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Officials Hosting High-Speed Rail System Open House In Santa Clarita

High-Speed Rail Officials Continue To Work To Address Public Concern

After more than a half-dozen meetings and hundreds of comments, high-speed rail officials say they’re still figuring out how to include the public’s concerns in their multi-billion dollar plan.


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First High-Speed Rail System Public Meeting Held At Hart Park

Image of proposed “SR-14 Corridor” alignment.

“We had a good crowd at all of the locations,” said Rachel Kesting, information officer for the Southern California Regional Office of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “(The meetings) went very well. “Several people gave comments during the meetings. For the next step, we analyze and review all of the comments.”

Los Angeles County officials urged residents that would be affected by the bullet train to voice their opinions and concerns to the HSR Authority.

“Now is a critical time for communities impacted by any of the routes proposed by the High-Speed Rail Authority to provide their input and request information and ask any question they have to ensure that their voice is heard as the authority continues to modify and examine the alternatives that have been provided so far,” said Michael Cano, transportation deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. “Supervisor Antonovich is adamant that the Authority works very closely with all of the impacted communities to ensure that this process is inclusive of the concerns and the voices of all communities in the region.”

Rail officials held an open house in the Santa Clarita Valley earlier in December followed by a meeting in Acton. Officials are looking at various alignments, and  plan to draft an environmental report in the next year, Kesting said.

“We make our next decision based on the comments,” she said. “We haven’t been able to review all of them, yet. We’re going back out there again once we have reviewed the comments and looked at how to apply those comments.”

The High Speed Rail Authority plans to hold more meetings in the Santa Clarita Valley and Acton in the future to collect more public comments, Kesting said.

“We want to hear from the communities and get to know the communities,” Kesting said. “We’re looking at all of the issues that we heard — there were many environmental questions.”

The original proposed plan, the “SR-14 Corridor” alignment, ran along Highway 14 through Acton and the Santa Clarita Valley, Kesting said.

After the first Open House meeting’s public comments, HSR Authority officials proposed the “East Corridor” alignment plan, which would go through parts of Acton and the San Gabriel Mountains.

Santa Clarita City Council members support the “direct route” from Palmdale to Burbank, the “East Corridor,” said city of Santa Clarita Mayo Marsha McLean.

“We hope to be back out sometime next year,” said Adeline Yee, information officer for the HSR Authority. ”Right now, we’re still analyzing the hundreds of comments (from the Open House meetings).”

HSR Authority officials are planning to join local government, community, transportation, business and labor leaders on Jan. 6, 2015 “to commemorate the start of sustained construction on the nation’s first high-speed rail system at a ceremonial groundbreaking in Fresno,” according to a news release.

The event is open to invited guests and media, according to the news release.  The exact location has not been announced to the public.

Acton Town Council officials were not immediately available for comment.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

High-Speed Rail Officials Continue To Work To Address Public Concern

11 comments

  1. Stop spending our money on this boondogel, it is not needed or wanted.

    • Keep spending my Republican-earned tax dollars on this worthy project. I ask that my tax dollars be spent on more rail, expanded Amtrak, more inner city rail transit. You see, if you’re not a rail user, don’t blast those of us who are. I used Amtrak more than I used the highways this year. Your tax dollars can go to highways. I expect mine to be going toward more rail.

  2. The original ballot measure required that travel times between San Francisco and Los Angeles be no more than 2 hours and 40 minutes. Sacramento and Los Angeles in 2 hours and 10 minutes, as well as a number of other time based metrics. None of these are being achieved and large sections of the track will be anything but “high speed”. Perhaps someone could address the fact that the execution of this ballot measure doesn’t resemble anything that was in the measure…except that both are “trains”. How can this be moving forward when we didn’t vote to approve this?

  3. This is simply a loose-loose scenario. no one wants this, no one will use it, we can not afford to build it, It will not fiscally maintain itself. It is only hurting the land, landscape and value of peoples homes. Monies can certainly be better allocated, as can existing freeway access, right of way.

