Streetcar Project for Downtown a Vision without Funding... Yet (Source: LAist)

Link: Streetcar Project for Downtown a Vision without Funding... Yet - LAist

Streetcar Project for Downtown a Vision without Funding... Yet


Photo by LA Wad via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr

Yesterday the nonprofit that has taken the lead to build a streetcar in downtown Los Angeles by 2014 held a public meeting to update the community on the latest developments and present the options they could take next. LA Wad at MetroRiderLA attended the meeting and heard some interesting facts:

The meeting was a “thinking out loud” session, as the hosts stressed that there is no funding sources, no operations plan or any official commitment from either the city or L.A. Streetcar Inc. to hold to the project timeline. Despite this seeming like a daydream, the streetcar workshop was professional in its presentation material, above right, and the knowledge of the project’s leaders.

A Broadway streetcar is estimated to cost $95 million to build, with $18 million included as a contingency. Annual operating costs are projected at $4 million to $6 million a year. Again, an operator has not been selected since Los Angeles Streetcar does not know if it would turn the project over to LADOT or Metro if it is completed. Schibuola indicated that Metro has the know-how and equipment to maintain rail cars and track, but of course Metro would also be expensive.

Three conceptual routes were released earlier this month and it seems most business owners are in support of this project as well as downtown councilmembers Jan Perry and Jose Huizar. The conceptual routes basically travel between L.A. Live and the Walt Disney Concert Hall via South Park and the Broadway/Hills corridors.

By Zach Behrens in News on July 30, 2009 11:45 AM

At Least the Above-Grade Tracks Are Quiet (Source: California High Speed Rail Blog)

Link: California High Speed Rail Blog: At Least the Above-Grade Tracks Are Quiet

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
At Least the Above-Grade Tracks Are Quiet

So the Peninsula is having a hard time making up its mind - do they dislike above-grade tracks more than they dislike the loud horns that are an inherent part of at-grade passenger rail?

It’s not just you — Caltrain’s horns are indeed louder and the transit agency is working hard to tweak its “toots” and “tweets” to bring the noise level down and keep in line with federal law at the same time.

Federal regulations require the horns to produce distinct, separate and sequential blasts and a recent safety inspection revealed the horns were not making the unique “toot” and “tweet.”...

Caltrain moved the horns to the underside of locomotives and cab cars in response to previous complaints from the community.

But since the powerful air horns weren’t making the distinctive “toots” and “tweets” the horns have returned to their original location on top of the trains.


I can see why this would rile up the neighbors. The train horns are already pretty loud, as we demonstrated back in May:

And here's one of many videos of above-grade HSR, in this case an AVE trainset in Catalonia:

Which one would you rather live next to? I found it instructive that in this video, the barking dog was louder and more persistent than the passing train. Sure, sure, the dog was probably closer to the videocamera than the train, but that would be the experience of most residents along the corridor, who will live closer to passing cars, barking dogs, teenagers blasting loud music, etc, than they'd live to a far quieter train structure that is grade separated using electric trainsets.

The horns are clearly getting noticed:

Burlingame resident Lynn Hawthorne said her entire neighborhood has noticed the louder horns.

“It’s just terrible. The horns got much louder. I live two blocks from the track but it feels like I’m living on the tracks when the train passes,” Hawthorne said. “I’ve got double-pane windows but I might as well not have windows at all.”


You just don't hear this from people living next to above-grade high speed tracks. HSR trains aren't silent, and we're not claiming they are. But neither are they anything close to this loud. It's instead an occasional "woosh" that won't sound appreciably louder than the truck that just rumbled down my street here in Monterey.

Which brings me to the real issue here. Living in a city means dealing with noise. It is right to want to minimize the most offending and loud noises. But you can't eliminate it entirely, especially when your community is built around a major passenger rail corridor.

Despite the fact that the Caltrain corridor has been handling passenger trains for much longer than any resident along the route has been alive, there are still people living there who seem to think they can make the train corridor silent and invisible. That's just not possible, unless these cities have billions of dollars lying around to spend on a tunnel. So instead you should find ways to ensure that the trains are well-integrated into the community, including finding ways to minimize the noise.

Above-grade tracks are the most cost-effective way to do this - and they come with the added benefit of making what is already an extremely dangerous corridor much safer by separating the trains and the cars and people passing by the tracks.

