boondoggle

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, another early supporter, recently opposed the “boondoggle” saying it wasn’t worth the money.

For Patricia Meneses, the railway is an ecological tragedy and an impractical boondoggle that sucked resources from more-critical efforts like fighting crime in her native state of Chiapas, which has been consumed by a violent gang war.

Because of induced demand, this Sisyphean struggle against congestion is an expensive boondoggle.

When the film finally premiered in competition here Thursday, it unsurprisingly polarized critics, who described it alternately as the incoherent boondoggle of a grandiose director well past his prime and an invigorating, late-life paean to the possibilities of cinema from one of the art form’s greatest practitioners.

“Instead of foisting the costs of this boondoggle project onto Californians, the state should invest in sustainable water solutions that promise to restore the Delta ecosystem, not destroy it,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parilla, executive director of the environmental advocacy group Restore the Delta.