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A Further Perspective

Jerry Brown’s Toy Train

By on 3.12.12 @ 6:07AM

California’s aging governor still believes in the taxpayer as Santa Claus.

When he was a boy, Jerry Brown must have asked Santa Claus for a toy train set but not gotten one. How else can one explain the California governor’s obsession with building a “high-speed” train other than it being compensation for an unmet childhood desire?

Initially, the train in question would run between two towns in the state’s San Joaquin Valley, the southern half of its huge Central Valley. It is supposed to be the first section of a 520-mile network that would connect that big metropolitan centers of Northern and Southern California. 

In 2008, California voters, seduced by union-funded advertising, voted for a $9 billion bond issue as “seed money” to begin the system. Brown wants to use the first $2.7 billion of this to get construction under way. The Obama Administration has promised a $3.5 billion carrot for California along with a “stick” in the form of a demand to get construction of the toy train underway this year.

Since 2008 the cost of the network between the San Francisco Bay Area and Orange County has been put at between $98 billion and $117 billion. The completion date has gone from 2020 to as late as 2033. This phase of the network does not include either San Diego or Sacramento. The bipartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates service of the bond issues for this phase will amount to $700 million a year in a state that perpetually faces large annual deficits and cuts such things as rural school buses and in-home service for low-income seniors to deal with the problem.

To put it mildly, enthusiasm for the “bullet train” scheme has dimmed since 2008. A recent Field Poll found that by two-to-one, California voters would turn it down if it were on this year’s ballot.

The non-partisan California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group reported early this year that the project is “not financially feasible” and urged the legislature to decline the governor’s request for the $2.7 billion toy train bond money. Brown calls anyone who opposes him a “declinist.”

Last year the governors of Florida and Ohio declined to accept federal handouts for similar “high-speed” train systems in their states. This did not dent the determination of the Obama Administration. It responded by offering the declined money to other states eager to get it. California was one of these; hence the federal “free” money offer to get the project going.

Jerry Brown is now California’s oldest governor. The first time around, he was its youngest. Nowadays he thinks about a “legacy.” He probably thinks of the “legacy” of his late father, Governor “Pat” Brown, in boom times: an excellent highway network, expanded higher education system, and a comprehensive statewide water system. To match all that he needs something BIG. The “high-speed” railway seems to be it. Despite ample warnings by disinterested parties that it will not draw the expected ridership, will have huge cost overruns, take much longer to build than expected, and will saddle the state with large operating costs, Brown is determined to plunge ahead.

Will the state legislature approve the bond sale this year? That’s uncertain, but here’s a clue: both houses are dominated by Democrats. Many of them are beholden to public employee unions that like the high-speed rail plan. And, Brown is a Democrat.

About the Author

Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (49) |

Appleby| 3.12.12 @ 6:40AM

Last time around I lived in California when Gerry "Governor Moonbeam" was Governor. His big scheme then was putting music in all the parks, and rationing gas (he had the tickets printed up and ready to go, when the Arabs lifted the oil embargo and spoiled his fun).

California never learns. Sucks to be them.

Bobloblaw| 3.12.12 @ 8:32AM

That was probably 1979, that Brown did that because Reagan was governor during the Arab oil embargo (Oct 73-Mar 74).

Skippy| 3.12.12 @ 3:34PM

We had another "gas crisis" courtesy of OPEC in 1978-79.
I recall gas finally crossing the $1/gal mark then.
Carter/Brown were our hosts for this "correction".

albert constantine jr.| 3.12.12 @ 8:53PM

and on the east coast, the odd/even days for gas purchasing...

jomo2009| 3.12.12 @ 4:07PM

Don't forget his musing about a state space program. In 1978 the state budget surplus was approx. $5 billion. Today that would be somewhere around $16-17 billion.

Alan Brooks| 3.12.12 @ 8:07PM

I like San Diego, though. Lemon Grove is the best place to live in I ever saw, though it takes big bucks.
Question is, if real estate has taken such a tumble in California, then why are realty prices in such locations still astronomical? answer is: California is still a good place to live if you've got bucks--
which means (drum roll) Asians can buy up the properties! and they probably will.

UpChuck.Liberals| 3.12.12 @ 11:36PM

"which means (drum roll) Asians can buy up the properties! and they probably will." Nope, they are, at least here in Silly Koin Valley.

PecosPete| 3.12.12 @ 6:55AM

The ObamaTrain from no where to no where built with Chinese labor will earn no money and will have no profit to pay for the funny money loans.

Just like King Bill Richardson's train from Belen to Santa Fe in New Mexico. King Bill's train is locally known as the State Workers' Free Ride because the only people who ride it regularly work for the state.

