I haven’t found the old articles, but years ago there was a problem with folks speeding on Valley Street, 8th Street and Market, too. It looks like history is repeating itself once again.

I was at my sister’s home in Happy Valley, and as I was driving toward Lyons Avenue, sure enough I had a young gentleman pass me on Valley Street very much exceeding the speed limit and blowing through the stop sign at 8th Street.

I’m not known for driving slowly, and I know I’ve exceeded the speed limit on Valley a few times – well, many times – but I usually kept it under 40 mph. This guy had to be going well over 60 mph.

Daylight. Dry conditions. Weekend. Kids all over the place.

The light at Valley and Lyons was long, and as I pulled up beside him, he looked over and gave me a one-finger salute. I just smiled and waved. I didn’t want to return the salute. We both would have been wrong. I didn’t exceed the speed limit. I guess that was a problem for the young gentleman.

There was a stretch of Newhall Avenue that we used for racing back in the day. Long before Valencia. I didn’t participate. A Packard wasn’t good for drag racing, but it did have that large, comfortable feeling one liked at the Corral or Mustang drive-in.

Our transportation needs haven’t changed over the years. We still want to go someplace quickly. We just have to learn to finish one project before we start another.

I mean, what the heck. Wouldn’t it be great to have public rail service on Amtrak like we used to have on the Union and Southern Pacific Railroads from here direct to Bakersfield and on to Sacramento? It wouldn’t be high speed, but the route and the tracks already exist. It would be pretty easy to add the few trains needed.

As people got used to taking the train again, maybe the idea of a high-speed train would look better. I, for one, would love to take a scenic ride from here to the Central Valley. Why, just getting over the mountains would make the trip to Fresno palatable.

I still can’t think of any reason anyone would want to go at any speed to some of the cities in that valley, and I still contend that the only good thing about the high-speed rail being planned is that it would get through many of them quickly.

Back when we voted on the California High Speed Rail, at least 50 percent of the costs were to be carried by private investment. That hasn’t happened. Looks like we’re at $15 billion of the projected $68 billion needed. Of course, that is before all of those cost overruns that are sure to come.

And cost overruns will come.

There is a shipyard on the East Coast that builds large ships for the Navy. One of the cost overruns that is submitted each time is for replacement deck plate screws. You see, when they were building the ship, they claimed they couldn’t get a certain kind of non-rusting screw and requested a waiver to install regular steel screws. Every time, the waiver was approved and the ship completed with the wrong screws.

After completion, the shipbuilder found the right screws and told the Navy that for quite a few thousand dollars, they could replace all of the rusting steel screws. Another great cost overrun. High speed rail will have the same type of overruns, I’m sure.

We need to ask that question: Why do we have to get on a bus to take Amtrak to Sacramento or Fresno? Tracks are in place. Why do we want to build new tracks?

We’ve got to finish the job before we start a new one. Passenger service to the whole country was possible right in our valley from 1876 until 1978 or so. Why not now?

Taking a bus to Bakersfield isn’t a correct answer, and high-speed rail is simply wrong.

Earth calling Jerry. Please answer, Jerry. We don’t want your train. We want other problems cured first. Water. Highways. Taxes.

Too many jobs are incomplete. Let’s finish some before we start some new thing.

Oh, and send us some money for speed bumps on Market, Valley and 8th streets. Or maybe some CHP cars we can just park along those streets to slow folks down. People always slow when they see the CHP.

Just a thought.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].