Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!!!

We are going to have a fantastic year. The Menlo Park Office of Alain Pinel Realtors had a wonderful year in 2011, and this one is going to be even better.

Sales are firm in Menlo Park and Palo Alto
WE NEED MORE INVENTORY.

For a Current Market Analysis of your property please contact me at (650) 888-6628, or to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.

I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.

Sand Hill Road Tops List Most Expensive Office Address in North America

Sand Hill Road Tops List Most Expensive Office Address in North America

1. Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park -- $114. per square foot

The epicenter of the technology universe, Sand Hill Road houses many of the venture capitalists that provide start-ups with funding to grow and spread the tech expansion.

4. University Avenue, Palo Alto -- $83. per square foot

With immediate access to Stanford University and abundant retail amenities, University Avenue has been a popular location for start-up companies and professional services firms, the most notable being Facebook, Inc.



Source: World Property Channel, Posted by Michael Gerrity

SOLD In Palo Alto -- 6 Offers!!!

Great 4 Bedroom home in the Green Acres neighborhood of Palo Alto.

This home is two years new and boasts many designer features. Close to Juana Briones Park, Stanford University and Silicon Valley.

Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.



I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.


bslaton@apr.com 

House of the Week -- 2 Serrano Drive, Atherton

WOW!
This house is the complete package...

Stunning, peaceful, park-like grounds, impeccable craftsmanship, woodworking, moldings, lovely windows and appointments -- all the bells and whistles!

The home has the ageless appeal of an East Coast home, all the hallmarks of outside-oriented California living, grace and charm galore! An ideal setting for your museum quality paintings or porcelains...

Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.

I specialize in fine homes in the Peninsula, Silicon Valley area.

bslaton@apr.com

Power Lunch Discusses the Midas 100 Venture Capitalists

Forbes Editor, Nicole Perlroth

on CNBC's Power Lunch
with Michelle Cabruso Cabrerra

WATCH THIS:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi15iy_nicole-perlroth-of-forbes-talks-to-power-lunch-about-vcs_news

The Forbes Midas 100

Check out the Midas 100
2011's Top Tech Investors

Source: Forbes Magazine, Editor Nicole Perlroth

http://www.forbes.com/lists/midas/2011/midas-list-techs-top-investors.html

Fascinating local angle on this story --

30 of the top 100 live in Menlo Park, California

23 of the top 100 live in Palo Alto, California

2 of the top 100 live in Woodside, California

1 of the top 100 live in Atherton, California

High-end Housing Sales in Silicon Valley are Booming...

The Menlo Park Office of Alain Pinel Realtors
just had their

BEST MONTH EVER!!!

The following article appeared in the Sunday
edition of the San Jose Mercury News --

Sales of houses in that price range were up 9 percent in January and February from the same period last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The same trend isn't showing up yet in San Mateo County, where DataQuick shows sales in that range are down from a year ago. But DataQuick hasn't captured complete March figures yet, and agents are reporting a surge of activity in the past three weeks.

Beyond that, not every high-end sale gets into public records or the listings service that real estate agents use. The $100 million paid by Russian investor Yuri Milner for a home in Los Altos Hills on Feb. 3 wasn't known until Wednesday, when Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone released official records that had been confidential until then.

"The high end of the market is doing better than it has for the last several years," said Richard Calhoun of Creekside Realty in San Jose.

Twice as many sales

The highest end seems especially hot. Calhoun found that in the first three months of this year, twice as many homes were sold for $5 million or more in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties as there were during the same period of 2010.

Most of those sales for both counties took place in February and March,

Calhoun said. The number of sales in that price range is more than for any similar period since 2000, he said.

And most are taking place in the cities you'd expect: Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, Atherton, Portola Valley and Woodside.

"People feel like they have money in their pockets," said Wendy McPherson, manager of Coldwell Banker's Menlo Park, Woodside and Portola Valley offices.

Wait-and-see stance
The trend is being repeated around the state. In January, DataQuick reported that the number of California homes sold for $1 million or more in 2010 rose for the first time in five years while overall sales dropped by 9 percent.

Catherine Marcus, who specializes in high-end valley properties for Sotheby's, said "the market right now on the high end is probably stronger than we've seen since 2007."