Mike| 3.12.12 @ 8:01AM

Maybe CA should turn all those "free" roads into toll roads to cover their cost? They have to be expensive to build and maintain. Once roads are made profitable, some of the money can be used to build HSR. Amtrak runs a profitable rail line on the NE Corridor. I'm sure it can be done in CA.

squalis| 3.12.12 @ 9:32AM

If the HSR is to be profitable, why the need for road tolls? Besides, I thought much of the gas tax (Fed and State) was to cover the cost of road maintenance.

Al Adab| 3.12.12 @ 3:43PM

How dare you use an obscenity like "profit" when discussing a government imposed and financed project. Don't you know it's the right thing to do for our own good?

And yes I still have that bridge for sale.

Henry Calvin| 3.12.12 @ 10:13AM

Does anyone really believe that a state and it's enviromental partners that would stifle a billion dollar agriculture industry to save an inconsequential bait fish, would allow a train to be built though land that is habitat to the highly valuable endangered kit fox and red-legged frog? Please....

Anthony| 3.12.12 @ 11:07AM

Ah yes, actually. The enviro-nazi's are all too eager to cripple California's agriculture industry for a bait fish, and will do a 180 on enviornmental regulations when it comes to leftist pet projects, such as rail transportation.
Connecticut's regulators recently "railroaded" lefty Gov. Malloy's assine multi-billion dollar rail plan between two CT cities, 15 miles apart, despite significant enviornmental concerns, that were dismissed out of hand, not to mention no demand for this service whatsoever, because the unions demanded the project.
The unions and Gov. Malloy only are concerned about enviornmental issues only when it suits their political agenda.
So yes, expect Gov. Moonbeam to do the exact same thing in California, kit fox be damned.

Lesser Weevil| 3.12.12 @ 8:38PM

Not only that, but the NIMBYs are out in force:

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/.....p?id=23529

snipelee| 3.12.12 @ 11:49AM

AMTRAK is a dismal failure with only one line barely making costs- and with substantial subsidies.

RickZ| 3.15.12 @ 3:48PM

@Mike

Amtrack is NOT a profitable business. It depends on government subsidies.

Truth to Power| 3.12.12 @ 8:35AM

Gosh California is just like Europe. That is broke and getting broker. Brown is playing Santa Claus to the companies that rip the tax payers off for these monstrosites. Mike has got a great idea. The California tax payer should pay very expensive user fees for using the road system. We will let our Democratic fiends push this idea.

numbatdog| 3.12.12 @ 9:07AM

Expensive high tech fast trains are money losers wherever they are used. Financially they make no sense. But this is a social project so the cost is irrelevant to Brown and his fellow travellers.
Public transport is beloved by socialists so the system must be ready as a substitute when gas prices, auto prices and user fees force middle class people off the roads. This has already started to happen. Except for short neighborhood rides in unaffordable electric vehicles like the volt, they want you in their trains.
This is why the left is so desperate to stop oil production in the USA. The last thing they want is cheap gas.
However the only train likely to roll is the one coming towards the dems at full speed in November

PolishKnight| 3.12.12 @ 11:28AM

That's a rather broad statement. Having spent time in Europe and especially Eastern Europe, I can say that your statement is false. These socialist republics have little money for maintenance and construction yet they have maintained, and added to, a network that is efficient at getting people where they need to go.

Rail doesn't work in the states because of the right-of-way and environmental issues along with artificially high labor and legal costs (some idiot sleeps on the tracks and gets killed it will be millions to settle.)

snipelee| 3.12.12 @ 12:51PM

Europe built train systems between established towns/cities before modern autos - and thus the desire for roads - became popular. Trains are also handy for concentrating and restricting movement of the under-classes.

America on the other hand evolved an automobile-centric transport network because the landscape was changing so rapidly. Roads are quicker and easier to build than rail networks. Also, that "class" thing didn't stick here so well.

Skippy| 3.12.12 @ 3:50PM

Europe does not have vast empty spaces between population centers, and the entire continent could fit in half the USA.
Combine that with the fact that most Euros don't own cars, and their oppressors..er..officials have driven gas to $10/gal and you start to see the dramatic structural and cultural divides between us.
Americans ended their affair with trains 50 years ago.
They won't be falling back in love again anytime soon.
Euros like order; Americans like liberty.

Martin Owens| 3.12.12 @ 10:13AM

Every Pharaoah needs his Pyramid.

