HSR principles did not ring true

July 21, 2011

This article on burlingame.patch.com sums up why folks who have followed the high speed rail issue in Burlingame were surprised and perplexed by the "statements of principle" the council might have adopted at Monday's council meeting.

Some excerpts:

….many residents saw the document as an affront to their efforts against current high speed rail plans and a dismissal of community opinion regarding the rail.

“I’m…left wondering if this document was prepared by the same city that took time to assess residents’ opinions for several months last spring,” said resident Jennifer Pfaff. “I wonder what has changed.”

“You already had a very firm, very clear, very no-nonsense statement, and you had a very clear point of view, and that was only to accept an underground solution,” said resident Russ Cohen while addressing the council. “[The omission] will undoubtedly come back to haunt you and haunt this community.”

“It’s pretty clear what the purpose of this document is: to be all things to all parties except our citizens,” said Ted Crocker, Burlingame resident. “The new high speed rail statement of principles can only serve one purpose, and that is to please others.”

Posted in City Council, Downtown Specific Plan, High Speed Rail

6 responses to “HSR principles did not ring true”

Clifford

July 22, 2011

In the article one resident asks “I wonder what has changed”. To state the obvious the change is that we have a different Mayor this year than we did last year.
Our current mayor has always been a big supporter of HSR and did nothing to warn the citizens of Burlingame that it was coming through our town.
We have an election coming up in November it is time for a change.
pat giorni

July 22, 2011

Watch the discussion on utube:
alittlebird

July 23, 2011

Thanks for posting the link to the discussion, Pat. After watching it, all I can say is that it seems very sad that it takes some very thoughtful, eloquent, citizens of Burlingame to be the guide dogs for the members of council. The elected officials are obviously not doing their jobs when it comes to HSR principles. Shame on them and BRAVO to those citizens who seem to be more involved in the process and the better gatekeepers for the city! Tsk Tsk!
Boogeyman

August 9, 2011

Hooray for Councilman Deal and his comments against the cost of HSR noted in Horgan’s column in the San Mateo County Times.
Now, on to getting the leaf-blowers silenced. In ten years, no one will believe we used to allow them- like smoking on airplanes- obviously unhealthy and irritating.
holyroller

August 10, 2011

Does anyone know the term..
“Jumped the Shark?”
The BV was once fun.
Censorship is wrong.
Goodbye Anne.
We are all going to Patch.
Editor

August 11, 2011

There is little to no editing on this blog. Not sure what you are referring to when you use the word “censorship.” Yes, there are limited rules of engagement for this site, like most blogs. We have been quite conservative with enforcement of these rules and have been quite liberal with our allowance of free flow discussion. Blog on!

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