{"id":1537353,"date":"2025-05-21T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1537353"},"modified":"2025-05-21T17:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T21:45:00","slug":"waste-of-the-day-still-no-ca-rail-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/waste-of-the-day-still-no-ca-rail-line\/1537353\/","title":{"rendered":"Waste Of The Day: Still No CA Rail Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waste Of The Day: Still No CA Rail Line<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Topline: California\u2019s high-speed rail line has more than tripled<\/a> in price from $40 billion to $128 billion<\/strong>, causing President Donald Trump to rescind $4 billion in federal funding and claim the project has \u201cthe worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country<\/strong>,” The Washington Free Beacon quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why. State audits reviewed by the Free Beacon<\/a> found cash spent not on construction, but on graffiti removal, Politico subscriptions, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and more.<\/p>\n

Key facts: <\/strong>Construction on the rail line was supposed to begin in 2015 and finish in 2020. To date, no track has been laid, and there is no estimate for when the project will be completed. The deadline for the first portion of the track is 2033, but an inspector general report<\/a> says that is unlikely.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the state\u2019s High-Speed Rail Authority has spent $537 million on environmental services<\/strong>, according to the Free Beacon. The project\u2019s environmental impacts statement took 14 years to write. One company, Westervelt Ecological Services, received $20 million to build new animal habitats, since many could be destroyed by the construction.<\/p>\n

The City of Fresno received $5 million for graffiti cleanup. Kadesh & Associates received almost $2 million for lobbying and \u201ccongressional advisory services.\u201d CPS HR Consulting received almost $51,000 to run meetings for the rail authority\u2019s DEI task force and train employees, the Free Beacon reported.<\/p>\n

Another $177,000 was spent on subscriptions to Politico Pro, a surprisingly common practice. The federal government spent $44 million on Politico subscriptions<\/a> from 2017 to 2024, with the Pro service costing upwards of $3,000 per person.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with <\/em>the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Supporting quote: <\/strong>California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press conference<\/a>, \u201cI think we\u2019ve been audited a hundred times there. At a certain point, you have audit fatigue. Audits for audits\u2019 sake service no one \u2026 what people want is problems solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had the rail line been completed in 2020 as planned, the audits probably would have ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Background: <\/strong>The high-speed rail isn\u2019t the only transportation project facing extreme delays. The County of Santa Clara announced last year<\/a> that its planned rail station was 11 years behind schedule and $8 billion over budget. Rail cars purchased by the county for $173 million will now be used at other stations for a decade on Santa Clara\u2019s dime.<\/p>\n

The federal government decided last year to give that project $5 billion in funding. At the time it was the second-largest federal transportation grant in history.<\/p>\n

Summary: <\/strong>California\u2019s taxpayers are likely just as \u201cfatigued\u201d as their governor. It takes tremendous time and effort to stay up to date with all of the state\u2019s cost overruns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 05\/21\/2025 – 13:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/waste-day-still-no-ca-rail-line<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waste Of The Day: Still No CA Rail Line Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Topline: California\u2019s high-speed rail line has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1537354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1537353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1537354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}