Rep Jeff Denham Leads The DC Fight Against Valley High Speed Rail

Rep Jeff  Denham Leads The DC Fight Against Valley High Speed Rail

Today congressional representative republican Jeff Denham led a 4 hour meeting in Washington, DC in his fight against high speed rail (HSR). As a state senator, Jeff Denham kept mass transit out of the central valley for the past ten years and, in his new position in Congress, he is determined to keep high speed rail out of the valley for the foreseeable future. Today many local leaders met in Washington, DC to discuss HSR. Denham argues HSR is too expensive and all the valley needs is a couple more lanes on highway 99. Denham has no clue as to the needs of the valley. HSR is needed for the students of UC Merced, for valley seniors and disabled (like our veterans) and for those looking to expand businesses and jobs.
Denham has decided to run for Congress in CD 10 (Turlock to Modesto) in 2012. We must get Denham out!!


Some of the issues I am most worried about include;
1) Funding - I believe the HSR will attract a lot of riders. But people will not use the HSR system if our elected officials have no confidence in it or they constantly talk about "it's too expensive to ride." We need to work out the riding costs so that poor valley residents can use the system and we need to elect people who can discuss all of the issues, but not drag the progressing project down, causing the valley to lose jobs, money, business, investors and an improved quality of life.
2) Excess costs - the costs are increasing on the project and we need to see who is being paid too much and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
3) We need to keep the federal money spent in the US. If a lot of the federal funds are going into foreign pockets, then, I want to halt the project until we can get American vendors, specialists, etc. All of the materials must be made in the US, including the rail cars. I do not believe Americans will have confidence in  a China-made rail system.

There are other issues, but these are on the top of my list at this moment.

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The High Speed Rail(HSR) debate goes on. Some people, like Republican congressman Jeff Denham said "just widen highway 99 - high speed rail is not needed and too expensive."


Now, today, other Republican obstructionists are coming out to propose - "just expand our already existing Amtrak lines. Much cheaper and could get the train to go up to 110 MPH." 


Amtrak currently runs from Oakland to Bakersfield area, then you switch to a bus to go over the mountains. I took this trip a couple of years ago and I seem to remember using 2 buses and 2 trains, then a taxi, to get to my destination. Quite a trek. I did not save much time, but it was more relaxing than driving. I love Amtrak and would love if we could crank it up to do the job.


The truth is the central valley has been is dire need of a transportation overhaul for over thirty years. Unfortunately, none of the city councils, county supervisors, state senators, state assemblymen, or transportation heads have ever addressed the issue. so, the valley has crumbled and existed as a "difficult to reach" area with sluggish economies. 


Now, we finally have a president who is interested in growing the valley and willing to commit federal cash to get the job done. Obstructionists fail to see that the project will be expensive because they have ignored the valley for decades. State senator Jeff Denham did nothing to improve valley jobs, improve valley transportation, or improve the valley housing market. Now, as a valley congressman, Denham continues to want to impede valley economic growth, safety, and transportation. It is stupid and totally irresponsible to say the transportation solution is to just widen highway 99. I want even more from this transportation overhaul, but the High Speed Rail Authority has repeatedly told me they do not want to address the huge volume of trucking traffic along highway 99 with this current HSR package. Too bad - it is a huge, huge problem and it makes a lot of sense to address the trucks at the same time.


The HSR system is elevated, so there should be fewer collisions between trains and people, cars, and various pieces of junk placed on the tracks. This is a big advantage over the current Amtrak tracks. Also the HSR will be quieter, so residents living near the tracks will be less stressed from train noises.


Obstructionists complain HSR will cost $13 billion for the Merced to Bakersfield route. Well, let's face it, every year you wait to get the job done, it will cost more. The costs will not go down. In the meantime, the valley suffers. Maybe we can improve the valley economy and get some locals significant employment and careers. Certainly cities with HSR stations will grow greatly. The complainers of HSR are probably the same people who blocked UC from building a valley campus for so many years. Now, UC Merced is a continuing success story with many benefiting from the investments.


The main thing about HSR is that it must be completed in time to handle the aging "baby boomers" who will be losing their driving capabilities over the next decade. They will use HSR in large numbers. After the baby boomers, there is a population drop, so ridership will depend more on costs, convenience, etc. So, time is of the essence.