Old Topic
I have a stack of reports on my desktop on the rosy
outlook for housing. Even Las Vegas is showing signs of recovery. But please,
stop already. I believe that every newspaper, trade magazine, and housing blogger (Et tu, Brute?) is looking for housing
articles and lights at ends of tunnels. Sure housing will turn around, it HAS to. As I have written before it is
just plain demographics and the current affordability of housing. Why wouldn’t
housing sales go up with low prices and extremely low mortgage rates – some now
as low as 3%.
So housing is boring. Is that shimmering glow on the
horizon the nascent sun, giver of life? No, it’s the latest housing statistics
from the feds. So please, just stop. It is worse than predicting the rise and
fall of the stock market based on the fight plan of a flock of crows. So please
just tell me once and while – like at the end of the quarter. I really don’t care
what the affordability is in Kansas. Kansas of all places – home of rainbows, tornadoes, and munchkins. So please stop. I will try to follow my own ruminations
and keep housing on the back burner for a while. No thanks needed.
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| Acela by Amtrak |
New Topic
I have for the better part of two years beat the
High-Speed Rail in California over the head with anything I could find: old
railroad ties, lengths of steel rail, and stiff necked politicians all in an
effort to find some reality in the notion of flying across California's Central
Valley at 250 miles per hour. But your humble blogger here has had a small epiphany,
but like a good politician I will not change my stance on the 100 billion
dollar two-rail boondoggle underway in California.
We were traveling from New York to Boston just last week
and took the Acela train. Now I know you Eastern-Seaboarders just role your
eyes over us California provincials (with great justification), but I have to
admit that the train is very cool and the most surprising thing is that it works.
We left on time and arrived on time. It flew along the rails at what felt like
speeds of almost a hundred miles an hour (it has gone to 150mph according to
Wikipedia). It extends to Washington D.C. on the south and Boston on the north.
It is one of the few Amtrak lines that make a profit. In fact (according to
Wiki) the two lines (fast and local) through this corridor provides half of
Amtrak’s total national revenue.
Trains are a heck of a lot more enjoyable than airplanes –
especially today. United Airlines and other carrier’s economy seats were redesigned
by a group sponsored by the Spanish Inquisition. After five hours in one of
their seats you would confess to sleeping farm animals. Trains have wide
aisles, you can actually watch your luggage from your seat, they serve free
drinks (in First Class – which really isn’t worth it), and they actually deposit
you in the heart of the city. Gee!
I know, I know, I have challenged the Cal HSR for years,
and will continue to do so. We can’t afford it, period. No more than I can
afford a Bentley GT Coupe (my favorite automobile), just because I want it doesn’t
mean I will get one. Why doesn’t the governor try real hard to fix the current
track alignment and equipment of the Coast Starlight that goes to LA along the
coastal corridor. Make it work like the Acela (use the Four Season Hotel model of customer
satisfaction) – everything is there – especially the most important element, people.
It currently carries 1/10th the traffic of the Acela and makes less than 10% of
the same revenue. Sadly the reviews tend to show the service and scheduling to be
less than acceptable (actually awful) and this is biggest reason for its poor
reception in California (GO HERE).
As any hotelier can tell you it is the service and the
respect for your guests by the staff that is paramount and in the case of
travel, adherence to schedules as well. But without competition or alternatives
people will drive or fly. Governor don’t try and fix the problem with a new
train – fix the old one.
I actually enjoyed the Acela experience (I’ll slap myself
later).
Stay Tuned . . . .
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