"Things that are coming on the market are selling," she said. "We're seeing a lot of foreign buyers, a lot of money from China. There are properties we've had where nothing had happened for six months, and all of sudden there are multiple offers."

The high end is "definitely picking up," said Diane Kneis, a Coldwell Banker agent who is listing the Atherton home of 49er football legend Jerry Rice -- 16,000 square feet, not counting a seven-car garage -- for $13.9 million. "There's a lot of interest from agents with qualified buyers who are looking for large homes that are well-built and can accommodate large families," she said.

McPherson of Coldwell Banker said that "all of a sudden in Menlo Park in the last three weeks, we had six sales over $3.5 million. In Atherton, we just had a $17.5 million listing and an $11.5 million listing sell," she said.

She said recent sales in Palo Alto include one for $9 million, two for more than $6 million and "lots and lots of sales" between $2 million and $3 million.

"There's been quite a few recent sales," said Gary Campi of Campi Properties in Los Altos. "It's been pretty promising." Campi is listing an equestrian facility on 11 acres in Los Altos Hills, with plans for a 15,000-square-foot home and eight-car garage, for $26.8 million.

At this point, DataQuick is taking a wait-and-see stance. "It's really early to know how this is going to shape up for the year," said Andrew LePage, an analyst for DataQuick. "In the next two or three months, we'll get a better idea."
Source: By Pete Carey, pcarey@mercurynews.com

Nadir is here!

Nadir: The word is also used figuratively to mean the lowest point of a person's spirits, or the quality of an activity or profession.


NADIR IS HERE!

The Real Estate market in our very special local area has changed!!! Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton have lately been recognized by wealthy individuals from many countries to be valuable. These are actual, real dollar valuations. In the past four weeks we have seen numerous all cash transactions, full price Offers, and multiple Offers on single family homes.

We have a Sellers market! CALL ME.

Please call me at (650) 888-6628 to LIST YOUR HOME or see the special properties located within this valued and coveted area...

Barbara Slaton
Alain Pinel Realtors
1550 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, California 94025
bslaton@apr.com

Forbes Magazine List of Most Expensive Zip Codes

America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes
Francesca Levy, FORBES

2 94027, Atherton, Calif.

15 94022, Los Altos Hills, Calif.

15 94022, Los Altos, Calif.

18 94024, Los Altos Hills, Calif.

18 94024, Los Altos, Calif.

20 94010, Hillsborough, Calif.

31 94028, Portola Valley, Calif.

38 95030, Los Gatos, Calif.

41 94062, Woodside, Calif.

73 94301, Palo Alto, Calif.

83 95070, Saratoga, Calif.

84 95030, Monte Sereno, Calif.

92 94123, San Francisco, Calif.

151 94306, Palo Alto, Calif.

NIMBY Won’t Stop California High-Speed Rail

Source: WIRED: Zach Rosenberg

Democracy, it has been said, is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat for dinner. We’re seeing that in California, where resistance to a planned high-speed rail line is mounting in three affluent cities. A vocal, and influential, grassroots movement has sprung up to reroute the line around the San Francisco Bay Area communities or have it run underground.

There is tremendous support — not to mention a concrete plan and $10 billion to get the project started — for a high-speed line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles. But disgruntled residents of Menlo Park, Atherton and Palo Alto could make things very difficult. The cities are home to some of the Bay Area’s wealthiest residents, and they’re suing. Their NIMBY opposition could turn the project into a mind-bogglingly expensive and impractical boondoggle.

This issue goes beyond the Bay Area and California, because other proposed high-speed lines almost certainly will face similar opposition. The plaintiffs simply do not want the trains running through their neighborhoods, and such views are not unique to California. The Obama Administration set aside $8 billion in stimulus funds for high-speed rail and our next transportation spending bill could include as much as $50 billion for it.

As high-speed rail becomes a national reality, planners of potential lines can expect fierce resistance in the courts and intense local political pressure.

The California resistance comes from communities that voted heavily in favor of Prop. 1A, the 2008 ballot initiative that allowed the state to issue bonds worth about $10 billion, or roughly one-quarter the total cost of the project. The measure passed with 52 percent of the vote. Gov. Schwarzenegger has sought another $4.7 billion of the $8 billion set aside in the stimulus package. Forty states are pitching projects — some 272 applications in all — totaling $105 billion.

