http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/R201008061730
Fri, Aug 6, 2010 -- 5:30 PM
Bay Area Cities Unhappy with Above-Ground Bullet Train
The California High-Speed Rail Authority will choose among three above-ground options for its planned line from San Francisco to San Jose. We discuss (...) with Mike Rosenberg, a reporter with the Bay Area News Group.
Listening to it what struck me most is that of the only four Bay Area cities that will be blessed with a HSR station, Millbrae's reaction of milking HSR for what it is worth by organizing a 300 million dollar development around their station to get as much sales tax / general fund revenue as they can.
Now contrast this with San Jose that is ignoring most of HSR's benefits by wasting the land near the station on a 500 million dollar ballpark that will generate a paltry 1 million general fund benefit according to their own hyped economic report.
This is nothing but short sightedness by SJ City Council. They get some glory at first but leave the residents to deal with decades of a money losing proposition with a useless ballpark.
ReplyDeleteYour statement is valid, yet one-sided.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if you do some real research on big-league developments in urban cores, you might find that they actually help build adjacent commercial, residential, and retail development as well as build a base for expansion of world-class cultural facilities.
A baseball stadium isn't just about baseball.