Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Reid's High Speed Rail From Vegas To Disneyland
Remember Barack Obama telling folks up in Elkhart last week that there were absolutely no earmarks in his $787 billion stimulus (spending) bill? An $8 billion high speed rail tucked into the legislation which connects Sen. Harry Reid's hometown of Las Vegas with Disneyland in Anaheim, California apparently doesn't qualify as an earmark by Obama's definition. "Proposals for magnetic levitation trains that could travel 300 mph and whisk passengers between Anaheim and Las Vegas in 86 minutes have been floated for decades as a way to ease traffic on Interstate 15 and reduce pollution -- and, of course, boost the Las Vegas economy," writes the Chicago Tribune. "The project's boosters hope the stimulus money will help get it moving."
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5 comments:
The rail is "necessary" (in the minds of Reid and other politicians) because LA people like to go to Vegas to gamble. Lots of LA-LV traffic is due to gambling.
I am not making this up.
It would save a lot of money if Cali legalized gambling. Wouldn't even need the rail boondoggle.
There are several Indian-run casinos in California that aren't too far from L.A.
Sounds like another scheme that will raise the already-high residential electric bills in Vegas (and LA and Phoenix and points in-between)
We the voters of CA just voted funds to begin a study for a HS RR between LA and the Bay Area. This makes sense as it would link all the major economic hubs of the state and help relieve conjestion on the N-S interstates and on our airports. But this boondoggle for gamblers who "need" to get to that "economic hub" of Vegas is stupid and a waste of money. Further, who do you think will pick up the tab to operate this High Speed link to no where? The taxpayers of CA, most of whom will not be served by it. Pork barreling at its finest. Just turn the tracks 90 degrees north and maybe it will be worth it. Thank you Harry and Nancy.
If any of you actually read the bill, there is no mention of "disneyland to vegas" highspeed rail. Yes, Reid has been a proponent of that, but the only reason that the figure increased from the intial $1billion to the current $8 billion is because obama and emanuel pushed it for what will most likely be a midwest and northeast corridor high speed rail line. Get the facts straight. And for what it's worth, in the summer of 2008, Bush approved a $45 million environmental study regarding a LA-Vegas rail line.
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