In short, if folks in Burlingame are upset at the horns, they should be asking their city councilmembers and city staff why they've joined with Menlo Park and Atherton to fight the above-grade solution that can affordably solve this rather loud problem.
Posted by Robert Cruickshank at 9:13 PM

Peninsula residents, businesses going bonkers over louder Caltrain horns (Source: Inside Bay Area)

Link: Peninsula residents, businesses going bonkers over louder Caltrain horns - Inside Bay Area

Peninsula residents, businesses going bonkers over louder Caltrain horns

By Mike Rosenberg

San Mateo County Times
Posted: 07/29/2009 05:10:34 PM PDT
Updated: 07/29/2009 08:22:30 PM PDT

Burlingame mother Grace Alicea never imagined one of the most formidable obstacles in completing her summer college courses would prove to be a "crazy, siren-like" horn that blasts through her home dozens of times per day.

Alicea's political science classes at the College of San Mateo involve a heavy homework load, which she tries to complete at night so she can enroll at Notre Dame de Namur University this fall.

So she was alarmed when Caltrain officials moved their locomotives' air horns to the top of their trains last week, which suddenly amplified the volume and range of the warning honks without notice or explanation. Alicea lives by the Oak Grove Avenue crossing, one of 44 intersections by which Caltrain engineers must sound the horn.

"It's like it's in your house," said Alicea. "There's so much homework, my teacher says, 'Do it at nighttime.' "... But you can't even hear yourself when it comes through and your windows are open."

During the past week, Caltrain's customer service center has been flooded with calls from residents and business owners wondering why the horns were suddenly so deafening.

The change occurred after a routine internal investigation revealed the horns were not making the distinct "tweet and toot" train sound required by federal regulators, said spokeswoman Christine Dunn.

The horns have no volume control, and Dunn said the agency is investigating how to muffle the sound while still meeting
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Federal Railroad Administration requirements. For now, residents and businesses along the tracks are stuck searching for earplugs.

"You actually feel it in your eardrums," said Kieran Mannix, owner of Big E Automotive next to the Ninth Avenue crossing in San Mateo. "I've started putting my fingers in my ears, and I've never done that. I can see it doing damage to people's ears."

The louder horns are not just an annoyance or a potential health hazard; they have also begun impacting businesses, whose rush hour typically corresponds with Caltrain's busy commute-time schedule.

Mannix and the owners of Sibby's Cupcakery, which is also next to the Ninth Avenue crossing, said they have to put customers on hold when the train goes by. Customers on the phone say they can hear the train coming, and those who show up in person have also begun complaining about the noise, they said.

"I literally have to drop my spatula for a minute and just cringe, it's so loud," said Gina Wood, who works at Sibby's.

Marsha Jurasin, who lives four blocks away from the Burlingame Caltrain tracks, said the horns are the loudest they've been in the 26 years she's resided in the city.

"It wakes me up at night, which usually I don't wake up from the train," Jurasin said.

Jim Evans, president of Burlingame-based Five Chime Consultants, said he has asked Caltrain to install the same horn formerly used by the Southern Pacific Railroad.

"In my opinion, a locomotive horn needs to produce a noticeable but pleasant sound," Evans said. "The current Caltrain horns produce a loud, unpleasant noise."

Historically, Caltrain horns had actually been placed atop locomotives, but they were switched to the undercarriage many years ago in response to noise complaints, Dunn said.

Officials said they must balance the community's concerns with the need for safety, and asked for the public's patience.

The state high-speed train, which would operate on the Caltrain corridor, would eliminate the need for engineers to sound the horn at the 44 road intersections by constructing rail bridges to elevate the tracks above street level. The bullet train is still several years away, at best, from starting service, and has also caused significant uproar across the Peninsula.

Alicea, the mother and political science student, has coped with the horns by closing her house's 32 windows, which heats up her home and has only a minimal impact on the noise.

"It's just horrible," she said. "It doesn't sound like the nice little train that it used to be."

Our View: Three lines for region (Source: Pasadena Star-News)

Link: Our View: Three lines for region - Pasadena Star-News

Our View: Three lines for region
Posted: 07/28/2009 08:03:06 PM PDT

TRUE regional planning has rarely succeeded in vast Southern California. To build a mass-transit system, for example, will take multiple rail and bus lines that crisscross city and county lines. This isn't New York or Boston, where the home-to-work radius exists in tight, concentric circles. No, in Southern California, 16 million people living in five counties go every which way every day plus Sundays. Though go is a relative term. More like try to go. They mostly sit in traffic.

So, with the bar much higher than in East Coast cities, transportation planners here have tried to build a rail system that will meet the needs of spread-out, car-first Southern California and will offer real alternatives to single-car driving.

Last week, the MTA, the regional agency with the job of doling out federal, state and local dollars for building more mass transit, put off a long-range transportation plan that indeed approached a regional solution.

