SACRAMENTO — The federal government has reached an agreement to restore nearly $1 billion in funding for California's troubled bullet train, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced. The U.S. Department of Transportation finalized settlement negotiations to restore the money for the high-speed rail project that was revoked by the Trump administration in...
Walters: Inflated Job Numbers Prop Up Bullet Train
Whenever politicians spend large sums of taxpayer money on pet projects, they invariably overstate their supposed economic benefits, particularly creating oodles of “good-paying jobs.” They all do it, using a deceptive assumption that if one worker works one day on the project, it’s counted as a “job.” Bullet Train Project...
Walters: California’s Crisis of Competence
Year by year and article by article, Ralph Vartabedian has revealed to Californians the woeful shortcomings of the state’s largest public works project, a north-south bullet train. Vartabedian, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, has made a virtual career of uncovering the project’s managerial, financial and political failings, lending...
Walters: Bullet Train Follies
As oft-noted in this space, those in California’s state government — governors, legislators and agency directors — have an unfortunate habit of starting programs and projects that are never fully implemented. These governmental orphans fall roughly into two categories, those that have some valid rationale and those that don’t. For...
California Set to Pay $1.65 Billion for Work on High-Speed Rail
SACRAMENTO — California officials on Tuesday moved toward awarding a $1.65 billion contract to design and construct the tracks and system in the central San Joaquin Valley for the first segment of its beleaguered high-speed rail project. The action taken by the California High-Speed Rail Authority's board of directors was...
Patterson Inquiry Triggers Suspension of Bullet Train Consultant
A state watchdog agency is reviewing a complaint filed by Assemblyman Jim Patterson of Fresno against the top consultant on the California bullet train project. In addition, the consultant’s company has suspended him because of the probe, The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Questions About $51 Million Change Order Roy...
Walters: Trump Doing California a Bullet Train Favor
At last count, California’s Democratic political leadership had filed four dozen lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s administration, reflecting differences on policies large and small. For the most part, California’s legal allegations have been on target. However, Trump is on solid legal and logical ground in the latest conflict over the...
California Sues Over $1 Billion in Canceled High-Speed Rail Money
SACRAMENTO — California sued Tuesday to block the Trump administration from canceling nearly $1 billion for the state's high-speed rail project, escalating the state's feud with the federal government. The Federal Railroad Administration announced last week it would not give California the money awarded by Congress nearly a decade ago,...
Trump Administration Cancels $1 Billion for Bullet Train
SACRAMENTO — The Trump administration canceled nearly $1 billion Thursday in federal money for California's high-speed rail project, further throwing into question the future of the ambitious plan to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately pledged to take the administration to court. "The Trump Administration's...
Gov. Newsom Is Shrinking Jerry Brown’s Pet Projects
When Jerry Brown began his first governorship in 1975, he quickly set himself apart from his father, former Gov. Pat Brown. The elder Brown’s legacy had been an immense expansion of the state’s public-works infrastructure—new colleges and universities, a web of freeways and, most of all, a massive project to...