Comments on: BART and the Repelatron Skyway http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/10/06/bart-and-the-repelatron-skyway/ Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:44:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: eric http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/10/06/bart-and-the-repelatron-skyway/#comment-5406 eric Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:39:13 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=1434#comment-5406 Yikes. Yikes.

]]> By: dc http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/10/06/bart-and-the-repelatron-skyway/#comment-5405 dc Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:21:24 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=1434#comment-5405 Their professed hope is that bids for the project will come in over $100 million under their estimate, obviating the need for taking out a huge loan. That would be better, obviously, but it will still result in an elevated concrete structure running down the median strip of a struggling business district, and it's still money that could have been much better spent on other projects. The city council voted to support the project, with only 2 of the council reps voting to oppose it. I kind of doubt they would have stopped the project anyway, but at least they would have put BART on notice that you can't renege on your promises without anyone putting up a fight. (To take just one example: as estimated costs for the project have quadrupled from $130 million to over $500 million in less than a decade, BART has <em>dropped</em> plans to build two intermediate stops between the BART station and the airport, which would have served the strip of hotels and businesses that the connector is now going to sail over without stopping. BART now says that "an" intermediate stop could theoretically be added "if funding becomes available," which is a euphemism for "if the City of Oakland coughs up the money for it themselves.") Their professed hope is that bids for the project will come in over $100 million under their estimate, obviating the need for taking out a huge loan. That would be better, obviously, but it will still result in an elevated concrete structure running down the median strip of a struggling business district, and it’s still money that could have been much better spent on other projects.

The city council voted to support the project, with only 2 of the council reps voting to oppose it. I kind of doubt they would have stopped the project anyway, but at least they would have put BART on notice that you can’t renege on your promises without anyone putting up a fight. (To take just one example: as estimated costs for the project have quadrupled from $130 million to over $500 million in less than a decade, BART has dropped plans to build two intermediate stops between the BART station and the airport, which would have served the strip of hotels and businesses that the connector is now going to sail over without stopping. BART now says that “an” intermediate stop could theoretically be added “if funding becomes available,” which is a euphemism for “if the City of Oakland coughs up the money for it themselves.”)

]]> By: eric http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/2009/10/06/bart-and-the-repelatron-skyway/#comment-5401 eric Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:02:28 +0000 http://www.fragmentaryevidence.com/?p=1434#comment-5401 FE writes: "And when you protest that BART’s wasteful project can’t simply float on borrowed funds, they look you in the eye and tell you, 'That is just exactly what it will do!'" Their only hope is for hyperinflation to make all debt meaningless--but Oakland probably wouldn't do well under that scenario either... Excellent post. FE writes: “And when you protest that BART’s wasteful project can’t simply float on borrowed funds, they look you in the eye and tell you, ‘That is just exactly what it will do!’”

Their only hope is for hyperinflation to make all debt meaningless–but Oakland probably wouldn’t do well under that scenario either…

Excellent post.

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