2 responses to “EssEff: Caltrain Changes?”

1. Bruce Dickinson

   February 1, 2014

   Talk about putting the cart before the horse! Already talking about the demolishing the San Fran caltrain station even before the funds are secured to electrify caltrain to bring it to the $5 billion dollar transbay terminal ? Folks, the $1 billion dollars that will be needed to electrify caltrain comes from HSR funds, and now it looks like HSR may finally have fewer lives than a rat-hunting ferrel cat! Caltrain needs to be electrified in order to bring it underground to the SF transbay terminal because diesels can’t run underground. So now, we’re looking at a $5 billion dollar glorified greyhound station that goes 4 stories underground, which by the way, is already saddled with $300 million in cost overruns!
   The problem, and Burlingame city government is no different, other than just being on a more amateur level, is that governments tend to create inevitable conditions that take on a life of their own, otherwise known as a steamroll effect. “HSR needs to happen, because there are already federal funds that NEED to be spent, construction and land acquisition has begun, we already built the transbay station, we’re already converting caltrain station to condos, so we can’t stop now HSR now, because no one likes something that isn’t half built, so why not finish it?” Same situation with the Burlingame Post office high density housing project: Why not build transit oriented housing with insufficient parking prior to the actual mass transit (electrified caltrain) actually existing !?! Hurts my noggin!
   Listen, Bruce Dickinson is no stranger to living the good life, but I gotta tell ya, the money I spend I earned every cent through hard work, dedication, and quite frankly sheer talent. Yes, I was basically built to produce records…but guess what? every cent I earned was voluntary payment by fans buying the records of artists I produced. That is what you call voting! Bad records that nobody buys…no money. Multi gold and platinum records for dynamite talent fully harnessed by legendary producers…raining money! Bottom line is that government officials to be reminded, yet again, that they and their decisions are products of voting and every dollar they spent should reflect what people actually vote for rather than a bunch of discretionary decisions that don’t even make sense!

2. Poppy Guy

   February 4, 2014

   Bruce, Nicely put.
   It’s all about politicians wanting to spend, wanting to leave a legacy, and not thinking about fiscal responsibility.
   RE: the “transit oriented housing”, just look at the massive construction at Bay Meadows, the Peninsula Ave. construction, and countless other smaller projects. I find it funny they build all of this to be near a system (Caltrain) that doesn’t even have a dedicated source of funds from one year to the next. How would you like to buy one of these condos just to find out Caltrain stops running because nobody decided to fund it?