Perhaps I spoke too vaguely. Skulduggery does not just happen behind closed doors. In this case, it is right out in the open - it is brazen.

The whole idea, that various proposals presented to the public (or the legislatures) are always bundled up together in such a way, that it is an all or nothing choice, is skulduggery. For instance; if we want the environment cleaned up, we must also pay for a trail. Or if we want the rail (such as SMART), we must also pay for a trail - with its true costs cloaked of course. Moreover, with the costs of building mass transit in California so bloated by all these add-ons, the Feds will resist making grants, because the extra costs won't balance out in their cost / benefit formulas. This makes it much harder to actually get anything done here.

For example; when BART was extended though North Concord over already existing railroad tracks, they had to also build an "urban trail". They couldn't just put it next to the street either (it would have then been just another sidewalk), it had to be in the railroad r.o.w. away from the parallel street. This forced the BART tracks to encroach into that street, requiring all sorts of utilities to be moved and the whole damn street to be rebuilt as well.

A $17 million per mile (going rate elsewhere for existing r.o.w.) project turned into $56 million per mile. That's 54.6 million for a 1.4 mile trail from nowhere - to nowhere, in what is best described as a modern urban jungle.

Few are brave enough to use it (you are trapped between back fences and BART fences), and it is therefore empty most of the time. But the trail was buried in the BART extension project; if you wanted BART, and the people did vote for that, you had to take this ridiculous trail too. The people were not allowed to choose each of these separately, each on its own merit. BRAZEN SKULDUGGERY got that trail built - and nothing else.

Now I see the same sort of game occurring in regards to SMART and NCRA r.o.w. The people there are also in fact, presented with the same non-choices. Just for once, let the people (or a legislature) actually vote on just the trail. Why not? Only because you know damn good and well the absurd costs of these gilded trail, that very few are actually able to use, that provide no economic return; would never fly on their own.

Thus bundling it with other proposals that will economically benefit many, getting real public support; is pure BRAZEN SKULDUGGERY at its zenith!