Posted on 06/11/2019 4:29:27 AM PDT by george76
John Diepersloot squinted under a bright Central Valley sun, pointing to the damage to his fruit orchard that came with the California bullet train.
He lost 70 acres of prime land. Rail contractors left mounds of rubble along his neat rows. Irrigation hoses are askew. A sophisticated canopy system for a kiwi field, supported by massive steel cables, was torn down.
But what really irritates Diepersloot is the $250,000 that he paid out of his own pocket for relocating wells, removing trees, building a road and other expenses.
“I am out a quarter-million bucks on infrastructure, and they haven’t paid a dime for a year,” he said. “I don’t have that kind of money.”
Up and down the San Joaquin Valley, farmers have similar stories. The state can take land with a so-called order of possession by the Superior Court while it haggles over the price.
But farmers often face out-of-pocket costs for lost production, road replacement, repositioning of irrigation systems and other expenses, which the state agrees to pay before the final settlement.
Those payments and even some payments for land have stretched out to three years. State officials have offered endless excuses for not paying, the farmers say.
Eminent domain, the legal process by which government takes private land, is complicated enough, particularly in California with a maze of agencies involved. But the rail authority’s constantly changing plans, thin state staff and reliance on outside attorneys have made it more difficult,
...
Tos, the farmer who is waging a legal fight against the project, said that state agents during negotiations had shown a surprising lack of knowledge about agriculture.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
South Africa kind of worse.
Californians never met a tax they didn’t like. Land should be given freely as well.
The engineers whined about how they didn’t realize that they’d have to run their choo choo through the Grapevine. I’m not kidding. They should be executed for being that disingenuous.
Fascism. Confiscation of private property to benefit private companies partnered with the L4ftist government.
NAZIs got the trains to run on time.
Every democRAT is a violent totalitarian thug. It’s not “your” land, peasant! You must surrender it for the collective!
and muslim.
and queer.
May I be the first to proclaim I have never voted for a queer muslim democrat.
Never happen. They are not voting Democrat , muslim,or queer per se. They are voting for free stuff. They are the Pauls who want what Peter has without having to work for it. Consequently, they vote fro the Democrats, muslims, and queers that tell them that, if they elect them, they will take Peter’s possession from him and give those possessions to them. Anytime one robs Peter to pay Paul, one can always count on Paul’s support.
And won’t and CA will blame Trump for withholding the funds. Trump’s fault.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I see this as an absolutely Golden Opportunity for the President of the United States.
Send someone from the Interior Department and DOJ to visit everyone of these people. With the $1billion that he is keeping from California, for the train to nowhere, pay the bill and then investigate why they haven’t got paid yet.
Newsome will have plenty of egg on his face, he’ll have to explain why they haven’t been paid and try to blame it all on Brown. Then go through all the land deals that took place where political favorites and donors were able to make money off the debacle and start investigating them.
“echoing a sentiment of the rail system’s critics that the state should have aligned the route adjacent to Interstate 5 and not through the nation’s richest agricultural belt”
The I5 route was the only right thing to do absent full cancellation.
But it wasn’t flat. 250 miles of undulating hillsides.
Cars do just fine. But a 200mph train (original plan) would levitate.
Or, they would have to spend another $250bil to cut a level route.
Bart : Mongo, why would Hedley Lamarr care about where the choo-choo goes?
Mongo : Don’t know. Mongo only pawn in Game of Life.
All the money was given to the precious illegal immigrants. Screw the tax-paying citizens.
These Nazis change the clocks.
If you did this in the Private Sector, you would be in PRISON for Grand Larceny, Fraud,...and All your assets would have been seized.
What happens when LIEberals are elected to public office?
They LIE TO, CHEAT AND STEAL FROM the Citizenry!
A vote for ANY LIEberal, whether it be in a local, state or federal election, is a vote against America!
America cannot survive a LIEberal victory in 2020!
So, who is going to go to prison for this multi-billion dollar boondoggle?
And, when?
... that you know of.
it would be strange to know what I don’t know of.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.