Getting the Blues - or not!

"Who is going to pay for all this fumbling and bumbling? Why we are, kind folks! The taxpayers."

Yesterday I penned an article about the return of the SpaceX capsule on Sunday. I said it was some good news, in a year fraught with bad news. Well today, I have some more good news. The Blue Line extension, sometimes known as the Target Express or the Bottineau Line, is dead. How did it die? Malfeasance by the Met Council (again). They decided to charge off of this thing before getting permission from daddy - that be BNSF - the owners of the track.

But don't worry. There is often times life after death with government projects. Why is that? Follow the money. The local government has already invested years and 129 million taxpayer dollars into coming up with this scheme of using the BNSF tracks. Gosh, sure would have helped if they has asked first. Wait - the Met Council did ask, and the answer was NO. "So what", the Met Council thought, "we will just go ahead and worry about this permission thing later." Whoops.

The Met Council being as pig headed and resolute as they are, will not quit. Even though every single rail line they have constructed in the metro area bleeds cash, they don't care. Even though more and more people are escaping downtown for the burbs and further out, they don't care. Even though crime is way out of control in Minneapolis, and LRT stops have turned into petri dishes for thugs and criminals, they don't care. Damn it! Full speed ahead! We will look for new land to annex, so we can built this choo-choo train!

Who is going to pay for all this fumbling and bumbling? Why we are, kind folks! The taxpayers. But don't worry. Besides the spike in crime which is driving clear thinking Minnesotans away from the LRT stops, the pandemic has also helped reduce ridership by 60%. Wait - didn't these choo-choo trains bleed money when ridership was better? Yes - but now they are really bleeding money. And don't forget - many who do ride use the honor system. Using the honor system with a population which often times does not show honor. 

The caterwauling has already started by the mayors and city leaders of some of the burbs this line was going to service. Because of the population mix in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center and so forth, these communities are considered to be "under served". Don't worry about the fact that these cities are already serviced by MTC buses. The fact these cities cannot get their own choo-choo train, is terrible (so they say).

My vote? Get rid of all rail lines. Once the autonomous cars become available by mid to late 2020's, the rail lines will be nothing more than relics. Plus - so long as we have the current city council, Minneapolis will become more and more hollowed out. Translation = more and more businesses will set up shop elsewhere. Then - what many clear thinking people might ask - WHY IN THE SAM HILL ARE WE BUILDING THESE THINGS ANYWAY!! 

Got the blues yet? I always bet the blues with the subject of choo-choo trains comes up. But I am NOT blue that the Target Express is now currently off the tracks. In a year of bad news, there is always some good news to be found.