California’s project is well into the planning process, and the cities of Atherton and Menlo Park have joined some environmental groups in suing the California High-Speed Rail Authority and Caltrain. They’re the two major bureaucratic forces behind the project. The suit alleges two things: first, an improper environmental assessment; second, infringing on Union Pacific’s track ownership.

The first issue is relatively straightforward — the plaintiffs argue studies of the environmental impact the project would have on their communities weren’t handled correctly and therefore underestimate the noise, vibration, displacement and other problems the line would create. Much of this was settled in an earlier lawsuit, but the judge sided with Atherton on a few minor issues, allowing for further suits.

The second point requires a little history: Southern Pacific once owned the tracks California hopes to retrofit for high-speed trains. In 1991, Southern Pacific, which became part of Union Pacific in 1996, sold the tracks to Caltrain for use as commuter tracks, but it retained the exclusive right to use them for freight and to hire an operator for intercity trains. The latest suit claims Caltrain lacks the authority to allow intercity high-speed trains on the tracks because Caltrain is dealing with the High-Speed Rail Authority, not Union Pacific. Union Pacific, which has been happy to allow high speed rail as long as it can still haul freight on the lines, seems puzzled by the lawsuit.

Assuming the plaintiffs aren’t actually outraged at the creek displacement or wholly overlooked violation of California contract law, this appears to be, at its heart, a case of NIMBYism. The plaintiffs worry about the noise, vibration, increased traffic and loss of privacy — and decreased property values — high-speed rail might bring. They also argue that no one involved in the project adequately or honestly studied alternatives, which, in fairness, is true. These are legitimate issues.

So the proposed solutions are to reroute the rail line or run it through underground tunnels (or both). The proposed reroute might require passengers to stop at an Amtrak station and transfer to Amtrak. Burying the line would be extremely expensive, while rerouting and burying it makes it more expensive and impractical.

Huge projects like this always inflame passions and incite litigation. It is a usual and occasionally necessary part of the process. But California’s high-speed rail line, which is currently the country’s best shot at a credible and useful high-speed intercity train, will be built one way or another.

Merger of Agilent, Varian Brings Two Companies Full Circle

Merger of Agilent, Varian Brings Two Companies Full Circle

By Brandon Bailey
bbailey@mercurynews.com

More than 60 years ago, a group of young scientists and engineers were getting ready to change the world. Brothers Sigurd and Russell Varian started a company to develop electron tubes and other cutting-edge devices, with help from several Stanford instructors and grad students who were also pals with Bill Hewlett and David Packard.

Varian Associates would become one of the first tenants of the Stanford Research Park, later joined by Hewlett-Packard and a host of other high-tech companies. In their early years, Packard served on Varian's board and, the story goes, let the Varian crew borrow tools from the HP supply shed. Varian co-founder Edward Ginzton, who would later help build the Stanford Linear Accelerator, raced Hewlett to see whose car could reach the top of Page Mill Road first.

Now that story is coming full circle, as a company that was spun off from the renowned Hewlett-Packard is preparing to buy a company that was spun off from Varian Associates — which is not quite as well-known but has a notable history of innovation in fields ranging from radar and telecommunications to semiconductors and health science.

The purchase of Varian by Agilent Technologies, in a $1.5 billion deal announced last week, will reunite elements of two companies started by visionaries who shared a common belief in the power of technology and the importance of treating workers with collegiality and respect, said Stanford science historian Henry Lowood.

The deal could almost be considered "harmonic convergence," added local author John McLaughlin, who has written about the early days of the tech industry here. Varian Associates and HP, he said, "helped create the foundation of Silicon Valley."

Towns Look to Influence High-speed Rail Design

Source: by Sean Howell Almanac Staff


As the agency that oversees the high-speed rail project begins to plan how high-speed trains will pass through the Peninsula, local cities and towns are trying to figure out how best to get the agency's ear.

Seeking strength in numbers, Menlo Park and Atherton have signed an agreement to formalize an ad hoc group that has been meeting weekly to discuss issues related to the project. A majority of council members say the cities will have more sway if they work together to lobby the High-Speed Rail Authority, and that they will be better able to share resources and ideas.

Rail agency plans
The main question in the minds of local officials has been, and continues to be: In designing the rail, will officials pay attention to how it will affect local communities?

