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Sep 7, 2018 · 11 min read

The Real Losers in the California Bullet Train Disaster

The California Bullet Train is creating a lot of frustration with taxpayers, politicians, land owners and Tutor Perini, the Joint Venture winners of the bid to build Governor Jerry Browns high speed rail system. The HSR (High Speed Rail) project was approved by California voters in a 2008 ballot proposition that called for a Reliable, Safe and Blazingly fast 220 mile per hour train by the thin margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.

Proposition 1A was primarily funded by Union Organization’s having the most to gain from a giant Public Works contract. Since the approval of the design project in 2004, untold numbers of unforeseen problems have plagued this project. These problems are quickly showing that there will be few winners and a significant amount of State of California citizens that lose.

Jerry Brown and friend’s sign the rail

The winners will be rewarded nicely, with Billions of dollars going to two Primary Contractors who employ hundreds of prevailing wage union members, the State of California Employees and their union officials along with public utility companies who must provide the electrical grid to supply the train.

THE LOSERS

Taxpayers who will be stuck with Billions of dollars of State Finance Bond obligations

The Poor and Homeless who must be displaced as a result of city redevelopment projects supporting the train stations.

The Environment, particularly the California Central Valley, as the air quality pollution increase is created by construction activities for the next 10–15 years.

HOW WE GOT OURSELVES INTO THE MESS

California State Proposition 1A, the HSR California Bond measure, was approved for $10 Billion in 2008. According to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association, a government watchdog group, the original funding was to be one third California Bonds, one third Private Investment and one third Federal Funds. No private sector monies have been raised and it is doubtful any legitimate financial investment group would take on such a risky investment. A new HSR business plan published in March 2018 shows a projected increase baseline cost of $78 Billion, this is a revision from just two years ago of 20%! To add salt to the wound, the newly revised (July/August 2018) business plan calls for a potential cost of construction of $98 Billion! The projected start up date is now 2033 an adjusted extension date of four years since the previous completion estimates. This revision will need to be revised once more in 2018 since work on the Fresno to Madera section has come to a virtual stop. The Rail Authority issued a stop work order on a major “Tall Building Bridge”

and is pushing Tutor Perini, the prime contractor, to tear down the bridge because of cracks and fissures in the structure. The apparent failure is due to the use of an incorrect design for the San Juaquin soil conditions. At least three other bridges have already been built using the same design and will most likely need to be removed. The contractor and the HSR Authority have now started the contractor versus client infighting that comes with the assignment of cost increases. As so much of the HSR project has shown, only cursory evaluation and minimal project engineering was done prior to developing a project budget. The HSR rail authority failed to evaluate and certify the location of underground utilities. The original utilities relocation budget called for $25,000,000, five years later the cost has jumped to $400,000,000.

The California Taxpayers have been paying out an average of $3.1 Million per day over the past year. This spend rate has resulted in a project 13 years behind schedule and not one rail has been installed. In order for the latest HSR Authorities plan to meet the 2033 completion date the TAXPAYER will be expected to fund $27 MILLION PER Day in what is commonly referred to as The Spend/ Burn Rate. Major construction project experts with experience in mega projects have already raised the red flag warning, calling the spend rate “ludicrous” and “not realistic”.

To put the projected “Burn” rate in some type of Taxpayer perspective:

The Burn/Spend rate of $27 Million dollars per day equates to $810,000,000 per month.

The total sum of state taxes WITHHELD by the employees of the State of California is $59,000,000 or 7.24% of 231,290 State Employees Withheld taxes. This is a withheld number, not what is paid at the end of the tax year by the employee. This Burn Rate being kicked around is equal to what the State Employees have withheld for the Federal Government each month! ($175,621,640)

THE POOR AND HOMELESS

SEEKING PENNIES IN THE LAND OF PLENTY

Much of the project turmoil, besides the escalating cost, have to do with the areas the HSR routes will impact. In the wisdom of the politicians and lobbyists who promoted for the HSR project to make the project palatable to the voters of the State, selecting low cost, under utilized low density parcels, was a way to control acquisition costs. Unfortunately the Fresno homeless have been setting up living spaces since the mid 60s in low density, abandoned buildings next to the main railroad lines that run through the city. In the city of Fresno, the two most active homeless shelters, Paveralo House and The Fresno Rescue Mission are located on G Street that now has a HSR easement.

The Fresno Rescue Mission on G Street was forced to move across G Street to make way for California’s high-speed rail project. Part of G Street will be realigned 90 feet to the east, and the mission will take over the abandoned roadway property.

The Fresno Rescue Mission, which has been located on the east side of G Street since 1965, has been forced to relocate to temporary facilities across the street because part of its old property is in the path of high-speed rail construction through downtown. Moving the street east by about 90 feet will allow the city of Fresno to abandon the old G Street alignment so it can be used as a permanent site for the Rescue Mission.

HSR Route upper right corner. New temporary Rescue Mission location lower left corner.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will spend more than $5 million to relocate a 2,000-foot stretch of G Street to, in part, accommodate the relocation of The Fresno Rescue Mission.

