Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Yes on Prop 1A Media

NOTE: We've moved! Visit us at the California High Speed Rail Blog.

Citizen Newscaster is a local documentary/public affairs filmmaking outfit here in the Monterey Bay region, and they recently put together a Prop 1A video that includes yours truly explaining the many benefits of high speed rail. The video also includes interviews with Debbie Hale and Christina Watson of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County explaining some of the other aspects of high speed rail and how Monterey County might benefit from the $950 million included in Prop 1A for connecting rail. The video is online and will air on local cable here in Monterey on AMP channel 24, in Santa Cruz on channels 27 and 73, and in San José on channel 15.

Additionally, the National Association of Railroad Passengers has teamed up with Alfred Twu to create Prop 1A informational cards. That link also has a PDF version you can download and print and distribute to your friends, coworkers, fellow train riders, folks waiting in an airport terminal, etc. Below are some lower-res versions of each side of the card:





Thanks to Matt Melzer of NARP for helping get these made and printed!

15 comments:

Rafael said...

I think the first of the posters might make people think that every train will stop at every station and still complete the trip in 2.5 hours.

CHSRA has always said that only express trains - which will stop at SF, SJ and LA but nowhere else - will make the trip that fast. Semi-express, semi-local and local trains will halt at secondary stations but take longer end-to-end.

It will also take a number of years before ridership is high enough to justify running a train every 15 minutes, except perhaps during rush hour.

bossyman15 said...

@ rafael...

where did CHSRA say that?

on side note how accurate is that map?

I always thought it would be one way from SF to San Diego. but the "Green line" only goes from SF to Irvine. if people from SF wanted to go to SD then they would take Green line to LA and transfer to Blue line or Orange line.

Oh well that's still fine with me.

Robert Cruickshank said...

First phase is SF-Anaheim. Since San Diego will be reached via Riverside there won't be an SF-Anaheim-SD "line."

The "lines" as shown on the card are conceptual and don't represent anything official. They're one citizen supporter's graphical interpretation of how the route map might look like.

Anonymous said...

It's not drawn to scale so to speak. Its just a traffic organization graph, kind of like what you see on subway maps.

Hopefully grassroots efforts like this will actually get around.

bossyman15 said...

well its still good but I would like a bumper sticker. the one we can print on the sticker paper (are there such a thing?)

Brandon in California said...

The map is all wrong on the 2nd one. Five eventual lines are planned. It's in documents provided by the CHSRA.

SF to
- Sacramento
- Irvine (via LA)
- SD (via LA)

Sac to
- Irvine (via LA)
- SD (via LA)

Note all but one line goes through LA. Some trains will terminate there, I bet.

And, the CHSRA adopted preferred alignment does not include a line to Oakland.

Spokker said...

The 2nd map is pretty old. I know I've seen it before.

Robert Cruickshank said...

spokker, we circulated a version of this a couple months back. This one is updated. It's not perfect - I'd suggested Alfred cut out the Visalia station, as it's not part of the CHSRA plan, and use Anaheim and not Irvine as a termination point.

Still, it's a useful document and I'm glad people like him are taking the initiative and volunteering their time (he was not paid to do this) to help Prop 1A.

If someone wants bumper stickers, make a design for them...

bossyman15 said...

oh also about that video when will it air on channel 15 in san jose? i can't find the info.

Robert Cruickshank said...

The only thing I was told about channel 15 in San José is that it'll be "in multiple time slots as featured programming." Dunno exactly what that means...

Rafael said...

@ bossyman15 -

"where did CHSRA say that?"

See page 13 of this document.

CitizenNewscaster said...

Hello Robert,

Timothy here. Congratulations on this great blog site, and thanks for including a link to the Prop 1a online video. It was great meeting and working with you.

Here is a response to Bossyman15's question regarding programming air times in San Jose. The video should arrive at the television stations tomorrow. Once it arrives, it typically takes about a week to work it into the programming. We are not quite sure how things will operate in San Jose quite yet as this is an exciting new broadcast region for us.

Matthew Fedder said...

Thank you! I will do some printing this weekend and hit up some good locations.

Rubber Toe said...

All, the Yes on 1A web site now has a store open! They have bumper stickers, yard signs, shirts, and other items. I just bought 40 stickers and 10 yard signs. Check it out at:

http://www.cafepress.com/Yeson1A

RT

Richard Rider, Chair, San Diego Tax Fighters said...

RICHARD RIDER COMMENT: For a detailed, devastating debunking of this incredible HSR boondoggle -- a.k.a. Prop 1A -- go to the 196 page study of this issue just released in September, 2008 by the Reason Foundation:
www.reason.org/ps370/
Fortunately at this same web page you'll find a readable summation of the study.

If that's not enough, go to
www.ti.org/antiplanner/?p=515
which summarizes the reasons why high speed rail makes no sense. There are many related articles on this website.

There are so many, MANY reasons to vote down this insane measure. The fact that California is flat broke from current profligate spending and borrowing is only the latest additional reason to vote down Prop 1A.