled, or at least put on hold in perpetuity. The rail line has already received significant federal funds including $3.3B in stimulus funding in 2009. Most of that money is now gone. But what if the project is finally put into its grave? Shouldn’t California give the money back? The planning for this debacle has been a disaster from day one but it sounds like no one will be held accountable.

I personally love train travel myself and would rather take a train than a plane any time it’s practical. That’s particularly true of trips up and down the northeast corridor. But it needs to be cost-effective, planned intelligently and meet an actual demand from the public. Los Angeles already has a futuristic subway system that almost nobody rides. That’s not an example we need to be duplicating nationally.

[Buckeye McFrog]

That Senate vote on the Green New Deal ought to be all kinds of fun.

[DoughtyOne]

I’m of the opinion you do not give ideas like this the seal of legitimacy a vote on the floor of the Senate gives it.

Do you realize that if it only get the support of 25% of the senate, it will embolden the next vote in it. And if the Democrats should get the Senate, the House, and the White House, this thing WILL become law.

[DarrellZero]

So it’s cost-prohibitive and logistically impossible. But he’s not walking away from it. Got it.

[Little Ray]

There is probably a LOT more money to be drained from the taxpayers into Democrat coffers.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Oh, I think the Green New Deal IS going to happen eventually.

All of the demographic trends with a few of us dying every day, Millenials remaining Socialism fans as they age, and radicals seizing the Democrat Party tell me it’s bound to happen at some point.

Likely some horse trading will go on where we wind up keeping airplanes and hamburgers in exchange for approving massive doses of socialism.

Only upside for us is that it’s going to cut the Dems off at the kneecaps for 2020. Long term outlook beyond that not good though.

[Rumplemeyer]

He must have gotten the call from Diane Feinstein, her husband Richard Blum and Ron Tudor from Tudor-Perini...

[left that other site]

Reminds Me...

Of This Guy.

[Mastador1]

So it’s cost-prohibitive and logistically impossible. But he’s not walking away from it. Got it.

I think someone.......Pelosi...cough cough, informed him that if he cancelled it there would most likely be an audit(that she couldn't stop) and that there were too many democraps with their whole hands in that cookie jar, not the least being her hubby.

[stylin19a]

This project was voted on by the voters.
Do the voters have to vote to cancel it ?

[j. earl carter]

I think the vote was to authorize 9.95 billion in bonds. That money is now gone (or I haven't heard it brought up, so it's a safe assumption it has been flushed). So, (I assume) CA already carried out the mandate of the law passed by the voters in 2008.

It isn't all that easy to find information about the finances of the project. I wonder why?

[stylin19a]

hey...thanks for that.

[fortheDeclaration]

The Millennials aren’t that stupid, they like living in the 21st century, not the 12th.

[Jeff Chandler]

Moonbeam Express Comes to a Crash

Newsom Puts the Brakes On Choo Choo to Nowhere

[foreverfree]

Bump

[rfp1234]

He woke up this morning with a horse’s head in his bed.

[szweig]

A story going ‘round is that they will finish the Modesto-Bakersfield segment. Then, when nobody uses it, they contend that not to extend it would be a waste of money to that point. They then build N to The City and S to L.A. A back-room understanding w/ Brown et cie. All a scam to grab tax dollar$ to which they are not entitled.

[szweig]

We have to stop this thing HERE and NOW before it gets more ingrained in the system! F*** Modesto-Bakersfield. The I-5 does a great job through there.

[NormsRevenge]

He’s wanting to finish the section in the valley for now.. but as we oft heard, too damned oft, frankly , by another high speed choochoo supporter and Gub, “I’ll be bock.” and sadly, much sooner than we can either or afford or want.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes. I read that later last night. He must have gotten his ass chewed out by about 20 different people.

LOL

This is the Newsom I was expecting...