I'm no sailor but I know there are two ways for a ship to sink. It can slide slowly into the watery depths succumbing to some slow leak or it can go BANG and sink like a rock. It's still not clear if, or how, High-Cost Rail will sink into the Sacramento morass, but today's revelations about various rats departing the poop deck point in that direction. Apparently, in addition to the resignation of the CEO of the High-Cost Rail Authority, a deputy director, the press secretary and a board member have resigned according to a Fresno Bee reporter's tweets. The SacBee reporting on the CEO's scamper notes:
His resignation, announced at a board meeting in Los Angeles and effective in two months, comes at a critical point for the project, with rail officials bidding for Legislative approval to start construction in the Central Valley this fall. Public opinion about the project has fallen sharply, according to a recent Field Poll, and the Legislature is highly skeptical.
Minutes after van Ark's announcement, Tom Umberg announced that he is stepping down as chairman of the rail board, though he will remain a member of the board. Umberg is to be replaced next month by Dan Richard, an adviser Gov. Jerry Brown appointed to the board last year.
One sure way to get any capital project to come in way higher than budget (which is now $98 Billion with a "B") is to have constant turnover in the ranks of the planners. Bear in mind also that the $98 Billion still offers no provision for any earthquake warning system interface to the train control system nor does it account for floorspace for TSA-like screening at the stations. Good work, Roelof!
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