County board considers high-speed rail resolution
URBANA — Champaign County Board members are being asked to approve a resolution in support of a system of a Midwestern high-speed trains.
The resolution and an agenda full of relatively routine matters face the board at its committee of the whole meeting Tuesday. The board will meet at 6 p.m. at the Brookens Administrative Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U.
The Midwest High Speed Rail Association has asked the board to go on record in support of a network of 220-mph bullet trains and 90-mph regional trains. One proposal being considered calls for a 220-mph train that would run between Chicago and St. Louis by way of Champaign-Urbana.
The draft resolution before the county board says that it "calls on Congress to fully fund the federal high speed rail program in the 2012 budget."
County board Chair C. Pius Weibel said he wants the board to approve the resolution, noting that the city councils in Champaign and Urbana have done so.
"Maybe it's time that the county voiced its support for this too," he said.
The board will review a number of appointments to drainage, fire protection and public water districts. It also will take up the appointment of Gary Maxwell of Mahomet to the county board, replacing Larry Sapp who resigned his District 1 position in June.
Weibel said the board also has been asked to revisit how to spend money raised by the county's hotel-motel tax. Last month the board voted to appropriate $15,000 to the Champaign County Convention and Visitors Bureau out of an anticipated $22,000 in hotel-motel tax revenue this year. Weibel said Urbana Democrat Carol Ammons wants to discuss uses for the rest of the money.
Also on the agenda are renewal agreements between the sheriff's office and a number of school districts for so-called school resource officers.
MoreSure it would be nice to have high speed rail. It would also be nice to have our astronauts visit Jupiter. But where is any mention of the cost? Where is the money going to come from? We are wrangling over a few tens of thousands for CVB, and there is NO money for a multi-billion dollar train set. Did you guys get the memo that China is not buying US debt anymore?
Meanwhile, in other news. The Chinese high speed rail is not proving popular, with much lower ridership than expected. This is before their high speed rail crash a few weeks ago that killed 32 people. Ridership is expected to drop further.
Rest assured though. The building contractors are just warming up. The multi-billion dollar rail building contracts will bribe a whole new generation of corrupt politicians.
Well, this country needs to do something to keep the economy moving. Green energy has great potential but the Tea Party types suspect it's socialism.Why not infrastructure? We're great at communicating but the way we transport people and material is still stuck in the mid-20th century. In fact in many places you can argue that you could get around easier in the bygone days of the electric train.
Your China comparisons are off base. China's problem with high speed rail is that the first trains were put in by Europeans, but then China started building its own copycat versions and those weren't done to spec (surprise, surprise). Also, regarding its popularity, China is spending so much on infrastructure, it has built in sickening levels of redundancy: new trains are going in at the same time as new roads and new airports. Travelers have a multitude of options as all of these systems are new. I spend a lot of time there and have seen this firsthand.
Also, why do you think China will stop buying US debt? And even if they did, why would that matter? China makes up only 8% of our total debt holdings. Perhaps US businesses sitting on sky-high piles of cash will take a look at the foreign markets and decide to move those holdings here.
I'm 100% behind the idea of more passenger rail in the midwest. You can't take a train from champaign->chicago->madison. You go to Chicago by rail in 2-3 hours, then to Madison via BUS for 3 more hours...
However, faster isn't necessary. More trains and less cost is. If that can be done in conjunction with high speed, great. If not, then no thanks. We go to Chicago to visit family on average 2-3 weekends a month, with plenty of options for pickup/drop-off . Driving up and down I-57 and through Chicago sucks. Been doing it regularly for over 20 years. Last time we priced tix to Chicago to Champaign for the family (2 adults, one 9-year-old and one 4-year-old) it was going to be $150+ for one-way. We can beat that cost in our Prius, plus leave when we want AND get back!
So if you get me to Chicago at the same timeframe or so as by car, with less or equal cost in gas, then it will beat either driving OR flying from WIllard (because even as nice as TSA and the other folks at Willard are, flying with kids is a huge pain in the smurf compared to rail).
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