We're talking about a motion by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and L.A. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas to support three light-rail lines with local dollars and then leverage those funds to land matching federal dollars. We're solidly behind the pair's motion, which would allocate - in writing - monies from the recently passed Measure R sales tax to build the first phase of the Gold Line Foothill Extension from Sierra Madre Villa Avenue to Azusa/Glendora near Citrus College, the second phase of the
Eastside Extension from Atlantic Avenue near Monterey Park into or near Whittier and a Crenshaw Line (either light rail or fixed bus) from the Wilshire-Western terminus of the Red Line going south to the Green Line near LAX.

These are three lines that would move people west and south of L.A., east of East L.A. and along the foothill communities of Arcadia, Duarte, Irwindale, Azusa, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Claremont and Montclair. The motion would solidify about $875 million from Measure R to build the first Foothill extension plus maintenance yard and railcars, then use federal dollars to continue that line as planned to Montclair. San Bernardino County is looking at extending that even further into Ontario International Airport.

The regional approach from Ridley-Thomas and Antonovich came about after the MTA's L.A. representatives moved to apply for federal dollars for only Westside L.A. projects: the Downtown Regional Connector and the Westside Extension of the Red Line subway (aka "the subway to the sea"). That represents parochial thinking and should be rejected.

Under Obama administration rules, projects must be in construction or ready for construction to receive federal dollars. That would exclude those two projects.

In a not-too-shocking outcome, the MTA decided to postpone all decisions about what projects should be in its long range transportation plan. More importantly, many of the county's 88 cities demanded to know when the funds would be available and when projects would be started and completed.

The Gold Line Foothill and Eastside extensions can be built sooner rather than later. Indeed, the Foothill Gold Line is shovel-ready. It should receive federal funds for the second phase while being assured of Measure R funds for the first phase, not for completion by 2017 but by 2013, the time frame set by the folks who will build the project, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority.

The Antonovich-Ridley-Thomas motion will use a 50-50 split of local and federal funds to build these projects. This is a regional solution that needs to be approved as part of the mass transit agency's plan at its next meeting in September.

Major expansion of north Pomona Metrolink station planned (Source: DailyBulletin.com)

Link: Major expansion of north Pomona Metrolink station planned - DailyBulletin.com

Major expansion of north Pomona Metrolink station planned
Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Created: 07/28/2009 05:39:36 PM PDT

POMONA - Improvements costing about $10.5 million are being planned for the north Pomona Metrolink station.

The improvements involve lengthening and widening the station's platform, upgrading safety features and improving parking facilities, a Metrolink representative told City Council members recently.

Plans call for the project to be awarded to a contractor by the end of this year, said Darrell Maxey, director of engineering and construction for Metrolink.

The expansion of the platform will make it possible for the station to accommodate longer trains, Maxey said.

The current platform is 14 feet wide and 500 feet long and should be 23 feet and 700 feet, he said at the meeting.


The platform at the Metrolink station in north Pomona is 500 feet long, but agency officials say it now is obsolete. A $10.5 million improvement plan for the station would include extending the platform by 200 feet. (Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer)
built in 1992, "met the standards at the time," Maxey said.

Safety features such as four gates, fencing and other improvements at pedestrian crossings will also be added, Maxey said.

A station parking lot now holds 225 vehicles but so many people are using the facility that commuters are parking in neighboring streets, he said.

About 100 extra parking spaces are needed.

To expanding parking, Metrolink will use existing property to create additional parking space, he said. Equipment and storage on the site will be moved to free up the space.

Several steps must be taken before the improvement project can move forward including signing an agreement with Metro, formerly known as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is providing funding for the project, Maxey said.

The improvements also require approval by Public Utilities Commission and the city, he said.

The project is expected to take about 15 months.

City administrators said the area around the station is expected to draw attention as a place for transit-oriented development.

The area will have the Gold Line Foothill extension coming through at a future date, said Mark Lazzaretto, the city's community development director.

"We're looking at capitalizing on that," he said.

Plans call for the next phase of the Gold Line, from Pasadena to Azusa to be completed by 2013 and from Azusa to Montclair to be ready by 2017.

Lazzaretto said as part of updating the city's general plan, land use in the area around the station will be studied.

Much of the land in the area is now used for industrial purposes but changes could be made to accommodate housing and retail businesses.

Such land use changes would result in developments that appeal to people interested in increasing their use of public transportation, Lazzaretto said.

Some people may want to live in the city and use public transportation to reach jobs in other cities while others may live elsewhere and take a train to their jobs in Pomona.

Councilman Steve Atchley said he is trying to create the conditions necessary to have a Foothill Transit bus stop on Garey Avenue near the north Pomona station.

Bus stops now exist on Garey Avenue and Foothill Boulevard and at Garey and Arrow Highway.

"That's terribly inconvenient" for anyone trying to catch the Metrolink train, he said.

Steps are being taken leading to the addition of a traffic light in that area which will make it possible to have a bus stop there, Atchley said.

