Another reason not to vote for eMeg.
Atherton resident Meg Whitman not too keen on bullet train
Jul. 9, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/09/287...ident-meg.html
Five cities on the San Francisco Peninsula have called for suspending planning for the state's high-speed train project until environmental and economic issues are resolved.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority's proposed route runs from San Francisco to San Jose down the peninsula, where affluent communities have become a hotbed of opposition.
Menlo Park Mayor Richard Cline, chairman of the Peninsula Cities Consortium, has complained that the authority is rushing to complete a route plan and draft environmental impact report so that construction can start by September 2012 in order to qualify the state for $2.25 billion in federal funds.
The consortium's demand follows a report by the University of California's Institute of Transportation Studies that's highly critical of the authority's projections of ridership on the bullet train, which would link Northern and Southern California.
Besides Menlo Park, the consortium includes Palo Alto, Burlingame, Belmont and Atherton.
And what is Atherton resident Meg Whitman's take on the project?
"Meg believes the state cannot afford the costs associated with high-speed rail due to our current fiscal crisis," said the Republican gubernatorial candidate's spokeswoman Sarah Pompei in an e-mailed statement.
– Dan Walters and Micaela Massimino