The Antelope Valley Times

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Open House Thursday for high-speed rail project

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Proposed High Speed Rail renderingPALMDALE – The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is inviting the public to hear about alignment alternatives for the 60-mile Palmdale to Los Angeles project section of California’s high-speed rail program.

The community open house will take place this Thursday, May 29, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Chimbole Cultural Center, located at 38350 Sierra Highway in Palmdale.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, as well as officials from the CHSRA, will be on hand for presentations and to provide information.

The CHSRA has been working with residents, stakeholders and regulatory agencies to refine the alignment alternatives for the project section.

“This is an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments about alignment alternatives that will be studied as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS),” said Palmdale’s Transportation/GIS Manager Mike Behen.

“Come anytime between 5 and 8 pm,” Behen said. “The information shared will be identical at each meeting. There will also be a presentation at 6:30 p.m.”

For more information, call 213/802-1113, email palmdale_los.angeles@hsr.ca.gov or visit www.hsr.ca.gov.

Filed Under: Palmdale

59 comments for "Open House Thursday for high-speed rail project"

  1. @Jason, we voted for the train. There have have been multiple hearings and we moved past letting a few small thinkers hold us back. You live in the greatest nation on earth and if you feel you are paying too much$$$, imagine how we feel after having paid the ultimate price to have to deal with do nothing, Debbie Downer. Go live in Texas, NC or somewhere where your policies are in affect, it’s your choice forward or backward? It’s not blah blah blah b.s.it’s forward or backward?

    • These folks are a little late to the game. There is a meeting tonight to put the finishing touches on the alignments and they are trying to stop it altogether.

      I suggest that they get up really early tomorrow and try to stop the sunrise. They might have better luck.

      • William—you’re just a legend in your own mind aren’t you. A contrary, arrogant, condescending irritant.

        • @bird
          This is a thread on an article about the HSR meeting.

          Why don’t you go back to offering your expert opinions on the crime stories, y’know, because you were a witness to them or something?

    • Youre right, Im a small thinker for seeing a project thats already nearly doubled in price, ridership projections lowered, the time it will take to travel the route go up and how long the project will take to complete before a single foot of track has been laid as a waste of money. Now how exactly is that going forward?

      And its quite funny how you bring up Texas and NC. Those states seem to be thriving and growing, not sure the same can be said for California. Notice how businesses are leaving California and leaving for states such as that. Is it a coincidence those states are seen among the most business friendly while California isnt?

    • @Jason, why is okay for California to be a donor state to; Texas, NC, Alabama, Louisiana?

  2. I’m going to the meeting Thursday night as I did to the ones in Bakersfield and in Los Angeles. I support the HSR and think that it will be great for Palmdale and the rest of the Antelope Valley in the coming years.

    I expect to see all you folks opposing it there as well.

    Or do you just like to mouth off and leave it at that?

  3. @Eric, I have the right to my opinions. Leave me alone creep, you sound like the Isla Vista killer, he acted like you, blaming women and never missing an opportunity to belittle us. If you don’t believe that get a second opinion. He thought he was fine too. Leave me alone Creep, men like you make my skin crawl, so try to control yourself and leave me alone.

  4. On the bright side they could utilize this train to dump off more high risk sex offenders in a more expedient manner here in the AV . . . In bulk shipments too …

    • That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! I was even talking to my wife about the metro the other day and I told her I wish they would even shut THAT down. All it does is give transportation to low life’s and criminals.

      • And a lot of Disney employees, office workers, county workers…..

        Yup people with good paychecks take the train because they like to relax, reduce pollution, and enjoy the conversations one can have on the trains.

        • So youre saying $65 BILLION+ wouldnt create jobs any other way? And its not going to be fast transit except for short runs. Going through towns and cities it cant go over 60. The route thats proposed has many small towns that it goes through.

          • Well, Jason

            The republicans blew $14 billion dollars shutting down the government and not one job was created.

            I guess Jason wouldn’t have wanted the Hoover Dam, the California aquaduct, the Interstate Highway System, the internet, etc.

