HSR: Neighborhood route no longer being considered!

Congratulations Greater Gardner--the neighborhoods of North Willow Glen, Gardner, and Gregory Plaza!

High Speed Rail staff released their choice for routes through San Jose Thursday morning at 9 am. The board is expected to approve the recommendations at about noon on Thursday.

The only route that will be analyzed in the EIR is 87-280.

The Fuller Park alignment has been dropped.  They plan no High Speed Rail trains on the current alignment. This means by 2015 there will be just UPRR, a few Caltrains (about 6 per day), and some Ace trains that will park at Tamien.

Here's why High Speed Rail staff recommended no Greater Gardner alignment--

"..because of potential impacts to the neighborhoods including community cohesion, noise/vibration, impacts on Fuller Park and displacement of a nonprofit (house of worship). The recommended alternative (SR-87/I-280) would minimize impacts by utilizing the existing freeway corridors for much of the approach to the station and would move the alignment away from the Greater Gardner neighborhood. "

This phenomenal outcome came about--

--Thanks to the Greater Gardner team that wrote the 55-pages of scoping questions one year ago that brought forward the problems of High Speed Rail through Gardner.

--Thanks to the Greater Gardner community members who attended meeting after meeting and made their positions clear.

--Thanks to Greater Gardner neighborhood groups and leaders for writing the formal letters, meeting with Councilmembers, writing and meeting with State Legislators, Congresspersons and their staff.

--Thanks to the Greater Gardner community members who gave a comprehensive coordinated presentation at May's High Speed Rail Board meeting. They received special acknowledgment from members of the Board as well as newspaper coverage.

--Thanks to the community members who took HSRA staff on tours of the community, who coordinated the meetings at the Gardner center, who left fliers at neighbors' doors, who translated for their neighbors, who brought neighbors in their cars.

--Thanks especially to the Henry Servin--a member of the San Jose Department of Transportation.  He designed the 280-87 alternative.  Send Henry a thank-you note.   Henry.Servin@ sanjoseca. gov

The North Willow Glen, Gardner, and Gregory Plaza neighborhoods will need to remain vigilant about design of the 87-280 alignment and to make sure that no one changes their mind about using the existing railroad right of way.  As with everything in life, nothing is final until it is final. In this case, until the tracks are laid it won't be final. But we can be sure that things are looking better for Greater Gardner than they were!