Bill Richardson is a tool.
“A tail of seduction, sedition, corruption and waste: The DollarRunner Express takes you into the darkened depth of the human soul faster than the speed of light! Meet Gov. Bill Richardson, a powerful politician who likes drink, trains, and fattening foods... and his cabinet and cabal of ne’er-do-wells as they build an engineering marvel using money stolen from other people!”
''Light rail'', et al., are nothing AND CAN BE NOTHING but money pits for the dumbass taxpayer, except in the 3 or 4 areas in the nation where gross population density is high enough to support them on a break-even or near-break-even basis.
Otherwise, they're pure USDA-inspected, Grade A, goobermint pork, for the benefit solely of the friends of the political class that pushed the boondoggle past the idiot voters.
NM list PING!
(FReepmail greyfoxx39 to be added or removed from the NM list)
As a resident of one of the 30 or so cities all vying for additional federal transportation dollars to build more rail transit, I have a selfish interest in the "success" of this venture. Let's hope Richardson's successor and the Democrat-controlled legislature goes hog-wild and extends the rails in all directions: south to Socorro, west to Grants, east to Santa Rosa or maybe Tucumcari, with a spur up the back side of Sandia Peak to serve all the commuters of Cedar Crest and Sandia Park. All to be built with federal funds, naturally, since everyone knows the state hasn't got the bucks.
I'm sure the state's lobbyists, in concert with the new SecCommerce, would make a convincing case for cutting CO2 emissions, highway deaths, wild animal roadkill and commuting time. It ought to sail through Congress and be signed by President 0bama.
The price? Oh, maybe $20 billion. Less than the Big 3 bailout, and look at all the benefits it would bring . . to those of us who've tried to stop these stupid rail ventures elsewhere in the country.
You see, unlike loans to banks and grants to automakers, federal funding of transportation projects is not open-ended. Once the five-year pot has been exhausted, it takes another ISTEA or TEA-21 to replenish.
And what better way to spend it than on a huge boondoggle across the center of New Mexico!