Say, at our blog Oakland Focus , I wrote a post on how I was not supporting the California state proposition 1A calling for High Speed Rail because the route did not come through Oakland as I worked to have done when I represented then-Mayor Elihu Harris?
Well, I waa able to partcipate in a debate on the matter at The Commonwealth Club's SF Debate program Tuesday night in San Francisco, and where the prop started out with more yes votes than no votes. But after my insistance that it was not the right plan and that there were CalTrain plans that were rejected for no good reason , the initiative lost 10 to 7 with a number of undecided observers.
The basic problem is that the plan is the plaything of politics -- whoever cries the loudest gets the route and that trumps a system that rightly serves the state in way where poor communities are represented.
But what bothered me was the claim by a supporter involved in the project that Oakland's Ron Dellums and staff had done nothing to argue for Oakland.
What the hell were they doing and why? It bothers me to know that I was the only Oakland staffer in history to actually work to make High Speed Rail come to Oakland. I should not be in that position. The Mayor's office regardless of who is there should not have let this happen.
