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Letter: Not 'minimum impacts,' but no impacts

Steve Schmidt and I disagree on just about everything. His guest opinion last week regarding my alleged persuasive influence are included in our disagreement list.

I did not advocate the creation of a Menlo Park commission to follow the Peninsula Cities Consortium's position statement about minimizing impacts and incorporating the best urban design features. I disagree with the PCC's position statement as being insufficiently assertive.

Mr. Schmidt damns me with faint praise. He confuses my intentions to accommodate to the high-speed-rail agenda by Menlo Park. Indeed, I oppose accommodation. It has been tried and failed.

Accommodation may be the PCC's intention. It may even be the Menlo Park City Council's high-speed-rail subcommittee's intention. It is not my intention. I don't want to merely "minimize impacts." I want no impacts. I don't want high-speed rail on the Caltrain corridor. Steve Schmidt does.

Steve claims that our efforts won't make the project go away. Our intention has been to inform Menlo Park that this project is a disaster. Making it go away should be our next step. With enough participation, we may succeed.

Martin Engel, Stone Pine Lane, Menlo Park