George Kapus

California has several crumbling infrastructure issues, such as roads in bad need of repair, insufficient water storage, and not enough money to fix any of it. Sacramento whines that they don’t have enough revenue. I say, Sacramento spends too much, on the wrong stuff. Take for instance a project we might all agree upon that we don’t need: the California Hi-Speed Railsystem to nowhere, aka, CAHSR. Looking at that acronym, you can tell it’s not going anywhere. Couldn’t they at least give it a better name than something that sounds like CASHIER spelled incorrectly, as an eternal reminder to Californians about all the money being been flushed down on this misguided project? Maybe they could have named it CAROT – for California Rocket Train? Nope; nothing could have saved this project that appears to be managed by the Three Stooges.

So, let’s talk money. The CAHSR Authority (or CAHSRA) was originally approved by voters in 2008 with Proposition 1A, for $9 Billion, which suddenly jumped to $40 Billion. By 2012, the project cost had been re-guestimated at $64 Billion. In 2017, that figure was again revised to $77.3 Billion. We then learned that CAHSRA didn’t have enough cash to complete the route from San Francisco to Anaheim. For that price-tag, the limping CAHSR was literally going from nowhere in Northern California, to nowhere near Anaheim. The powers-that-be are now guesstimating a price-tag at $90 billion for the completion. But, with innumerable delays and various shortcomings, such as still unpurchased real estate, the final bill may skyrocket to $118 billion. Private entities are unwilling to invest in this venture without guarantees of profits on their investments. In other words, they can only get to Fresno, then they’ll have to find more money.

A few years ago, my wife and I rode on the Italian Frecciarossaor Red Arrow from Naples to Rome. This trip of about 141 miles took only 57 minutes. One thing about this route though: board flat topography, no elevated section, no hills or mountains in the way. In Europe, several countries are now connected via high-speed rail systems. France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia and the United Kingdom worked out all the financing issues between the various factions to get the job done, unlike those silly politicians in California.

The original goal of CAHSRA was to connect the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco via the Central Valley to the Regional Transportation Intermodal Center in Anaheim and Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. The one-seat ride was to take around 2 hours and 40 minutes, with speeds of up to 220 mph. However, due to the undulating topography of California and the need for elevated portions (around Fresno and perhaps elsewhere), the trains would have to slowdown to 150 mph in various stretches. The proposed cost for the ride, was to be around $50. By 2015 it was recalculated to $83, and some have even suggested a possible $105 price-tag. With the project in a virtual stall around Fresno, and additional funds lacking, the price for that ride may go up to $150 to $175… if the project ever gets completed.

With that elevated section around Fresno, a jolt from an earthquake could catapult a CAHSRA Bullet right over Fresno and land it in the Mojave Desert. Of course, I’m exaggerating! However, does anyone remember a recent train derailment near Dupont, Washington, where a train, travelling on a new line, derailed, killing three and injuring seventy, while dumping cars all over the freeway below? A curve in the line had been designed to be taken at 35 mph but, the engineer, unaware of this new fact, kept going at 80 mph, sending 12 cars flying on top of two semi-trucks. Luckily, there were not more fatalities, but the damage was costly, and a lot of people did get hurt. Imagine a bullet train travelling at around 200 mph, flying off the track.

Instead of wasting money on this boondoggle, let’s convert this route to a conventional route for our Amtrak trains, so they wouldn’t be stuck behind freight trains chugging along at 35 mph. Since the freight companies have right of way on all rail lines, passenger carriers have no way of getting around them. I have spoken to individuals who had taken the train from Oakland to Los Angeles. They had to switch trains twice, then had to get on a bus connector to get to a third train, that eventually got them to Los Angeles, after a twelve-hours plus journey.

A couple years ago, I rode Amtrak from Martinez to Reno Nevada, for a couple of days’ relaxation and gaming. The train arrived at Martinez on time and got me to Reno in six and a half hours as promised. It was a comfortable, relaxing ride. I drank a Decaf Latte, ate a sandwich and read my book, dozing occasionally. However, the return trip was completely different. On the following Thursday, I was to take the 11 AM Amtrak for my return journey. I was informed at the station that the train would be an hour or two late. The station attendants told me that some weeks prior, the same train had been seven hours late, because it had gotten stuck behind a freight train that had broken down in the Utah Salt flats. As there was no way to get around the disabled train, the passenger train had to wait until the freight train got going again. So, I was advised to take the ‘Bus Bridge’ which would be on time. Even though, we stopped at every little speck of human habitations in the Sierras, on the way to Sacramento, it got me there just in time to catch the 5PM Zephyr to Martinez. My return trip from Reno, had taken over eight hours.

