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stated his belief that high speed rail is a great concept which will provide a high speed rail solution to transportation along the main corridor of the State from the San Diego -Los Angeles area up to the Bay Area and Sacramento. The system is expected to return twice as many benefits to the citizens as it costs. He further defined those benefits and described the system. Adrian Brandt stated that his organization is watching the California High Speed Rail Authority progress and the California High Speed Rail Commission for quite some time and is a great advocate of a statewide high speed rail system. He stated the concern is the High Speed Rail Authority has, for unknown reasons, taken the preferred route via the Altamont Pass into the Bay Area via the Dumbarton Bridge corridor. He stated that this particular alignment has been completely removed from consideration and is highly favored with much merit. He stated that there is a lot of benefit statewide and for Redwood City for that alignment to be studied fully. He stated his hopes that the City Council considers being a part of an aggressive statewide effort to lobby for an increase in Federal funding for high speed rail in California and that the City becomes part of an effort to encourage state, regional and local entities to include high speed trains in their planning. He stated his concerns with the system and asked that at a later date support or thoughts on the position be offered. Melissa Hippert, conservation representative with the local chapter of the Sierra Club, clarified that there is a designated wilderness area within Henry Coe State Park in which two of the proposed rail routes would transect. She stated that the Sierra Club has gone on record in support of high speed rail. She further explained the four proposed routes, two of which involve Henry Coe State Park. She stated that the Sierra Club would like to see the project built with minimal environmental impact and the Chapter has undertaken a campaign with two main messages. One is to have the High Speed Rail Authority remove the Coe routes from consideration. The second issue is to bring Altamont back in for the reasons previously mentioned. M/S Ruskin /Howard to extend the meeting until 11:10 p.m. The motion passed by a unanimous voice vote. Michael Kiesling stated there are many reasons why the Council should support Altamont, but explained one in particular. The project as proposed would go from San Francisco to San Francisco Airport, to Redwood City to San Jose, and then either over the hills of the valley or further south to Gilroy and over the valley. If the Altamont route were chosen, it would go San Francisco, San Francisco Airport, Redwood City and across the bay picking up Fremont and out to Pleasanton. An alignment would also come from San Jose to Fremont and out. He stated the difference means that Redwood City would be compelled to build parking garages and deal with all the traffic coming to downtown Redwood City. JOINT CITY COUNCIL AND BOARD OF EQUALIZATION DECEMBER 8, 2003 MEETING MINUTES PAGE 10 MINUTES Book No. 60 Page No. 120