From: adrian@ntmtv.UUCP (Adrian Brandt)
Subject: SF ballpark raises hope for CalTrain
Followup-To: ba.transportation
Keywords: SF Giants ballpark CalTrain
Organization: Northern Telecom Inc, Mountain View, CA
Distribution: ba
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 02:03:10 GMT

This article is from the Times Tribune, Wednesday, 11-19-92:
(Note text in [square brackets] is mine.)

Efforts to resurrect plans for a new Giants stadium in downtown San
Francisco give San Mateo County an excellent opportunity to resurrect
its plans for a downtown CalTrain extension, San Mateo County supervisors
agreed Tuesday.

Now that the Giants are staying in the city, Mayor Frank Jordan and San
Francisco Supervisor Angela Alioto are taking another look at a possible
ballpark site at 7th and Townsend streets, which San Francisco voters
rejected years ago.  The CalTrain right-of-way, which the San Mateo
County Transit District owns, goes right through the site.

"They want to put their third base right smack on our right-of-way,"
said Supervisor William Schumacher, also a member of the SamTrans
Board. 

At his urging, supervisors directed County Manager John Maltbie to add
the city of San Francisco to its short list of negotiating targets for
San Mateo County transit plans.

Maltbie said Tuesday he would add San Francisco and the CalTrain
extension to a "negotiating plan" for joining the BART district.  He is
scheduled to present the plan to supervisors Dec. 15.

Impetus for both sets of negotiations come from Measures B and C, two
advisory measures passed by 3-to-1 margins in the Nov. 3 election.  To
Measure B, voters said they wanted to explore the possibility of joining
San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the BART district.
To Measure C, they said they wanted CalTrain to go to downtown San
Francisco [and be upgraded to BART-level service].

For more than a half-century, CalTrain's effectiveness has been
diminished by stopping short of the downtown.  Passengers are deposited
in an unattractive section of warehouses and seedy buildings [and lots
of discount outlets] south of Market Street, where they must transfer
to a Municipal Railway bus or walk three-quarters of a mile to the
Financial District.

San Mateo County has been trying [not very hard] to get the line
extended for years, but San Francisco's interest has fallen almost as
fast as cost estimates for the 1-mile extension rose--$850 million is
the latest [over-inflated] figure for an underground route.

Jordan has proposed that the extension loop around the new stadium, but
Schumacher said the curve would slow trains and drive the cost even
higher.

Alioto is said to favor ending the CalTrain line at 7th and Channel
Street, even farther from the downtown than it goes now.  [This idea
has been rejected before, and is really dumb now that the Muni metro
(light rail) extension to CalTrain/Mission Bay is likely to be put off
indefinitely.]

But Schumacher said CalTrain could go under the ballpark and still come
out at 2nd and Market streets or the Transbay Terminal, as the county
and CalTrain riders want.

"It could be a win-win situation," agreed Supervisor Tom Nolan, who
chairs the three-county Joint Powers Board that took over CalTrain from
the Southern Pacific Transportation Co. this year.

The Train Riders Association of California [aka TRAC], a 3,500-member
statewide lobbying group for rail transit, also has been urging the two
counties to use the stadium as an opening for a CalTrain extension to
the Transbay Terminal, but it want the alignment above ground.

Association president Dan McNamara of San Carlos said a surface route
could be built for a third of the cost of the underground alternative.


-- 

Adrian Brandt (415) 940-2379
UUCP: ...!ames!ntmtv!adrian
ARPA: ntmtv!adrian@ames.arc.nasa.gov