Downtown streetcar meeting today (Source: MetroRiderLA)

Downtown streetcar meeting today | MetroRiderLA

Downtown streetcar meeting today

Contributed by Wad on July 29th, 2009 at 3:07 am

Heard about those plans to run a streetcar along the streets of downtown Los Angeles, possibly Broadway?

If not, you can hear about them today. Los Angeles Streetcar Inc., the group leading the streetcar charge, holds an open house starting at 4 this afternoon. The group has invited Los Angeles council members Jan Perry and Jose Huizar to speak at around 6 p.m.

It is at the Bradbury Building, one of downtown’s finest architectural gems, at 304 S. Broadway, on the 5th floor. It is near the Pershing Square Red and Purple Line station, and let me just save the time and say that there are dozens of Metro and municipal buses running through downtown near there and not have to link to every schedule.

Watch for subway crews (Source: LA Observed)

Link: Watch for subway crews - LA Observed

Watch for subway crews
Kevin Roderick • July 27 2009 9:15 AM

This week's exploratory subway drilling is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at San Vicente and Gracie Allen (that's near Cedars-Sinai), Wednesday in UCLA parking lot 36 near Wilshire and Veteran, and Thursday and Friday on Wilshire just west of Irving. The drilling is part of the data collection for a draft environmental impact report on extending the subway. Community sources are saying that lot 36 has become the likely location for a Westwood station if the subway ever makes it that far west.

Subway To Sea Drilling/Meetings In WeHo

Link: WeHoNews.com:

Subway To Sea Drilling/Meetings In WeHo

Monday, July 27, 2009 – By WeHo News Staff, West Hollywood

West Hollywood, California (Monday, July 27, 2009) - As part of the environmental review analysis, Metro is continuing their ongoing and weekly effort to study conditions below the surface for the possibility of a subway to the Westside.


Click here for more information about the Subway To The Sea.

Last week, the majority of the light drilling took place in West Hollywood overnight.

Spots included San Vicente/Melrose, Santa Monica/Ogden, Santa Monica/Fairfax and Santa Monica/Sweetzer.

Crews were seen in Los Angeles along Wilshire Blvd during the day: Wilshire/La Jolla (Tues-Thur) and Wilshire/Crescent Heights (Wed-Fri).

Traffic, noise and vibration impacts will be minimal.

As exploratory drilling for the possibility of a subway to the Westside continues to take place on city streets, Metro is gearing up for another set of community meetings for updates on the project (meeting info is below).

WeHo News.

Last Spring, public meetings gathered input on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/R) process that is currently underway.

Next month, they will present a summary of what was heard at those meetings, provide updates to possible route alternatives and discuss the subway construction process if the project goes forward.

Where does the project stand today?

Back in January, the Metro Board approved two possible projects, technically "build alternatives," for further environmental review and preliminary engineering, which is currently underway.

Those two build alternatives are extending the Purple Line down Wilshire Blvd. westward and an alternative that includes the aforementioned Purple Line extension plus a Santa Monica Blvd. spur from the Hollywood/Highland Metro Red Line station that would meet up with the Purple Line on the Westside.


Click here for more information about the West Hollywood Spur of the Subway To The Sea.


WeHo News.

By law, Metro also has to study a "no build" alternative and a “Transportation Systems Management” alternative--basically, beefing up the current fleet, schedules and routes.

Once this process is over, the Metro Board will vote on their preferred alternative (many in the public hope for the Wilshire/Santa Monica one).

Then Metro will move on to a final environmental review, final engineering and construction.

Public Meetings

All meetings are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and are easily accessible by public transit. Parking is also available at all the locations.


Tuesday, August 4, 2009 | Wilshire United Methodist Church | 4350 Wilshire Boulevard | Los Angeles | Spanish & Korean translations will be provided at this meeting


WeHo News.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | Plummer Park | 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard | West Hollywood | Russian translation will be provided at this meeting.

Thursday, August 6, 2009 | Santa Monica Public Library | Multi-Purpose Room | 601 Santa Monica Blvd. | Santa Monica | Spanish translation will be provided at this meeting.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 | Beverly Hills Public Library | Auditorium | 444 N. Rexford Drive | Beverly Hills | Spanish translation will be provided at this meeting

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 | Westwood Presbyterian Church | 10822 Wilshire Blvd. | Los Angeles | Spanish translation will be provided at this meeting

Westside subway extension community updates (Source: MetroRiderLA)

Westside subway extension community updates | MetroRiderLA

Westside subway extension community updates

Contributed by Wad on July 27th, 2009 at 3:50 am

Purple Line train

Photos by Yours Truly. They can be seen on the MetroRiderLA Flickr pool.