Rail officials have said repeatedly that they plan to work with local jurisdictions throughout the process, though local officials have said they're skeptical that the agency will do more than state law requires. At an April 30 meeting, a state Senate subcommittee that included Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) expressed concern over the rail agency's outreach efforts, holding off on granting the agency its next wave of funding until it showed a better program for "outreach and oversight.

"The rail agency has laid out a plan to meet quarterly between May 2009 and April 2011 with "working groups" from Peninsula counties and agencies.

Mike Garvey, a former San Carlos city manager who's heading up outreach efforts in San Mateo County for the engineering company contracted to design the rail line, said he's sympathetic to the concerns of local residents.

"The (environmental review) process is a formal, ritualized process," he said. "Some people had the impression that that specific, fixed process would be the only opportunity for comment, and it's not. This will be an ongoing, informal attempt to involve grassroots organization, and to hear from every community.

"In convincing local officials that the rail agency is serious about working with local communities, Mr. Garvey has his work cut out for him. Count Menlo Park Councilman Rich Cline among the skeptics.

"Our point is that there needs to be a dialogue. We need to work together to plan this thing successfully," Mr. Cline said. "The work group (plan) doesn't necessarily make it better, because we have to see that there's a proper input and reaction process.

"Mr. Cline characterizes the rail authority as an organization that's still oriented toward promotion of the concept of high-speed rail, rather than the logistics of how trains will pass through the state. He has joined a rising number of people calling for a restructuring of the organization.

The rail agency expects to issue a draft of its analysis of the various design possibilities in January 2010, according to Mr. Garvey. He said it's too early to say whether that report will identify a preferred configuration.

The agency plans to make portions of its analysis available to the public throughout the course of its analysis in the coming months, according to Mr. Garvey. He said he doesn't yet know exactly how that information will be presented, but that "everyone will have access to it.

Local strategy
The group of Peninsula jurisdictions, dubbed the "Coalition of Cities," would include one council member from each constituent jurisdiction. In addition to Menlo Park and Atherton, the ad hoc group has included representatives from Palo Alto, Mountain View, Burlingame, and Sunnyvale.

The group is separate from the "working groups" set up by the rail agency. That group is divided along county lines.

The coalition of cities would likely only take positions on broad issues that affect most of the member communities, Menlo Park council members say.

Menlo Park Councilman John Boyle said he supports the cities working together, but fears that formalizing the group would clog an already complicated bureaucratic process. The rail agency is legally required to listen to each city throughout its design process, he said. And if the group takes a stance on an issue that Menlo Park opposes, the city runs the risk of having its position misinterpreted in the press.

In an interview, Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson said she thinks a "formalized communication strategy" would make it easier, not harder, for news outlets to interpret the stance taken by Peninsula cities.

Peninsula counties would seem to have built-in leverage with the rail agency, because they own the Caltrain corridor. The agency will negotiate to lease the corridor from the joint powers board that oversees it, in order to run trains along it. But some local officials think the board is more focused on securing benefits for the Caltrain system than it is on the impacts to the communities along the rail line.

Mr. Boyle disputed the notion that the board's interests are by definition inimical to those of the jurisdictions it represents.

"They are responsible to their member cities," he said of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board at a recent council meeting. "I think they would represent our interests, if we asked them to."

INFORMATION
As part of its outreach efforts, the High-Speed Rail Authority has set up a hotline for people to get general information on the project: 510-597-8640. For questions specific to San Mateo County, call outreach coordinator Mike Garvey at 596-9047, or e-mail him at garveycgs@yahoo.com. The project's Web site is cahighspeedrail.ca.gov.

High Speed Rail Update

The Palo Alto City Council met last Monday, March 2, to discuss the proposed High Speed Rail system. Many residents, including many Southgate neighbors, attended and expressed concerns about the planned elevated track system (see conceptual sketch below). Current plans by the High Speed Rail Authority call for an elevated track structure with concrete walls, 15-21 feet above the ground and 75 feet wide, with overhead electrical wires in the existing Caltrain right-of-way, with trains running at 120 MPH, every 2-3 minutes (at peak times.)

The City of Palo Alto has information on its website, at: http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1223&TargetID=268.

You are also encouraged to send your comments and concerns (which will be responded to in the current environmental review process) to the state Authority at: comments@hsr.ca.gov. Please make sure to send your comments before the April 6, 2009 deadline.