The rail authority already had a $350,000 agreement with the city to design and engineer the relocation of G Street. At an early 2018 HSR meeting in San Jose, the authority’s board voted to add $5.2 million to the contract to cover the cost of the Rescue Mission construction and for relocation of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. utilities. The agreement includes a completion date of Dec. 31, 2020. No “failure to comply” or a “no change order” was part of the new project work order change.

As so much of the HSR project has shown, only cursory evaluation and minimal planning was done to deal with the Poor and Homeless impacted by this project. The Fresno City Government failed to take into account the ugly impact of major changes to the homeless in the community.

The Fresno Rescue Mission has already been forced to abandon their existing building. Former tent city's for the homeless and mentally ill in the area have been torn down. A large parcel now owned by the HSR Authority that was directly across from the Poverello House and adjacent to the Rescue mission has been cleared and fenced. The former tent cities have now moved onto city sidewalks in the vicinity.

FORMER HOMELESS CAMP CLEARED AND FENCED

The cost of property in the Central Valley of California pales in comparison to the cost of property in the Bay Area, Sacramento and LA. By some newspaper reports, getting the investment dollars sunk into the central valley will have enough impact to create a “can’t go back” and “not abandon the investment” mentality for future politicians.

At no point has there been any type of policy or project scope statement that addresses the impact of the eminent domain action of the State on those poor souls who live in the poorest parts of town. The HSR Authority currently has secured more than 1,200 parcels up and down the valley. The sheer number of empty and abandoned commercial buildings and residential homes is shocking when a person gets off Hwy 99 or gets sent via a HSR detour sign to the center of Fresno.

The effect of government taking private property and converting them to State owned parcels on behalf of HSR is that it creates blight, brings crime and creates an ideal non regulated environment for the homeless and mentally ill. For Fresno and Madera the homeless and others are left to impact a very long corridor of 100 yards wide and 100 miles long. The homeless are taking up camp in all these new state owned parcels.

All along the corridor a person can see burned out buildings, wire fences cut to gain access to the buildings and in much of the downtown area where the majority of homeless reside, the stench of urine and human waste percolates in the 100 degree heat of the valley. In Fresno the HSR will severely impact the homeless and destitute living within the HSR redevelopment area committed to by the city. Several low end and cheap motels have been seized, torn down and the former residents have gone only who knows where. Along the existing rail tracks in downtown Fresno several side streets are home to many of the homeless and destitute. The streets are littered with trash and small tents as these lost souls try to survive just one more day. Nowhere is the HSR Authority or the city making the effort to provide any type of bathrooms and sanitary living conditions in those areas impacted.

The crime and living conditions will get worse as the HSR Authority has increased the need for an additional parcel demand by 38 percent!! In 2014 the need was 1,347 parcels and today in 2018 it has grown to 1,827. Easy access to the work sites and seized property is creating additional law enforcement involvement. The California Highway Patrol has been assigned the task of managing law enforcement in properties owned by the HSR Authority. The typical construction property protection process is to have the General Contractor provide security to those areas where work is in process as part of the overhead budget. Several construction and construction material sites are non secured leaving on the books and paid for materials available for theft.

THE ENVIORNMENT

CONSTUCTION SITE WITH NO DUST MITIGATION

Part of the 2008 ballot justification was to have the train cut carbon emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by the State mandated carbon emission plan. The idea is to reduce up to 10 million miles of vehicle travel daily and a reduction in air travel. All these gains by installing 800 miles of railroad track from the San Francisco Bay area (including Sacramento) to downtown Los Angeles. If the numbers pan out, this effort will eliminate 12,500 trips each day for people who would want to reduce their dependency on their long distance commutes. The ticket cost will also increase from the 2008 expectation of $68 to a $108 LA to Bay Area ride.

Threats to endangered species, diesel emissions from construction equipment, and wetland impacts, are a real concern for the central part of California. Air quality is perhaps the major concern of citizens in the eight counties regulated by the San Joaquin Air District. The area has no off shore breeze to clean out the particulate matter common to the region. Current air quality conditions will often prevent the viewing distance to less than ten miles. Putrid air from the cities of San Francisco and surrounding cities find there way to Bakersfield where the mountains separating the Central Valley from Los Angeles hold the air in a tight barrier.

Rail construction should make no net increase in emissions if the Air District has its way. If the cleanest diesel equipment still adds to emissions, then the air district wants monetary compensation so it can reduce pollution from other sources. Most farmers in the region see this as nothing more than a way to finance ongoing environmental costs by limiting Dairy and nut processing.

There will be unavoidable impacts to rivers, streams and other wetland in the valley according to the Army Corps of Engineers. The law requires that any impacts be avoided or minimized however the Army will have the right to say what is allowed or not!

Building the system in the San Joaquin Valley is expected to pump tons of dust, greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the air. International experts warn it could take years for the benefits of train ridership to make up for the harm caused during construction.

The HSR Project has the potential to have one of the most profound and negitive impacts on the citizens of the state. The more the California legislature aligns itself with the powerful unions, the more risk to bankrupt the State. If ever there was meaning to the prolific statement “CUT YOUR LOSSES” it is time for the citizens of the State to end the dream of a High Speed Rail System in California.

Special Thanks to various articles from the LA Times, San Jose Mercury News, Fresno and Sacramento Bee, HSR Authority, Google and those lost souls of G Street.

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God Loving, Husband, Pancreatic Cancer Fighter, Avid Reader

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