Imagine taking a high-speed train from a multi-modal transportation hub near Lindbergh Field to Anaheim in less than an hour. After a smooth ride through Southern California, now imagine boarding a magnetically suspended bullet train from Anaheim to Las Vegas that arrives in less time than it would take to fly there. Transit like this has been a dream since the 1970s. High-speed rail advocates reached out to publicly articulate some of their visions Nov. 12 during an open house/forum featuring a number of design panelists who envisaged at Point Loma Nazarene University’s Brown Chapel. The event, hosted by the Design Innovation Institute (DII), centered around a presentation of future design possibilities for a high-speed rail system connecting major California cities. The DII is a non-profit educational organization that focuses on interdisciplinary design projects. “This [forum] is to get a beginning idea of what the possibilities are, rather than worry about the pros and cons right now,” said Douglas Rowe, a DII representative and board member. The panel was made up of economic, engineering, architectural and business experts who discussed needs and potential benefits of an integrated transportation system for the estimated $10 billion rail project that is expected to create about 130,000 additional jobs, according to California High Speed Rail officials. Representatives of the California High Speed Rail Authority — the body responsible for building the 2008 voter-approved Proposition 1A project — did not attend the forum. Panelists included Eric Anderson, a project manager and architect who helped design the Denver Union Station Multi-Modal Hub. Anderson has proposed a 16-acre state-of-the-art Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC). The facility in Orange would potentially connect to Las Vegas via high-speed, magnetically levitated bullet train. In addition to keynote speaker and author Richard Farson, other panelists included University of San Diego economics professor Alan Gin; transportation designer James McJunkin; urban designer and architect Rich Flierl; Harry Watkins, Point Loma Nazarene University professor of strategy and sustainability at the Fermanian School of Business; and head of the American Magline Group, Neil Cummings. Cummings proposes building the magnetically levitated (maglev) line from Anaheim to Las Vegas similar to lines currently operating in Shanghai, China and at London’s Heathrow Airport. Cummings said it would also be possible to extended a future maglev line further east across the nation but didn’t offer any specifics on such a project. Flierl questioned the future of the urban sprawl that is the proverbial American Dream of a house, two-car garage and white picket fence. “Is the American Dream over?” Fleirl asked to a handful of design students and audience members. Some audience members agreed the American Dream is changing with the demographics of the nation and with the demands of having more single people living in compact cities, Fleirl said. More single people, he said, may demand a “fully connected transit urbanism.” But lofty, high-level conceptual problems presented at the meeting were met with some skepticism by audience member Elyse Lowe, executive director of Move San Diego. Move San Diego is a non-profit organization that works to get better mass transit for the San Diego region. “I like the idea of a high-speed rail but I think that’s 40 years down the line,” Lowe said. “What are we going to do right now to get people out of their cars and into … walkable neighborhoods?” And with the freedom that comes with having a car, getting the public to take more public transit or shooing pedestrians into “walkable” neighborhoods — where all needs Jcan be met within a 10-minute walk to such things as the corner market — might run counter to every mass transportation planner’s dream. Panelists suggested the promise of a speedy train to Las Vegas might stimulate enough support to get the public on board with that dream.