ALTAIR project was approved: The Passway to Elimination of the Mountain Lions in our Region

Last night approximately at 9:00 PM, December 12, 2017, the City Council of Temecula approved the ALTAIR application for development. The Council members accepted the plan without any changes. Mayor Edwards made the final decision and pushed the vote forward. She said that the Nature Center will not be acted on in the near future because there is no money or plan for it at this time. Both Mayor Pro Tem Matt Rahn and Councilman Jeff Comerchero agreed that they can do without the Nature Center. In spite of the efforts by the Mayor Pro Tem to eliminate the Nature Center from the proposed plan, Councilmember Michael Naggar adamantly resisted any changes to the proposal. It was retained in the final proposed construction plan.

The final vote for approval was 4 Yes (Edwards, Rahn, Comerchero, and Naggar) and one No (James Stewart). Environmental groups all opposed inclusion for the Nature Center in the final plan. Any opposition group has a 30-day window to file a court action for removal of the Nature Center from the plan.

What is your position? Are you willing to support a legal action to stop the obstruction of the only wildlife corridor in our region?

Explosion of developments in Temecula-Murrieta region, but no mass-transit system

You have noticed that Temecula is building high-density housing on the south side of the Rancho California between Ynez Road and Margarita Road.  The sizes of these developments are large and would impact the vehicular congestion within the area already overused.  Since these are high-density developments, they would impact the traffic on the Interstate 15, and Rancho California. 

An explosion of developments on Butterfield Stage Road between Rancho California and Murrieta Hot Spring Road has already been planned.  These developments are very large and would further squeeze usage of the local roads and the Interstate 15.  ALTAIR development on the western side of the Old Town in Temecula is just one among many others planned for Temecula.

Before long the population of Temecula-Murrieta would exceed 500,000 people.  We are still dependent on a single road, the Interstate 15 for the regional transportation.  The Interstate 15  in Temecula-Murrieta will change to the same status as the traffic on the Interstate 15 between Escondido and the highway 52, near Miramar exit.

What are we planning on alleviating the congested Interstate 15 problem?  Adding an additional lane to each side of the road will not solve the problem. 

http://socanatureguardians.blogspot.com/2017/09/

 We need seriously support a regional electric commuter train, now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqrhOpoE-vs&list=PLHcHUZmaa2M5Pcij_Fe8vniL2BqwbS-2I&index=12

November 28, 2017

Honorable Maryann Edwards, Mayor,

Honorable Council Member Dr. Matt Rahn, Mayor Pro-Tem

Honorable Council Member Michael Naggar

Honorable Council Member Jeff Comerchero

Honorable Council Member James Stewart                                  

Subject:  Altair Disposition

At the Nov. 15^th, 2017, planning commission meeting, a disturbing decision was made to rubber-stamp the adoption of the proposed Altair housing development.  The Commissioners ignored the basic quality of life arguments and even the legal irregularities that make this site untenable.

Among my many concerns are:

·       Too dense, including a 5-story apartment house;

·       Old Town becomes wedged in between the freeway, homes and another freeway destroying its tourist appeal;

 ·       Creates poorer air quality due to more cars idling on the Western Bypass, side-streets, and I-15;
·       Clogged intersections at Rancho California Rd., Winchester, Ynez, etc.

·       Trapped wildlife, impingements on wildlife corridors 10, 13 and 14;

·       Wildlife crossing degradation with more trespass, trails, and Nature Center;

·       Ignoring requirements of the Multi-species Habitat Conservation Plan and the Fish and Wildlife Agencies;

·       Escarpment and green-hill destruction making Temecula into an LA suburb

Solutions:

1.     Base Case:  no development at the proposed site according to the presently assigned Zoning;

2.     Redesign the presently submitted Altair proposal using a lower density development;

3.     Change to 2-lane, not 4-lane, Western Bypass that accommodates reduced density and is located lower on the hillside;

4.     Implement minimum human impact from the development outside the Western Bypass boundary, particularly on the civic site and Village G;

5.     Redesign the proposed facility to protect the wildlife corridor and I-15 wildlife crossing that includes barriers, law enforcement and conservation of the civic phase parcels without trails, structures, etc.; a minimum human impact.

The Altair development is beautiful as shown on paper, but it doesn’t fit in the proposed western slot of land. The environmental impacts, degradation of the quality of life and diminishing resources in Temecula precludes our City Council accepting the presently proposed ALTAIR development plan. 

Respectfully,

Pam Nelson, Chair Sierra Club, Santa Margarita Group

Status of Suburban and Commuter Trains in the United Sates as 2013

The following list is an incomplete list of the suburban and commuter train systems in the United States since 2013.  The list would require an update and some information could be incomplete.  But, it is a good starting point for investigation.
_________________________________________________________________________________

City	Name	Official Link	Lines	Stations	System Length	Daily Ridership
Albuquerque	New Mexico Rail Runner Express	Rio Metro	1	11	156	3,900
Austin	Capital MetroRail	Metro – MetroRail	1	9	51	1,600
Boston	MBTA Commuter Rail (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)	MBTA – Commuter Rail Maps and Schedules	11	127	592	129,400
Chicago	Metra	Metra	11	239	785	296,600
Chicago–South Bend	South Shore Line	South Shore Line	1	20	140	11,500
Dallas	Trinity Railway Express (TRE)	Trinity Railway Express	1	10	34.7	8,300
	A-train (Denton County Transportation Authority) (DCTA)	Denton County Transportation Authority	1	6	33.8	1,500
Denver	RTD Commuter Rail	Fastracks	2	9	47.82
Los Angeles-Orange County-Inland Empire	Metrolink	Metrolink	7	55	512	42,265
Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach	Tri-Rail	Tri-Rail	1	18	114.1	13,700
Minneapolis	Northstar Commuter Rail	MetroTransit – Northstar	1	6	64	2,100
Nashville	Music City Star	RTA – Music City Star	1	6	51.5	1,000
New Haven–New London	Shore Line East	Shore Line East	1	13	94.5	1,900
New Jersey/New York Metropolitan Area	NJ Transit Rail Operations	NJ Transit	11	160	1530	301,746
New York City	Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)	MTA – Long Island Rail Road	10	124	1100	345,300
	Metro-North Railroad	MTA – Metro-North Railroad	6	120	617.8	286,100
Orlando	SunRail	SunRail	1	12	50	4,300
Philadelphia	SEPTA Regional Rail	SEPTA Regional Rail	13	153	465	125,300
Portland, Oregon	Westside Express Service (WES)	TriMet WES	1	5	23.7	1,400
Salt Lake City/Ogden/Provo	FrontRunner	UTA FrontRunner	1	16	142	13,600
San Diego/Oceanside	Coaster	Coaster	1	8	66	4,800
San Francisco/San Jose	Caltrain	Caltrain	1	32	124.6	58,250
San Jose/Stockton	Altamont Corridor Express (ACE)	ACE	1	10	138	2,800
San Rafael/Santa Rosa	Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART)	SMART	1	10	43	?
Seattle/Tacoma	Sounder commuter rail	Sound Transit	2	9	132	17,057
Washington–Baltimore, Maryland/part of West Virginia	MARC	Maryland Transit Administration	3	43	301	31,300
Washington–Northern Virginia	Virginia Railway Express	VRE	2	18	145	19,000

The source for this data 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suburban_and_commuter_rail_systems