Prove it, governor

Dear governor,

Now that you’ve posed for the cover of Newsweek twirling a globe next to a headline “Save the Planet—or Else” … well, we have a suggestion. Why not make this Green Governor stuff real?

Forget the hype. Forget the image. Remember, for a moment, that real leadership demands the taking of leaps. Think about future generations of Californians, and then do one of the most important things you can do if you really want to lower greenhouse-gas emissions in the state of California.

Make high-speed rail a reality.

Yes, we know there have been developments recently around your position on this issue. We were pleased to notice that you’ve finally (whew!) started speaking out in favor of the long-dreamed California bullet train—a 700-mile rail corridor that would link up the state’s major cities with a super-fast rail system. You wrote that this would be “a tremendous benefit to our state,” would bring “the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs” and “improvements to our air quality, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, congestion relief on our highways.”

That’s all well and good.

Still, we were puzzled because your actions don’t seem to back your words. Governor, you were the very one who removed the high-speed-rail bond from the 2006 ballot (it had already been pushed back from 2004.) Also, you’ve made it clear that you want the rail bond off the ballot again in 2008 and, likely, 2010.

And it was only five months ago when you dashed the hopes of the state’s high-speed-rail proponents with your budget decision to set forth a paltry $1.2 million to the California High-Speed Rail Authority instead of the $103 million required to keep engineering work on schedule and start buying right-of-ways. (As with any major public-works project, the money starts accelerating at a certain point—this was that point for high-speed rail and you let everybody down.)

So yeah, we’re confused. We know, of course, that rail isn’t popular with those all-powerful entities—oil, automotive, airline industries and the real-estate lobby—who want people to travel in automobiles and on highways with offramps leading to new developments. And we know many of these people are your friends and contributors. But you’ve shown you can act independently, right?

Now you seem to be pushing the idea that high-speed-rail proponents need to first lineup private funding for the project. But you must know that private financing of a giant public-works effort such as this is basically impossible without a firm financial commitment (like the passage of a bond) from the state of California. The public investment simply has to come first. You know it, everyone knows it. Saying the bullet train has to be built with private monies is saying it won’t be built. Governor, it’s a quiet killing.

Why not instead tell your constituents that you’ve become an all-out enthusiast for high-speed rail? It’s not too late to get the CHSRA the funding it needs to begin buying right-of-ways. It’s not too late to reverse your position and support the $10 billion rail-bond measure that’s slated for the 2008 ballot. Go ahead: take a risk, lead the charge.