City Expands List of High-speed-rail Concerns

California High-speed-rail update --

by Gennady Sheyner Palo Alto Online Staff

A century-old bridge, a row of "storybook" houses on Mariposa Avenue and the famous El Palo Alto redwood tree could all be imperiled by a proposed high-speed train system, according to a new city report.

These are three of eight historic sites that staff and the Historic Resources Board (HRB) said could be adversely impacted by the proposed rail line, which California voters approved in November.

The HRB discussed the rail line's potential impact on these sites during a Wednesday morning meeting. The board agreed to integrate its concerns into a letter the city plans to send to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the agency charged with building the new system.

Cities and the public have until April 6 to submit questions and concerns that will be included in a comprehensive environmental-impact review of the Peninsula segment of the rail project.

The city's "scoping comments" to the authority list issues the city wants the agency to explore in upcoming Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the San Francisco-to-San Jose section of the 800-mile line.

The list has been swelling in recent weeks, as residents, City Council members and commissioners have come forth with a myriad of fears and anxieties over the controversial project.

A draft letter, presented to the Planning and Transportation Commission on Wednesday night, included 47 items the city wants the rail authority to explore in its analysis, including the rail line's impacts on traffic, vegetation, the San Francisquito Creek and air quality.

And that's before the planning commission began contributing its own comments.

Both the council and the commissions said the agency should seriously consider the rail line's impacts on El Palo Alto. The draft of the city's letter notes that the tree is 1,100-years-old and that it has a life expectancy of 300 more years.

The tree -- the oldest living California Historic Landmark -- stands close to the Caltrain corridor, through which the agency plans to run high-speed trains at speeds of 125 mph.

"The tree is healthier today than it was 100 years ago," city Arborist Dave Dockter said. "It does, however, hang in a delicate balance.

"Because the rail authority is more than a year away from deciding whether the rail line would go underground or overhead, city officials don't know how the project could impact El Palo Alto or any of the other local historic sites.

But officials said they want to make sure the authority thoroughly explores these possible impacts before it chooses its preferred design.

Dennis Backlund, the city's historic preservation planner, and the HRB also pointed to seven other historic sites that could be impacted by the project: the steel railroad bridge next to El Palo Alto that dates back to 1902; the University Avenue and Embarcadero underpasses (built in 1941 and 1936, respectively); the downtown Caltrain depot, the Mariposa Avenue section of the Southgate neighborhood; a home at 3905 Park Avenue (built around 1905); and the "Hostess House" (designed in 1918 as part of the U.S. Army's Camp Fremont and currently housing MacArthur Park Restaurant) adjacent to the University Avenue Caltrain depot.

On Mariposa Avenue, the rail would threaten a row of storybook-style homes quaint, Tudor-style houses that date back to the 1920s. The rail line passes by these houses and could cut into their yards if the right of way were expanded.

HRB member Beth Bunnenberg said the entire Southgate neighborhood should be looked at as a historical site, not just the Mariposa Avenue stretch near the tracks.

"Southgate, I think, is an extremely important area," Bunnenberg said. "You don't just talk about one street, or one side of the street, being affected.

"Whatever change happens to the pieces along the railroad will affect also all of the district," she said. "The district has context.

"The board unanimously agreed to ask the rail authority to study the proposed rail line's potential impact on these historic sites.

The planning commission, meanwhile, had its own suggestions. At a Wednesday night meeting, commissioners offered a host of comments for the agency to consider in the EIR, including the rail system's potential impact on utilities, aquifers, noise and urban sprawl.

Commissioner Arthur Keller proposed a detailed plan for the line: a combination of trenching and tunneling that ascends around Redwood City.

Commissioner Lee Lippert argued in favor of sending the rail line underground.The city has to submit its comments to the rail authority by April 6. The rail authority expects to complete the EIR by summer or fall of 2010.

Palo Alto Officials Want Study of High-speed Train Tunnel

Source: By Will Oremus,
Daily News Staff Writer

State high-speed rail officials should give just as much study to running their tracks underground as above-ground, Palo Alto officials said Wednesday. But they noted that both alignments come with problems.

