Hon. Mayor, Council Members and all newcomers:

Regarding the elephant in our midst, here is an article from the archives. It is all one ever needs to know about train horns. Would that the nightmare might fade with the establishment of "quiet zones" now permitted. It seems that we will go to our graves with the injurious horn blasts reverberating through our brains due to the recalcitrance of our local officials.

I was already shell-shocked from the months of air raid sirens and raining bombs during the Blitz in London and four-and-one-half years in the Air Force during World War II. Little did I know when I later bought property in Menlo Park that the abuse would continue for over forty years by train engineers who punish us all in their desire and need for electrification and grade separations. Ask Caglioni (see attached article) who has testified before the boards and our city council!

At the same time, the railroad officials state that the health and welfare of the residents depends upon the choices made at the crossings by city governments. While cities all over the country would grasp the opportunities, ours have turned down millions of dollars for changes at the crossings which would bring us relief.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has made it clear through its liaison to the Joint Powers Board of Caltrain that High Speed Rail funding should not be relied upon for its established capital projects which already include fencing, electrification and grade separations. This is a delaying tactic.

Perhaps you will have time to consider this matter seriously in the absence of other pressing agenda items this week. Your recent approval of the O'Brien Group's application for public funding for their Derry project, adding many other sensitive receptors to a known hazardous, polluted location, defies all logic.

We suppose that the windfall to the city of hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars, at $2,000 per bedroom, is irresistible. We hope that this is not granted by the transportation officials since the existing Menlo Park Caltrain station is not designated in their plans for T.O.D. In crying "poor" O'Brien must be paying too much to the Derry family who has owned this property since the year one.

Has anyone determined who will pay to replace the required sound wall when it is torn down from the Derry property line to make room for the dedicated extra 15' Caltrain tracks?

Finally, I submit that while to city goes to great lengths and expense to engage the public in decision-making, it does so only because it is a requirement and, in fact, there is such a diversity of opinion that results become moot.

One consultant who was interviewed to guide our downtown visioning process stated that too much public involvement would confuse the issue. Certainly, human rights and environmental protection should be paramount. Instead they are being ignored.

Furthermore, so far oldtimers have heard nothing new. The expansion of the Presbyterian Church and its offer to partner with the city in a parking structure was before the last council and everything else is old hat. We think the whole process is a waste of time and precious tax dollars, only to be put on the shelf with all the other wasted studies done in the name of public input.

Newcomers rehash all the old issues which have been voted down for good reason and put to rest. There is no more room at the Inn.

There was a small city shaped like a shoe - it had so many...it didn't know what to do!. One thing is certain, and that is that housing is incompatible with heavy rail, freight and the pollution of El Camino Real.

Sincerely, Margaret Petitjean.

attached mail follows:

http://boards.eesite.com/board.cgi?boardset=ExpoLine&boardid=BayRail&thread=19&spec=6278115 Received on Fri May 23 22:09:49 2008