  4. My only comment, can I be on the first rider list??

  5. Most of the modern countries already have a high speed system. We are far behind even though we claim to be the most developed country.

  6. Waste of money. Waste of money. Waste of money. Not needed. Too expensive. Will only be used by a handful of people. Waste of tax money’s!

  7. WHY IS GOVERNMENT NOT LISTENING?
    THE LARGER THE GOVERNMENT…..THE SMALLER THE PEOPLE.
    The California High Speed Rail Project is a Project that the majority of Californians Highly Oppose.
    It will be Nothing But Red Ink on the California State Budget.
    The Tax Payers As Usual With End Up With The Bill at the End.
    The Project Does Not Produce Enough Income to be Economically Feasible.
    Government should Do What The Public Wants.
    Government Should Not Do What It Solely Wants and Disregard The Public’s Opinion.
    The above is My Opinion Which is Shared by Many Californians.
    I Own Several Companies That Own and Develop Real Estate Projects both Residential and Commercial In Southern California. We Always ask What the Surrounding Community Would Like To See In A Development Before Building.
    Our Developments Enhance Communities.
    The California High Speed Rail Project Will Negatively Affect Many Communities in The State Including Our Local Santa Clarita Community.
    THE LARGER THE GOVERNMENT….THE SMALLER THE PEOPLE.
    Ed Poulin
    President,
    Poulin Development Group
    PWP Properties, Inc.

  8. I think they need to scrap this project before they spend anymore of our hard earned tax money. This boondoggle is going to cost sustainably more then what was advertised.

  9. This project is, in fact, a star! it has been retooled based on a lot of good input to take account of useful criticisms, people’s needs, as budget realities, and the essential goal of linking all the major economic centers of the state together as required by Prop 1A. The extensive reports on the Authorities website are extremely instructive in the evolution of the project.

    Far from being a boondoggle, the HSR is an essential component of how our state will move people throughout the state (after implementation) for the remainder of this century. In fact, not building it would be a disaster for the future of the state. California is learning from the beneficial examples of all the other leading countries in the world now to economically link parts of our large state together economically and in an environmentally friendly fashion. The US, in comparison, is sadly falling behind in this critical component of modern, advanced societies.

    It is true that it will cost more than originally anticipated, but that is actually common for major projects where all the unknowns have not been mapped out in advance. What is good to know is that (1) although a bit expensive, it IS affordable, (2) economic analyses have shown that it will be net positive money-maker once it is in operation, since construction costs are large, but operational costs are low, and (3) building alternative enhancements to our roads and airports to meet future growth will actually far exceed the HSR costs. In short, it makes clear, convincing financial sense to build it.

    I wonder … whatever happened to the bold spirit of can-do engineering that made this country great? The spirit that built the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York subways, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Panama Canal, even California’s State Water Project, and all the wonders we’ve created that have revolutionized the post war world? Detractors are hiding behind irrational fears of red ink on balance sheets, or hiding behind the political clout of entrenched economic interests who do not want competition.

    It is truly amazing how much ignorance about this project is out there across the state. For example, a few days ago I read a columnist for a Central Valley newspaper who said, “let’s correct the route to make it work better — send it down the I-5,” completely ignoring the fact that by law it HAS to link the cities along route 99!

    I am heartened by the simple fact that the need for this project is so overwhelmingly obvious to people who have actually studied the matter, that it WILL be done, even despite objections like these from people who simply don’t know any better.

  10. Agreed. This project is nothing but a drain on taxpayers. There is no real benefit to be realized from this foolish endeavor.

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About Jessica Boyer

Jessica is an award-winning journalist, photographer, videographer and artist. She has worked with news organizations including NBC Los Angeles, KHTS AM 1220, and the Pierce College Roundup News. She is studying to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism with an emphasis on Photojournalism and a minor in Communications at California State University, Northridge. She has studied and worked in many fields including filmmaking, journalism, studio photography, and some graphic design. She began her journalism journey at the Arroyo Seco Conquestador News Network and the Saugus High School News Network.