The folly of this project is the attempt to try to directly compete head to head with air flight times from LAX to the Bay Area. The dubious critique calling for bypassing the Valley cities is based upon a complete lack of knowledge of our actual observed interregional travel demands in California. Not serving the Valley cities would assure that the CHSRA would serve very few and meet virtually no real transporation needs in California.

The fixation with trying to compete head to head with air travel times between the end points in the terribly flawed HSR legislation is being used as a "technical justification" for the proposed system. It is a recipe for a massive ripoff of taxpayers by creating a bloated, costly, and overdesigned HSR system that doesn't actually meet most of our real intercity or interregional travel demand in California. This flawed thinking has been shown repeatedly in the peer reviews of the failed business plans, the failed financial plans, and failed operating assumptions.

The proposed CHSRA project is based on no sound planning or real analysis of travel demands and needs, no cost benefit analysis, and no value engineering. The CHSRA has become a "vision" thing for certain CHSRA Boardmembers and politicians who really need to take their medication, and is becoming a taxpayer financed "trough" for politically wired hogs.

It clearly makes much more sense to build this system incrementally, fully integrating it with successful rail corridors like the San Joaquin and LOSSAN, fully integrating and grade separating the shared urban corridors for now, and looking for more cost effective alignments than the ludicrous Tehachipi alternative. An integrated system is cheaper, less detrimental to adjacent communities, and more likely to relieve urban and intercity highway congestion, which is the real transportation problem facing California.

Building this segment in the Valley that would be used by no trains until the rest of the system is finished is a ripoff of taxpayer monies that appears to violate the conditions of the Federal funding, which requires usable segments. The CHSRA Board in its hubris doesn't seem to care. The CHSRA just thumbs its nose at even the supporters of a responsible investment in High Speed Rail, and the especially the taxpayers. The arrogance and stupidity of this organization now threaten the very project they claim to want?

I support a strong investment in high speed intercity rail serving our major and medium sized urban centers in California with frequent, fast, reliable, service fully integrated with our current successful intercity passenger rail system, and our successful regional rail systems. Such a system would benefit Californians greatly. Unfortunately, that is not the system the irresponsible political hacks running the CHSRA are giving us.

As a supporter of High Speed Rail, I say reform of CHSRA is needed, and soon, or this rotting fish will "belly up", and all of the monies will have been wasted with nothing to show for it. That's right, no trains, no jobs, nothing but a stinking polical scandal.

Reform this project, throw the bums off of grossly irresponsible CHSRA Board, and restructure this project based on sound transportation planning, real cost benefit, value engineering, and strict oversight of the expenditure of public funds. Then maybe we will get a High Speed Rail system which works, and which we need.