[SunnyvaleWest] Fw: Correction

1 view

Skip to first unread message

Gopal Patangay

unread,

Jul 12, 2009, 9:30:54 PM7/12/09

to Sunnyvale West

Hello SWNA Friends,

I'm forwarding the email from The association fighting for the modification of the High Speed Train routes in San Jose to San Francisco corridor by the government.
Please read the forwarded email and contact the senator, Governor as required.

With Regards,
Gpal Patangay.
Sunnyvale West Neighborhood Association.

--- On Thu, 7/9/09, Kevyn Allard <kevyn@corpwellness.com> wrote:

>
> Senator
> Simitian’s phone number is:
> 1-916-651-4011. Thank you,
> Kevyn
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> A few days ago I sent news about a
> provision that was included
> in the state budget that requires the Rail Authority to
> analyze alignments
> other than the Caltrain corridor. This was a huge
> victory but we need
> your help to keep it.
>
>
>
> Apparently Ron Diridon went in to
> see Senator Simitian and told
> him to get rid of that provision. Simitian apparently said
> he would even though
> he was previously agreeable to it. It will take a number of
> days to remove
> – it’s complicated, because it is in the
> proposed budget –
> but we really need to get everybody activated – and
> put the pressure on
> so that language stays in the state budget.
>
>
>
>
> If you haven’t already done so
> – PLEASE make phone
> calls, write email messages, and talk to anyone you know
> who might be able to
> get to the Governor and the Legislature. The pressure
> points are Governor
> Swarzenagger and Senator Simitian. Ask them to keep the
> language in the
> state budget that requires the Rail Authority to analyze
> routes other than the
> Caltrain corridor. We have about 4 days to do
> this.
>
>
>
> Governor
> Swarzenagger
>
> 916-445-2841
>
>
> Email:
> http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
>
>
>
>
> Senator
> Simitian
>
> 916-651-4006
>
> senator.simitian@senate.ca.gov
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks much,
>
>
>
> Kevyn
>
>
>
> Controversy
> erupts over budget provision requiring more study for
> high-speed rail
>
> http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12765426?nclick_check=1&forced=true
>
>
>
>
> By Paul Rogers
>
> Mercury News
>
> Posted: 07/06/2009 08:13:46 PM PDT
>
> Updated: 07/06/2009 08:39:38 PM PDT
>
>
>
> An obscure sentence inserted deep in a massive state budget
> bill could delay
> construction of the proposed high-speed rail route from San
> Jose to San
> Francisco, potentially costing the region more than $1
> billion in federal
> stimulus money, high-speed rail planners said Monday.
>
>
>
> The language requires that as a condition of getting $139
> million next year from
> the state budget to hire staff and engineering firms, the
> state High-Speed Rail
> Authority must study "alternative alignments" to
> the route along the
> Caltrain tracks, approved by the authority last July.
>
>
>
> Though the bill has passed both chambers of the state
> Legislature, its fate is
> uncertain because it remains part of the bigger state
> budget imbroglio.
>
>
>
> Some Peninsula residents have opposed the route, citing
> noise and construction
> of concrete bridges and overpasses near neighborhoods. Palo
> Alto, Atherton and
> Menlo Park have sued the high-speed rail agency seeking to
> reopen the process.
>
>
>
> On Monday, Rod Diridon, a former Santa Clara County
> supervisor who sits on the
> high-speed rail board, said that restudying the route could
> jeopardize federal
> stimulus money that requires eligible projects have
> construction started by
> September 2012.
>
>
>
> "If it were to stay in, only our corridor in the whole
> state would be
> penalized, and all the federal stimulus money would go to
> Southern
> California," Diridon said.
>
>
>
> The San Jose-to-San Francisco route will be seeking $1.3
> billion in stimulus
> money,
>
>
>
> Diridon said. Two other proposed high-speed-rail routes
> near Los Angeles also
> will be seeking similar amounts.
>
>
>
> Adding to the drama Monday was that neither Diridon or any
> other member of the
> high-speed rail board said they knew who wrote the
> provision requiring the
> extra study.
>
>
>
> "We're all mystified. The whole board was caught
> by surprise how the
> language got in the bill," Diridon said.
>
>
>
> State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto whose
> constituents are most upset by
> the route said he's not the author.
>
>
>
> "That's not my language. I didn't have
> anything to do with it," he
> said.
>
>
>
> Political skulduggery may not be to blame. In the rush to
> finish the budget,
> legislative staff members crafted the new requirement based
> on what Peninsula
> residents who testified at hearings and senators seemed to
> want, said Brian
> Annis, transportation budget consultant on the state Senate
> budget committee.
>
>
>
> "We were incorporating many different comments and
> issues that staff and
> legislators were involved in," Annis said. "As
> far as the specific
> language, we drafted something we thought was
> workable."
>
>
>
> The language is included in a massive budget bill that the
> state Senate
> approved June 30 and that the Assembly approved Wednesday.
> Its fate remains
> unclear, however, because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has
> promised to veto any
> budget bill that raises taxes or doesn't solve all of
> the state's $26 billion
> deficit.
>
>
>
> Last July, after 11 years of hearings, meetings and
> studies, the high-speed
> rail authority approved a statewide environmental impact
> report that called for
> building a series of bullet trains connecting San Francisco
> to Los Angeles. The
> trains would move at speeds of up to 220 mph by 2020,
> similar to systems in Japan
> and France.
>
>
>
> California voters then approved $9.95 billion in bonds last
> November to pay the
> first part of what could be a $45 billion project.
>
>
>
> A second environmental study of each segment still needs to
> be completed. That
> study for the San Jose-San Francisco route, which involves
> more public
> hearings, is expected to be finished by late 2011. Any
> additional study of new
> routes, Diridon argues, would delay that report.
>
>
>
> Groups who oppose sending bullet trains up the
> Peninsula and are pushing
> for them to enter the Bay Area through Altamont Pass and
> come across the bay
> via a new bridge or underwater tube said Monday that
> they didn't
> originate the controversial language, but support it.
>
>
>
> "It is appropriate. You don't just pick a path and
> say if you look at alternatives
> it will take too long. We are spending billions of dollars,
> we should do it
> right," said Tina Andolina, of the Planning and
> Conservation League, an
> environmental group in Sacramento.
>
>
>
> As members of the high-speed rail board write letters to
> the governor and other
> state leaders, Sacramento insiders say the requirement to
> study more routes
> potentially could be removed later, either by
> Schwarzenegger vetoing the bill
> or by other parliamentary maneuvers.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>