No. 14 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
This is a short post. If you've been reading this blog and the recent posts, you might see I have difficulty understanding why so many historical preservation groups look to the Federal Government as the first and primary source of funding.
Granted, it's because both Democrat and Republican Congresses have encouraged such behavior by allowing fed funds from ISTEA and TEA-21 grants to go to historical projects that have nothing to do with roads or public transporation. This is done under the explanation that road projects have plowed over historical sites and we need to amend for our sins by offsetting the damage of progress.
That being said, if someone could explain to me why the taxpayer in New York or Kentucky or Arkansas should pay for a tourist railroad that will mostly benefit Virginia City and Reno, maybe I'll go away. When the local population refused to vote in tax increases to pay for these projects, why do we then pick the pockets of out-of-state taxpayers?
I'm waiting...
Thursday, June 4, 2009
V&T Didn't Get High-Speed Rail Funds, Commission Says...
No. 13 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
Well, our favorite commenter GPJoe has their facts wrong AGAIN!
GPJoe said, "'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."
I am happy to report that according to the Nevada Commission to Reconstruct the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, they DID NOT get $500,000 of high speed rail funding.
I have to say, I know the history of this project better than some of the Commissioners, so having people comment with bad information doesn't help anyone.
HARRY REID'S MONEY IS YOUR MONEY
I must call attention to something else I find shocking about this whole process involving Federal funds. I hear many people saying, "Senator 'Dingy' Harry Reid gave us this money." Look at what GPJoe says, "Senator Reid was nice enough to send $500,000 to Northern Nevada in his Vegas to Anaheim railroad package."
When Harry Reid makes a donation out of his own pocket I will give him the credit. The truth is that the US taxpayer is providing the money with only the most indirect of representation in the process.
I think, psychologically speaking, it truly reveals the state of mind of a person who says, "Harry Reid gave us the money." This is the kind of person who sees federal taxpayer money as mailbox money or found money. It's decades of this type of thinking that has bloated the federal government well beyond the intention of the Constitution.
WILL 23 MILLION DOLLARS DO THE JOB?
Now, about the claim that $23 million would finish the project "and then some." That's also not true. If you listened to Mayor Marv's presentation in the Nevada Legislature in 2005, he claimed that the total project costs were $28-35 million, just four years ago.
More recently the Commission and the Nevada Appeal float a number of $55 million. However, when Jim Wrinn of Trains magazine wrote the news article in Trains recently, the numbers added up to $64 million. When I have sat down with others and looked at the whole shopping list, based on previous price increases, the whole project could go over $70 million.
Since the Commission already has $37 million in funding, and is looking at another $23 million, that brings the total up to $60 million. It's not quite enough to hit the $64 million mark quoted in Trains Magazine, but if they cut their shopping list, they could complete the project.
But there would be no "and then some." People who don't understand my criticisms sometimes have not taken the time to read the actual budgets and look at the real costs. For example, fifteen years later, the Commission is just now figuring out what some of the Carson River Canyon land will cost.
It's no wonder they're never been able to provide a complete, accurate, honest budget. They just don't know. All they know is to keep working on the project piecemeal and hope more funding comes in to keep going. This is not a typical well-managed, well-planned government project.
Otherwise, why would someone who works on the project go in front of the Carson City Supervisors in 2005 and say, "almost all the financing is in place." The scary part, I think they believe their own BS.
Thanks for visiting!
Well, our favorite commenter GPJoe has their facts wrong AGAIN!
GPJoe said, "'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."
I am happy to report that according to the Nevada Commission to Reconstruct the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, they DID NOT get $500,000 of high speed rail funding.
I have to say, I know the history of this project better than some of the Commissioners, so having people comment with bad information doesn't help anyone.
