Where are these mythical Public Boards that spend local taxpayer monies in our democracy that aren't made up of some kind of politician? Some or these folks are good, some are lousy, some know a thing or two, some don't really care, and some are dumb as a box of rocks... Politicians on most small agency boards are kind of like the bell curve of train fans, or people in general. If an agency has the good fortune of good leadership and good staff it will probably get something done reasonably well, if not, then it won't be as effective.

I've worked on a few rail projects for and with various agencies in my career, and I've seen a lot worse than SMART. SMART seems to be trying to do a reasonable job, with a lot of constraints requiring many compromises, in an extremely imperfect and uncertain world....

At least it's not the CHSRA?

EGBOK....