Residents of Menlo Park’s Lorelei Manor neighborhood are taking a stand against the prospect of diesel trains rumbling near their homes, and now they’re asking the City Council to do the same.
About 25 Lorelei Manor neighbors attended the council’s April 17 meeting to urge council members to support the use of light rail trains in the planned Dumbarton rail service — a train system that would run across the Dumbarton rail bridge to connect Menlo Park and Redwood City to the East Bay.
The project could be up and running by 2012, and trains would run near several Menlo Park neighborhoods, including Lorelei Manor, which is between Bay Road and U.S. 101.
“Light rail, as opposed to heavy rail, makes more sense on the Dumbarton rail,” said Michael McKay, president of the neighborhood’s homeowner’s association. He said electric light rail trains would be more environmentally sound and create less noise than diesel trains.
As Mr. McKay spoke to the council, Lorelei Manor residents in the audience held signs that read, “Take a stand. Support light rail,” “Go light rail,” and “Tread light-ly.”
‘Minimum impacts’
Councilman Heyward Robinson, the city’s representative on the Dumbarton Policy Committee, said he is pushing officials from other cities to consider light rail for the project.“Menlo Park is in favor of transit … but we want to do it right,” he said. “If we’re going to have a rail line through our town, we want it to have minimum impacts.”
He noted that the policy committee will meet in Union City on Tuesday, April 24, to discuss its options, and will likely commit to a plan in May.
