California leaders mum on $1B high-speed rail detour aimed at preserving disgraced labor leader’s memorial

California taxpayers may be on the hook for a roughly $1 billion detour project as part of the state’s new high-speed rail construction meant to prevent disruption of a monument honoring the disgraced labor leader Cesar Chavez.

Despite tearing down and vacating memorials for Chavez, top California lawmakers did not immediately respond when asked if taxpayers in their state should still be on the hook for a roughly billion dollar detour project meant to prevent the state’s new high-speed rail from coming near the monument nestled in the mountains. The detour, according to 2020 estimates from the California High Speed Rail Authority, would cost taxpayers close to $1 billion when accounting for inflation.

California leaders, universities and beyond immediately began stripping honors they had bestowed on the late labor leader after news of him sexually abusing and grooming minors and adults, including one girl who was as young as 13 at the time of the abuse and another who became pregnant twice following their encounters.

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The Chavez-founded labor union, United Farm Workers, called the allegations “profoundly shocking” and decided earlier this year to cancel its upcoming annual celebrations honoring him. Meanwhile, the César Chavez Foundation opted to do the same, describing the allegations as “disturbing” and noting they were “deeply shocked and saddened.”

The Chavez Foundation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, successfully lobbied for the roughly $1 billion detour known as the “Refined César E. Chávez National Monument Design Option,” which moved the high-speed rail track roughly three-quarters of a mile from the Chavez monument’s boundary. The monument, part of the National Park Service, is a sprawling 187 acres and includes Chavez and his wife’s burial spots. It is also reportedly the location where Chavez founded his labor movement.

The monument already sits along a key transportation corridor with a single track looping around the site that carries dozens of freight trains a day. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the train creates a constant rumble for those walking around the site.

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“I have been to the monument,” Adriana Rizzo, a member of Californians for Electric Rail, told the San Francisco Chronicle. She noted it “is right next to a freight corridor” leading her to question “why this quieter, less-polluting train would have to be invisible.”

“This is a billion dollars we don’t have. There are a lot of other things we need. If there is a better route, we’re always open,” California High-Speed Rail Authority board director, Ernest Camacho, said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Martha Escutia, another board director, reportedly said she is “always willing to reopen current commitments to ensure we get the best savings for taxpayers.”

Estimates for the high-speed rail project have been north of $200 billion, but the rail authority has challenged those estimates, telling CBS47 and KSEE24 the estimate is closer to $125 billion.

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Fox News Digital reached out to top California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, to inquire whether there should even be a debate over whether to get rid of the detour plans, particularly when many of them have taken actions to strip honors and memorials to the disgraced labor leader. However, none of them replied in time for publication.