Thanks for hosting mixer
Editor:
The Idaho Springs Chamber would like to show our appreciation to Beau Jo’s for its generosity in hosting the 2011 membership drive mixer.
The food and service were excellent, and a great time was had by all 50-plus people in attendance.
Beau Jo’s is a member of our business community that doesn’t think twice about giving back again and again!
Idaho Springs Chamber
Costs for light rail would be on
Clear Creek residents’ backs
Editor:
The governor of Florida recently rejected more than $2 billion in federal funds, canceling plans for a high-speed rail system between Tampa, with a metro-area population of 2.7 million, and Orlando, with a metro-area population of 2.1 million.
The reason given was that the annual subsidies required to keep the system operating would be cost-prohibitive for the taxpayers of his state.
So, the question that begs itself is this: If a high-speed rail system between two Denver-size cities in Florida will require cost-prohibitive annual subsidies, what type of “new math” was used in the study sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority to suggest that a high-speed rail/monorail system connecting Denver with a smattering of relatively small mountain towns will not require any subsidization? Were their figures based on wishful thinking, perhaps?
As for the costs to build a high-speed rail system in the first place, the good citizens of Clear Creek County should know that nine out of 10 large passenger rail projects finish overbudget, by an average of 45 percent more than was anticipated.
Considering this fact, and then adding interest costs, the total cost of a high-speed rail system through the Interstate 70 mountain corridor will run closer to $50 billion.
That’s $10,000 for every man, woman and child in the state of Colorado.
Is there any clear-thinking person who actually thinks that’s a reasonable amount?
Considering that Clear Creek County citizens soundly rejected a much less expensive proposal to pay for legal representation on the matter, is there anybody – other than the usual suspects, of course – who believes these same reasonable-minded citizens would now be willing to vote themselves into a much more onerous financial obligation?
Sure, there are still a few holdouts desperately suggesting that good old Uncle Sam’s gonna foot the bill, but I’d suggest that these are the same people who have helped to put our country into such a terrible financial bind in the first place.
Now they want to help make it even worse?
And where are all those deep-pocketed corporations who were supposed to be – as one mega-mouthpiece for monorail promised – “knocking at our door once they realize we are serious about Maglev?”
Was somebody not listening when they knocked on the door? Or was that, in truth, just another convenient “myth” that was being spread around at the time? I’m pretty sure we all know the answer to that one.
To be very blunt, if the good citizens of Clear Creek County don’t soon realize that they need to get on board with actively promoting another financially affordable transit option like a modified version of the “bus” options favored by both the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers, they need to start preparing for the devastating road-widening project they’ve been wanting to avoid.
Ken Katt
Littleton