Dear Menlo Park City Council -  

I have written a couple of times previously to express my concern over the Dumbarton Rail project that is being evaluated for our region. It is my understanding that you will be holding a vote tomorrow evening to discuss the expenditure of $225,000 for a study of the project. If this is so, I must strongly object to this path forward for many reasons, some of which have been summarized below:  

• Regardless of Menlo Park's decision to help subsidize the investigation period of this project, the MTA will move forward. If that is the case, don't we have other more critical needs for this community that will impact a greater proportion of the citizens?
• For how long and at what expense do we subsidize this program? It starts with this initial study, but like the project itself, will probably balloon into many more millions of dollars. From the outset, this project has lacked planning and foresight and now we are just perpetuating the problem by contributing our city's funds. Ultimately, I hope you will ask yourselves, "How are the people from Menlo Park going to gain from this investment and could our funds and efforts be better spent on other public works projects?"
• Providing funds for an initial study sends the message that the City of Menlo Park supports this initiative and wants to find a way to move forward. I think the opposite is true and now is an appropriate time to send a clear message that the Dumbarton Rail project will need to find support outside of Menlo Park to be successful. We need to send a clear message that the citizens of Menlo Park do not want to engage as partners in this project.

Thank you for taking time to read my above concerns. I appreciate you listening to the challenges that many citizens in Menlo Park have identified with the Dumbarton Rail Project.  

Best Regards -

Matt    

  <http://www.wageworks.com/>

Matt Heinz
Director of Sales, West Region
matt.heinz@wageworks.com

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