Sun editorial:

No waste in rail dream

Local efforts supporting high-speed rail sharply contrast with image broadcast worldwide

Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal misfired last month while aiming a shot at Las Vegas and the stimulus bill. “It (the stimulus bill) includes ... $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland,” Jindal said in contesting a speech by President Barack Obama that supported the bill.

Our Washington reporter, Lisa Mascaro, wrote a story correcting his televised mistake, but we wonder how many people outside of our state still believe what he said because congressional Republicans and right-wing commentators continue to make the false claims.

Mascaro wrote that, yes, there is $8 billion in the bill for high-speed rail. But the money does not have a project attached to it. Any regional commission or state government can apply for a portion of the money.

Many other countries have had high-speed rail systems for years, but officials here are still working on proposals for them.

That is a shame, because high-speed rail lines serve millions of travelers, save energy and employ thousands of people in their construction, maintenance and operation — perfectly fitting the goals of the stimulus bill.

The reality of a magnetic levitation train connecting Las Vegas to Anaheim is far from the image conveyed by Jindal. Listeners could easily have imagined that taxpayers were funding plans being drafted in well-appointed offices by high-paid engineers and administrators.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Brian Eckhouse wrote Tuesday about what is really happening. There is an incomplete proposal for a maglev line. It has been alive, but just barely, for more than 20 years. There is a public-private commission that backs such an idea, but it has accumulated just $50,000 toward a line that would cost at least $12 billion. The commission has a headquarters — in the Las Vegas home of retiree Richann Bender, the commission’s only, and unpaid, employee.

Bender has been associated with this project since 1981, and we admire her passion to see it through despite the barriers. Rather than the one spun by Jindal, her story is the one a nationwide audience should be hearing.

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

By jfnance32

3/5/09 at 6:54 a.m.

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Thank goodness....the Sun did not fire the "liar" gun again.

Now it is just a mistake.

But I really do not see much difference in this statement: "It (the stimulus bill) includes ... $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland," "

and this statement: "Similarly, the much-ridiculed $8 billion for high-speed rail that could help develop a proposed line between Las Vegas and Disneyland could bring additional jobs to the state."

or even this: "In late-stage talks, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pressed for $8 billion to construct high-speed rail lines, quadrupling the amount in the bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday.

Reid's office issued a statement noting that a proposed Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail might get a big chunk of the money."

I guess they are all mistakes.

or

They all are saying the same thing.....which is the truth.

It depends on which day of the week it is.
By neiman1

3/5/09 at 8:19 a.m.

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Why is a high speed rail from Calif to Nevada a national priority instead of a state priority? Obama is already trying to buy votes to save harry Reid. Now that is throwing good money down the drain, harry is done in Nevada.
By vmanstuff

3/5/09 at 9:11 p.m.

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I didn't see or hear Gov Jindal's speech. But as I recall, the President did say projects in his stimulus bill would be "Shovel ready projects." Meaning projects that would put people to work right away. I just dont see where an 8 billion dollar project like this, that wont start for 20 years, (if ever) should have been in this bill. Maybe that is the point the governor was making And didn't Sen Reid get in the 2007 or 2008 budget almost 2 billion dollars for this same project?