Flickr photo by Jon Curnow
The California High-Speed Rail Authority released results of a survey of registered voters in California last week that the agency said shows that "some 76 percent of Californians indicated support" for the proposed 800-mile system.
But Steven Maviglio – principal of Forza Communications, a Sacramento-based public affairs/campaign firm – interpreted the same poll differently for The California Majority Report, writing that "55 percent of Californians do not support the state's ambitious high-speed rail project going forward as is."
The study, a statewide telephone survey of registered Californian voters via telephone, was conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates and Public Opinion Strategies:
- 42 percent "would like to see the train built, but have some concerns about the timing and cost of the project"
- 34 percent "support the project and would like to see it move forward as quickly as possible"
- 13 percent "oppose the project, and would prefer that the train not be built"
- 11 percent did not fall under one of the categories listed
Maviglio, who "enthusiastically" supports the project and even voted in favor of it in 2008, said Monday he believes the "vast majority of people have concerns about it."
"It's not full speed ahead," he said, later adding, "I think they're going to have to spend a lot of time and energy and dollars listening to local concerns."
That's something Maviglio said the agency has begun to do, and something that the California High-Speed Rail Authority says it has been doing.
"July was a very busy month for us," Rachel Wall, spokeswoman for the CHSRA, said last week. She said the rail authority is identifying concerns to shape outreach and has been acknowledging concerns through meetings with local government officials. A calendar of CHSRA's events can be found here.
"We can't build the best train system possible without feedback," she said.
In November 2008, California voters approved Proposition 1A, which "guarantees $9.95 billion in state bond money to fund the state’s share of the first phase of the 800-mile statewide high-speed train system," according to the rail authority's website.
About six months ago, the agency also recieved about $2.25 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, according to their website.
In addition to releasing its survey last week, CHSRA's new CEO, Roelof van Ark, and its chairman, Curt Pringle, went to Washington, D.C., to approach congressional leaders about ongoing federal funding for the project. A rail authority executive committee meeting took place on Friday, when the committee decided it would apply for up to $1 billion of an available $2.3 billion in federal funding this week, Wall said.
A story that ran in the Fresno Bee suggests the agency might have bigger problems than securing up to $1 billion from the government:
But the government's gamble won't pay off unless private investors jump on board the $40-plus billion project – and so far no one has pledged a dime.
If the money doesn't come, the state and federal governments risk sinking billions of dollars into a rail line that never gets finished.
'This could be the greatest thing that ever happens to the state, or a real disaster,' said state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who has taken a lead oversight role.
The final number for the rail authority's most recent application will not be determined until the application is submitted, but Wall said it could be anywhere from $700 million up to $1 billion. After it looked into the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Transportation's grant, the rail authority will apply for funding for projects not already covered by government money, she said.
If awarded the funds, the additional dollars would go toward projects like track and signaling work, construction and electrification of alignment that were not included in the stimulus funding, according to a CHSRA press release. The projected cost is about $45 billion for the 800-mile system, according to the agency's site.
The grant application is due Friday, and the awards are expected to be announced Sept. 30, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation press release.
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