Bullet Train of Thought

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Give Governor Jerry Brown credit for knowing how – and when – to play for his legacy.

Now is the time for the aquiline ace of California politics. Both his 80th birthday and term limits on his second eight-year tenure as governor are fast approaching.

Both circumstances likely help explain Brown’s thoughts on the bullet train project, which has seen its price tag for a full build-out linking Los Angeles and the Bay Area go from $33 billion to $77.3 billion, with an ultimate price of $98.1 billion a possibility, according to state officials.

This is the same project that Brown backed as recently as his State of the State address in January, when he told the assembled legislators that he makes “no bones” about where he stands.

“I like trains, and I like high-speed trains even better,” Brown proclaimed.

Big, imposing projects need just that sort of stubborn champion if they stand any chance of getting done. Brown’s late father was that sort of champion when it came to the state’s college systems and freeways and other big chunks of infrastructure.

We’re not sure the contemporary Brown will ever see a bullet train that links L.A. to the Bay Area finished. The prospect looks dim at this point – even if Brown managed to wring some political points out of the situation last week, responding to a visit by President Donald Trump with goading calls for federal support of the bullet train.

We’ll let that matter play itself out over the next few years as the project aims to complete its first phase from the Central Valley north to San Jose.

In the meantime, the Southland must consider what opportunities exist in the current scenario, which pushes back any L.A. link to the bullet train to 2033 at best.

Everyone reading this likely has a good sense of the pace of change that goes on in the world – and how planning for 2033 might just be an exercise in futility. Why worry about getting the bullet train down here when self-driving cars or even hyperloop technology might be the future of transportation?

That might be a stretch, but it is worth considering what changes could be coming thanks to the innovation of California’s high-tech companies.

It’s also worth considering how L.A. might continue to develop its burgeoning tech scene.

Think of Silicon Valley’s Sand Hill Road and its legendary status in the world of tech and finance.

Think how there’s no counterpart to Sand Hill Road in Los Angeles or anywhere else in Southern California.

A bullet train that gets the person with the idea for the next big thing from L.A. to the Bay Area in under three hours certainly would help Sand Hill Road maintain its status as the destination for tech deals.

But we might just have to skip the bullet train and instead develop a legend of our own down here.

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