Rich Berkeley Students or Urban Farmers?

I fell out of my chair with laughter when I heard the story of UC Berkeley students trying to convert the 10 acre Gill Tract (it looks like an empty lot on San Pablo and Marin in Albany, near the police station) into agricultural land. They showed up with Vera Wang grubbies and gardening tools from Smith & Hawkin (kidding; I did not go down to check it out).

I am a wee bit familiar with that land. It is not rich agricultural land, nor is the soil virgin, pristine, or uncontaminated: this is smack dab in the middle of a dense, urban area surrounded by gas station convenience stores and car repair places; what do you think? Plus, the rainy season is so totally over; with luck, you might get a couple of sprinkles. Any agricultural success will require regular irrigation into the fall, and I do not mean a dozen English majors from Cal showing up after finals with one-gallon watering cans.

Sigh...

Yes, feeding the poor is very commendable. But, please, can we get serious? Have you Cal students ever heard of 'Night on the Streets?' No? I did not think so: Google it.  

California High Speed Rail is a Joke, and I Can Prove It

OK, if Gov Moonbeam's high speed, shiny metal choo-choo train gets built, this is what the paying passenger will see:

• one-way = $120 (2009 estimate)
• duration = 2.5 hours

OK, now let us try to book a plane ticket duplicating this route

• www.southwest.com [2 week advance purchase, Monday flight]
• SFO to LAX:
• travel time = 1 hour 20 minutes
• add 1 hour before flight leaves to clear TSA lines (less if you buy a refundable ticket, since these include priority check-in)
• flights leave every 2 hours or so
• refundable ticket = $206 to $190
• Wanna Get Away = $91 (non-refundable)
• total travel time = 2 hours 20 minutes

Coast Starliner (www.Amtrak.com)

• $88
• 12 hour travel time [lv Jack London Square 8am, arr Union Station 8pm]

Those of you who need to get to LA in a couple hours, you already have a choice right now, today. It is called an airplane. If you insist on train travel and are not in a hurry, you can do it right now. If you wish to travel by train and get there just as fast an airplane, you will have to wait a couple of decades and hope that the Golden State will fork over the $100 billion or so it will take to build the new choo-choo train.