Will there be a repeat of the 2008 election?

The disturbing (but unsurprising) revelation that the project is now underfunded by an estimated $100 billion should stimulate a serious and concentrated examination of its future.

Even before the state’s voters unwisely approved $10 billion in construction bonds to jump-start the rail work that is supposed to link San Francisco (using the Peninsula’s Caltrain tracks on one urban segment) and Los Angeles, there were plenty of warnings that the entire notion was pie-in-the-sky.

Today, the skeptics are coming out in droves. That $100 billion figure could well be low. In any event, money to build out the project simply isn’t there. The financial plan, as it has been all along, is uncertain and based on wildly optimistic assumptions, few of which have come to fruition.

Currently, the most significant construction is taking place in the thinly-populated Central Valley where a 171-mile rail section is being build from Merced to Bakersfield.

Naturally, it’s over budget and completion (assuming it actually gets finished) has been delayed. More money is needed to get the job done.

There’s the crux of the problem: Cash. Where is it going to come from? Taxpayers, of course. State and federal dollars are up for grabs. Both of those governmental entities have been slow (and lately reluctant) to continue to funnel hefty sums to a project littered with question marks.

So where else might the high-speed enthusiasts (labor unions, certain politicians, lobbyists, construction firms) find the money needed to keep this bloated albatross afloat?

It has been suggested that, in the end, desperate rail boosters will have to return to California’s voters for more bond money.

In other words, it would be a repeat of the 2008 campaign. Have we learned our lesson? It’s far from clear. Trusting the state’s electorate to make the logical and prudent decision would be a fool’s errand at this point.

We’ve seen this movie before.

SIX NEW HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES: Six individuals will be inducted into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame on the evening of June 22 at the San Mateo County History Museum in downtown Redwood City.

The 2023 inductees are:

David Bakhtiari: A Serra High School graduate; he is a star offensive lineman with the National Football League’s Green Bay Packers.

Nicole Quigley-Borg: An alum of Capuchino High School and College of San Mateo; she is the head coach of CSM’s state championship softball program.

Horace Hinshaw: A sports journalism institution in Pacifica; he has written and edited for the coastal community’s newspaper for more than a half-century.

Mike Lewis: A longtime track and field coach at the College of San Mateo; he has developed dozens of state- and nationally-ranked athletes.

Eddie Mack: An outstanding athlete at San Mateo High School and College of San Mateo; he became a ground-breaking track and field legend at Cal Poly after World War II.

Maddy Price: A Menlo School alum; she is a world-class track and field standout who competed for the Canadian national team in the most recent Summer Olympic Games.

The Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame, founded in 1989, honors accomplished local sports figures. The Hall of Fame’s collection of 300 plaques is displayed at the museum.

For ticket information for the June event contact the museum at (650) 299-0104. All proceeds will benefit the work of the San Mateo County Historical Association that oversees the museum and its associated enterprises.

FIRST COCKROACH IN THE CELLAR: In all of the understandable tumult and angst surrounding the shocking collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, pundits had a field day expounding on the future of the high-tech/biotech banking industry. One wry fellow summed up the situation thusly, “I think this could be the first cockroach in the cellar.” If he’s correct, the problem is worse than first imagined.

Email John Horgan at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.