The city's planning and transportation commission signed off on a letter to the California High Speed Rail Authority that urges a close look at the planned Los Angeles-to-San Francisco line's impact on the residential neighborhoods it might divide. If approved by the city council, it will stand as the city's official input as the authority prepares a required environmental report that will set the stage for final decisions about the tracks' design.

The letter makes it clear the city will not be satisfied with a report that justifies elevated tracks along the Caltrain corridor while glossing over the pros and cons of alternatives. Among those alternatives are not only a rail tunnel but a plan that would cut off high-speed service in San Jose, forcing riders to transfer to Caltrain to reach San Francisco.

Though the majority of Palo Alto voters backed the rail plan on the November ballot, it came as news to many that the trains might need to run atop a 20-foot-high concrete platform to avoid dangerous conflicts with cross streets. Word of a "Berlin Wall" dividing the city and of people losing their yards and homes to eminent domain have sparked a local backlash against the project in recent months.

Many in the city still support the train in concept but are grasping for ways to fit it into a narrow rail corridor that bisects quiet neighborhoods. The first paragraph of the city's draft letter asks that the study "provide a complete analysis of all linear rail corridor elevation options, including at-grade, elevated or depressed including open trench and tunneling."

It goes on, "All options, particularly the tunneling option, should be evaluated to the same level of detail as the elevated track proposal."

That doesn't mean the city considers a tunnel a miracle solution, however. Planning Commissioner Samir Tuma asked that city staff remove the clause "particularly the tunneling option," saying that it's not yet clear that would be the best alternative to raised tracks.

Most opposition to a tunnel so far has focused on the cost, which is presumed to be astronomical. But Commissioner Karen Holman agreed it may not be the answer even if the city can afford it. She said she often tells members of the public, "Don't fall in love with the below-grade scenario. There are all manner of potential impacts to that, and many are the same as above-grade."

Specifically, Holman said, construction of a tunnel or trench could disrupt the lives of those who live nearby and require the state to take people's property. Beyond that, it could pose problems related to underground water, including a toxic plume and an aquifer that serves as an emergency drinking-water supply.

Given that, Commissioner Daniel Garber wondered if the city should ask for more study of keeping the tracks at ground level. That would likely require closure of several cross streets, however, a possibility other commissioners were not interested in considering.

The overriding sentiment was captured by Commissioner Arthur Keller near the end of the four-hour-long session. "There is no completely satisfactory solution to this," he said. "All of the alternatives will have drawbacks. The question is which of the drawbacks are better than others, which of the drawbacks we can live with. And the ones can we live with, the ones Caltrain can live with and the ones high-speed rail can live with might not all be the same."

The Palo Alto City Council is scheduled to discuss and finalize the letter at a meeting on March 30. The high-speed rail authority's environmental study is legally required to address all official comments received before April 6.

High-speed-rail Agency Strapped for Cash

Source: exerpted from Gennady Sheyner Palo Alto Online Staff

Rail authority looks for a state loan for 800-mile high-speed-train line

Just months after California voters approved the sale of $9.95 billion in bonds to build a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the agency in charge of the project says it's running out of funds and is banking on a state loan to keep the work on track.

So far, several contractors have already halted their engineering work on the 800-mile rail line, which the California High-Speed Rail Authority plans to build and operate by 2020, rail authority officials said last week. According to a report issued last month by the state treasurer's office, the high-speed rail project had about $4.2 million in unpaid bills for work already performed.

Given the tight fiscal situation, the agency's Executive Director Mehdi Morshed said the agency will have to "do the responsible thing and stop work" if it doesn't receive state funds in the next few months, according to an Associated Press report.

"If we do not have any money for the next few months, we can't in good conscience ask people to keep working," Morshed said, according to the AP.

But Judge Quentin L. Kopp, chairman of the agency's board of directors, said this week he expects the project to overcome the temporary financial setback and meet the agency's projected timeline. Though he acknowledged that some contractors stopped working because of the funding shortage, he said he expects the rail authority to soon get an injection of funds from the state's infrastructure fund, which is managed by the Pooled Money Investment Board.

"Only a few contractors slowed their work," Kopp told the Palo Alto Weekly. "Many contractors are continuing to work, on the promise that they will be paid as soon as the treasurer derives proceeds from the Pool Money Investment Fund or we get some other type of financing."