HARRY REID'S MONEY IS YOUR MONEY
I must call attention to something else I find shocking about this whole process involving Federal funds. I hear many people saying, "Senator 'Dingy' Harry Reid gave us this money." Look at what GPJoe says, "Senator Reid was nice enough to send $500,000 to Northern Nevada in his Vegas to Anaheim railroad package."
When Harry Reid makes a donation out of his own pocket I will give him the credit. The truth is that the US taxpayer is providing the money with only the most indirect of representation in the process.
I think, psychologically speaking, it truly reveals the state of mind of a person who says, "Harry Reid gave us the money." This is the kind of person who sees federal taxpayer money as mailbox money or found money. It's decades of this type of thinking that has bloated the federal government well beyond the intention of the Constitution.
WILL 23 MILLION DOLLARS DO THE JOB?
Now, about the claim that $23 million would finish the project "and then some." That's also not true. If you listened to Mayor Marv's presentation in the Nevada Legislature in 2005, he claimed that the total project costs were $28-35 million, just four years ago.
More recently the Commission and the Nevada Appeal float a number of $55 million. However, when Jim Wrinn of Trains magazine wrote the news article in Trains recently, the numbers added up to $64 million. When I have sat down with others and looked at the whole shopping list, based on previous price increases, the whole project could go over $70 million.
Since the Commission already has $37 million in funding, and is looking at another $23 million, that brings the total up to $60 million. It's not quite enough to hit the $64 million mark quoted in Trains Magazine, but if they cut their shopping list, they could complete the project.
But there would be no "and then some." People who don't understand my criticisms sometimes have not taken the time to read the actual budgets and look at the real costs. For example, fifteen years later, the Commission is just now figuring out what some of the Carson River Canyon land will cost.
It's no wonder they're never been able to provide a complete, accurate, honest budget. They just don't know. All they know is to keep working on the project piecemeal and hope more funding comes in to keep going. This is not a typical well-managed, well-planned government project.
Otherwise, why would someone who works on the project go in front of the Carson City Supervisors in 2005 and say, "almost all the financing is in place." The scary part, I think they believe their own BS.
Thanks for visiting!
Anonymous commenter not Todd Moore, it's GPJoe
No. 12 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
The person who made a misleading comment posted with their real name this time, it's GPJoe. I have decided to make this it's own post to show how the opposition will criticize Fox News for mixing things up but is willing to mix up the facts for their own purposes. The entire comment is at the end of this post, let's dissect it:
GPJoe said, "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?"
What I said on Limbaugh's show is: "JIM: This is the funny part, this is the one, the first 3 million dollars that they fund is going to run the tracks past the brothels in Mound House, Nevada. This is the Red Light Express that they talked about on Fox News, they got it a little mixed up..."
So I didn't say what GPJoe claims and I can't control what Limbaugh says. In the previous comment GPJoe claims that indeed 500,000 of the high-speed rail funding is going to the V&T: "'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."
Well, thanks for posting that info! I didn't know that the V&T Recon, which will run at a top speed of 15, was qualified for high-speed rail funds! This is just another example of the why the stimulus bill is called the "porkulus" bill. GPJoe's comments actually vindicate Fox News, because it reveals a claim that indeed the LA to Vegas rail funding was diverted to a low speed tourist railroad.
Also GPJoe shows his/her ignorance of the project that he/she is unaware of the $3 million of ARRA funds coming to the project for the next phase that runs by the brothels, plus the fact that Bob Hadfield and Bob Crowell are speaking about another $20 million in stimulus funding as a virtual certainty. Bob Hadfield said the next $23 million could finish the project.
GPJoe claimed, " I did some research into Senator Reid's proposal and talked with people who are part of the project." They are not giving you very good information, why don't you watch some of the meetings online and obtain a recording of the mid-May budget meeting. Then maybe you'll have all the facts before you make false accusations. You say you're in the media, which reminds me of a saying well known to attorneys: "If the media gets it right 40% of the time they're doing pretty well!"
GPJoe says, "Also your comment above proves information is posted before the facts are obtained."
