L.A. County communities fight planned bullet train route

Hundreds of residents and elected officials from communities across the San Fernando Valley descended on a meeting of the California High Speed Rail Authority Tuesday, condemning a proposal to route the bullet train through the area.

The coordinated protest by residents and elected officials from suburban Santa Clarita — as well as blue-collar San Fernando, Pacoima and other communities — present a potent political challenge as state officials push to speed up construction of the $68 billion system in densely populated Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reported.

San Fernando Mayor Joel Fajardo was among those attending the hearing in downtown Los Angeles, saying that routing the $68 billion train through his city would have a devastating effect on businesses and the city’s tax base.

“We could lose upwards of 7 percent of our annual budget and shed hundreds of jobs,” Fajardo told ABC7 prior to the meeting.

The officials and homeowners groups are demanding the state abandon a proposed route that would roughly parallel the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway through the mountains between Palmdale and San Fernando. That alignment would include a considerable amount of above-ground track and a series of tunnels, the Los Angeles Times reported. The coalition of communities is demanding that only routes that are predominantly underground should be considered.

Among those who showed up to protest the route was actress Tippi Hedren, who runs an animal preserve in Acton. She told the authority it is “going to take this beautiful little town” and “destroy it with this train.”

The growing resistance is coming in part from urban, working-class neighborhoods that are portraying the surface route as an environmental injustice. Those communities are longtime supporters of state Democrats who championed the project, The Times reported.

Dan Richard, chairman of California High Speed Rail Authority, told reporters the opposition is expected.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise that coming into the most populous area of our state, it’s going to be challenging,” Richard said, noting that four routes are being examined.

“This is a long process,” he said. “It’s probably going to be two years of environmental analysis so we can understand the impacts.”

—City News Service