Letters: Bullet train blues

Re “Vote keeps bullet train alive,” July 7

Having a high-speed rail system is a tremendous goal that many Californians would like to see achieved. However, come November, funding it will spell the defeat of the tax initiatives on the ballot. In a recent Field Poll, respondents said that they would overwhelmingly oppose both options if high-speed rail were a budget priority. After all, why would the state beg for billions, then blow it on this project?

The impact on public education would be catastrophic. My wife and I are teachers in the L.A. Unified School District. My class sizes would explode, and we would struggle to pay our mortgage with a combined 40 furlough days.

Public schools and educators have endured slashed salaries, mushrooming demands and massive layoffs. Right now we need triage, not trains.

Richard Mandl

Canoga Park

The good news is that the California bullet train is still alive, but the bad news is that a recent poll showed that 59% of voters would reject the plan if it were on the ballot.

The public is clearly loosing enthusiasm for the high-speed rail project due to its cost and the intense lobbying efforts by its opponents. The California High-Speed Rail Authority has failed to educate the public about the system’s benefits. It has a website but no hard-hitting advertisements in the media and no well-done documentaries on the successful bullet trains in Japan and Europe.

It is time to start lobbying in favor of this crucial job-creating infrastructure project.

Gabor Tamasi

Malibu

Let me get this straight. The Obama administration, for unclear reasons, pushes the California Senate to pass a bill that will start a project that voters no longer want and in a place where they will not ride it, thus proving that our legislators really can’t be trusted with our money.

Now it’s likely that the voters, in retaliation, will torpedo a desperately needed tax increase because they don’t believe the money will get spent on schools, where the money is badly needed.

And this is supposed to be politically astute?

Walter W. Matera

Lakewood

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said airspace over California is “at a premium.” Nonsense. The National Airspace System has plenty of capacity between Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento. The Federal Aviation Administration’s Next Generation Air Transportation System will increase capacity.

The bullet train, which is already grossly over its original cost estimates and headed higher, and which (as currently planned) will start out as a system that won’t reach its intended markets, is a dream that the residents of California (and the nation, whose taxpayers are footing part of its cost) can’t afford now.

John W. Hazlet Jr.

Pasadena

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