By: ricky65

ricky65 — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 16:23:39 +0000

And maybe this is how this fantasy train finally gets derailed for good.
From what I read, rail officials were stunned into silence at the level of opposition in these initial public meetings in the San Fernando Valley.
Right now they are building the initial ten mile section with little serious opposition in the San Joaquin Valley. The area is mostly populated by jack rabbits and tumble weeds. A few farmers and local nimby’s are putting up a valiant fight but will soon be rolled because they are woefully few in number.
But what happens when they get into dense urban areas like the LA basin?…or even worse the Bay area, the land of uber nimbyism?
The opposition will be fierce.
Even after a few token meetings the tunnel option has been tossed out there. I’ve noticed tunneling soon becomes the only option to harried planners who are literally driven underground by hostile natives.
I give you the twin tunnel project as an example. So much opposition has been generated the administration has been forced into an illogical, hugely expensive, and engineeringly dubious 30 mile tunnel instead of simply building a canal as in the 1982 original peripheral canal proposal.
Well maybe at that point the reality of this crazy train will hit the wall. I’m hoping that as Chris points out, the enormity of the cost of tunneling for these projects will finally kill them off.
But maybe not given Brown’s ‘bitter clinger’ mentality and desperate quest for a legacy.
It will be interesting to see what happens.

Comments on: In San Fernando rail showdown, echoes of Chavez Ravine

By: ricky65