Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Will Red Line buyer's remorse hit Davidson residents like those in California?

Came across this link on Facebook - Poll: Voters turn against California bullet train - and could not help but think of the recent Citizen Survey results for Davidson and the Red Line.

In California, voters approved bonds to support high-speed rail by a 53% to 47% margin four short years ago.  However, in the recent poll by the LA Times, "fifty-five percent of voters want to see the high-speed rail bond issue that was approved in 2008 back on the ballot, and 59 percent say they would now vote against it."

Why?  Costs skyrocketed.  Project scope reduced.  Environmental and societal impacts surfaced.

On the most recent Citizen Survey, 59% of respondents in Davidson rated building the Red Line as "Essential" or "Very Important".  Of course, the Red Line has been promoted as being cost-free and risk-free, so I suppose one can see why the results would be that one-sided.

If the Red Line eventually goes forward and reality has its say (like it did with Mi-C and always does) will Davidson have Red Line buyer's remorse?

Bonus Observation:  The LKN Citizen named Mayor Woods "Citizen of the Year" in 2011 for his role in driving the Red Line forward.  At last week's Commissioner Chat, Mayor Woods sort of cringed when someone in the audience called him the "face of the Red Line".  I wonder if he's now having "politician's remorse"?

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