Metro is hosting a series of meetings on what is going on with extension of the Purple Line to somewhere in the Westside, which may or may not be the sea. Note that one of these meetings is going to be in West Hollywood — a corridor far away from Wilshire but with a growing community that would like to see a Pink Line as well.

All meetings are from 6-8 p.m. For information on the project, or to request ADA-related accommodations, call 213-922-6934.

The list of meetings follows the jump. But first, a bonus link to an interesting thought: Putting a subway in L.A. would be like putting a subway in … Paris? This was written by Jarrett Walker, an Australian transit consultant who spent his college years in SoCal.

Tuesday, August 4
Wilshire United Methodist Church
4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Translation available: Spanish and Korean
Transit access: Metro lines 20, 210, 710 and 720

Wednesday, August 5
Plummer Park
7377 Santa Monica Bl., West Hollywood
Translation available: Russian
Transit access: Metro Line 4

Thursday, August 6
Santa Monica Library Multipurpose Room
601 Santa Monica Bl., Santa Monica
Translation available: Spanish
Transit access: Big Blue Bus lines 1, 2, 3/Rapid 3, 4, 5, 7/Rapid 7, 8, 9 and 10; and Metro lines 4, 20, 704, 720 and 920

Tuesday, August 11
Beverly Hills Library Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills
Translation available: Spanish
Transit access: Metro lines 14, 16/316, 20, 714, 720 and 920

Wednesday, August 12
Westwood Presbyterian Church
10822 Wilshire Blvd., West Los Angeles
Translation available: Spanish
Transit access: Big Blue Bus lines 1, 2, 8 and 12; Culver CityBus Line 6; and Metro lines 20, 720 and 920

The Multi-Pronged Attack on California HSR (Source: California High Speed Rail Blog)

California High Speed Rail Blog: The Multi-Pronged Attack on California HSR

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Multi-Pronged Attack on California HSR

Last year this blog led the fight against the staggering amounts of misinformation put out by opponents of mass transit in their effort to defeat Proposition 1A. Even though these opponents were frequently given room to spout their misleading claims in TV and print reports around the state, whereas pro-HSR forces rarely ever got that opportunity, we won the battle. Californians rejected the arguments of the HSR deniers, the people who tried to argue against the evidence that high speed rail would be a financial disaster or that it wouldn't work in California or that people would never ride the trains. The voters showed that they understood the value and need for sustainable transportation, for economic recovery, for giving Californians an alternative to soaring oil prices.

That was the easy part.

2009 has seen a different and much more challenging battle taking shape. The Reason Foundation is still out their with their talking points, but few are listening. Instead most HSR deniers, like Morris Brown, have shifted tactics. Instead of arguing against passenger rail - a losing argument in California - they are trying to play on the environmental concerns of Bay Area residents. In order to undermine high speed rail, which will be one of the most environmentally beneficial projects this state has ever seen, they have joined with misguided environmentalists to try and block the progress of California high speed rail by claiming the project as planned will harm the environment.

Environmentalists have made a deal with the devil (so to speak) and allied with people who are fundamentally opposed to high speed rail. The environmentalists in question - particularly those from the Planning and Conservation League - apparently believe that they can use the HSR deniers for their own purposes without enabling the deniers' broader attack on the HSR project. In this the environmentalists are very, very wrong. They are jeopardizing the viability of the project as a whole, are placing a parochial and small concern above the concept, and are enabling anti-environment, anti-rail arguments in order to achieve their goals.

Californians rightly want to protect their environment. They rightly want big infrastructure projects to be built affordably and properly. And even though the environmental/NIMBY alliance ultimately seeks none of that - in fact, they are pursuing methods that jeopardize those values - they are increasingly effective at spreading their misleading claims among both the public and the state legislature.

As longtime blog readers know, these criticisms of mine are not new. What is new is that the Planning and Conservation League and the BayRail Alliance, two normally progressive organizations that support environmental and mass transit projects, have allied with the vehemently anti-HSR TRANSDEF, the "Cal Rail Foundation" (and its three members), and the cities of Menlo Park and Atherton to launch a deeply misleading attack on the high speed rail project.

The centerpiece of the attack is a new website: HSR: Let's Do It Right. The site is chock full of misleading statements, and embraces messaging that will ultimately and fundamentally undermine the HSR project they claim to support.

Before taking an in-depth look at the flaws of this site, let's lay out the landscape of HSR opposition in California:

Peninsula NIMBYs. Concentrated in the Menlo Park/Atherton/Palo Alto area, these are a quite small but vocal group of well-off homeowners who are adamantly opposed to building a grade-separated railroad for Caltrain and HSR, despite the numerous safety and environmental benefits of doing so. They've been convinced that a tunnel is a better solution, but have not identified any funding source for such a ridiculously expensive solution. They have no organization, but have instead brought on board the cities of Menlo Park, Atherton, and Palo Alto to their cause.

