Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - DiscoveryBayPress_07.25.08 - Index

JULY 25, 2008 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 21A
Train from page 1A
one train can take up to 300 trucks off the road.
“We are in the process of restoring service
throughout that area,” said Richmond. “Because of
the high cost of gas and congestion, a lot of cargo is
being moved off of highways and onto trains. We are
looking at lines we have had out of service and can be
used to relieve congestion and help out the environment.”
The company is also concerned about the impacts
the trains will have on communities, especially
kids playing near the tracks, and is starting to have
discussions with local offi cials about how best to address
that, she said.
Concerns about the increased train traffi c have
also been raised in Oakley, where City Councilman
Brad Nix is concerned about possible noise pollution
at a planned offi ce/townhouse project on Empire Avenue
near the Moccoco Line in Oakley. The developer
plans to use building materials with extra noise protection.
Brentwood Mayor Bob Taylor is concerned about
the trains tying up traffi c in his city – they will cross
Lone Tree Way, Central Boulevard, Oak Street and
Balfour Road.
“It would sure as heck have one heck of an impact,”
he said. “It would defi nitely have an economic
impact on us just because of the traffi c impact. Also
I would be very concerned for the citizens of Brentwood,
since they are not used to that type of train
activity – the safety concerns for kids being on the
tracks. Do we need more safety barriers? There should
be more study done to it.”
East County offi cials had originally hoped to use
the Moccoco Line to run eBART trains from the Bay
Board from page 1A
we receive are from the Richardsons, so
it makes sense that that would be the
nature of the request.”
Richardson said that the motion
brought by Piepho is just one more
attempt on the part of the director to
squelch public opinion. “This is his
(Piepho’s) attempt to silence people
he doesn’t like,” said Richardson, who
stated that the number of letters he has
sent the district is closer to 60. “To single
my letters out is nothing more than
an attempt to intimidate.”
In a recent interview, Piepho said
that his intent in raising the motion
was strictly fi scal, not personal. “It was
not my intention to purposely single
out Mr. Richardson; he has raised that
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Point BART Station to Byron beginning next year.
But that plan fell through after Union Pacifi c declined
to sell the right-of-way for eBART.
That change in plan will result in eBART trains
running down the Highway 4 median from Bay Point
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The Union Pacifi c Railroad’s Moccoco Line, which runs through East County (and beneath Highway 4, above),
has been used mostly for train storage. Local offi cials are concerned about a plan to run as many as 40 trains
on that line each day.
question by being a person who has
sent us a lot of correspondence,” he
said.
“Mr. Richardson absolutely has a
right to send letters to the CSD, and
the CSD absolutely has a right and, I
believe, a responsibility to let the public
know what it is costing them in dollars
and the district in time.”
Jeff Barber, who was present at the
July 16 meeting, said he believes the
public also has a right to pen all the
letters it sees fi t. “We all have a right,
and many would argue a responsibility,
to correspond with our elected offi cials
and to seek public records,” said Barber.
“Elected offi cials have no right to
attempt in any way, directly or indirect-
ly, to stifl e public communication. I’m
sorry if David Piepho considers himself
above reproach and cannot handle
criticism … but it is not his choice to
say who should or should not be allowed
to write letters, or how many letters
they can write.”
For Richardson’s part, he believes
the argument is a moot point. “The
motion was denied and I don’t think
the question will come up again,” said
Richardson.
However, Director Bob Doran,
who voted with Piepho on the motion,
thinks it might. “It’s time we knew what
it’s costing us, why we’re doing it and
what it’s costing people,” said Doran.
“I don’t know what it’s costing, but I
know it’s a lot of money because we are
BART to Hillcrest Avenue – scheduled to be complete
in 2015. But without use of the Moccoco line tracks,
it might take decades before eBART extends south to
Oakley, Brentwood and Byron.
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getting a lot of letters. I think we’re going
to be working on getting something
out there for people to see.”
According to Murphy-Teixeira, the
board should take fi rst things fi rst. “I
support fi nding out the cost the district
expends on reviewing and responding
to correspondence in general, and how
much the district expends on public record
requests,” she said.
“Since we hired a new person to assist
in this aspect of the district’s business,
it’s important to fi nd out exactly
how much it costs the district. Once the
tally is brought to our attention, the
obvious question will be to determine/
dissect why the costs are so high.”
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