            I’m sure glad we don’t listen to people like Jason.

          • Way to compare things that were built out of necessity to something being built for convenience.

            This project is a huge waste of money for something thats being built thats not going to live up to what is being promised. Its already doubled in price before construction has even started. Whats the price going to soar to by the time construction starts or finishes.

            But hey lets throw money away on something that is going to be a colossal failure when people realize its not all its cracked up to be.

          • So, Jason

            Did you complain when the republicans blew $14 billion to shut down the government to hold the ACA hostage, which they knew wouldn’t fly, if money is your ‘real’ issue. Or, do you just like to move the goal posts?

            Or, was that $14 billion not real money like the money for the HSR?

            Do you complain about the money spent to subsidize airline travel for ‘convenience’?

            Or, the tax breaks and loopholes that the oil companies use so you can drive to San Francisco?

            You must be new.

            Will you be at the meeting tonight to express your opinions where it might do some good or are you just venting?

            The HSR plus the Desert Express plus the future operation of the Palmdale Regional Airport will make Palmdale a transportation hub for ‘inland’ California because not everything can be built on the coast.

            How old are you? I’m retired and I might not be around to see or use the HSR but I’m also old enough to know that we have to build for the future or get left behind.

            I lived in the Bay Area in the 60s when BART was planned and built for ‘convenience’. Fortunately, the tube under the San Francisco Bay withstood the 87 earthquake while the Bay Bridge didn’t.

            You need to get out more. I’m guessing you’ve never had your house remodeld and dealt with the cost overruns and breakdowns along the way. Workers died during the construction of the Hoover Dam and other major projects, including the space program, so we shouldn’t have done those things.

            Did you know that one man’s ‘convenience’ is another man’s necessity’? It’s not up to you alone to decide for everyone.

          • @william
            Are you inferring that since the GOP had been incompetent, the HSR could waste tax dollars and that’s ok? I’m sure you think you’re not part of the problem, but you really are. A project of this size has a ton of moving parts, and requires both parties to work hand in hand. So when you go to these meetings, do you just point your finger at Republicans? Personally I would love to have this rail set up. But to ignore the faults of this project and simply mention the government shutdown sounds like a pretty weak argument.

          • No William, I complained because both sides refused to come to the table and compromise for the good of the nation. Bt hey continue to toe the party line in a discussion that has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

            Yes I complain about the tax breaks and subsidies big oil gets because we as consumers get the short end of the stick over it.

            How long have we been waiting for Palmdale to become a transportation hub? Seems to me every time they try something out of the airport, it goes south because its not what was promised. I seem to recall the last time they tried to use the airport as a hub it failed because of the cost of tickets being more than what was promised. Sounds familiar no?

            Comparing this to having a house remodeled and cost overruns is hilarious. Ive never seen or heard of someone having a remodel done and the cost nearly doubling before the projects even started. Let alone what was being promised not even coming close. You seem to be ignoring that. We the voters were told one thing only to have things go south after it was approved. You bitch about the Republicans shutting down the government and $14 Billion dollars yet say that $20 billion+ and lies is a good thing.

            And what do deaths during other major National projects have to do with a State project that isnt what was promised?

          • @Sean

            First, Sean, look up ‘imply’ versus ‘infer’ and you’ll see that I wasn’t ‘inferring’ anything.

            Mayor Ledford is a Republican and I heartily support him and the HSR but not the GOP jerks in D.C. that shut down the government.

        • @Sean, some people have so vision. They won’t work on anything, it’s much easier to rip down idea’s than to work together and make thing’s better, some get divorced some work hard, that’s how they are in their lives and they trying to bring us down too. On SNL there’s a character named Debbie Downer, very similar

          • Red, its a bad project plain and simple. Notice how it keeps gettinf more and more expensive? Up to $68 Billion dollars before construction is even started. How much will it be up to before construction is finished?