HSR deniers. Contrary to those who criticize the use of the term, this refers to a very distinct group of people who deny the proven benefits of high speed rail and want to kill the project outright. They are called "deniers" as an analogue to global warming deniers, based on the HSR deniers' repeated use of claims about HSR's supposed lack of financial viability, its supposed inability to meet projected ridership, and/or its supposed lack of environmental benefit. They tend to be ideologically opposed to government spending and to passenger rail projects. Not all HSR opponents are HSR deniers. But HSR deniers have had a lot of success in allying with more mainstream and respectable groups to advance their cause - specifically, the NIMBYs. HSR deniers have achieved significant gains by convincing some Peninsula residents that above-grade tracks will be a horrible city-killing disaster and that a tunnel is a better alternative - despite the fact that a tunnel is too expensive to ever become reality. HSR deniers hope that NIMBYs will provide the political power they themselves lack, and kill the project when it becomes clear that there is no viable alternative to grade-separating the Caltrain corridor.

Parochial environmentalists. The state's main environmental organizations, like the Sierra Club, strongly embraced high speed rail AND worked to ensure Prop 1A was as environmentally strong as possible (particularly by writing a ban on a Los Banos station into Prop 1A). They recognized that HSR will be a revolutionary shift in California infrastructure in favor of truly sustainable transportation that helps fight global warming, reduces pollution, and grows mass transit while shrinking the ranks of automobile commuters. But a small group of environmentalists have chosen to reject these broad benefits in a fit of pique about the choice of the Pacheco Pass alignment. The Planning and Conservation League is the biggest offender here, apparently convinced that the Pacheco alignment is so horrible that it is worth risking the entire HSR project to block it. To do so they are now allying with the NIMBYs and HSR deniers.

Parochial state legislators. California's Legislature is a broken institution totally incapable of governing this state in a time of crisis. One reason for this is term limits, which encourage legislators to ignore long-term planning and focus on their own careers. This incentivizes a focus on their own districts at the expense of the state's needs. As it relates to HSR, it enables ideological opponents of HSR like Senator Roy Ashburn, a genuine HSR denier, to try and tie down the project through burdensome and unnecessary oversight rules. It also enables people who don't care about the project's stated purpose of providing sustainable intercity transit to try and use the Prop 1A money to fund pet projects in their own backyards, like Senator Alan Lowenthal. NIMBYs, HSR deniers and environmentalists are allying with both Ashburn and Lowenthal to try and kill the HSR project by running it aground on the shoals of the legislature.

All four of these groups are represented on the HSR: Let's Do It Right site. The website is an incoherent jumble of anti-HSR claims that are sometimes mutually contradictory, but together represent a formidable threat to high speed rail.

Let's have a look at some examples.

Lying About Altamont/Pacheco

The main intent of the site is to rally the public to oppose the Pacheco alignment and force its abandonment in favor of Altamont - despite the fact that the decision for Pacheco was made through a legitimate process a year ago, and despite the fact that it was ratified by voters at the November 2008 election. Their Why Altamont? page consists of this extremely dishonest graphic:



This is pretty ridiculous stuff. The notion of "fewer impacts on communities" is only true if you don't consider Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore and Tracy as communities. As I'll explain in a moment the site is full of "concern" for the "livable communities" on the Peninsula that would be harmed by HSR, but no such concern is offered here for the East Bay cities along the proposed Altamont route. There are about the same impacts on communities in the Altamont alignment - but those communities do not count, are not relevant, to the PCL and the other backers of this website.

It is true that expanding passenger rail along the Altamont corridor would help ease congestion. Which is why Prop 1A created a high speed corridor along the Altamont Pass and directs the CHSRA to spend money upgrading it for the purpose of easing congestion. But you wouldn't know that from the site or this graphic.

Sure, a shift from the Pacheco to the Altamont alignment might serve more East Bay residents. But it would come at the expense of about the same number of people in Santa Clara County and the Monterey Bay Area. Given that San José is the state's third largest city and one of the state's key economic centers, you'd think that it would have a pretty strong argument for being included on the HSR line. But you won't hear that argument on the website.

The claim of "$2 billion saved" is not sourced or proved. Given the support for Peninsula NIMBYs, the site's authors are in no position to make claims about saving money.

As to the wilderness area, this is is complete bullshit. The graphic is designed to mislead people into thinking the whole wilderness as shown on the map is under threat from HSR. It isn't. The tracks will run close to the existing Highway 152 corridor, and will go underneath Pacheco Pass State Park in a tunnel - which is conveniently not mentioned anywhere in this graphic or on the site.