This shows again how people like this want to criticize Fox News but are willing to mis-represent things when making their arguments. I made it clear that I was speculating that Todd Moore was the author. Todd similarly has used the argument that I have a personal grudge and that someone hurt my feelings. This ignores that this project is over-budget, breaks laws relating to good and open government, and is worthy of criticism. Rather than dealing head-on with my criticisms, GPJoe is like Todd Moore in that they rely on personal attacks and not facts.
Now in the comment GPJoe says the project is worth funding and says he/she will make a donation to the project. GREAT! I think the project is worth funding, too! This again is where a media-saavy person like GPJoe uses misdirection and not facts to support his or her case.
What I am against is relying on the federal taxpayer to fund a project that is so poorly managed. The Commission has delegated "fundraising" to a private group with no track record of effective fund-raising. While this private group, the Northern Nevada Railway Foundation, has been an effective lobbyist, neither they nor the Commission has ever been able to secure significant private funding.
The NNRF's great claim to fame is getting the Nevada Commission on Tourism to shift $1 million of taxpayer money to this ill-fated railroad project. That's lobbying, not fundraising. The Commission, according to Commissioners, has NEVER used a great tool like the Foundation Center to seek out private funding. Yet for years they called it a private-public partnership. If you ask them now, they say that federal funding limits them from allowing private investors in.
First, no private investor would step up to run such an over-sold and poorly managed project. Take, for example, the fact that nearly all other public works projects would acquire all the land they need before laying one track or spike. Instead, the V&T Commission still faces the task of acquiring land in the Carson River Canyon. If they had been like other public project and had used their first funding to acquire land, the overall costs would have been greatly reduced.
There are so many other real problems with this project that GPJoe must be either totally ignorant of the details or willingly be deceiving the readers. Which is it? Finally, I have to give GPJoe credit, I hope he/she has many millions of dollars to donate.
Here's the entire comment,
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?
Also 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.
My final comment, I'm glad that GPJoe has a high site ranking and FIFTEEN YEARS LATER is now finally going to seek private funding for the V&T. I feel like in a small way I have accomplished something, even if it's TOO LITTLE TOO LATE!
The person who made a misleading comment posted with their real name this time, it's GPJoe. I have decided to make this it's own post to show how the opposition will criticize Fox News for mixing things up but is willing to mix up the facts for their own purposes. The entire comment is at the end of this post, let's dissect it:
GPJoe said, "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?"
What I said on Limbaugh's show is: "JIM: This is the funny part, this is the one, the first 3 million dollars that they fund is going to run the tracks past the brothels in Mound House, Nevada. This is the Red Light Express that they talked about on Fox News, they got it a little mixed up..."
So I didn't say what GPJoe claims and I can't control what Limbaugh says. In the previous comment GPJoe claims that indeed 500,000 of the high-speed rail funding is going to the V&T: "'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."
Well, thanks for posting that info! I didn't know that the V&T Recon, which will run at a top speed of 15, was qualified for high-speed rail funds! This is just another example of the why the stimulus bill is called the "porkulus" bill. GPJoe's comments actually vindicate Fox News, because it reveals a claim that indeed the LA to Vegas rail funding was diverted to a low speed tourist railroad.
Also GPJoe shows his/her ignorance of the project that he/she is unaware of the $3 million of ARRA funds coming to the project for the next phase that runs by the brothels, plus the fact that Bob Hadfield and Bob Crowell are speaking about another $20 million in stimulus funding as a virtual certainty. Bob Hadfield said the next $23 million could finish the project.
GPJoe claimed, " I did some research into Senator Reid's proposal and talked with people who are part of the project." They are not giving you very good information, why don't you watch some of the meetings online and obtain a recording of the mid-May budget meeting. Then maybe you'll have all the facts before you make false accusations. You say you're in the media, which reminds me of a saying well known to attorneys: "If the media gets it right 40% of the time they're doing pretty well!"
