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Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010
John Carlisle: Facts on high-speed rail
I would like to offer some information to Jim Harmer, after reading his letter in Thursday's Sun-Star.
He asks where the people who fought the Wal-Mart distribution center are regarding the high-speed rail issue and says he "understands" Merced County has not pursued the issue.
I can tell him where many of those who fought the distribution center are on the high-speed rail issue -- they are on board.
The heavy maintenance facility proposed to the state by the Greater Merced High Speed Rail Committee (of which I am an active member) for the county's Castle Commerce Center is a solid contender at this point.
In fact the committee has been working hard on this issue for several years -- unlike Fresno, which has only been active for a matter of a couple of months.
Part of the formal "Expression of Interest" document submitted recently from the Merced group includes support letters from many local organizations, including the Merced-Mariposa Central Labor Council, Merced's chapter of the Sierra Club and the Golden Valley Neighborhood Association.
They are in favor of high-speed rail and the maintenance facility, because they are not environmental disasters that will affect local citizen's health, and the projects will provide an estimated 1,500 good jobs locally -- jobs with good pay, good security, good benefits and overall environmental benefits for the whole state.
And Merced County has, in fact, been a major player in attempting to land the high-speed rail and the maintenance facility for Merced.
Supervisor John Pedrozo, along with county employees Angelo Lamas and Mark Hendrickson, are among the many active members of the committee trying to bring these two projects to Merced, along with the state's most important supporter -- our Assembly member, Cathleen Galgiani, as well as many other local volunteers and city of Merced staff members.
I would be happy to bring Mr. Harmer up to date on the project, if he would care to contact me. We could use his support, along with the support of every other Merced County resident who is interested in bringing good jobs to Merced.
John Carlisle is a Merced City Council member.
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