Palo Alto's high-speed rail regrets.....

[marmar]

X-posted in the fantabulous Public Transportation/Smarth Growth Forum



Palo Alto Daily News, via MassTransitMag:



High-Speed Rail Plan Sparks Regret in Palo Alto, Calif.


By Will Oremus
Palo Alto Daily News


If Palo Alto didn't want bullet trains racing through town, it should have spoken up earlier, California High Speed Rail Authority board member Rod Diridon told the City Council on Monday.

The decision to run the 125-mph trains up the Peninsula via the Caltrain corridor was made in 2008 after years of debate, and revisiting it now could cripple the $40 billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco project.

Instead, the city should focus on how to make the train work now that it has been approved by the state's voters, Diridon said. The rail authority has heard the city's desire to study running the line underground, and it will examine that possibility, he added. No decisions about the specifics of the tracks' design will be made until after an environmental review.

After unanimously endorsing the high-speed rail plan last fall, Palo Alto officials are struggling with its potential impacts. One possible alignment would put the tracks on a 20-foot-high concrete platform so the trains wouldn't intersect with cross streets. Residents, inflamed by the prospect of a "Berlin Wall" dividing their neighborhoods, have been packing public meetings on the topic. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=8091

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. BANANA.

Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

Way to go Palo Alto.

I am REALLY glad I don't live in California anymore. It seems some residents of that state want what they can't have and when a reasonable solution is proposed, it's not accepted because the loudest voices shout BANANA.

[TahitiNut]

2. It was Menlo Park, Atherton, and the rest of the peninsula towns that blocked BART.

Fuck 'em. Let them east shit and die. :grr: Goddmaned myopic NIMBY assholes.

[KamaAina]

6. Palo Alto is just across the line in Santa Clara County

San Mateo County (everything between Palo Alto and SF) blocked BART, preventing it from reaching SFO airport, which is located there, for a decade or two before a compromise could be worked out.

Santa Clara actually has its own light rail system centered around San Jose; it goes as far north as Mountain View. Connecting it to BART has been talked about since dinosaurs (and I) walked the earth out there, with no results. :eyes:

edit: also discussed at our Public Transportation and Smart Growth Group.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=398&topic_id=576&mesg_id=576

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. Man, bay area public transportation is a mess.

I remember the first time I moved out there, when I was about 19... No car, no way to get around except public transportation. I bought a book that was a guide to the public transit systems in the bay area. It was 100 pages long! I've seen simpler transit interconnects between entire countries in Europe than what happens in the bay area. Oh, how I wish you could just take BART anywhere. Commuting SF -> Sunnyvale for me involved MUNI in SF, Caltrain down the Peninsula, then VTA from Mountain View. Three different systems with no coordination of fares or anything else. Gaah, the frustration!

[TahitiNut]

10. Yes, I know. And Palo Alto has benefited greatly from CalTrain, too.

:shrug:

San Jose's light rail was brain-damaged ... and probably still is. The failure to have an INTEGRATED and consistent regional mass transit solution (i.e BART) has crippled the area ... but mostly the "working poor" (which is the intention, imho).

[madrchsod]

3. underground tracks in a state that has frequent earthquakes

makes perfect sense does`t it....

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. Makes as much sense as sticking the thing up on pylons. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

7. Monorail!

[KamaAina]

11. BART is largely underground

through SF, Berkeley and most of Oakland. Most of the rest is overhead.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. Oh, Good Christ.

I used to live a block from the Caltrain tracks in Palo Alto. The *existing* tracks are already a "berlin wall" separating neighborhoods. And they run along a heavily traveled street that was, at least during the daytime, much louder than the trains.

[NuttyFluffers]

8. ah, them again...

almost as bad as Marin Co's desire for zero growth. beautiful region, i admit. but the traffic and deterioration from the 'zero growth' crowd is now being felt; it's utterly miserable going up and down the peninsula. last time i slipped into Marin's Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Ronhert Park area i was shocked at how it was so much a throwback to the 70s -- except deteriorating from natural decay. some areas are naturally stunning in beauty, but just like the madness of Santa Cruz "Build nothing anywhere!" rules nearby the beach led to decay and ugliness, i fear the same will befall these regions in a decade or two if these people cannot be reasoned with. their stick-in-the-mud attitude is killing these areas by sloth and stasis.

entropy will win out, hence Zero Growth therefore must equal Decay. some people cannot see that...

[lib2DaBone]

12. I Hate to tell you..but gasoline is going back up to $5 a gallon.

The Jerks in Palo Alto will wish the day to return that they turned down fast, efficient rail.

California used to be progressive, smart and on the cutting edge of every thing? What the hell happened?

Today.. California is so far right, it's run by Prop 8 goons and Gov Ahhnold,.... it's not worth saving. I canceled my vacation recently.

I really wanted to go to the Jazz Festival in Monterey this year. I have a special place in my heart for that event,and I really miss Carmel... but I just can't swing it this year.