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Dan Richard, the chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, sent this to Cal Watchdog in response to my Monday morning post: “In his campaign to stop California from building the nation’s first high-speed rail system, Chris Reed (calwatchdog.com, June 9, 2014)

State’s Bay Bridge follies will have bullet train encore

Chris Reed June 9, 2014

When the first stories came out about the problems with the $6.5 billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge construction project, there was a faintly surprised tone to some of the coverage. They can’t get stuff like welds right? Really? But I

Light-rail love affair: CA pols, media stuck in 1980s

Chris Reed June 8, 2014

Californians with a green streak are in love with mass transit — at least when it involves rail. Buses are far better at helping people, especially poor people, to and from work. But there’s something about rail and how it

CalSTRS bailout will be CA version of budget sequester

Chris Reed May 27, 2014

On April 10, 2012, I wrote an op-ed for the L.A. Daily News with an unusual take on what ultimately would kill the bullet train. My theory was that the teachers unions would fight to keep a new mouth from

2007 press release shows rail authority touting CEQA compliance

Chris Reed May 21, 2014

A Tuesday afternoon AP story laid out the latest courtroom developments involving the bullet-train fiasco: “SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s $68 billion bullet train project should be exempt from the state’s strict environmental review process now that it is subject

Attempted $1B cover-up can’t even crack Top 5 of bullet-train outrages

Chris Reed May 9, 2014

With any big public works project, a report that an independent consultant had been pressured by the responsible government agency to hide a nearly $1 billion increase in project cost is absolutely outrageous. Pathetically enough, when it comes to the

Gov. Brown’s 3D chess game leads to timid politics

Chris Reed May 3, 2014

If you believe Jerry Brown is a governing genius, then forgive me for laughing until I injure myself. What I think is that he’s scary shrewd at managing the narrative, at keeping people in the dark about what he’s really

Gov. Brown’s legal strategy to prop up bullet train faltering

Chris Reed April 22, 2014

Last week’s decision from a state appeals court to issue a summary judgment denying the Brown administration’s unusual request to block a second trial in which Kings County and other plaintiffs challenge California’s high-speed rail project bodes terribly for the

Trash train fiasco illustrates private vs. public double standard

Chris Reed April 21, 2014

This story in the Orange County Register illustrates a common CalWatchdog theme: In the private sector, incompetence leads to companies failing and people getting fired. But in government, all too often incompetence comes without consequence: “The Sanitation Districts of Los

This is an ‘expedited’ review? Nerve-wracking times on bullet-train front

Chris Reed April 15, 2014

Nine weeks ago, the news seemed promising on the bullet-train follies front. Now the picture looks a bit murkier. On Jan. 24, Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris asked the California Supreme Court to conduct an expedited appeals