This post gets into the nitty-gritty of how Federal funds designed for serving the transportation needs of the general public get siphoned off into historic preservation projects that have nothing to do with public transporation or roadways. As a disclaimer, and to set the theme, I must explain that I love history, railroad history and especially Virginia and Truckee Railroad history. The problem is that historic groups have learned how to feed at the public trough to the exclusion of doing real fundraising work.
Here is a list of documents from the NDOT website needed to follow the paper-trail:
1) State of Nevada Department of Transportation American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Homepage
2) Contact Info and List of Nevada State Transportation Board of Directors, including Governor Gibbons
3) NDOT Transportation Enhancement Program (the V&T Re-con is classified as an "enhancement")
4) List of ARRA/stimulus Projects Funded by NDOT (showing V&T initial funding under stimulus)
5) Transportation Enhancement Program Application (showing eligibility rules)
6) (added 6/4/09) STTAC -- Statewide Transportation Technical Advisory Committee
Here's the whole story...
AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT (HR1 2009)
As we all know, shortly after President Obama took office the Congress passed the stimulus act largely on party lines. The only Republicans who voted for stimulus in the Senate were Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Of course, Specter famously jumped ship to the Democrat party in May, 2009 after this vote.
Republicans like Dean Heller point out that by providing such a massive amount of money through government, some of it will be misallocated. Government managed money also gets to market more slowly than private stimulus like tax cuts or tax credits. While Obama says the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act creates jobs, he forgets to mention that the jobs are going to be short term.
We are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to create temporary work. Let's look at how this happens in the project to reconstruct the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.
VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RECONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND AND CRITICISM
I have spent a lot of time giving specific details about this project on this Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction blog and at the renorailfans.com website where I provide detailed reports of the 2008 meetings and shenanigans of the Nevada Commission to Reconstruct the Virginia and Truckee Railway. You can also find Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction news at the Nevada Appeal website. I and others have written many letters to the editor and the Appeal has many articles written over the years. Various searches on the Appeal website for "V&T", "railroad" or "Virginia and Truckee" will provide results.
THE REAL VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILROAD
Before I dive into the detail, it's worth mentioning that the Virginia and Truckee Railway, the Northern Nevada Railway Foundation, and the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the Virginia and Truckee Railway are all part of a government project to build a tourist railroad from Gold Hill, Nevada to Carson City, Nevada.
For 34 years a private company, the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, has run a tourist railroad without government subsidy. Known as the REAL Virginia and Truckee Railroad, they have operated trains out of Virginia City, Nevada without any government money for decades. If you want to ride a train in Virginia City TODAY check out the V&T.
USING FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION FUNDS TO BUILD A TOURIST RAILROAD
The government (mis-)managed Virginia and Truckee Railway project has stumbled along for fifteen years since the enabling law was passed in 1993. For years the state was willing to provide matching grants if the Commission simply could have raised money as promised. Various plans were touted and failed, so in 2003 the state of Nevada withdrew their offer to provide matching funds.
More recently, the Commission has learned how to use federal taxpayer money to build the project. Since the budget has grown from $20 million to over $60 million, this project always needs more money. In 2005 $10 million of federal highway funds were diverted to this "transportation project." In 2008 the project failed to convince local voters to provide more money, so they went back to the Federal trough. With the passage of ARRA/stimulus/porkulus, the project has received a new lease on life. They are slated to receive $3 million of stimulus funding.
FEDERAL DOT/FHWA FUNDS ARE FOR GENERAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
The problem is that the Department of Transportation (DOT) distributes money through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for projects that meet the following criteria (from page 3 of the application for funds):
- "The transportation mode must be open to the general public and serve a transportation need for the general public."
So when someone can tell me how a tourist railroad meets this criteria I will retire. Here's another excerpt from the Nevada Department of Transportation homepage:
- "Project must be on roads normally eligible for federal transportation funds"
Clearly a tourist railroad that plans to charge $40-50 per trip is not meeting public transportation needs on a 17-mile trip. In fact this trip goes out of its way through the Carson River Canyon, while the car trip is about ten miles.
WHO APPROVED THIS FUNDING?
