According to an economic study by Philip J. Romero, dean and professor of economics at Cal State Los Angeles, the high-speed rail project would increase the annual household income of a family of four in Los Angeles County by $800 and reduce unemployment by 1 to 2 percent.
"The California high-speed train project will put L.A.'s construction industry -- the core of our current recession -- back to work," Romero said. "What's more, by taking thousands of cars off L.A. highways, it will eliminate a major handicap to our competitiveness and attract green employers with jobs for decades to come."
-Daily News Los Angeles
One of the common things I hear as a point of concern by skeptics and detractors of Prop1A is that we cannot afford to build this project in a time of recession. The truth is we can barely afford not too with record unemployment creating a strong need for more jobs. Yes it's going to cost some tax payer money to build this project at a time when there isn't a lot of money to go around. However, even before a single train is run on the tracks, the construction jobs this project will create will generate new tax revenues.
There are actually several major public works projects which are integral to the modern California economy, that were built and paid for long ago during economic recession. This includes the Golden Gate and Oakland bridges and the Shasta Dam. Even though bonds had to be taken out to pay for these projects, the job creation and tax revenue these projects generated were integral in getting us out of recession.
Being in a recession is not a good excuse to shelve golden opportunities that have a potential for strong economic gains in the future. Short sighted thinking is where most of economic woes stem from in the first place. We need to start thinking long term and looking at the big picture. The California High-Speed Rail project could become the next great project that defines our state, and set us apart as leaders in American innovation.
For more information on how this project could function as economic stimulus check out this more detailed post on the CAHSR Blog.
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2 comments:
True. That said, opponents to Honolulu's light rail are promoting the fact that, "Why spend billions of dollars now when we can wait and vote for it next time around?"
Here's the link:
http://www.honolulutraffic.com/02%20Track%202.mp3
Exact quote: "A Yes vote is legally binding, while a No vote gives you options to say Yes later."
Wow, what a line of logic. Lets all vote no on everything so we have more future options to say yes later. There will always be future traffic we can relieve some other time.
In the case of the CA High-Speed rail project, if we don't act on this soon, we risk losing the rights of way to other kinds of development later, and it will become that much harder and more expensive at a time when it will be needed more then ever. We need more long term thinking.
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