Hon.Mayor and councilmembers, et al

All over the country representatives of those within the hazardous noise
and air pollution of heavy rail and freight are making "quiet zones" a
number one priority.

That is, everywhere except along the Peninsula Corridor Caltrain
Commuter and freight line which has 96 diesel trains (with more to come)
and freights operating practically around the clock.

There is a deterioration of railside neighborhoods noise- assault and
horn- blast by horn -blast which has become a public health hazard
requiring abatement by officials, including the city and district
attorneys.

Instead, the mantra of Caltrain cities is for more and more housing to
be added to that already in the hazardous air and noise pollution zones.

This is a reminder that New Places, New Choices Transit-Oriented
Development published by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG),
Bay Area Air Quality District, Bay Conservation and Development
Commission (bcdc) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
includes the section THE CHALLENGES FOR TOD wherein it points out, among
other things, that transit-oriented development may be located near
sources of pollution. It states:

"ALL POTENTIAL HAZARDS MUST BE ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED BEFORE DEVELOPMENT
CAN OCCUR AT THESE SITES."

This does not mean approving them with overriding consideration. Your
attention is invited to the environmental impact reports of existing and
proposed developments. For example, in that of the Derry Project it
stated that the residents would be exposed to the "train-related
pollution".

There is no way to mitigate against the "severe" impact of horn blasts
within 660'
and the "serious" impact over 1,000 feet away for unprotected residents
and passengers of this elephant through the Peninsula.

It is indisputable that the addition of housing beside the heavy rail
and freight, with constant, routine horn blasts, vibration,
cancer-causing diesel air pollution, etc. constitutes an exacerbation of
an already serious health hazard.

The personal and property injuries to those existing railside residents
due to the ever-increasing air and noise pollution is actionable and the
officials of the cities as the lead agencies are responsible to abate
the hazards.

The Mayor of Menlo Park should cease herewith to have secret meetings
with developers in order to promote housing anywhere near the tracks and
to go before boards with misleading statements of economic losses due to
reduced train service which has not be proven and was not included in
the Resolution of the city of Menlo Park. Yet, two days later, Mayor
Fergusson was before the JPB Board stating those erroneous personal
opinions.

The Amicus Brief presented to the council this week by the City Attorney
should be a strong warning that there is a serious breach of CEQA and
NEPA requirements for EIRs and mitigation before any further
developments go forward.

I once wrote that the negligence and irresponsible acts of the city
councils would come back to haunt them. The time has come - through the
courts if necessary.

Instead of Location, Location, Location - think Mitigation, Mitigation,
Mitigation.

Margaret Petitjean, Menlo Park

attached mail follows:

The process begins. See op-ed below that appeared
in today's Novato Advance.

A long walk begins with the first step.

Judy Arnold is Novato's representative on the Marin
County Board of Supervisors. She used to be aide
to Senator Migden.

A public meeting will be held. NCRA will be holding
scoping sessions.

Sonoma County's environmental communities is still
asleep at the wheel regarding quiet zones.

Who's interested in participating? I'll be sure you're
notified.

-- Mike Arnold
Co-chair, MCET
382-1264

****************************************************************

Guest Opinon: Judy Arnold

     
     
Freight trains are coming back soon

Last month we talked about buses and the EZ Rider program. This month let's talk trains ... freight trains ... running through Novato down Highway 37 to Napa.

Perhaps you didn't know freight was going to run on the tracks as well as passenger trains. It wasn't discussed much, if at all, in the Measure R Campaign. Perhaps that's because SMART will not run the freight trains; the North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) is the contracting agency and the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company (NWP) is the operator.

Recently I convened a meeting of representatives of NCRA, NWP, City of Novato staff, Mayor Jeanne MacLeamy, Councilmember Jim Leland and County staff to discuss this development that is expected to begin service sometime next year.

The first question I asked was: "What if people don't want freight trains running through Novato?" Their answer was that the NCRA has approval from the Federal Railroad Authority (FRA), and local government doesn't have veto power over their operation. The NWP is hoping to get the lucrative Sonoma garbage contract this summer.

     
What we do have some control of are "quiet zones." These are crossing areas that the federal government can designate where trains will not blow their whistles. Instead of an arm lowering and a whistle warning people of an approaching train, there is a "gate" that prohibits cars going around the normal arm, and no whistle.

In May members of the meeting I convened are planning on riding the rail line through the nine Novato crossings to see where quiet zones are needed. After that, in June, I will convene a public meeting to explain our findings and provide an opportunity for you to ask questions of the NCRA and the NWP. The NCRA is conducting an EIR for freight operations and this will be part of a public scoping session.

Watch the papers, the City and my county websites for the date of this meeting.

As many of you might remember, I opposed Measure R last November mostly because the passenger train didn't connect to the Larkspur ferry. Since that narrow loss, I have been exploring DMVs (Dual Mode Vehicles) that can go on and off rail tracks with the idea that a bus-rail type vehicle could connect to the Larkspur ferry and would be more acceptable to the Larkspur City Council.

A DMV which runs on both the road and train tracks has been unveiled by the Gakunan Railway in Japan. Its fuel cost is 25 percent of a diesel vehicle.

The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has a prototype DMV using no emission, fuel cell technology.

Perhaps the most promising is the Blade Runner in England that runs on rail and on roads. Carl Henderson of Silver Tip Design has been communicating with me on the progress of using the Blade Runner in Wales and Yorkshire. He is familiar with SMART and thinks the Blade Runner would be ideal for our community.

If we are given no choice in the use of freight rail on our right of way, and let me say, if this is the case, I will push hard for the NCRA and the NWP to install quiet zones in Novato. Then, let's look at passengers from Sonoma transferring from diesel trains at Highway 37 at a transit hub to a DMV like Blade Runner, that is more environmentally clean and can connect to the Larkspur ferry on wheels not rail.

Novato is going to be a key player in this discussion because we are the only City in Marin to have freight runs through our community. I will push for Highway 37 to be one of our transit hubs.

Let's think "outside the box." After all, this is trendsetting Marin! What's more, this is our Novato!

     
     
Received on Thu Apr 19 11:33:25 2007