(ADDED 6/04/2009 to explain the long process by which the Nevada Department of Transportation Board of Directors approved the ARRA/NDOT/DOT/FHWA funding list for stimulus projects)
If you're still reading this then I admire you. To truly understand these projects you have to slog through a huge amount of history, detail, bureaucracy and political process. Now I have to introduce the cast of characters:
NDOT Board
NDOT Staff
Senate Transportation Committee
Assembly Transportation Committee
STTAC -- Statewide Transportation Technical Advisory Committee
Supposedly all these boards, committees and groups had a hand in putting together the ARRA/NDOT stimulus list of projects that included the initial $3 million of stimulus funding for the Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction project. So far none of these groups has taken specific credit for putting the V&T on the list. I am still looking into this process and when I get the answer I will make a new post.
Notice the in the list above there is a group called STACC. That last one is interesting, STTAC, the Statewide Transportation Technical Advisory Committee, is a group of stakeholders including:
Nevada State Parks Division
Federal Highway Administration
Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada
Federal Transit Administration
Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
Bureau of Land Management
Department of Public Safety - Office of Traffic Safety
Nevada Commission on Economic Development
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Nevada Commission on Tourism
Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission
Nevada Division of State Lands
Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization
Nevada State Energy Office
Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
Highway Users Federation
Nevada Association of Counties
Other Nevada Counties and Incorporated Cities
Nevada Division of Environmental Protection
Nevada Department of Transportation
Nevada Motor Transport
Nevada Bicycle Advisory Board
City of Henderson
Nevada Aviation Technical Advisory Committee
City of Las Vegas
Advisory Committee for Transit
City of North Las Vegas
Washoe County
City of Reno Clark County
There, did you get all that? When I figure out who specifically got the V&T funding on the final list, I'll let you know.
Hi Jim, in the 70's I worked for the New Hope & Ivyland which was sold to a tourist operator in 1990. The new owners started a very aggressive schedule from New Hope to Lahaska Pa. People along the ROW complained and wanted the RR shut down. They hired a lawer to sue for shut down but were told that the NH&I was a common carrier RR (which it is) which provides a regularly scheduled train between those 2 points and therefor is protected under the ICC. If the disney V&T was to was to be listed as a railroad providing a passenger service under the PUC so would this not be an enhancement to travel between the two towns?? Doc
ReplyDeleteWell, in your case there was already service that was never abandoned, right? That part of the V&T was abandoned in 1938, so this will be a new service.
ReplyDeleteI could see your point if the ticket price was $5, maybe even $10. Given that the tickets will likely cost $45-50, it's hard to see this as a reasonable transportation option for the general public.
Also, after having made an extensive study of the V&T abandonment proceedings, PUC's don't always think as logically as you.
Finally, under the enabling law, the V&T tourist project to be run by the government is exempt from that type of PUC regulation.
Good idea, though! Honestly, for the $70 million they are paying, you could just give a rental car to each person who wants to travel from Carson City to Virginia City and be done with it.
Consider that if/after the railroad is completed, they will still need to subsidize the operator with $1 million per year, according to Commissioner John Tyson.
Even cheaper would be to implement the planned Jump Around Carson (JAC) bus route from Carson through Virginia City to Dayton and back to Carson. You might be able to fill up a bus with commuters from Virginia City to Carson City.
Consider the load factors being presented with the V&T Re-con railroad. Claims have been made from 135,000 riders per year to as high as 250-300,000 per year. Mayor Marv was the one who made the 300,000 per year claim.
Do the math: To reach 135,000 riders per year, 370 people must ride per day. That's even in the dead of winter when there's no tourists around. Do you think that's realistic when tourist railroads in California markets don't come near 100,00 per year?
No, rather than a transportation enhancement, using highway funds for this project is a drag that takes away from NDOT's core projects.
Thanks for your comment!
After "Jim from Reno" spoke on Rush Limbaugh Wednesday a Google search easily revealed this blog.
ReplyDeleteAfter "Jim from Reno" spoke I did some research into Senator Reid's proposal and talked with people who are part of the project. I am not involved with the project but follow it with great interest as a railroad enthusiast and former resident of the area.
"Jim from Reno" said the project would compete with the existing Virginia City operation. Not correct... it will complete it connecting Carson City to Virginia City. "Jim from Reno" said $23 million was going to the project. Incorrect. Senator Reid was nice enough to send $500,000 to Northern Nevada in his Vegas to Anaheim railroad package. If it was $23 million it would finish the project and then some. "Jim from Reno" implies it just goes to the brothels in Mound House. Apparently "Jim from Reno" is still confusing comments by an Arizona Representative aired on Fox quite a few months ago about the Southern Nevada project and has not paid much attention to the local media or done a significant amount of follow-up research. I don't even live in the state anymore and I found all the details with ease.
