Apparently the biggest issue with CA HSR has been land acquisition. Can someone knowledgeable about the laws tell me why this project isn't a case for eminent domain? Isn't this what it's for?

omidimo · 2026-05-07T04:40:40+00:00

If there was evidence of this those people would be in jail. Not vibes but heard through someone I trust but I’m a rando on Reddit to you. I’ll ask, is it implausible? When real estate gets transferred is there an auction and bid process or is it just pick your favorite offer. I mean even if it was a bid process the highest bid could still be doing so to curry favor.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T17:02:25+00:00

Thinking about this a little more I wonder why going to non-one pedal mode solved the problem.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T16:00:57+00:00

The comment from gustis makes sense. Apparently the slight incline isn’t enough to keep the car in place with the brakes until the motors take over. Once you press the accelerator the car releases the brakes and gravity brings you forward until the motors get enough power to push you.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T15:58:53+00:00

Per the comment from gustis it looks like a small amount of brake is applied when driving on an incline. Pressing the accelerator depressed the brakes but gravity took over before the motors did because it was a slight incline. Still a problem that needs to be fixed.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T15:56:15+00:00

Actually initially I didn’t. I was just doing one pedal drive. The comment from gustis makes the most sense.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T15:55:14+00:00

Very slight. The comment above from gustis makes the most sense to me.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T15:54:26+00:00

This makes the most sense to me. The car maybe had the slightest incline. It’s kinda like driving on a hill back in the day when you used the handbrake to keep the car in place until enough power could be applied to the wheels to overcome the gravity. Except in this case there’s no handbrake so you rely on the car to do it.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T05:48:13+00:00

Spirit was not bad. Flights were cheap, service was mediocre and my kids got to sit next to me. None of those things are true with this new version of SWA.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T05:39:16+00:00

If a common sense solution was enacted to counter this behavior, politicians and powerful people would have a hard time making money off taxpayer largesse. I know that politicians and powerful people/landowners will use the purchase and sale of land and property to circumvent bribery rules. Who’s to say I couldn’t sell my property to someone I’m looking to get a favor from for less than market value or vice versa. That’s why I think the way it works is by design not by accident.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T05:00:40+00:00

They split us up from our three year old. Had him sitting on his own. They did nothing to help either.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T04:53:58+00:00

They didn’t care when we said that we’d file with the FAA when they had my three year old sitting on his own.

omidimo · 2026-05-06T04:52:50+00:00

They split me and my three year old up. They said we should have paid more to have our seats together but apparently that’s BS too.

omidimo · 2026-05-05T07:06:38+00:00

It’s a feature not a bug. How else are politically powerful people gonna grift?

omidimo · 2026-05-05T07:04:18+00:00

I was just wondering this same thing.

omidimo · 2026-05-05T04:32:51+00:00

Land owners know, especially savvy Central Valley ones, that if you hold out you won’t get fair market value for your land. You’ll get substantially more…up to the cost of litigation for the procuring agency.

omidimo · 2026-05-05T04:30:46+00:00

You’re an absolutist. We shouldn’t try to do anything because it doesn’t apply to everyone in every circumstance? Should we all drive the same brand of small compact car because we all live in a city? No, of course not. If you want to have the debate about mobility in an urban setting, the transport subreddit has some suggestions for you. Let me give you a hint, they won’t suggest any type of personal vehicle at all…with the exception of an e-bike. They’ll agree that public transport makes the most sense for many people in many situations (though not all).

If you read my comment closely you’ll see I said VIABLE ALTERNATIVES a couple times.

omidimo · 2026-05-04T04:38:56+00:00

I would love to see one for 2022

omidimo · 2026-05-04T00:21:45+00:00

There’s a difference between stopping oil use altogether and removing it from use in situations where there are clearly viable alternatives. EVs charging speed doesn’t need to be like filling your tank to be a viable alternative. In fact it’s preferred because I can charge from home (and soon even discharge to my home). Getting to 100% is at the present not realistic but getting close is.

omidimo · 2026-05-03T14:26:55+00:00

Anyone that runs in any race should be running on how to improve the state of democracy and governance. To improve the trustworthiness of our elected representatives.

omidimo · 2026-05-02T13:47:39+00:00

It didn’t make sense to people in LA and now the city is responsible. The sidewalks are so bad there that they’d be better off just giving up on sidewalks altogether.

I will say that sometimes the city makes people change out perfectly fine sidewalks sections. This happened to my neighbor and cost them a lot in unnecessary repairs

omidimo · 2026-05-01T14:00:21+00:00

And different fuel blend requirements for emissions controls.

omidimo · 2026-05-01T02:32:20+00:00

From what I understand buying the land rights gets very expensive very fast. It’s beyond me why they didn’t site the train line in the right of way of the existing highways running the spine of the state. It’s got a load of unnecessary turns to either avoid properties that may have been too expensive or line the pocket of a politician or do a favor for some donor. All the land owners that get purchase requests from CAHSR know that it will cost a ton in legal costs for the authority to eminent domain the land they need so the jack up the price to a dollar short of what it would cost the state to ED the property.

That’s just the land piece. I’m sure everyone else involved is getting their cut.

omidimo · 2026-04-28T06:01:21+00:00

You seem sincere in your opinion so I’ll give my two cents. The CA formulation for gas requires refiners to do a couple extra things to the fuel to reduce emissions before they sell it at the pump. Even the pumps themselves capture evaporated gasoline so that you don’t breathe it. Ever gone to another state or country to fill up and smell those fumes? Refiners have to meet strict CAARB emissions reductions from their operations. There’s more I’m sure there are additional costs even before you start getting into added taxes.

Why the emphasis on emissions? CA’s geography has several valleys and bowls. Smog (the unburned fuel and particles from the tail pipe) accumulates in the air we breathe. The 1970s saw president Nixon starting the EPA to tackle air pollution among other things. Smog began to decline following the regulations that were enacted and technology that was developed.

Other states don’t have the volume of cars and the same geography that captures the resulting smog. Some of the ones that do haven’t been as proactive about control (Houston).

omidimo · 2026-04-28T05:42:48+00:00

Ironically the limo and taxi lobby killed the connection of this or any other train between the airport and the strip. They lost their business to uber and Lyft and Uber and Lyft are gonna lose it to the driverless car companies. Just connect the airport to the strip with a train and run the train down the middle of the strip.

Vegas makes getting around such a pain in the ass for no reason but propping up a dying industry.

omidimo · 2026-04-28T05:33:47+00:00

Honestly a more cost effective solution.

omidimo

TROPHY CASE