GPJoe says, "Also your comment above proves information is posted before the facts are obtained."
This shows again how people like this want to criticize Fox News but are willing to mis-represent things when making their arguments. I made it clear that I was speculating that Todd Moore was the author. Todd similarly has used the argument that I have a personal grudge and that someone hurt my feelings. This ignores that this project is over-budget, breaks laws relating to good and open government, and is worthy of criticism. Rather than dealing head-on with my criticisms, GPJoe is like Todd Moore in that they rely on personal attacks and not facts.
Now in the comment GPJoe says the project is worth funding and says he/she will make a donation to the project. GREAT! I think the project is worth funding, too! This again is where a media-saavy person like GPJoe uses misdirection and not facts to support his or her case.
What I am against is relying on the federal taxpayer to fund a project that is so poorly managed. The Commission has delegated "fundraising" to a private group with no track record of effective fund-raising. While this private group, the Northern Nevada Railway Foundation, has been an effective lobbyist, neither they nor the Commission has ever been able to secure significant private funding.
The NNRF's great claim to fame is getting the Nevada Commission on Tourism to shift $1 million of taxpayer money to this ill-fated railroad project. That's lobbying, not fundraising. The Commission, according to Commissioners, has NEVER used a great tool like the Foundation Center to seek out private funding. Yet for years they called it a private-public partnership. If you ask them now, they say that federal funding limits them from allowing private investors in.
First, no private investor would step up to run such an over-sold and poorly managed project. Take, for example, the fact that nearly all other public works projects would acquire all the land they need before laying one track or spike. Instead, the V&T Commission still faces the task of acquiring land in the Carson River Canyon. If they had been like other public project and had used their first funding to acquire land, the overall costs would have been greatly reduced.
There are so many other real problems with this project that GPJoe must be either totally ignorant of the details or willingly be deceiving the readers. Which is it? Finally, I have to give GPJoe credit, I hope he/she has many millions of dollars to donate.
Here's the entire comment,
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?
Also 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.
My final comment, I'm glad that GPJoe has a high site ranking and FIFTEEN YEARS LATER is now finally going to seek private funding for the V&T. I feel like in a small way I have accomplished something, even if it's TOO LITTLE TOO LATE!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Red Light Express -- Photo showing train near brothels
No. 11 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
Hi,
Since a commenter lied about the location of the V&T, I thought I'd show a photo I took last year. You can see the project map at http://www.livingsteam.com/images-logos/virginia-and-truckee-reconstruction-map/phase-2c.jpg. Here's a small photo where I am standing on the roadbed for the Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction project, and you can clearly see brothels, uh, whorehouses for you in Rio Linda:
Here is a link to a full size image
So now you can all see the truth, the brothels south of Highway 50 in Mound House, Nevada are clearly visibile from the new right of way. It's interesting to note that these brothels were built on (correction, near) the original Virginia and Truckee Roadbed that was abandoned in 1938. There is a history marker to see that talks about the old Pony Express route, just drive off Highway 50 to the south where the whorehouses are.
Since I don't attend services at the brothels, I am not sure which is which. I think the Moonlight Bunny Ranch is north of Highway 50 in Mound House, Nevada. These brothels, visible from the goverment run reconstructed Virginia and Truckee Railway, might be the Kit Kat Ranch and another one.
Feel free to stop in and find out for yourself!
Hi,
Since a commenter lied about the location of the V&T, I thought I'd show a photo I took last year. You can see the project map at http://www.livingsteam.com/images-logos/virginia-and-truckee-reconstruction-map/phase-2c.jpg. Here's a small photo where I am standing on the roadbed for the Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction project, and you can clearly see brothels, uh, whorehouses for you in Rio Linda:
Here is a link to a full size image
So now you can all see the truth, the brothels south of Highway 50 in Mound House, Nevada are clearly visibile from the new right of way. It's interesting to note that these brothels were built on (correction, near) the original Virginia and Truckee Roadbed that was abandoned in 1938. There is a history marker to see that talks about the old Pony Express route, just drive off Highway 50 to the south where the whorehouses are.
