Hon.Mayor and councilmembers:

Soon we'll know whether the Caltrain Corridor will remain the chosen
route for High Speed Rail. In addition the Bay Area Rail Plan will be
finalized by July of '07.

The Railroad Division of the Public Utilities Commission has commented
on the need to address the railroad concerns in all development in Menlo
Park, included in the Linfield Oaks and Derry projects. The E.I.R. for
Derry stated that the residents would be exposed to the train-related
pollution.

Diesel is cancer-causing. The exceedingly high noise levels are not
compatible with housing. Transit housing is recommended one-quarter
mile for light rail and one-half mile for heavy rail. The E.I.S
released by the Federal Railroad Administration at www.fra.dot.gov noted
that there was a "severe" impact to human beings 660 feet from the
tracks and a "serious" impact over 1,000 feet away, from the horn blasts
alone.

In your deliberations on the center city design and the project
priorities for the coming year acknowledging the existence of the
railroad and its pollution, danger and safety issues thereabout should
be number one on the list.

At the Joint Powers Board Meeting this past Thursday, March 1st. we
learned that there is a meeting planned with Ian McAvoy and the managers
of Redwood City, Menlo Park and Atherton re Caltrain.

In the past city managers have been notorious in their neglect of the
residents around railroads and blame the victims for moving near the
tracks. Non-disclosure of the railroad pollution by the city and real
estate interests has been documented. Any meetings by city officials
with Caltrain staff should be open to the public as, belatedly, were the
meetings among mayors who have been unresponsive to petitions and pleas
for relief of the train-related pollution.

The mayor of Mountain View once wrote to a board member of the
complaints of wheel- squeal and horn blasts. Last month a Sunnyvale
neighborhood association president went before the board regarding the
bell-clanging and idling of the locomotive engines. The rattling and
vibration from the freights is intolerable.
In addition to the petitions with hundreds of names, fifty people from
up and down the line went before the JPB to complain of the stress of
the horn blasts.

The Congress of the United States, recognizing the health and safety
issues of residents, amended the Swift Act to allow cities (as lead
agencies) to establish quiet zones at their railroad crossings.
Developers might be expected to pay for the supplementary safety
measures and, certainly mitigation measures should be taken before any
additional housing is added, especially in light of the plans of
Caltrain and possibly high speed rail.

Grants for mitigation measures for relief of existing residents should
be sought.

Under the requirements of CEQA, NEPA, etc. mitigation must occur first.
Continuing to ignore the public health and safety issues all along the
railroad will have disastrous and expensive results.

Please have Kent Steffens notify us and the general public when these
meetings with Caltrain will take place. Certainly, there should be
councilmembers. cognizant of the importance of learning what goes on
behind closed doors, present at all times.

Preferably, this should not be a councilmember such as Richard Cline who
claims that he will lie down on the tracks if there are separations from
cars.

I could write a book now about the negligence of Menlo Park city
officials
regarding public health issues in my 45 years of residence but will
leave it for another time. Please get your priorities straight.
Providing child care and activities around the railroad and heavily
travelled streets is not very smart.

A tunnel just for bicyclists under the tracks was bitterly opposed. The
Homer tunnel in Palo Alto costs millions and its construction, even in a
commercial area was disastrous. This issue is back again in MP as a
priority for the Bicycle Commission. Please put this to rest until all
the plans for the railroad are complete. You have before you an
expenditure to hire a consultant re the location for a tunnel. This
should be tabled.

There is a JPB draft report of the feasibility study and designs for
grade separations from Redwood City to Menlo Park. This is going out
for printing and will be available by April.

It would behoove the city council to delay any final decisions on such
matters and concentrate on the infrastructure needs, direction to the
planning department so as not to continue poor practices and get out of
the child care business which is not an essential service. Ball fields
should be at the bottom of the list since they have already taken over
most of our open space, without adequate fencing to protect the
residents and adding to noise and congestion in formerly quiet
neighborhoods. An update of the Noise Element of the General Plan which
includes train noise should considered.
 
We could balance the budget if we kept to essential services. Health
and Safety must be first on the list. Perceived entitlements are a
serious problem which are bankrupting the whole country.

Margaret Petitjean

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Received on Mon Mar 5 11:42:45 2007