Anthony| 3.12.12 @ 10:54AM

Well, one thing Ds haven't managed yet to corrupt and tamper with is man's mortality. Gov. Moonbeam has spent his entire adult career careening between and among every state constitutional office, as well as a stint as mayor of Oakland.
And what exactly does he have to show the people of California for his decades of hubris and self indulgence? Nothing.
Truly he has been a one man wrecking crew on the State of California, one however, the people have foistered upon themselves.
Fortunately, the little train that couldn't will eventually run out of steam, once and for all.

UpChuck.Liberals| 3.12.12 @ 11:41PM

Tomorrow would be a good day. I'll be patient for Moonbeam to be my 'former' Gov. I honestly can't believe how relatively intelligent people can fall for the BS that the LEFT feeds them.

cowgirl| 3.12.12 @ 11:20AM

Gov Moonbeam and his commie dad are the reason California is sooo broke. Their ideas, like letting state workers unionize, have led to the complete destruction of California and to the fact that socialism works well until you run out of other people's money.

Petronius| 3.12.12 @ 11:24AM

HST's are electric. Electric power comes from......coal fired power plants. These will be shut down and the coal industry with them. So what is Gov. Moonbeam's choo-choo going to run on: karma? The "big one" can't hit soon enough.

Dick Nome| 3.12.12 @ 12:18PM

California buys most of it's power from out of state. How do trains run during brownouts, especially when they aren't going anywhere.

SUBVET| 3.12.12 @ 7:35PM

Dick......they run on diesel/electric don't need power.

Anthony| 3.12.12 @ 2:41PM

Hmm, I thought HST was powered by those little propellers on the beanies that Moonbeam and the rest of the Calf. lefties wear. Who knew?
Obozo to the coal industry, "we will bankrupt you".
May Gov. Moonbeam be standing on top of a fissure when the "big one" hits. Journey to the center of the earth, the way life ought to be, back to the prehistoric age, thanks to the American left.

Al Adab| 3.12.12 @ 3:45PM

Maybe they could be powered by John Galts' static electric engine. Oh yeah, I forget, the regulators killed that idea.

boogalie| 3.12.12 @ 11:54AM

Does anyone know that the CA Air Quality Boards budget is over 800M per year? How long can the State last...when will it be on its' knees to Washington to be bailed out? I, for one will raise heck once that little ticket is presented. Semper Fi.

ABNCP| 3.12.12 @ 12:49PM

What the hell does Brown and Obama care. Both Obama Care and Brown's toy train will not be in place even if, God forbid, they are put in place until long after both of these progressive twits are long gone. God protect us from these stupid idiots that get elected by more stupid idiots.

wolflen| 3.12.12 @ 1:29PM

CA is now a "you cant make this stuff up" tag line..
brown is pushing tax increases-of course..there will be initiatives on the next ballot so taxpayers can raise their own taxes..and being such a heavy dem state..they will think this is a good idea..of course..its for the children..
MetroTransit has a few cable tv shows giving glory to all things public transit..they have rail lines going to every place in the city of LA .. but...no train to the main airport LAX...urban planning at its best..being that it takes approx 1 hr to fly from LA to SanFran..i can see the need for a 3-4hr+ ride on a 'bullet train" that costs over 100Billion..
..could it get better..of course..Brown for President..

Shamus| 3.12.12 @ 2:30PM

High speed rail between Bakersfield and Fresno will be an economic bonanza.

Stan REdmond| 3.12.12 @ 6:42PM

I know. Having lived in the region for 20 years I tell you. There's no place that a Fresnan would rather be than Bakersfield and vice-versa. They are both top tourist draws... Forget Yosemite, Kings Canyon, the Coast, I'm going to Bakersfield...

Stan REdmond| 3.12.12 @ 6:43PM

They can call the line the "Brown dustbowl express." See the federally created and Brown supported wasteland, I mean dead farmland in record time.

SUBVET| 3.12.12 @ 7:38PM

This is all about Agenda 21.........look it up.

play nice| 3.12.12 @ 2:35PM

Hopefully, what happens in California stays in California.

Al Adab| 3.12.12 @ 3:46PM

The people and the jobs are leaving. Does that tell us anything?

Pat| 3.12.12 @ 3:48PM

Amusing tale but nothing to do with “toy” trains or legacies. It’s only about the money, about personal wealth for the favored few provided by the taxpayers and about favors granted and favors owed. Look at the numbers listed, we’re talking billions here. Does this author actually believe it’s about a sleek Japanese built locomotive with “Jerry’s Bullet” stenciled on the nose? And these Conservative website morality tales invariably fall short of revealing the real motivation because a money trail to favored insiders is expertly hidden by those same government officials whose task it is to root out such corruption.