Since I don't attend services at the brothels, I am not sure which is which. I think the Moonlight Bunny Ranch is north of Highway 50 in Mound House, Nevada. These brothels, visible from the goverment run reconstructed Virginia and Truckee Railway, might be the Kit Kat Ranch and another one.
Feel free to stop in and find out for yourself!
No more anonymous comments, here's why
No. 10 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
I tried to keep it open. Then after I told the truth on Limbaugh's show, an anonymous commenter lied about the project. I went ahead and posted the comment with my response.
From now on, if you want to comment, perhaps having to attach your name to it will keep you honest. It only takes one liar to screw it up for everyone, sorry!
Jim Lohse from Reno
I tried to keep it open. Then after I told the truth on Limbaugh's show, an anonymous commenter lied about the project. I went ahead and posted the comment with my response.
From now on, if you want to comment, perhaps having to attach your name to it will keep you honest. It only takes one liar to screw it up for everyone, sorry!
Jim Lohse from Reno
Rush Limbaugh on Virginia and Truckee Reconstruction
No. 9 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
Here's a transcript of the call I made to Rush Limbaugh today. I am trying to get permission to post the audio clip of the call:
RUSH: Jim from Reno, great to have you on the EIB network, hello.
JIM: Well it's really an honor to speak with you and a pleasure to speak with Snerdley. (the call screener)
RUSH: Thank you.
JIM: I'm calling to tell you about Nevada's first stimulus project to be funded.* It is a tourist railroad. Even though we already have a privately run tourist railroad in Virginia City, who has never taken a dime of public money, these guys are giving Harry Reid the credit. The government Commission to build a competing tourist railroad are giving Reid the credit for bringing 23 million dollars of highway funds to what I guess should be a public transporation project. But the tickets are going to cost about 50 bucks, so, we're calling this the railroad to nowhere...
RUSH: That's what I was going to ask you, where is this tourist train going to go?
JIM: This is the funny part, this is the one, the first 3 million dollars that they fund is going to run the tracks past the brothels in Mound House, Nevada. This is the Red Light Express that they talked about on Fox News, they got it a little mixed up...
Click this link for a full size photo
RUSH: You mean the stimulus bill ... this might be some of the best stimulus money spent! They're going to build a tourist train past a bunch of whorehouses!
JIM: Yeah, if we can use the word whorehouses, that's what they're going to do. You see, they build the whorehouses on the original right-of-way... they have to run around it.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ponderosa, Virginia City, now we're talkin!
JIM: Oh, this is really fantastic, and here's the funny part. When this project was first proposed, the entire budget was sold at 20 million dollars. Well now they're up to 65 or 70 million, so this 23 million is supposedly going to finish the project. So then they're going to really face the test, because they claim 135,000 people a year will ride this...
RUSH: Aw, no, that's way low. Once these people figure out there's a train that rides right past the brothels...
JIM: You got a point, man.
RUSH: 135,000, that's low, man!
JIM: Can you imagine taking your son on this train and he looks up at you and asks, "Daddy, what's a brothel?"
laughter....
RUSH: Aw, no, no, no, that's, ummmm ... the kids will know that before the father knows it ... unless they're from Port St. Lucie ... especially if they're from Port St. Lucie or Rio Linda**
JIM: Well these days that's true, unfortunately. That's the first stimulus project that's actually going to go out to bid here in Nevada. We're so proud of Harry Reid!
RUSH: You ought'ta be ... this is something that the people of Nevada can be really proud of. A tourist train to the whorehouses ... (laughing) ... first stimulus package, I tell you, I am dreaming this show.
