Judge blocks use of state bond money for California bullet train

[alp227]

Source: LA Times

In a major legal blow to the California bullet train, a Sacramento judge ruled Monday that the project cannot tap bonds that voters approved for construction, a decision that could cause indefinite future delays.

Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny issued two decisions Monday, both of them based on findings that the state made key errors and failed to comply with voter-approved requirements as they moved the project toward a long-awaited groundbreaking.

The decisions do not immediately stop the project, but they could sharply curtail the state’s ability to pay for the high-speed rail system in the future.

Construction of the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco train, more than a year behind schedule, was most recently slated to begin in the second quarter of 2014. The state still could start construction, though as a result of Kenny's rulings officials wouldn't have access to nearly $9 billion in rail bonds approved by voters in 2008.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-judge-blocks-state-funding-bullet-train-20131125,0,725258.story

[liberal N proud]

1. From who killed the street car to who killed the electric car and now high speed rail.

[BlueEye]

2. High Speed Rail advocates everywhere know this is bad.

It is imperative that this project succeed. California's efforts can lead the way for HSR expansion and development elsewhere in the country. The Acela on the Northeast Corridor was a good start, but has nearly matured to its full capacity and cannot grow or improve much more. The California project is supposed to usher in the technology and speeds that Europe has enjoyed for years and now even China has. I hope this decision can be reversed or they can find funding somewhere.

[onehandle]

3. Sounds like Judge Doom got to them...

[yuiyoshida]

4. Am I ever going to see this train happen?

Or will I be a 90 year old granny before I can step on this thing and go to LOS ANGELES ??

I guess I HAVE to visit Japan in order to ride the Shinkansen.

[LibDemAlways]

6. I'm 61 and I'll never live to see it. Fortunately,

I have travelled on high speed rail in Europe. It's embarrassing how far behind we are.

[yuiyoshida]

9. omg! envy!

I have always wanted to travel on the Shinkansen..ever since seeing it for the first time. I think there is one that is even faster in China, or Taiwan...I don't recall which it was, but I would love to ride it. (By the way, I hate rollar coasters... I would rather flat out go fast on a flat surface than do the up and down craziness of a roller coaster.)

[ErikJ]

12. Did the Paris to Lyon TGV 190 MPH...in 1983, 30 yrs ago.

America is hopeless. Maybe this 800 mph tube trian thing by Musk will pan out.

[LibDemAlways]

18. Hopeless...that says it all.

Was on the Paris-London Eurostar last summer. Took less time to travel between the capitals than it took me to travel from my suburban home to LA's west side by car the other night - 25 miles, 3 hours, much of it spent flat out stopped or crawling along at less than 5 mph.

[allan01]

5. o snap

i can take a conventional train from modesto ca , get off at bakersfield ca and take a bus to la union station in all of an 8 hours . the other side puffs how good we are . and this happens . our freeways are already clooged to over capaicty and the whiners say " i dont want to pay my taxes ", well guess what so and sos , taxes are the price of cilivisation. and for one i hate being on a slow poke 8 hour train to los angles where i could be there in 3 hours on a trans rapid shinkansen train. and i dont like to fly .

[LibDemAlways]

8. Years ago I took the train from LA to Las Vegas --

an option no longer possible. Back then the train kept pulling off on to side tracks to let freight trains go by. The trip took 10 hours. Unbelievable.

[defacto7]

7. Superior Court Judge my ass...

Obstructionist Court Judge Michael Kenny... That's what it is.

[LeftyMom]

10. Good. The project as designed is a complete clusterfuck, and they need to give up and start over.

The existing route is stupid, and the plan to build the part in the middle of nowhere first so that the imaginary proceeds of all that pent up Fresno-Madeira train traffic can help pay for the rest is so painfully dumb I can only assume somebody's cousin owns the land or some crooked thing like that, because on the surface it makes zero sense.

[7962]

11. I was about to ask for a residents opinion!

[Jesus Malverde]

17. +1...nt

[Llewlladdwr]

13. I've never understood the obsession with high speed rail.

Aside from the cool factor, what does HSR bring that isn't already being accomplished by aircraft and regular rail?

[MH1]

16. So, I take it you've never compared riding the Acela from Philly to New Haven

vs. trying to take a commuter plane?

And that's only the Acela. "Higher" speed rail than the rest of the stuff in the US, but still not exactly high speed by civilized standards.

[ErikJ]

19. The scenery and environmental factors

Trains let you see the landscape scenery and electric HSR is like 20 times more energy efficient than by oil polluting air. Win-win.

[olddad56]

14. I think a better use of public money would be to make higher education more affordable.

[LaPera]

15. Looks like the OIL corpoprations got what they wanted again....They've been

behind the scenes, donating huge amounts of money (and paying people off) for decades....The last thing big oil wants to see is a great transit systems hight speed rail going from SF to LA to San Diego -LA to Vegas and to Chicago and New York with HIGH Spreed....But oil corporations have fought against little transit systems as well = Just check it out they are always behind the scenes under different organization.....They see every gallon not being bought to travel as a lost to them the greedy regressive assholes!

[Igel]

20. Then perhaps those wise people in charge

should have done what the law required.

Instead of having people sit back and say, "Gee, we want this so much, let's just ignore the law. It's needed, and what's a bit of democracy and rule of law if we can be ... wait for it ... wait for it ... transformers!" We like dictatorship when it advances our causes. Then we call it "wisdom."

If this was something Chase Manhatten had done, people would be calling for prosecutions. A potentially good project so messed up that it could only have been, if we didn't like the person behind it, intentional.