California’s legislators have a long and dishonorable history of passing out gobs of taxpayer money to the favored few. Several years back, California’s taxpayers foolishly voted to hand out $3 billion in funds for embryonic stem cell research. Our lawmakers then ensured the biotech firms, the state university professors, the medical researchers developing private patents and the wall street bankers who arranged for the financing made small fortunes off this imbecilic giveaway. But has your physician recently mentioned any miraculous medical cures resulting from the great embryonic stem cell swindle?

Stem cells, high speed trains, California’s very own orbiting space station and a taxpayer funded effort to produce a functioning time travel machine all have one important and unspoken goal in common. Namely, taxpayer money vanishes into the pockets of politically connected insiders. High speed rail would have been just another of these legal swindles if our legislators weren’t concerned Jerry’s bullet train might come at the expense of their salaries and state funded pension plans.

RJ| 3.13.12 @ 1:34AM

Good points, Pat.

Since the early 1990s, I have kept wondering when California voters would wake up. About 7 years ago, I came to the conclusion that we would need to finish ramming the iceberg and sink the Titanic. Now, its "been there and done that," yet no change for the better. And, yes, the high-speed train is the latest lunacy. It is like living in a state-wide suicide party. However, at this point, the state and the cities are broke and there is not much to raise taxes on. As Steve Greenhut mention a while back, we will see the sharks eating their own and it has started with the first shark, the redevelopment agencies, being eaten. I wonder what will be next.

RickZ| 3.15.12 @ 3:54PM

@Pat:
The "functioning time travel machine" seems to be the most practical of all the suggestions for state expenditures.

albert constantine jr.| 3.12.12 @ 8:57PM

"When he was a boy, Jerry Brown must have asked Santa Claus for a toy train set but not gotten one."

No, he was given a state instead, and Linda Ronstadt in his stocking a couple of years later.

Richard Baker| 3.13.12 @ 7:12AM

Remember, when the "Evil" Reagan left office in Sacramento, California had a budget surplus, if memory serves. Not likely anytime soon, I'll warrant. Also, the Californians are doing this to themselves.

RJ| 3.13.12 @ 9:13AM

It is hard for me to remember the California that elected Ronald Reagan as Governor. The amount of change in the state since the 60s and even the 70s is staggering. It has not been for the better.

Richard Baker| 3.13.12 @ 7:27AM

jomo2009:
I thought California was already spaced out.

Riff Raff| 3.13.12 @ 11:19AM

We are, dude. We are a State of Mind more than a State of the Union. Sweet. Imagine Jeff Spicoli elected Governor, man! Now imagine dozens of Jeff Spicoli clones elected to the Legislature! Now THAT'S progress, dude, that's today's California! Now, INHALE, dude!

df| 3.13.12 @ 8:15AM

New Statewide Field Poll Dec. 2011 Results here proving that the MAJORITY OF CALIFORNIANS DO NOT WANT ANY KIND OF HIGH SPEED RAIL IN CALIFORNIA – COMPLETELY OPPOSITE OF WHAT GOVERNOR BROWN SAYS – DECEMBER 9, 2011 POLL HERE:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....shows.html

And this new January 14, 2012 Survey USA Poll shows that most Californians want the sale of HSR bonds to be stopped, and most believe the train will never be built: http://www.surveyusa.com/clien.....bd5ec746ed

It comes as no surprise that Republicans want the bond sales stopped by a margin of 71/19, but a plurality of Democrats also want a halt to the project, 46/41, as well as a plurality of independents at 48/39. In fact, the only demographic that still wants the bond sales to take place is self-described liberals, 33/62. Moderates are opposed 2-1 to the bond sales, 54/27.

This 12/2011 Field Poll, and the Survey USA Poll all confirm that 9/29/2011 statewide poll that confirms CA voters would overwhelmingly vote to spend limited state money on education/tuition, mentally ill, water, environment (75%) over a “high-speed-train” between SF LA (11%). 63% vote to end the HSR boondoggle now & 61% say they would never take a HSR train. Due to CA's bad budget, in 2011 we saw: protests at UC/CSU from 26% tuition increases, lawsuits from cities/non-profits from CA taking their money but releasing convicted felons into our communities, senior centers/state parks closing, CA taking redevelopment funds, cutbacks in social services, etc. In contrast, HSR costs rose to $117 billion but feds only provide $3 billion & CA liable for $97 billion and additional cost overruns. Call Governor at (916) 445-2841 and Treasurer Lockyer at(916) 653-2995to kill the boondoggle now.

Shaboe Delucks| 3.13.12 @ 5:33PM

An unmet childhood desire? No, I think he got laughed at in the locker room. If you know what I mean.

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