I live in Las Vegas and I was born in Los Angeles. Most all of my relatives live in California. I just can't wait. In 19 months, right after Barack Obama signs the stimulus bill, there should be a brand new, $8 billion, Maglev monorail train service built between Disneyland, in Los Angeles, and the "Strip" in Las Vegas (See Full Story). Families visiting Disneyland can jump on that new rail service and the kids can be locked up in the hotel room while the parents take in some gambling and other forms of adult entertainment. It will be great. And, I can plan on visiting my relatives in "just" 19 months.Man. I didn't even know that the Maglev project was shovel-ready. It has been talked about for almost 20 years but, I didn't ever think that we'd see it because it was really only marginally justified. There were so many other causes that needed the money more than this one. But, now, we don't have to worry about the justification. The Democrats and Obama put that aside and said, in effect: "Let's do it!" Yippee! It should really be something to watch. That's because to build the thing in the 19 month target of this stimulus package, they will have to build it at a rate of 14 miles per month. But, with $8 billion dollars in total spending and the ability to dole out 1/2 billion dollars per month; it should be a piece of cake!
This is really great! It is SO Las Vegas! It's rolling the dice with "your money" so "I" don't have to sit in a car for 3 or 4 hours on Interstate 15 to get to Southern California.
Thank you, America. Thank you for the election of Barack and all those Democrats. Thank you for your kind and charitable giving to the citizens of Las Vegas and those visitors to Disneyland. Thank you for spending this amount of money on us and not wasting it on the roads and bridges that are in much needed repair.
My sarcasm aside, this project is probably a good one for good times. However, it should have never been part of this stimulus package. It is literally a big piece of pork that Harry Reid could desperately use for his reelection. The taxpayers of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, the ones who would actually benefit from such a project, should be picking up the tab. Not the U.S. taxpayer. Why should every man, woman, and child in America cough up $26 each so that 1 percent of the population will benefit from this service. Now, many of us in Las Vegas need a higher level of expert health care that is only available to us in Southern California, and a high speed train would be advantageous. The city of Las Vegas would also benefit from the increased "gambling" traffic that could be realized from Southern California; once this thing is built. Currently, the Interstate 15 corridor is packed on a daily basis and rapid transit would be a great way of alleviating all that congestion. This project should be paid for by bonds or some other mechanism that is floated by the residents of both cities. I am concerned that, with the Federal Government getting involved, it could turn into another pig like Amtrak.
Shanghai Maglev Image by Dennis Kruyt's photostream on Flickr with Creative Commons Licensing remix/adapt/modify permission (Click to View Other Works). Specifically modified by Cranky George for this blog entry.
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2 comments:
Most bloggers, pundits and journalists have not done the research (or even read the text of the high-speed rail provisions of the stimulus bill)to realize that this $8 Billion will NEVER GO TO THE MAGLEV PROJECT.
Las Vegas - Los Angeles is not even currently designated as a high speed rail corridor. The project alone would cost $15 to $20Billion, and no real private or federal dollars have been spent on this project in 25 years. Not one penny of the $45 million that was "appropriated" has yet to be spent, since it has to be matched by $11 million of private funding by the Maglev group (California Nevada Super Speed Train Commission) which will NEVER HAPPEN.
Hopefully this makes you feel better. There's plenty more pork and boondoggle spending included in this bill to complain about.
I know the cost is much higher than the $8 billion. Actually, the $8 billion is unrealistically supposed to be used for "two" train systems. Besides the Anaheim to Las Vegas connection, another high speed transit system from L.A. to San Francisco is include in that cost.
The intent of this blog entry was to make fun at the whole B.S. of this project. There's no way that any 269 mile rail system could be done in the 19 months, as mandate by the targets of this stimulus plan; nor, for that amount of money. The easements, the court battles, and all the design considerations would take much longer than 19 months. And, just the those costs and the planning costs could exceed a couple of billion dollars.
Would I like to see train service between Los Angeles (not Disneyland) and Las Vegas? Sure, I would. But, there are also a lot of commuter flights that are available for those who really need to get back and forth without driving.
To put the cost issues into perspective, the new Encore (Wynn) casino in Las Vegas, a single complex of buildings, cost $2.3 billion to build; or, about 1/4 of what has been put into the stimulus package for two new rail systems. Our lawmakers, as usual, are clueless as to the realities of building things. Yet, these former lawyers packed this stimulus package with thousands of building projects.
I spent years as project manager involved with building new corporate buildings and offices in the United States and throughout the world. I know the intricacies of putting a project's costs together and completing that job on time and within the budget. There is no way that a bunch of politicians could plan hundreds of projects in the vacuum of a Congressional office building; put it together in a matter of days; and, then, actually get it right.
Thanks for you input Joe. I am sure my readers appreciated it.
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