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Being a member of Visitacion Valley Planning Alliance, I have been invited to attend many local neighborhood meetings. On October 11, 2009, we were caught again in surprise of the topic brought up about the possibility of using the current Bayland for usage as High Speed Rail terminal. High Speed Rail had been launched for a long time in Europe but never in the United States and with voter approval of the high-speed train bond in November, 2008, construction is likely to begin as early as 2011. Although a lot of homebuyers may not pay too much attention on the high speed rail disclosure, this project is expected to be completed in 2030.
Due to scarcity of vacant land, south-eastern corner of San Francisco namely Bayview, Visitacion Valley area is expected to develop thousands of home. For example, 6000 homes on 63 acres of the Bayview Hunter’s Point project and currently the first phase had been finished and is selling on the market. Below market rate one bedroom condo can be purchased as low as $15,000. While current Candlestick Park will be redeveloped leaving 45 acres of land for new homes. Good news is the notorious Schledge Lock site is finally being cleaned and the local residents just started to feel a bit happy about the situation. Now comes the High Speed Rail!
Government officials claimed since high speed rail can run 200 miles per hour, the travelling time between San Francisco and San Jose will only be half an hour. The government expects to spend about $980 million and will creat 43,200 jobs. But put the terminal here, park the 12 high speed train here, do all the maintenance in our neighborhood? Could that mean lowering our home value due to the negative environmental impact?
If you are interested in this topic and would like to get more information, go to www.cahighspeedrail.org
Thank you Tina, it is really important to bring up more neighbor’s attention.