Atherton Apparently Not on Obama's Circuit, but Woodside May Be

Rumors that President Obama would be stopping by Atherton during his Bay Area visit today (Feb. 17) are apparently unfounded.

However, there are other reports that he might make a stop in Woodside. If so, that could result in the closing of parts of Interstate 280 near or during the rush hour.

The White House says the president is due to arrive at San Francisco International Airport at 5:45 p.m. and will meet with business leaders at 6:45 p.m. at an undisclosed private residence.

With respect to Atherton, Police Chief Mike Guerra said that no roads would be closed off in the town and no presidential visit is in the cards.

He said that, in connection with the president's visit, one police officer from Atherton's force would help staff a police unit in Redwood City or Millbrae as part of a mutual aid agreement with other Bay Area jurisdictions.

Below are the guests expected to dine with Obama tonight. Many are residents of Atherton or Woodside:

- John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- Carol Bartz, president and CEO, Yahoo!
- John Chambers, CEO and chairman, Cisco Systems
- Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter
- Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO, Oracle
- Reed Hastings, CEO, NetFlix
- John Hennessy, president, Stanford University
- Steve Jobs, chairman and CEO, Apple
- Art Levinson, chairman and former CEO, Genentech
- Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO, Google
- Steve Westly, managing partner and founder, The Westly Group
- Mark Zuckerberg, founder, president, and CEO, Facebook

Source: Almanac Online

Menlo Park to Hire High-speed-rail Lobbyist

Source: Sean Howell, Almanac Staff

The city of Menlo Park has hired a lobbyist to make the city's case to Sacramento when it comes to the California high-speed-rail project, and has devoted $200,000 for the upcoming fiscal year to rail issues.

The expenditures highlight the importance of the issue to city officials, as Menlo Park strains to balance its budget following the economic recession. The upcoming year will be a particularly crucial one for the rail system, with a decision pending on how high-speed trains would make their way through the city.

Ravi Mehta, the lobbyist in the city's employ, also advocates for Palo Alto on the issue. He works on a retainer of $5,000 per month, plus expenses. Mehta will represent the city to the rail agency board and to legislators, and will report to city officials on new developments, according to Mayor Rich Cline.

"It's not really equitable," Cline said. "The High-Speed Rail Authority has the ability to call a public hearing pretty much whenever they want. ... We have to schedule who's going to Sacramento, and most of the time it ends up being a resident. It's a great disadvantage for the city."

City officials spend a lot of time drafting and revising letters to the rail agency that end up going "straight into a file" once they reach Sacramento, Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson said, adding that the city needs an advocate who's present at the meetings if it wants to be heard.

Fergusson sits on the city's high-speed rail subcommittee with Cline, who chairs a regional advocacy group made up of representatives from five Peninsula cities. Cline estimates that he spends 15 to 20 hours per week in his role on the committee, almost as much time as he devotes to other city business issues.

Part of the city's rail-related budget will go to hire experts who will help to interpret technical documents released by the rail agency. It's scheduled to publish an analysis in April of how the Caltrain corridor would accommodate high-speed trains.

Atherton Meet Focuses on High-speed Rail

Source: by Andrea Gemmet Almanac Staff

If it's a hot topic in town, chances are that the Atherton Civic Interest League is working on it. The group's annual meeting, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, will feature a panel of experts discussing high-speed rail.

The meeting is open to the public, and will be held at the Jennings Pavilion in Holbrook-Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave. in Atherton. Atherton officials, and many of the town's residents, have grave worries about the local effects of the state plan to run high-speed trains along the Caltrain corridor that bisects the town. If the high-speed rail line can't be rerouted to avoid the town, Atherton officials would rather have the train run through a trench or tunnel, instead of on an elevated berm.

The scheduled speakers at the meeting are: Mike Garvey and John Litvinger, public outreach consultants working for the California High Speed Rail Authority; John Townsend, executive vice president of Hatch Mott Macdonald, a leading tunnel-engineering and construction firm; Duncan Jones, Atherton's public works director; Gary Patton, attorney and former director of the Planning and Conservation League; and Jim McFall, who will present a digital model of elevated high-speed rail tracks going through Palo Alto.

The meeting kicks off with a roll call and election of new ACIL officers, followed by presentations from the speakers and a half-hour Q&A with the audience. The Atherton Civic Interest League, open to all residents, is a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the quality of life in Atherton and assure effective town governance. It was founded in 1946.

Public Invited to High-speed Rail Meeting

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will hold an informational meeting Wednesday (March 4) on the San Francisco to San Jose leg of the project.

The meeting will run from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Redwood Room of the Veterans Memorial Center at 1455 Madison Ave. in Redwood City.

Source: Almanac Online