This project will bring dollars into the communities. I don't disagree the 395 project is long overdue to be finished (the stores were closing on 50 where it was going to cross when I left over a decade ago). However they are in different categories.
Rush knew better than to believe a "railroad to brothels" plan which is why he had such fun with it. Sorry "Jim from Reno" he really didn't take it seriously. When talking to a national radio audience be prepared to have your comments corrected. Also I have saved that segment from today's show in case "Jim from Reno" wishes to be reminded of everything he said should he have selective amnesia.
Perhaps "Jim from Reno" has had his feelings hurt by one or more people in this project. Maybe he needs to get over it and consider the tremendous good this project will have. Maybe he thinks by pointing out an unrelated project that needs the money more he can attempt (without success) to sway public opinion and hurt those he thinks intentionally hurt him. Maybe he cannot support it but trying to bring it down by presenting easily disputed "facts" isn't going to hurt it or sway the opinions of those who have selflessly donated time and money to bring a valuable resource back to the area. Of course a blog being ranked greater than 20,000,000 by Alexa won't have a whole lot of impact.
Of course some good things will come out of the comments of "Jim from Reno." My research has made me decide my company will donate to the project. Also my family and I will be paying passengers with every visit to the area. I'll also pay for any friends I happen to be visiting that want to ride. I'm also spreading the word the project is getting a much needed infusion from the stimulus package. Sorry "Jim from Reno" but your attempts to hurt the project in front of a national audience just helped it. But thanks for reminding me about it.
From the real Jim from Reno:
ReplyDeleteI saw the comment above and just posted it. It's funny the writer has used so many words and been so disingenuous. I think it's a guy named Todd Moore in LA who wrote it, but since he posted anonymously we will never know.
A couple facts: the Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction project indeed does run by the brothels in Mound House. Everything I said on the show is true. See this project map and you will be able to do some research to see this is the case. As the train leaves Carson River canyon you will get a great shot of the brothels. http://www.livingsteam.com/images-logos/virginia-and-truckee-reconstruction-map/phase-2c.jpg
At the mid-May budget meeting Senator Reid was credited with brining $3 million of stimulus money to the project, and another $20 million will be coming from ARRA/DOT/FHWA funds according to Commission Chairman Bob Hadfield.
Too bad the anonymous posted doesn't actually GO TO THE MEETINGS. Again, I simply suspect that Todd Moore posted that based on the arrogant factually incorrect writing style, but I can't be sure because the poster is hiding behind ANONYMOUS.
And of course it competes with the existing V&T. Based on the plan to take the government train to Gold Hill and load the passengers into buses the rest of the way, a potential rider has two choices, the government road or the private road.
ReplyDeleteIf that's not competition I'm not sure what world we're living on.
See for yourself...
ReplyDeletePhotos of brothels seen from V&T Re-con roadbed at http://www.renorailfans.com/virginiatruckeeblog/2009/06/red-light-express-photo-showing-train.html
I do not argue the railroad will go BY the brothels. But the implication you made was the brothels were a DESTINATION. Why smear the image of a great project like this?
ReplyDeleteAlso your comment above proves information is posted before the facts are obtained. My name is neither Todd nor Moore and I certainly don't live in LA or anywhere in California. I really didn't care to be the subject of your attacks like you have Todd Moore, Ron Allen and others so I did post anonymous at first. I was hoping to have a factual discussion of the issues. Being in the media I try to have an open mind and research both sides of an issue. After doing so I am still convinced this is a project worthy of funding. But it is not possible to have this kind of discussion if one side refuses to look at other facts.
Too bad you didn't put this much effort into supporting something instead of tearing a good thing down.
But, again, I do thank you for reminding me of the project so I can financially support it and encourage others in the industries I work in (media and Internet) to do the same. Promoting it on our web sites that have an Alexa ranking of around 39,000 (instead of 20,000,000) should be a benefit to the project.
The anonymous commenter gets some credit for now putting their name to their comments.
ReplyDeleteBecause the comment above is so typical of those who blindly support the project, I analyzed the comment in a full post at http://www.renorailfans.com/virginiatruckeeblog/2009/06/anonymous-commenter-not-todd-moore-its.html