John Riis-Christensen: We must derail the ‘train to nowhere’
Folks we are being taken for a ride and the bullet train is not even built. The cost of this so-called great transportation benefit has just gone over budget by 50 percent and this is for the easiest part, from Merced to Shafter.
You realize this means that those 118 miles of the “train to nowhere” will now cost $9.5 to $10 billion. The original budget for this part was $6.4 billion. Where do you think this money, and all the other cost overruns to come, are coming from? If you’re smart, you already know it’s going to come from your pocket. Two of our great and glorious money-grubbing state government members, Assemblymember Jim Frazier and State Senator Jim Beall, have proposed a 17 cent rise in the price of a gallon of gas and a 30 cent rise on a gallon of diesel. Transportation? High speed rail? Do you want to keep paying for their mistakes. I don’t.
Some of us are barely making it now with the prices of food and everything else going through the roof. This train to nowhere must be derailed.
John Riis-Christensen, Atwater
This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 6:10 PM with the headline "John Riis-Christensen: We must derail the ‘train to nowhere’."