Spring Break, CALPIRG Style

By Steve Blackledge
Legislative Director
California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG)

Some college students go to Cancun for their spring break.

More than 50 CALPIRG students came up with another plan -- foregoing a week of leisure, they worked to promote high-speed rail in California.

Students like Coral Castillos and Dan Xie traveled the state by car and bike and organized events in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, Palmdale, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Riverside, and San Diego to demonstrate public support for high-speed rail.

To say the tour was a huge success is an understatement. As you can see from the look on Rep. Jim Costa's face, it was a lot of fun, but it also helped build momentum to make high-speed rail a reality.

More than 40 news outlets covered the events, which is the kind of attention we'll need to make high-speed rail a reality for California. A reporter for the Fresno Bee referred to CALPIRG students as "the embodiment of hope and high spirits" as they rallied for high-speed rail.

Join the students in urging legislators to support high-speed rail. We need the leadership of our elected officials to keep the project on track. Click here to write a letter to your legislators.

With all the challenges our next generation faces, its no wonder they support rail. From global-warming to worsening smog and thickening congestion, a solution that could reduce car trips by 92 million every year is pretty exciting.

What's even crazier is that it would cost a lot less than all the highway and airport expansions we'll need without high-speed rail.

In fact, we think it's so important we are pulling out all the stops this summer to get the word out, inspired by the leadership of CALPIRG students. We plan on having 100,000 face-to-face conversations this summer with Californians about high-speed rail.

Take action today.

Steve Blackledge provides policy and strategic guidance for the state PIRGs, primarily focusing on the issues of health care and consumer protection. Prior to this position, he spent five years as the legislative and policy director for CALPIRG, where his work led to new state-level policy reforms on issues ranging from health care and prescription drug costs, to Enron-style accounting scams, to protecting consumers from privacy invasions and identity theft.

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