The treasurer's office has placed the high-speed rail project on a list of infrastructure projects that could get a state loan, even if the bulk of the infrastructure fund remains frozen. The loan would then be repaid with proceeds from the $9.95 billion in bonds, which have not yet been sold. But the board has yet to release the money for any of the projects on the list.

The rail authority is banking on a mix of federal funds, private investments, bond money and contributions from local agencies to finance the $45 billion rail line, which would allow passenger trains to reach speeds of 220 mph and travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The San Francisco-to-San Jose section would cut through the Peninsula along the Caltrain corridor. Rail officials are expected to begin putting together an Environmental Impact Review for this section. The document is expected to analyze the various track alternatives for the train (elevated, underground or trenched) and consider locations for rail stations.

The project has stirred controversy in Palo Alto and neighboring cities, some of whose residents are concerned that the Rail Authority will take their properties by eminent domain to make room for new railroad tracks.

Rail officials have consistently warned that delays would add major costs to the rail project. Rod Diridon, who sits on the rail authority's board of directors, told the Palo Alto City Council on March 2 that delays could cost the authority about $2 billion per year.

"When you're talking about a $40 billion project, if you lose a year you lose $2 billion worth of buying power," Diridon said.

Peninsula Cities Want Say in High-speed Rail Plans

By Will Oremus

Palo Alto Daily News Staff Writer

As plans for a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco chug along, residents and officials in Palo Alto and other Peninsula cities are quickly joining forces in hopes of influencing the design.

They've been jolted to action by word that the Caltrain tracks that run through their neighborhoods may have to be elevated, expanded and flanked by 15-foot-high walls to accommodate 125-mile-per-hour trains zipping by every few minutes. Many are saying they'd rather see the tracks go underground.

In Palo Alto's Southgate neighborhood, where many homes back up to the tracks, there's talk of eminent domain and loss of property value. After an informational meeting last week drew almost 50 people, they're holding a second meeting tonight and planning a march on City Hall on March 2 to draw attention to their plight.

Meanwhile, mayors and staff from several cities have begun meeting each Friday to share notes and talk strategy. They've asked state high-speed rail officials to extend a period of public input on what should be studied in the environmental analysis, and they're working on a formal request that a tunnel be included among the alternatives. If the tracks must be elevated, they're pushing for a more attractive scheme than simply slapping concrete walls on each side.

While leaders in two cities, Menlo Park and Atherton, have formally opposed the project and joined a lawsuit against it, others are actually enthusiastic about
the rail line. What they have in common, said Palo Alto City Council Member Yoriko Kishimoto, is a desire not to be left out of the planning process.

"We want a place at the table in negotiating with the high-speed rail authority," Kishimoto said. "It doesn't make sense to have all of our dozens of cities negotiating separately."

Similarly, the Southgate residents are split on the merits of high-speed rail but seemingly united in their concern over its impact on their neighborhood.

Gil Woolley, whose Mariposa Avenue home is among those that abuts the tracks, said he believes California needs the rail line. He said he understood when he moved there that the tracks might not always stay at ground level.

Still, he said, "I think it's going to be ugly. It's going to really affect the value of the houses along here."

Cecilia Lancaster, who lives several doors down, said she helped organize the march now because it was starting to feel like residents' voices might be drowned out as the project gained momentum. She said she's less worried about losing her home to eminent domain than watching its value evaporate because of the train tracks towering over it. Like many neighbors, she's now pushing for the trains to run underground.

That could be far more costly than elevated tracks, and state officials have indicated cities that want a tunnel may have to pay the difference themselves. Lancaster said she understands that, but feels the cities need to at least look into the possibility.

The residents will meet tonight at 7 at the Palo Alto Unified School District offices, 25 Churchill Ave., Palo Alto. The march is scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 2 at Lytton Plaza, to precede a Palo Alto City Council meeting on the high-speed rail plans.

The California High Speed Rail Authority is also sponsoring a meeting at 7 p.m on Feb. 26 at Mitchell Park Community Center, 3800 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

Palo Alto Residents Worry About Bullet Train

Source: Bay Area News Group

Until recently, the notion of a bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco seemed far off to Tom D'Arezzo, a high-tech product manager who lives in Palo Alto's Southgate neighborhood. He knew it was on the November statewide ballot, but wasn't sure of the specifics.

