Secretary Sean Duffy investigates corrupt California high-speed rail project

Sean Duffy called out the California high-speed rail project as a massive government boondoggle

He criticized its cost overruns and delays, which have made it one of the most expensive and inefficient public works projects.

Duffy ordered a federal investigation into the project, questioning whether California should receive additional federal funding, given its failure to deliver on promises and growing cost estimates.

The project, once hailed by Gavin Newsom and Nancy Pelosi, has faced widespread criticism and even led to French state-owned SNCF pulling out due to California’s bureaucratic challenges, highlighting the project’s ongoing issues.

It was supposed to be finished in 2020. The cost is now expected to exceed $130 billion and would be completed in the late 2030s – if it’s ever finished.

Of course, Newsom wants to be bailed out by you, the taxpayer. I have a life-long friend who lives in Milpitas, California her entire life and is a diehard Democrat. I thank God I live in Florida, the best run state in the country.

Read about the boondoggle

Oh, Gavin Newsom is having a hissy fit

Trump Administration Pulls $1B from California

Trump pulling out the money for California's failed high-rail system. Taxpayers want this money back.

Read about it...

Newsom needs to address his growing, out of control homeless population.

Trump Tweet on California's failed High Rail

Epic: Trump Just Used Twitter To Send Calif. Gov. Newsom a Bill for $3.5 Billion

Gavin Newsom, governor of California, said that he is admitting there “isn’t a path” toward completing the plan for his high rail. the federal government gave California $3.5 billion but Newsom has now pushed the timeline for it to year 2033. [WesternJournalism]

“California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a ‘green’ disaster!”

~ Donald Trump

Charlie Crist and All Aboard Florida

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We asked Charlie Crist if he would sign the FNAA petition. He had the pen in his hand and when he found out what it was for he handed it back and said he would look into it. His aide took the petition and then handed it back several minutes later without a signature.

The second set of tracks is being laid for expanded freight from super-tankers coming to Miami with the expansion of the Panama Canal. The passenger element is just window dressing.

FEC is the exclusive rail provider for the Port of Miami and Port Everglades. In Miami, FEC has now completed building rail in and out. The trains can't go south, so you know where they're headed. The Fort Lauderdale port is next on the list, set to start dredging for the jumbo container ships when environmental studies are completed next year. Source: Sunshine State News

We could be getting up to 100 freight trains a day.  This is all about big business.

Rail Quiet Zones

Rail travelers want convenient, cost-efficient, fast and clean transportation and those living close to the rail road tracks want less noise.

Sen Jeff Clemens wants All Aboard Florida to pay for rail "quiet zones."  I'm with him on that one.

 Read about it.

And speaking of Grants...

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A 14 million dollar grant has just been announced to upgrade rail transportation in South Florida.

Read more...

Hi Speed Rail

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California is in more big "dodo" and it has never learned a lesson when it comes to what Scott Maxwell would call "shiny things in the sky." This, however, is a huge shiny thing on the ground--high speed rail. HUGE.

It is a bankrupt State and continues to waste away taxpayer money. I used to live in that State in 1970 when it was thriving. The State attracted the best and the brightest from across the country and the world--it was booming and ahead of the rest. Property values were the highest in the nation. And within what seems like overnight, it became the biggest give-away/welfare State in the Country thanks to high tech jobs leaving. More and more people were allowed to cross the border for that free lunch. Silicon Valley used to be an area that was full of innovation and new ideas. Now it, as well as our country as a whole, has lost its competitiveness and its health. Desperate people do desperate things.

Desperate to get Californians back to work, the state bought into Obama's high speed rail deal. Something that was to be $33.6 billion dollars in 2008 and what they thought would be a job creator, is now costing the state more than triple at over $100 billion and growing. The irony of all of this is they are using some of the money from the $2.4 billion that Rick Scott had the good sense and foresight to turn down from the Feds for a high speed rail in Florida. He always said that the high speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando would cost Floridians another billion more and that we would be stuck with the bill. How right he was.

Governor Scott had an independent study (I know, the dreaded Study that so many of us complain about) done by the Reason Foundation that concluded that DOT was wrong in its estimation on the additional costs and that ridership would be much lower than anticipated.

I supported Rick Scott on two main issues: ending the idea of high speed rail and his stand on immigration and E-Verify. He delivered on ending the high speed rail, however, after requiring state agencies to use E-verify and campaigning for it to be implemented statewide, it seems that he has changed his mind. "What we’re more interested in is making sure that if someone is in our State illegally and they’re doing something illegal that we’re able to ask them if they’re legal. That’s my priority," Scott said. Rick Scott got one out of two priorities right.

High Speed Rail - Rick Scott

As you may know last Wednesday, I informed U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood of the state’s decision to reject President Obama’s costly Tampa to Orlando high-speed rail project. Here are the facts about the project, and I ask you take action today to support this decision by sharing the facts on Facebook.

My decision to reject the project comes down to three main economic realities:

1. Capital cost overruns from the project could put Florida taxpayers on the hook for an additional $3 billion.

2. Ridership and revenue projections are historically overly-optimistic and would likely result in ongoing subsidies that state taxpayers would have to incur, which could cost from $300 million – $575 million over 10 years.

3. If the project becomes too costly for taxpayers and is shut down, the state would have to return the $2.4 billion in federal funds to D.C.

The truth is that this project would be far too costly to taxpayers and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits. It is my duty to make sound investments in areas where we will experience a positive return for the shareholders – Florida’s taxpayers.

Let's get to work,

Governor Rick Scott

The High-Speed Train to Nowhere

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"The Orlando to Tampa project will not only bring 5,000 construction jobs to Florida at a time when we desperately need them but will also make an international impression as the home of the first high-speed rail of its kind in this country," said Associated Industries of Florida president and chief executive Barney Bishop III.

No surprise that Associated came out with that statement. They put a lot of money into defeating Amendment 4. To those people, "everything" was a jobs killer and building anything was their objective. Let's build a high-speed rail to Disney World, they said...why not, the Feds are paying for most all of it from the Stimulus. This train estimated at $3 billion will now cost 5 to 7 billion for a few customers so that construction workers can have jobs for a few years and developers can make millions.

Associated Industries, rail advocates and the Chamber "have grown increasingly anxious in recent months as Scott has made good on a campaign promise to seek a feasibility study of the project before moving forward. At stake is $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money that would pay for most of the construction."

A feasibility study is ALWAYS appropriate when you are spending bucko bucks. Lake Worth will be voting on that very thing tonight for a Police Consultant Study.