Obama to unveil HSR plan Thursday

[volkris]

Yes, that's right, we'll measure the ROI not in terms of long range budgets, but in units of smiles and warm fuzzies it gives the guy with a cartoon in his signature.

What's that? The rest of the country doesn't like the direction the green maned lion envisions for them? Who cares! The negatives of his proposals sentence us all to decreased standards of living, decreased freedoms, and what many perceive to be dehumanizing conditions? Never mind all that! He's here to tell you what's for the best, and darn it, you'll like it!

The arrogance is just striking.

 

[Spokker]

I fear that without a federal push for a greater focus on passenger rail in this country, it simply won't happen. California's network is based on getting 1/3rd of funding from the feds, 1/3rd from private investors and 1/3rd from the state. Would Prop 1A have passed if the funding scheme was half state and half private? I don't know, but I doubt it.

California is a donor state anyway. It deserves some money back from the feds. If Montana, and South Dakota, and North Dakota, among others, complain, well, we've been paying for their toys for years.

 

[Neil_M]

I just wish you people wouldn't sit around talking about pointless trivialities and get down to doing something!

Perfect irony.

 

[Spokker]

I'm not sure what this lion guy expects us to do. I write letters and try to inform people about passenger rail of all types. I go to school full-time and work part-time, so I'm not exactly in any position to do anything more and I'm sure others feel the same way.

 

[volkris]

It's not that California deserves to get some money back from the feds, it's that they deserve to have kept their money in the first place to put toward rail if they feel like it.

Instead of waiting for the entire country to agree to give California back its money so it can have that third of its funding, imagine if it was able to just keep the money in the first place and fund the rails as soon as the private share came in.

If we operated our government the way it was intended we wouldn't need the federal push; the states would be able to do it themselves when appropriate.

 

[Spokker]

Good point. I have no argument against that.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Yes, that's right, we'll measure the ROI not in terms of long range budgets, but in units of smiles and warm fuzzies it gives the guy with a cartoon in his signature.
What's that? The rest of the country doesn't like the direction the green maned lion envisions for them? Who cares! The negatives of his proposals sentence us all to decreased standards of living, decreased freedoms, and what many perceive to be dehumanizing conditions? Never mind all that! He's here to tell you what's for the best, and darn it, you'll like it!

The arrogance is just striking.

Well lets see, first of all my girlfriend designed that signature of mine, and I'd really like you to give me a solid reason why that is at all, in any way, relevant to this discussion. Its not? That's what I thought. I might be a radical rail advocate on the edge of sanity, but dear lord, thats like breaking out the "jo momma" jokes.

But while we are at it, what the hell is "volkris"? Sounds like one of the bloody transformers. Uh, does your having what I consider to be a silly name have any bearing on the validity of YOUR arguments? How dare I consider thinking such things? Right back at ya pal.

I don't like the idea of decreased freedom, decreased standard of living, and all that. But first of all, your freedom has not now, nor has it ever, entitled you to hinder other people's standard of living or freedom. You driving your car around, powered by the most outdated concept of them all, a gasoline fired engine, and smogging up my town and my standard of living is absolutely disgusting.

There is a balance between individual freedom and the good of man kind. Standing here right now, I have heard that our planet has a carrying capacity of about 3 billion humans. We have, what, 6.7? With the world far above its carrying capacity, for me and my posterity to enjoy living at all, things need to happen. They don't happen because people are greedy and selfish.

I'm here on a public forum to give you my opinions. I don't have plans on world domination. Since I do not intend to rule the world, or even to run for city dog catcher, I sincerely doubt that my opinions are going to take away squat from you. I'm certainly not a afraid that libertarians are ever going to get even a toehold on American politics apart from lobbying. Americans are dumb, but not that dumb.

I'm not sure what this lion guy expects us to do. I write letters and try to inform people about passenger rail of all types. I go to school full-time and work part-time, so I'm not exactly in any position to do anything more and I'm sure others feel the same way.

I was talking about the world in general.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

No, we must think of the ROI over the course of 100 years, 200 years, 500 years, even a thousand years. The accountants said the Brooklyn Bridge was overbuilt and overpriced. Stand on the shore of Manhattan or Brooklyn and tell me that again! Hundred and thirty years after it was built, it still stands. The basic structure needs little work. And the return on investment? Dangit, that overbuilt investment created the first steps to make New York the city it is today. Because lets face it, it was built not between Manhattan and Long Island, but between New York City, and the City of Brooklyn.

So are you saying that you think it's a good thing that the ferries were replaced with the bridges such that Brooklyn could become a part of New York City?

If so, how do you feel about HSR bringing ALB and Springfield within reasonable commuting range of Manhattan to make them a part of the greater New York City area?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I dislike it. As you know, Joel.

I do like the idea of consolidating cities and governments, sooo.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Looking at the proposed Corridors map, I find it interesting and a bit strange that there would be continuous HSR corridor from Maine & Eastern Canada down the east coast all the way to Miami EXCEPT from Jacksonville to Orlando.

 

[birdy]

Looking at the proposed Corridors map, I find it interesting and a bit strange that there would be continuous HSR corridor from Maine & Eastern Canada down the east coast all the way to Miami EXCEPT from Jacksonville to Orlando.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I think they are still working off that old FRA map from a few years ago. I guess that's OK as a starting point for discussion, but I certainly hope that they don't feel beholden to that thing. There must be 15 or 20 appropriate city pairs and right now we have zero HSR. I'd like to see that gap filled quickly as part of any build out. The upper-midwest Chicago to Minneapolis seems reasonable, hopefully with a stop in Milwaukee. Atlanta to Charlotte also seems like a really appropriate route. Those places have big populations and more predictable build costs, I suspect.

 

[PaulM]

I recently had a conversation on the New Mexico Railrunner Express with a frequent rider who was taking the devil's advocate position against tax funding of rail. It just came out of my mouth to the effect that while I could support public financing of existing highway maintenance, my philosophy is that all future highway construction, especially that which promote sprawl, should be financed by private enterprise.