Now that the $10 billion bond measure has passed, however, the project's full impact is beginning to hit home — almost literally. Like his neighbors on Mariposa Street, D'Arezzo has a yard that backs up to a portion of the Caltrain tracks that might have to be widened to accommodate the high-speed electric trains.

D'Arezzo now fears he could lose up to 10 feet of his property to eminent domain. But he's been frustrated in his attempts to find out for sure. Rail officials will neither confirm nor rule out the possibility, repeating a mantra that is beginning to irritate some Peninsula residents even though it's meant to soothe them: "It's early in the process."

Groundbreaking on the planned $40 million line is years away. The California High Speed Rail Authority is in the first stages of public outreach, holding "scoping meetings" in the Bay Area to get residents' thoughts on what should be studied in the environmental reports.

But D'Arezzo, and a handful of leaders in mid-Peninsula cities, worry that by the time they get the detailed information they would need to participate in the decision-making process, the big decisions will
have already been made.

It's that fear that prompted Menlo Park and Atherton's city councils to formally oppose the rail line, joining a lawsuit against the authority for its 2007 vote to run the trains up the Caltrain tracks rather than through the East Bay. Meanwhile, leaders in more transit-heavy cities such as Palo Alto and Redwood City have generally endorsed the alignment, whether officially or tacitly.

Now those cities are starting to take notice of the way the 125-mph trains might alter their landscapes. For one thing, safety regulations will require the tracks to pass either over or under every cross street, meaning either dozens of new overpasses or a pricey tunnel through a fully built-out suburban region.

Yoriko Kishimoto, a Palo Alto city councilwoman who last year led a resolution to support high-speed rail, is taking charge of an effort to get local cities and residents more involved in the planning process. In a meeting Monday with state Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Redwood City, she and other council members asked whether he could help them extend the public comment period for the environmental scoping, which is scheduled to end March 6.

Kishimoto has also met with council members in Redwood City, Menlo Park, Atherton and Mountain View about working together to negotiate more effectively with the rail authority.

"It's going to be a transformational project," she said, "and we have a choice whether it's going to transform the community for better or worse. It's up to us to take control of the situation."

Quentin Kopp, chairman of the high-speed rail authority, said those fretting about high-speed rail's impacts on local neighborhoods are getting ahead of themselves.

"The engineering is far from complete," he said. "People should not apprehend eminent domain until at least that part (of the design) which applies to Palo Alto or Redwood City is complete."

If some cities are interested in tunneling, he added, they should submit a proposal before the current comment period ends.

Distinctive Palo Alto Architects

Local Points of Interest for Architecture Buffs

Monty Anderson

Two of Palo Alto's most illustrious architects, Birge Clark and Pedro DeLemos, had a decided influence on the way Palo Alto looks today. Both practiced architecture in and around Palo Alto beginning in the 1920s and they shared a love of the Spanish Revival style of architecture that blossomed in California during the Arts and Crafts movement.

As Californians became tired of transplanted Eastern styles, architects searched for a style of architecture that better represented the uniqueness of California. They didn't have to look far, because California was dotted with Spanish missions. The missions, with their thick adobe walls, exterior courtyards and clay tile roofs, were perfectly adapted for the climate of California. Clark and DeLemos embraced this style of architecture, and forever changed the look of Palo Alto.

Today many of the city's most important buildings are designed in this Spanish Revival style. Local buildings of note by Birge Clark include the Palo Alto Post Office, the University Arts Building, the President Hotel, the Varsity Theater and many of the buildings along Ramona Street between University and Hamilton. This area is designated a National Register Historic District.

Also on Ramona Street are buildings by DeLemos; the buildings housing Nola's restaurant, and the Double Rainbow Ice Cream Parlor across the street are examples of his work. In addition, Waverley Oaks, his own residence off Waverley Street, has been featured on the Gamble Garden Center Tour and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Menlo Park boasts Allied Arts, which was also designed by DeLemos.

Join the Museum of American Heritage as we celebrate these and other local architects and architectural styles with displays of graphics and architectural artifacts at MOAH's Spring exhibit On the House: Architecture and Artifacts.

Monty Anderson, a Principal at Cody Anderson Wasney, is a member of MOAH's Board of Directors and consulting with the Exhibits Committee for On the House.