In the history of man and woman-kind, building things here on Earth (and the last couple of decades above Earth as well), nothing gets built exactly to plan. Every plan is more of a wish, a hope of what the final product will look like. The Great Wall of China can be seen from space, but it’s doubtful every brick and stone was laid according to plan. The interstate highway system and the transcontinental railroad are systems we’ve relied on for generations, yet were filled with graf and over run costs. Let’s be honest, the only way to do it on the cheap and quickly is do employ the Chinese model of cutting corners, paying labor nothing, and having the State run EVERYTHING (no takers?).
When you’re looking at a plan to build something as big as the California High Speed Rail system, you have to weigh the benefits of the system against any flaws in the plan. The old adage of “you have to break some eggs to make an omelet” is appropriate to building/making just about anything. I’m sure there was someone out there who complained about the International Space Station blocking their view of space, so it’s a no-brainer that building HSR here will cause some lawsuits. Almost every immanent domain case involves legal action. There are lawyers out there who specialize in this field on both sides. So this will all be pro-forma.
The benefits of building HSR are clear, but maybe not exact. To build the darn thing we are going to have to put people to work, pay them, given them benefits, allow them to spend that money here in California, and pay taxes here in California. These kind of jobs will be involved in laying the tracks, building the electric infrastructure, creating new train stations, etc…and this is not including the jobs created by improvements to Caltrain in the Bay Area and Metrorail in Los Angeles (more jobs). For every dollar spent on infrastructure, $1.59 is added to the American GDP (compared to Bush tax cuts at $0.29 to GDP).
Perhaps the exact number of jobs created that both labor and Democratic leaders claim isn’t as high as the real number ultimately. However, that’s like saying instead of getting 10 gold bricks, you’re only getting 8. The jobs going to the central valley will breathe new life into an economic black hole. It’s time we got over those extra 2 gold bricks.
So let’s just look past it and focus on the task at hand, building it and building it right (or as close to right as possible). The LA Times article that was critical of turning down the French and their experience on building HSR was fair in part, but California simply made another choice. Should California still seek experience from abroad on the engineering and development? Absolutely. Without a doubt, the CAHSRA will hire foreign experts, as will Parson (contractor hired to help build the train). In addition, our government officials need to bring in some of the strongest fiscal hawks out there to negotiate and execute each and every contract.
CAHSR needs to find an anti-Rail public servant, perhaps a certain retiring Peninsula state senator, and put them in charge of oversight. That public servant must have the authority not only to audit work and contracts, but to advise and assist in negotiations along the way. If there is a book out there on what went wrong in the building of the new span of the Bay Bridge, he or she needs to make that the bible of oversight for HSR.
A famous line from one of my favorite movies is “First rule of government spending: Why build one, when you can build 2 and twice the price” (see Contact). Let’s not reward overspending, but do the opposite, and reward contractors when things come in under budget and/or ahead of schedule. Over schedule/budget? Penalties can be written into contracts too to deter such things. EVERY CONTRACT SHOULD BE LIKE THIS.
Building a revolutionarily new and fast mode of transport for America’s most populated state is nothing short of Herculean. Just because it’s difficult, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. The benefits of having clean powered trains eliminating polluting cars and planes from California roads is far too important to not make this happen. So let’s get past our disagreements on it being done, and let’s unify on getting it done right!
