Boondoggles and Broken Transit

George Washington once opined: “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” I hope we’ll all be able to remember that after “Bone Spur” Trump’s time as U.S. president ends on Jan. 20, 2029.

As a Wall Street Journal columnist observed on March 31: “If proof of dishonesty were enough to beat Mr. Trump, he never would have been elected president twice.” Enrichment of family Trump has already been achieved.

But California Governor Gavin Newsom, now bent on capturing the Bear Flag as the Democratic nominee for president in 2028, demonstrated – according to the Sacramento Bee on Feb. 4 – his continued tolerance for boondoggles after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy terminated $3.8 billion in federal funding for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, declaring: “It is time for that boondoggle to die.”

That ends federal funding, but California’s governor won’t quit reminding taxpayers that Trump is “temporary,” adding: “By the time he’s out, we’ll have substantially completed this rail line.” Wanna bet?

California’s High-Speed Rail Dream Continues to Derail

To ensure taxpayer obliviousness, the Rail Authority claims “real progress” on the project and says almost 80 miles of “guideway” are complete in Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties, plus “171 miles under design and construction from Merced to Bakersfield.”

No track has, however, actually been laid and, if ever completed, the system could not operate without taxpayer funding – which is expressly prohibited under the 2008 state law authorizing $9.95 billion in California general obligation bonds to launch the project. That measure specifically envisioned a San Francisco-to-Los Angeles route.

A Merced-to-Bakersfield segment was only intended for testing. Amtrak has operated in the Central Valley for decades, and there won’t be enough riders for the High-Speed Rail Authority to avoid eventually begging the legislature and governor for taxpayer subsidies to operate the line.

The current estimated cost exceeds $231 billion – roughly six times the 2008 estimate – and there remains no funding for actual track construction.

Our 2008 dream has been destroyed. Close the office doors and throw away the keys.

Immigration Court Shake-Up Hits San Francisco

That same “close the doors” mentality now appears headed toward the San Francisco Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery St.

A May 1 memorandum from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the U.S. Department of Justice agency overseeing immigration courts, recommended relocating the operation to the Concord Immigration Court.

A smaller operation at 630 Sansome St. will remain open for detained Immigration and Customs Enforcement cases until Sept. 4, after which it will function as a hearing court administered from Concord.

The Sansome Street court once had roughly 20 judges and granted asylum to approximately 70% of applicants, well above the national average of 50% for asylum and related relief.

Today, only four immigration judges remain there, with more than 117,000 pending cases.

Howard Jarvis Group Targets Proposition 13 ‘Loophole’

Meanwhile, some help may finally be on the way for California taxpayers.

Last month, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed two versions of a statewide initiative with the California Attorney General to close what it calls a court-created loophole in Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 tax-limitation measure.

The proposed initiative, dubbed the “Save Proposition 13 Act of 2026,” would require any special tax increase, including those advanced through citizen initiatives, to secure a two-thirds vote for approval.

Under current law, some special taxes proposed by a citizen initiative can pass with a simple majority.

Another example was San Francisco’s June 2018 Proposition C, which imposed a special tax on commercial property leases and passed with 50.87% of the vote.

Special interests can now write initiatives raising taxes and direct that money toward themselves with only majority support. Yet, if the same tax increase were imposed directly by a city council or board of supervisors, a two-thirds vote would still be required.

The proposed constitutional amendment has now qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot. Hooray.

The Cesar Chavez Naming Fight Isn’t Over

While deplorable revelations of sexual misconduct involving the late Cesar Chavez, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has still failed to remove Chavez’s name, as promised last month, from what was historically known as Army Street between Mission Street and Bernal Heights.

The street was renamed in 1995 by what this author describes as overpaid city “wonders.”

Neither Cesar Chavez Elementary School at 825 Shotwell St. nor Cesar Chavez Park has been renamed. San Francisco State University also renamed part of its campus to honor Chavez and similarly has not yet removed his name.

Honoring Veterans and Remembering History

Thank you to all the caring readers who attended the May 24 Memorial Service presented by the USS San FranciscoMemorial Foundation at Land’s End.

The foundation is a public charitable entity operated primarily by volunteers, many of them military veterans. I’ve attended for more than 30 years.

That leads me to invite readers and their families to observe the commencement of the Korean War on June 25, at the Korean War Memorial in the Presidio of San Francisco, across from the National Cemetery.

That war enabled South Korea to survive as a democratic nation with assistance from the United States and 17 other United Nations member countries.

The gathering follows Flag Day on June 14 and Father’s Day on June 21, alongside the beginning of summer.

The United States’ 250th Anniversary Approaches

It is especially worthy of commemoration as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.

Following Paul Revere’s famous ride from Boston’s Christ Church (now known as the Old North Church) across the Charles River to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British were coming, the American Revolution accelerated toward independence.

A little more than one month later came the events inspiring the revolution we will celebrate this July 4, as the “birth of the nation” 250 years later.

Revere rode a borrowed horse named Brown Beauty, traveling through Somerville and Medford en route to Lexington and Concord.

Bay Area Transit Systems Still Depend on Taxpayers

Bay Area residents and travelers continue grappling with troubled public transit systems, roads and highways.

I regret that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the overseer of 24 public transit systems in nine Bay Area counties, failed to compile farebox recovery data (by counting riders every year) for 2025, so the best I can provide you is 2024 data, when we were just finishing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The data is depressing for voters and taxpayers asked to raise the taxes for using public transit.

The best performer was BART, with 24.8% of its $883.5 million in 2024 expenditures covered by fare revenue.

Caltrain ranked second with a 24.3% farebox recovery ratio.

And Muni?

San Francisco’s transit system finished 10th, with more than $1.128 billion in expenses but only $97.2 million in fare revenue—meaning riders covered just 8.6% of costs.

In 2023, Muni riders covered 9 percent of operating costs, while BART’s farebox recovery ratio stood at 25%.

A Final Word on History and Accountability

I’m still waiting for the mayor and Board of Supervisors to atone for past mistakes by renaming Cesar Chavez Street back to its original name: Army Street.

City Hall wasted no time erasing Army Street from the local lexicon more than 31 years ago, while continuing to celebrate Chavez as “a model for positive social change … that will continue to illuminate the future of our multi-ethnic and cultural community.”

My April 2 written request to Board President Rafael Mandelman has been ignored.

That’s apparently par for the course for our beloved $175,000-per-year salaried officials and their four $150,000-per-year aides.

I conclude this monthly tirade by reminding readers that William Shakespeare observed: “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

But Winston Churchill advised: “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

Quentin Kopp is a former San Francisco supervisor, state senator, SF Ethics Commission member, president of the California High Speed Rail Authority governing board and retired Superior Court judge.