Can you imagine, how nice it would be to have a parallel line for passenger trains and they wouldn’t have to follow freight haulers? How about converting the CAHSRA line into a regular passenger train line for the Amtrak trains? For a lot less money, this line could be extended from San Diego, all the way to Oregon. Why not fix the issues slowing down California rail travel, instead of wasting money on a system that may never work?

Some of that money intended for CAHSRA could have been used to fix our infrastructure issues. In addition, how about building a couple reservoirs, so that when the next time draught hits, we won’t have to refrain from hydrating and flushing? We could call this project WaterFix. Oh wait, the governor already has a project by that name: twin tunnels under the delta to divert our precious Delta elixir to Southern California, to the tune of $17 Billion. Of course, the Governor has assured us that taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay for this project; only water users?

I find it fascinating that all the projects originating in Sacramento, seem to be heading in the direction of Southern California. I’ve got an idea: let’s bottle our good Northern California water and then, ship all the bottles South via the CAHSRA trains. We won’t have to waste all that money on the WaterFix project. And, the people of Fresno will have plenty of water…

Porous Walls and No Door Do Not a House Make

Let’s just say that, the United States of America is like a house, our house. It has a solid foundation and two of the four walls are secure. The problem is, the Framers left the house unfinished; although they did leave us instructions on completing the work. Unfortunately, the workers who were supposed to finish the job, got lazy; both from the Left and the Right. They all felt that the house would stand and was safe enough to live in, without further effort on their part.

As a result, through our porous Southern wall, uninvited guests have been filtering in for years. For a very long time, we didn’t seem to mind. After all, our house was big and a few more guests, however uninvited, didn’t make that much difference. Many of them contributed through work, though some didn’t. All in all, it was a wash, so nobody complained; that is, until thousands of uninvited guests started pouring in and displacing the legal tenants of the house. To make things worse, drug peddlers, thieves, murderers and even 150 terrorists from the Middle started to tag along. We did catch one hundred and fifty of them (terrorists).

During eight years of the Obama Administration, 2.5 million illegals crossed the border; of those about 25% were apprehended and returned. Over a three-year period from 2008 to 2011, over 276,000O criminal charges were brought against criminal illegal aliens. The crimes cited in border states, included mass and execution-style murders, sexual assaults, kidnappings, shootings, armed robberies, human trafficking, and burglaries, all tied to illegal immigration.

Nobody says that all illegal immigrants are bad. Let’s also distinguish between LEGAL and ILLEGAL immigrants, which certain parties like to lump together, to muddle the issue. LEGAL immigrants come to the USA through official, formal means, while ILLEGAL immigrants sneak in through our Southern border, or simply overstay their Visas. Most illegal immigrants are probably wonderful, hardworking folks; but as they say, in every barrel you’ll find a few that are rotten.

One very important point: the USA is our house and we have the right to decide who we want to invite in and who we want to keep out. It’s that simple.

Prior to my parents bringing me here in 1956, we all had to travel to the U.S. Consulate in our country of origin and go through a rigorous screening. Since we were citizens of a country on the opposing side of the Allies during WWII, we were not even considered for immigration to the USA until 1952. At this point we were encouraged to move to the U.S.A. by friends who had already immigrated here. They also volunteered to be our sponsors. We then had to contact the U.S. Consulate, stating our intention, bring along all the available legal, documents we had, with newly taken passport photos for our future Green Cards, should we be accepted for residency. Before our formal meeting, we received NO guarantees that we would be accepted. Also, by sponsoring us, this U.S. family had to guarantee that they would take care of us, with food and lodging, for at least 90 days. In that time-period, my father was expected to find employment or else we would have to be returned to our country of origin.

My father found a job within two days of arrival. Here’s what the U.S. Consulate representative told us before our entry here: Work hard and you will become successful. By the way, my father never took a penny in aid from the U.S. government. He found government handouts distasteful.

I hope you’re getting what I tried to say: A house with NO doors and walls (Not necessarily physical) COLLAPSES; eventually it gets razed and a new and different house gets built on top of the rubble! And of course, new and different occupants move in.

So, it behooves both the right side and the left side of the aisle in Washington, to fix the IMMIGRATION issue and keep our House from collapsing and being replaced.

Cal Train to Nowhere

Fix Immigration!