            Theres much better uses for that money than building a rail system that wont end up being as promised and that people arent going to use. Think about how many people will have to use it for how many years to even come close to what it will eventually cost. Look at how many issues there are now then imagine how many more there will be once construction starts and goes on for 15+ years.

          • @Jason, I disagree with you, whenever you do big things it’s never perfect. I guess our can do spirit is do nothing now. somehow it’s now patriotic to believe dinosaurs were on Noahs Ark and discovered by homeschooler. Maybe right now you don’t the benefits but need to look ahead. Sometimes a bigger picture?

          • Red, I understand that when you do big things its never perfect. I work in construction so I know all about it. If we as citizens werent lied to about the project, there wouldnt be the uproar there is over it.

            You talk about bigger picture while ignoring it at the same time. Whats going to happen when all the promises associated with this project dont materialize? Are people still going to pay to ride a train that doesnt come close to making it between LA and Frisco in 2 1/2 hours? What about when ticket prices are higher than promised? Then what?

        • Yeah, clean air, How much pollution will be generated during the construction phase? How much micro-particle pollution in the form of dust during the rare “high speed” moments? How much pollution will be created during the total chain from earth to finished product on all the infrastructure and related hardware? (think of the tracks, track ballast, cables, towers, cars, locomotives, buildings etc.) The pollution during the construction itself? When you add all that ADDED pollution, green-wise, it will never break even.

          Jobs… yeah a few thousand union jobs during construction (with MANY millions going into Sen. Feinstien’s husbands pockets)

          Fast Transit, They have already admitted, it will never make the trip in the projected times sold to us when we voted for this mess. Most of the trips will be much slower than that time as most rains will be making stops and not be “limited” or “express” trains.

          If the train ever gets built, it will need constant tax dollaras to pay for operating costs and maintenance. It will never break even on either of those two items. Their ridership numbers keep going down while projected ticket costs keep going up.

          We already have planes to take us to the bay area in much less time than this train will. If the planes get full, they can just start using larger aircraft. PSA used to fly L-1011’s (296 passengers) between LAX/SFO. Of course fares were high… under $20 each way except for the midnight flight… $13.95 I know, inflation the trip will cost you $80 now, still cheaper than the train and faster. Of course, I can drive there now for $50 worth of gas and make the trip in right around five hours, Palmdale to San Francisco about the same time as the trains that will STOP in Palmdale (and Bakersfield and Chowchilla and Visalia and Fresno and Merced and Atwater) will take. Oh, you didn’t want the extra stops? I guess you can spend 45 minutes and take the train down to Union Station and get one of the few express trains (add an extra hour to your fastest time estimate).

          • Im sorry Red this is going to move the State forward. A project that will be billions over what is already a doubling in cost and one that will be nowhere near promised is moving backwards, not forwards.

          • What do you care, Jason?

            It’s likely you’re not rich and paying millions in taxes.

          • Why do I care William? Its the fact Im not rich and continue to pay higher taxes because of crap projects like this among other things.

            Funny how after it funding was approved, costs soared, ridership projections fell off and the time between cities went up. Sounds like a real winner of a project

        • California wants to build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world. This is a fact. Even with having to drive to Burbank, I can catch a plane to SF and stil do it in half the time of the train.
          The ad hominem “clean air, jobs, fast transit” is used to shut down reasoned discussion for real alternatives.
          We know this boondoggle is intended to transfer money from the public treasury to the pockets of big labor and big crony capitalist contractors. All of thist to build a system that people will not use.

          • @NotWithMyMoney

            Can you break down the trip trip to Burbank, the time it takes before the plane takes off, the time in the air and the time to SFO and the time to go from the airport into San Franciso?

            It takes an hour to Burbank with no traffic for starters and you’re going south to boot.

            ‘clean air, jobs, fast transit’ is not ‘ad hominem’, for your information.

            ad hominem

            1: appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect

            2: marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made.

          • The fact that this train , even if slower, will compete with airline. Also the price of one train ticket will still be cheaper. A lot of people prefer to drive up north than flying because it’s way cheaper.