California's Decline: LA's Unfinished Airport Train Symbolizes State's Malaise
In a piece for Monocle, Colin Nagy contends that California is experiencing a managed decline, exemplified by the postponed Skylink airport train in Los Angeles, which was initially scheduled for 2023 but has faced $500 million in cost overruns. He reminisces about a vibrant California in the 1980s. Upon his return in 2020, he observed that while the natural beauty remained, civic confidence had diminished. In affluent neighborhoods of LA, the sounds of sirens and helicopters are prevalent, affordable housing is limited, and infrastructure remains aspirational. He points to figures like Joe Rogan relocating to Austin and Miami, contrasting California's downturn with Dubai's swift growth. Nagy criticizes state leaders for depending on Big Tech tax income and reflects on LAX's modernity compared to Taipei's efficiency.
Key facts
- Skylink airport train in Los Angeles missed its debut after cost overruns of an estimated $500 million (€428 million).
- Skylink was first scheduled to run in 2023.
- The train resembles Disneyland's Monorail, opened in 1971 in Anaheim.
- Colin Nagy grew up in northern California in the early 1980s and returned in 2020 after 20 years away.
- Dubai built a driverless metro network in roughly the time LA has spent not finishing an airport shuttle.
- A railway connecting Dubai and Abu Dhabi is soon to open.
- California has run for 15 years on tax revenue from Big Tech company employees.
- Nagy landed recently at LAX from a modern, gleaming terminal in Taipei.
- The article is by Colin Nagy, a Monocle contributor.
- The piece is an opinion piece published on Monocle.
Entities
Artists
- Colin Nagy
Institutions
- Monocle
- Disneyland
- Big Tech
Locations
- Los Angeles
- California
- Anaheim
- Austin
- Miami
- Sacramento
- Abu Dhabi
- Dubai
- UAE
- Taipei
- LAX
Sources
- Monocle —