(rshsdepot) Palo Alto, CA

["James Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

-From Altamont Press...

Palo Alto residents question price tag on station project

A Palo Alto resident, Michael Griffin cares enough about his town to attend
an early morning Saturday meeting to discuss transforming the downtown train
station into a grand promenade and civic center.

But why, Griffin wondered before the coffee and crescent rolls were served,
is so much money -- an estimated $250 million -- needed to spruce up a
gateway that already seems to work? Some of the 50 others gathered at the
first public meeting to review plans for the city's transit hub wondered,
too.

"I came in here saying, 'How come we're paying $250 million to rearrange the
furniture and put a new paint job on the train station?' '' said Griffin, a
writer for a jazz magazine who takes daily jogs through the train station.

On Saturday, Griffin and the bicycle advocates, city officials and
neighborhood organizers attending the meeting got some answers from project
planners that satisfied them.

The project will take more than a decade just to get its plans and funding
approved. The Palo Alto Intermodal Train Station project, as it is formally
known, has already consumed years of architects' and urban designers' time.
Stanford and Palo Alto together have contributed $350,000. An additional $45
million may come from the Measure A sales tax, said project manager Maryanne
Welton. The rest of the money would likely come from a mix of federal, state
and local sources.-Mercury News, Mark Granados

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