The Truman Club’s next lunch is Thursday March 26th at The Sterling Hotel, 13th & H Streets at 11:30
Dan “Steel-drivin’ Man” Richard (& Chair of the High Speed Rail Authority) was our kick-off speaker in 2013. He wowed us. So we asked him to return and bring us up-to-date on progress since then. As the California Weekly recently said—
“Dan Richard is a man in the middle.
The middle of court fights, the middle of political fights, the middle of a fight over California’s future. The rest of the developed world has moved energetically to adopt high-speed rail. We will too,” Richard says.
He may be right.
After miscues, battles over the bullet train’s routes and funding, and fierce opposition in California and Washington, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Late last July, an appeals court overturned a lower court decision and ruled that the state had met the requirements to develop its funding plan for the $68 billion project, a price tag that had been dramatically scaled back from about $100 billion.
Meanwhile, Gov. Brown, who is pushing hard for the bullet train, signed a state budget that provides hundreds of millions of dollars in cap-and-trade auction funds for the project – a move that immediately drew interest from an array of private investors. And preliminary work has started on a 130-mile stretch in the Central Valley and planning is being expedited on a 40-mile segment in L.A. County.
Additional legal obstacles loom, but for now, at least, the project appears on track. The crux of the opposition
to the bullet train comes from Republicans, led by the House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield.
Their discontent focuses on the cost.”
Dan will discuss all of this and more at our first luncheon of 2015
All Aboard!
RSVP by Thursday March 19th to Ruth Gottlieb at 647-4080 or gottliebandassoc@comcast.net (so we can order enough lunches. And let Ruth know if you CAN’T attend (we have to pay for every unused lunch).
Tickets and sponsorships can be purchased by sending a check to:
The Harry S Truman Democratic Club (State ID# 810370; Federal ID# 94-2863864) Attn: Chip Wilkins c/o Remy, Moose & Manley, 555 Capitol Mall, Suite 800, Sacramento, CA 95814. Or pay online:www.trumanclub.com
Tickets and sponsorships can be purchased by sending a check to:
The Harry S Truman Democratic Club (State ID# 810370; Federal ID# 94-2863864) Attn: Chip Wilkins c/o Remy,
Moose & Manley, 555 Capitol Mall, Suite 800, Sacramento, CA 95814. Or pay online:
1 ticket: [nicepaypallite name=”Luncheon Ticket” amount=”55.00″ quantity=”1″]
2 tickets: [nicepaypallite name=”Luncheon Ticket” amount=”55.00″ quantity=”2″]
3 tickets: [nicepaypallite name=”Luncheon Ticket” amount=”55.00″ quantity=”3″]
4 tickets: [nicepaypallite name=”Luncheon Ticket” amount=”55.00″ quantity=”4″]
March 26th, 11:30–1:00 pm The Sterling Hotel, 13th & H Streets Single tickets, $55