Here is a letter to the editor of the SF Examiner that captures the spirit of the moment:
California has a spending problem. And how California allocates state taxpayer dollars speaks volumes to our priorities as a society and our morals.
Contrast this: California spending $4.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to lay 54 miles of high-speed rail tracks between two tiny cities of Borden and Corcoran (total population 25,000), nonoperational without trains or electrification; or Gov.-elect Jerry Brown being “forced” to make hugely draconian cuts to education for our children and teachers. Brown’s statement to teachers: “Fasten your seat belts!” But the University of California system already raised student tuition 62 percent over three years (with more increases coming), school classrooms are crowded beyond capacity and California already ranks 49th worst in education in the U.S.!
Only a morally bankrupt society and state would waste more than $100 billion in taxpayer dollars on a “Train to Nowhere” by cutting basic educational materials and resources to children. Support Rep. Jerry Lewis’ House Resolution 6403 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Rescission Act) and California Assemblyman Jim Nielsen’s Senate Bill 22. Both laws defund the California High-Speed Rail Authority and will kill California’s boondoggle today.
Mike Brown, Burlingame
As the new budget efforts start to make headlines this massive waste of taxpayer funds will stay in focus.
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