The op-ed encouraging high-speed trains omits the answers to questions that every taxpaying American is entitled to (“High-speed rail is a win-win for America,” Aug. 23). How many people travel now by cross-country train and at what expense? What will be the changes in time and expense if those people use a high-speed train?
How many people would switch from flying to high-speed trains and what would their travel time and expense comparison be?
How many people who currently drive long distances, and do not want to fly or use existing train routes, would switch to high-speed trains, and how would their travel times and expenses compare?
No mention was made regarding commercial shipping by rail. Would high-speed at a higher cost attract use by manufacturers? How would time and expense compare with today’s trains and trucks?
Without the benefit of a lot more data, I believe that it would be a miracle for high-speed rail to break even and that the $100 billion starter plan is just the beginning of another $100 billion to support an underused rail system that just chugs along.
Will heavy political donations turn this dream into a taxpayer nightmare?
— Robert Tingler, Palatine
Not the right fit for U.S.
The op-ed on high-speed rail by Ray LaHood, Anthony Foxx and Norman Mineta brought bitterly to my mind the extravagant promises in the 2010s for much faster trains between Chicago and St. Louis. For an investment of nearly $2 billion from taxpayers, people would be able to ride on Amtrak trains averaging 110 mph.
All that money was spent, but to whose benefit? The municipalities that got new Amtrak stations, such as Normal, Illinois, and the corporations that own the tracks on which Amtrak runs its passenger trains saw roadbeds vastly improved.
But the passenger trains themselves still go no faster than 79 mph.
In a larger sense, this expensive effort was foredoomed. The op-ed writers laud France and China for their remarkable achievements in high-speed passenger rail while advising that the U.S. launch a huge program of its own. But the obstacle in the way, the derailment as it were, is that those two nations have nationalized railroads, while the U.S. does not — nor will it ever if Republicans in Congress or the White House continue to have their way.
In China and France, the rails are for the people. In the U.S., the rails are for the thousand slow freights per day whose dispatchers give them right of way, and Amtrak gets later and later.
— Robert Bray, Bloomington, Illinois
CPS and taxes
I received my property tax bill. I don’t recall any year in which taxes went down, and this year is no exception. What I’ve never understood is that while the number of students in Chicago public schools has steadily gone down, the amount of money spent has steadily gone up.
Perhaps someone should ask for an explanation.
— Bert L. Zuber, Chicago
Dramatic tax bill
My wife and I have lived in our Orland Park home for over 40 years. We are retired empty nesters living on a small pension, Social Security and savings. We could not believe the 45% increase in our Cook County property tax bill. How does the county justify such a dramatic increase in a single year? Is it a contest to see who has the record for highest property taxes in the nation?
Is it any wonder why so many people are leaving this state?
— Bob Swanson, Orland Park
Hot dog memories
Many thanks for the lovely, in-depth column on Dave’s Red Hots in Lawndale (“Chicago’s oldest hot dog stand a Lawndale mainstay,” Aug. 25). My parents took me to Dave’s in the 1970s to pick up hot dogs. The column triggered a Proustian memory of a large moist bun wrapped generously in hefty French fries with a plump, savory sausage ensconced within.
Dave’s was one of the more positive memories my mom and uncle shared of their time growing up poor on the West Side in the 1930s and ’40s, and I took them back sometime in the new millennium on a tour that also took in a tenement they called “Bedbug Manor,” their old schools and the remains of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog warehouse.
I had no idea Dave’s was still there and will need to plan another trip soon.
— Andrew S. Mine, Chicago
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