From High to Low

This morning was one of those bird singing Cinderella moments.  Later this afternoon, the bird was mortally wounded.  Another pretty typical day in supporting high speed rail in the US.

First this morning.  If you have a minute and want to see some really cool CGI, check out California’s high speed rail website.  I did this morning.  You really don’t have to imagine anything as they show really fast trains going between downtown transit hubs past growing interconnected cities.  Click Trip Visualizations and choose some fun start and end points.  Watch Fresno buildings grow or see the underground station in San Francisco come to life.  No long trips to exurban airports.  No long security lines and taxiing waiting to go somewhere.  No big taxi fees trying to get from the airport back into downtown.  Just happiness. http://goo.gl/S6r1R

 

Then came the low, which was the news that as part of the Republican budget cutting awesomeness, $1.5B in high speed funding was cut in the 11pm negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on Friday.  http://goo.gl/z3TCA That’s a nearly 20% cut from the original $8B that was suppose to be spent, which itself barely scratched the surface of Chinese investment. (see earlier Moogaz post on New Jersey)

Another case of massive short sightedness.  In a race to increase short term profits for the rich and incorporated through historic low tax rates, the Republicans are willing to cut off all long term investment simply because it’s Obama’s idea.     A far cry from the days in 1956 when the Senate passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, establishing the interstate system to be funded by a 3 cent gas tax, by a vote of 89-1.  Yes, 89-1.  http://goo.gl/kdvIJ  Eisenhower's own words:

Our unity as a nation is sustained by free communication of thought and by easy transportation of people and goods.

And in his 1963 memoir, he added:

More than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America. ... Its impact on the American economy - the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up - was beyond calculation.

The same can be said of high speed rail.  Now if people would just stop shooting the bird.