About Us

WHO WE ARE

The Community Coalition on High Speed Rail (CC-HSR) is a grassroots, nonprofit corporation, managed by business and neighborhood leaders. CC-HSR represents businesses and residents in the communities located along the Caltrain alignment (Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Belmont, and Burlingame). Join us!

WHY WE EXIST

The current plan for High Speed Rail on the Peninsula calls for a 20-foot high wall, with another 20 feet of wires stretched overhead, bearing 200 trains a day, on steel wheels, running at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour through the heart of our neighborhoods. Thousands of trees would be eliminated. Years of construction, dirt, dust, and noise would be required. If the current plan goes forward, local businesses and residents stand to lose – financially, aesthetically, and in quality of life. There are better ways to build a train! We need to make sure it gets done right, which means we need to increase our local community power.

OUR MISSION

The mission of CC-HSR is to ensure that planning, financing and implementation of HSR on the Peninsula and throughout California is "done right" for our local communities, or not done at all. By joining together, we can, and will, protect our communities.

WHAT WE ARE DOING

We seek to protect our communities through political and legal activism. CC-HSR works closely with the Planning and Conservation League (PCL), which lobbies for the environment in Sacramento. We are also working closely with the PCL Foundation, PCL’s educational and outreach partner. PCL Special Counsel and Environmental Attorney Gary Patton is providing legal and strategic assistance. Gary is an experienced campaign strategist, lobbyist, and community organizer, and is helping us advocate before the Legislature and other decision making bodies. Together we:

  • Work strategically with citizen activists, business representatives, local government staff and elected officials of our Peninsula communities to build a powerful coalition on HSR
  • Directly coordinate with groups throughout the state who are also concerned about HSR
  • Lobby in the state legislature and with the Governor
  • Work to insure that California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) Board Members and staff address, rather than dismiss, our issues
  • Actively communicate with journalists and media to tell our community stories
  • Promote public outreach, educational events and community meetings
  • Provide official comment on key documents like the CHSRA Business Plan and EIRs, as a mechanism to shape these documents and advance local community and business concerns

FUNDING

CC-HSR is funded by the generous financial contributions of its grassroots supporters. We leverage this support with an all-volunteer Board, which includes business owners, technology specialists and attorneys who donate their time to this cause. Click here to donate!