--end--
* NOTE: After speaking to NDOT, this is NOT the first project to be funded, but V&T Re-con Chairman Bob Hadfield made this claim at a mid-May budget meeting, so I feel comfortable repeating it.
Actually the first stimulus funds into Nevada were probably unemployment and Medicaid funds. But this IS one of the first "infrastructure" projects.
** For those who don't know, Rush Limbaugh regularly makes fun of people in Rio Linda near Sacramento, CA. There's more history to it, but Rush used to be a host in Sacramento, CA. I don't know when he added Port St. Lucie, FL to his repertoire. Often when he uses a complicated word, they then simplifies it and says "for you all in Rio Linda"
Here's a transcript of the call I made to Rush Limbaugh today. I am trying to get permission to post the audio clip of the call:
RUSH: Jim from Reno, great to have you on the EIB network, hello.
JIM: Well it's really an honor to speak with you and a pleasure to speak with Snerdley. (the call screener)
RUSH: Thank you.
JIM: I'm calling to tell you about Nevada's first stimulus project to be funded.* It is a tourist railroad. Even though we already have a privately run tourist railroad in Virginia City, who has never taken a dime of public money, these guys are giving Harry Reid the credit. The government Commission to build a competing tourist railroad are giving Reid the credit for bringing 23 million dollars of highway funds to what I guess should be a public transporation project. But the tickets are going to cost about 50 bucks, so, we're calling this the railroad to nowhere...
RUSH: That's what I was going to ask you, where is this tourist train going to go?
JIM: This is the funny part, this is the one, the first 3 million dollars that they fund is going to run the tracks past the brothels in Mound House, Nevada. This is the Red Light Express that they talked about on Fox News, they got it a little mixed up...
Click this link for a full size photo
RUSH: You mean the stimulus bill ... this might be some of the best stimulus money spent! They're going to build a tourist train past a bunch of whorehouses!
JIM: Yeah, if we can use the word whorehouses, that's what they're going to do. You see, they build the whorehouses on the original right-of-way... they have to run around it.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ponderosa, Virginia City, now we're talkin!
JIM: Oh, this is really fantastic, and here's the funny part. When this project was first proposed, the entire budget was sold at 20 million dollars. Well now they're up to 65 or 70 million, so this 23 million is supposedly going to finish the project. So then they're going to really face the test, because they claim 135,000 people a year will ride this...
RUSH: Aw, no, that's way low. Once these people figure out there's a train that rides right past the brothels...
JIM: You got a point, man.
RUSH: 135,000, that's low, man!
JIM: Can you imagine taking your son on this train and he looks up at you and asks, "Daddy, what's a brothel?"
laughter....
RUSH: Aw, no, no, no, that's, ummmm ... the kids will know that before the father knows it ... unless they're from Port St. Lucie ... especially if they're from Port St. Lucie or Rio Linda**
JIM: Well these days that's true, unfortunately. That's the first stimulus project that's actually going to go out to bid here in Nevada. We're so proud of Harry Reid!
RUSH: You ought'ta be ... this is something that the people of Nevada can be really proud of. A tourist train to the whorehouses ... (laughing) ... first stimulus package, I tell you, I am dreaming this show.
--end--
* NOTE: After speaking to NDOT, this is NOT the first project to be funded, but V&T Re-con Chairman Bob Hadfield made this claim at a mid-May budget meeting, so I feel comfortable repeating it.
Actually the first stimulus funds into Nevada were probably unemployment and Medicaid funds. But this IS one of the first "infrastructure" projects.
** For those who don't know, Rush Limbaugh regularly makes fun of people in Rio Linda near Sacramento, CA. There's more history to it, but Rush used to be a host in Sacramento, CA. I don't know when he added Port St. Lucie, FL to his repertoire. Often when he uses a complicated word, they then simplifies it and says "for you all in Rio Linda"
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
V&T Serving Public Transportation Needs?
No. 8 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles
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):
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:
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)