Another lie is the "no sprawl effect" claim made. The graphic labels "land speculation" as possible in the Los Banos area, not informing readers that a station at Los Banos was specifically outlawed when Prop 1A passed. No station is planned on the western side of the Pacheco Pass. There IS a station planned at Gilroy, but that alone doesn't induce sprawl - unless the site's supporters think Caltrain service to Gilroy does that already. South County has its sprawl issues, but those already exist without HSR, and residents of Gilroy have already shown their willingness to oppose sprawl (fighting a planned Wal-Mart supercenter, for example).

Embracing NIMBYism

Environmentalists who actually care about doing something to stop global warming should be extremely wary before getting into bed with NIMBYs. NIMBYs around the country have fought wind turbines, solar power generators, and the transmission lines needed to bring clean, sustainable, renewable power to cities that need them. Solutions designed to protect our environment and arrest the pace of global warming will necessarily impact communities in ways some won't like. We have to weigh their objections against the dire and pressing need to act to reduce pollution and reduce carbon emissions.

The environmentalists who put the website together have thrown all such caution to the win. Desperate to stop the Altamont alignment, they are busy fueling misleading NIMBY claims that WILL get used elsewhere in the state to attack the HSR project, presumably in places where the PCL (among others) claims to support HSR - like Pleasanton.

The site includes a paged titled Visualize What Disaster Looks Like. It's the old misleading "Berlin Wall" images from Menlo Park that we debunked back in March.

But that's not the most insane and crazy element of the unholy alliance between the PCL and the NIMBYs. On the contact page, which includes the list of organizations sponsoring the site, in bright red capital letters is written the statement "REMEMBER: THE CITY YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN!"

Umm...wow. Is that a message people who supposedly support the HSR project, as the PCL and the BayRail Alliance claim, want to spread? By claiming that HSR will destroy cities, they're inviting open season on the HSR project from other cities, including those along the Altamont alignment. Does the PCL want Fresno to sue? Do they want Fullerton to sue? This is madness.

Allying With Legislative Enemies

The final lunatic aspect of the site I want to examine is their alliance with a broken legislature and in particular with legislators whose opposition to high speed rail has frequently been demonstrated. The site encourages the broken legislature to exert "oversight despite the fact that the legislature is incapable of effectively doing so until that institution is repaired and restored to functionality. There is no better way to undermine the HSR project than to make it dependent on a legislature that can no longer effectively govern the state.

Especially when the site specifically calls out for praise known HSR opponents. One of these is Senator Roy Ashburn, who tried to postpone the Prop 1A vote beyond 2008. Here's what the site has to say about Ashburn, listing the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee (emphasis mine):

Below is a list of Senators on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Note that Senators Simitian, Yee, Cedillo, Corbett, and Oropeza, along with Senator Ashburn, are on both Committees. Senator Ashburn has been very sympathetic:


Perhaps the site would like to explain WHY Ashburn has been sympathetic? That he has worked hard in the last year or so to throw as many roadblocks and obstacles in the path of HSR as he can?

Although Alan Lowenthal is not singled out for praise (yet) on the site, he is one of the leading figures in the legislature trying to use "oversight" to destroy the project. This blog has frequently demonstrated Lowenthal's desire to chop the statewide project into disconnected pieces, to create a glorified commuter rail benefiting Southern California and presumably the Bay Area (although the alliance with Peninsula NIMBYs jeopardizes that).

There are more flaws with the website in question, but I've gone on long enough as is. The above should be enough to make it clear that the folks behind that site are not interested in telling Californians the truth about the high speed rail project, and certainly aren't interested in ensuring that HSR actually gets built.

In fact, as I will demonstrate tomorrow, the Planning and Conservation League has taken a leading role in trying to undermine California's application for federal HSR stimulus funds, thus jeopardizing the financial viability of the entire project. There's much, much more to come.
Posted by Robert Cruickshank at 7:48 PM

On Track: LA Metro Supports High-Speed Trains (Source: PR-USA.net)

PR-USA.net - On Track: LA Metro Supports High-Speed Trains

On Track: LA Metro Supports High-Speed Trains

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted Thursday to support and collaborate with the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA), solidifying a partnership that will ensure greater connectivity and improved railways throughout Southern California.

"The best way to develop and expand important high-speed and intercity rail systems to their greatest potential is by working in close coordination with our neighbors," said Mayor Curt Pringle, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority and Mayor, City of Anaheim. "The health of California's economy and its environment is highly dependent on all regions working together because of the proximity and interdependence of our major cities."

