The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has scheduled two community information meetings in Redwood City, one each in October and November. These meetings will focus on the potential for a high speed rail station in Redwood City.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
7 – 9 pm
Veterans Memorial Senior Center
1455 Madison Avenue

~AND~

Wednesday, November 3, 2010
7 – 9 pm
City Hall
1017 Middlefield Road

These meetings comprise a two-part community engagement process concerning a possible high speed rail station, and the community is encouraged to attend both meetings.

During the first meeting (October 13) CHSRA representatives will provide the community with an overview of considerations, features, and potential impacts of a station option in Redwood City, and will provide ample opportunity for questions and answers.

The second meeting (November 3) will include a brief summary of the previous meeting, followed by break-out sessions to give participants an opportunity for more in-depth conversations around key issues related to the possibility of a high speed rail station in Redwood City. Those key issues will include the scope of questions and concerns raised at the first meeting.

The results of these meetings will provide Redwood City and the CHSRA with information and public input on the critical issues and concerns that the community may have about a station in Redwood City. The high speed rail project’s environmental review process will analyze all three of the CHSRA’s mid-peninsula station options (Palo Alto, Redwood City, and Mountain View) even though only one station (or perhaps none) will be implemented. The meetings will also provide Redwood City with information about the community’s desires in regards to a possible station, and whether the City should actively pursue locating a station here.

The CHSRA identified Redwood City as a potential station site early in the program’s descriptions. Redwood City did not request that it be considered for a station; rather the City’s central location on the peninsula and its proximity to downtown and multi-modal transit options made it a logical location for consideration of a station, according to the CHSRA.

Without adequate information as yet, neither the community nor the City Council of Redwood City have discussed or expressed a preference for a station in Redwood City – this would be the first information provided to the community by the Authority on what a station might encompass in Redwood City. More information on the City’s perspective on the High Speed Rail issues is on the City’s website at www.redwoodcity.org/HSR.html