California High Speed Rail Authority Needs Two More Weeks to Polish Up Its "Business Plan"

Lots of things change in California from day to day, but a few things stay the same: the climate is rarely humid, the wines and cuisine are delicious, the city traffic is horrifying, and the High Speed Rail Authority is an embarrassing monument to government waste and incompetence. But hey: at least they're good for a laugh. For example, they announced yesterday that they needed to delay the mid-October release of their business plan until November 1, apparently to give two new HRSA board appointees time to weigh in on it. We're sure the extra two weeks will make all the difference in the world. After all, HRSA's problems really aren't that major. All Michael Rossi and Dan Richard need to help the Authority figure out is how to build a (conservatively priced) $66 billion project with as little as $6.3 billion and no more than $13.5 billion. And how they'll make any money on the initial segment of the train, which would run through 65 miles of nothing in the Central Valley if HRSA had any plan to run trains on it until a later segment is built. And who will actually operate the trains once they're ready. And what the final route will be, given intense opposition to the project by landowners in Kings County and San Mateo County and a lawsuit from the city of Palmdale. Other than that, though, we're sure the business plan just needs a quick once-over and rubber stamp.