The policy position comes as officials at the state Department of Transportation (Caltrans) work to coordinate rail plans to qualify for federal funding for high-speed rail in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, known as the stimulus bill. The Metro Board's position placed an emphasis on the Los Angeles-Anaheim Section, a move to further bolster the State's High-Speed Rail application, which includes a request to fund that section.

"There is no question these agencies need to be working together," said Richard Katz, who serves on both the Metro and the High-Speed Rail Authority boards. "By taking this vote, Metro is helping to set the stage for a high-speed rail system that will fully integrate with regional transit systems in Los Angeles, greatly improving mobility and helping to relieve Southern California's transportation woes."

Metro is the latest in a number of regional transportation agencies coordinating with High-Speed Rail in Southern California. HSRA currently has memorandums of understanding in place with the Southern California Association of Governments, Riverside County Transportation Commission, San Diego Association of Governments, San Bernardino Associated Governments, and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). OCTA has provided more than $7 million in funding over the last two years, which has helped to propel the Anaheim-Los Angeles Section of the system forward by clearly demonstrating local support.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is responsible for building high-speed train service covering 800 miles at speeds up to 220 MPH. Voters approved Proposition 1A on the November 2008 ballot, putting a down payment on what will be America's first high-speed train system. By linking all major cities in California with a state of the art new transportation option, California's high-speed train system will increase mobility while cutting air pollution and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Operating the system will create an annual surplus of more than $1 billion. For route information, visual simulations and more, please visit www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov.

Source: California High-Speed Rail Authority

Link: More 'Subway to the Sea' Exploratory Drilling Next Week - LAist

More 'Subway to the Sea' Exploratory Drilling Next Week

Metro is continuing to study the conditions below the ground surface as they prepare an environmental impact report for the possibility of placing a subway line or two in the Westside. Next week, exploratory drilliing with minimal sound, vibration and traffic effects, will take place at San Vicente/Gracie Allen, Wilshire/West of Irving and at UCLA Parking Lot 36 near Wilshire/Veteran. Next month, there will be five public meetings where the public can hear updates and ask questions.

Yesterday’s Takeaway: Give It Another Month, But Likely, Two (Source: I Will Ride Blog)

Yesterday’s Takeaway: Give It Another Month, But Likely, Two « I Will Ride Blog

Yesterday’s Takeaway: Give It Another Month, But Likely, Two
Posted by Albert

The Metro Board of Directors’ monthly board meeting took place yesterday – and while the San Gabriel Valley residents, business community and elected officials showed up with enthusiasm, many ended up leaving half-way through the meeting with that feeling that’s the opposite of enthusiasm (pick any antonym).

If people were to assume that Measure R was passed to primarily fund light-rail projects, they’d be partially right. The biggest transit discussion that’s been going on since Measure R had passed had been on the Subway to the Sea, Gold Line, Expo Line, Green Line, regional connector, etc. – so much discussion that, despite the Long Range Transportation Plan workshops and focus on Measure R at previous Board meetings, the highway plans that were also a part of the voter-approved Measure R were apparently lost in the mix. According to the Pasadena Star-News, “75 of 88 county cities registered complaints about the fact that the plan would not estimate an end date for construction on numerous [highway] projects that will be funded by Measure R.” So because Metro hasn’t had the time to thoroughly discuss and analyze the highway plans, the vote on the LRTP – which sets the funding and construction timelines for projects under Metro’s control – has been delayed once again. This time, for another month or two.

While a delay on finalizing the LRTP isn’t anything new, it definitely seems to be taking its toll, not just with the public, but with the Metro Board of Directors themselves. Richard Katz remarked, “MTA never fails to miss an opportunity to delay… we ought to be working around the clock to get it done by August.” If a vote does happen in August, as Streetsblog LA points out, it would happen at a special workshop on August 13 – seeing as how there is no regular board meeting scheduled for that month. This would give Metro approximately three weeks to complete a thorough discussion of the highway plans and then a final vote on the LRTP. Not to say anything about the abilities of the Metro staff, but three weeks seems a bit (just a bit) optimistic for any staff of any abilities with a plan of this magnitude. Metro staffers themselves thought it would be difficult to be ready for the Aug. 13 meeting. And then, there’s the politics. So our best bet would be September.

If you’re in the San Gabriel Valley and you’re feeling a bit letdown – our advice is: don’t. Remember, the Gold Line Foothill Extension is slated to receive the $875 million in funding in the latest version of the Long Range Transportation Plan toward construction of the line to Azusa. Our last remaining goal is to have Metro change the operational date of that line from 2017 to 2013. Maybe this can be achieved by September?

For blow-by-blow coverage of yesterday’s meeting, you can revisit our Twitter feed @iwillride. If you’d like a breakdown of the other topics discussed at the meeting, Streetsblog LA has an extensive write-up on some other loud issues that were also taking center-stage.