Prop. 1 High Speed Rail Bonds

Officially asks for:
-9 billion dollars to build high speed railroad between san francisco and L.A.
-funds rail expansion if money becomes available
-provides 950 million for connections to the high speed railroad and for repairing, modernizing, and improving passenger rail service, including tracks, signals, etc.
-total funding provided is 9.95 billion

argument for:
safe, easy, more affordable and less gas travel alternative to soaring gas prices, freeway congestion, rising airfare and plumeting airline service. relieve 70 million trips a year of congested freeways and clogged airports. Doesn't raise taxes. runs 220 miles an hour, la to san fran in about 2 1/2 hours. stops in san diego, l.a. fresno, san jose, san fran, and sacramento. billion dollars to help "beef up" existing rail like metro or bart in san francisco. Ten years of study and prep already invested. remove c02 equivalent of 1 million cars from air and run cleaner than alternatives. Legal oversight by governor, legislature, attorney general and an independant expert.

against:
will cost at least 40 billion to get something like this working, this 10 is just tip of the iceberg. We are already in a budget crisis and this is too much to spend with bad schools and healthcare underfuded. 58 million already spent on consulting and research trips to europe with nothing to show. 640 million a year for 30 years when you break it down with interest. this is travel statewide we are investing in when we should be investing in local travel improvements to make the metro better to get us to work.

my take:
More than anything this is still research and initial baby steps. Some money has already been applied to it without much to show and the risk is that this money is just padding someone's pocket. I like the basic idea but anyone who has made that trip in a car knows it is a great experience. Alone you get to have six hours with yourself where you are forced to work out your own problems or drown them out with music blaring for five or six hours, alone time like that is so rare today in our quick society. If it's with someone special you can't help but get a lot closer on that drive. Platonic friends or something more, a lot of discussion and maybe even some time to pull over in the middle of nowhere and "go visit grandma" (go see the movie sexdrive in theaters to get that one)

Bottom line, It will be too expensive compared to alternatives. Especially with the push to hybrid vehicles nowadays. It costs about $60 tops round trip for my gas in the civic hybrid. With how much this is costing and how in demand it will be I don't expect round trip tickets to drop under $100. I do wish some more regional focus was in the bill and perhaps in the future there will be. Metro is a mess, at least compared to other systems. It could be so much more.

final word:
I'll vote against with hopes of a better future alternative. Drive to frisco and demand better local rail here at home