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Oakland Tribune
High-speed collision with conflicting interests
Plans to link trains to Transbay Terminal run into intransigent developer and rail officials who appear to back him
By Sean Holstege
STAFF WRITER
Sunday, August 22, 2004 -
Plans for a California bullet train network and conveniently linked Bay Area transit are joined at the hip in downtown San Francisco.
Yet top California High Speed Rail Authority officials appear more supportive of a downtown developer than either public transportation project.
A 51-story condominium development at 80 Natoma Street stands in the path of proposed bullet train lines into the new Transbay Terminal's basement. Attempts at diffusing a political collision course there have raised questions about conflicts of interest and new doubts bullet trains will ever reach downtown San Francisco.
In May, Mayor Gavin Newsom invited Rail Authority Chairman Joseph Petrillo to intervene, Petrillo said. But city records show that Petrillo's employer, international law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, had helped 80 Natoma developer Jack Myers execute financial deals two months earlier.
Myers' firm took title on March 25 for $10, plus other undisclosed "considerations," and then took out a $124 million construction loan, city records show.
An attorney in Petrillo's division of the law firm told Petrillo that he had represented Myers, the rail chairman said in an interview.
Myers built the office complex where Petrillo's firm is headquartered a block away from 80 Natoma. Petrillo convened bullet train contractors at that office for a fund-raiser, also in May.
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly said 80 Natoma and the terminal can't co-exist, describing the collision course as "a pretty significant conflict." Last week he voted against a new plan that some in San Francisco believe would allow both projects to proceed.
At stake is a downtown San Francisco terminal that would allow people to transfer between major Bay Area transit systems under one roof while using one fare. From the basement, bullet trains would carry people to downtown Los Angeles in 21/2 hours.
The glittering $1 billion terminal could revolutionize the region's disjointed transit network. Sponsors envision one of the world's great rail stations, to rival New York's Grand Central, London's Victoria and Paris' Gare du Nord.
Several state laws and voter-backed measures pay for the terminal and require rail platforms in the basement for Caltrain and bullet train alike.
The Rail Authority's environmental report projects the future Transbay Terminal as the busiest station in the entire 700-mile network.
Without trains, the Transbay Terminal would -- as critics have called it -- become the world's most expensive bus stop. Independent engineers found no option for tracks other than under Myers' property. But while Rail Authority Executive Director Mehdi Morshed was telling people he didn't care if his trains ever reach the terminal, Petrillo's actions seemed to bolster Myers' negotiating position.
The public agency developing the terminal needs Myers to suspend work until it can tunnel under it. Myers refuses, and the agency has begun an eminent domain proceeding to buy the property. "Every dollar going into that high-rise is one-for-one coming out of the public's pocket," said San Francisco transit advocate Michael Kiesling. "I believe Myers is trying to scam public money out of this."
Daly put it more politely, calling Myers effective at "trying to better his negotiating position."
Myers said that's nonsense. "I don't want condemnation, and I'm going to fight it all the way," he said. He sued to overturn the Transbay Terminal's environmental study.
In a May 4 meeting Petrillo tried to resolve the dispute. "Petrillo was acting like Myers' man, barking out stuff. He hasn't been a friend of the Transbay Terminal," said Jerry Cauthen, an engineer on the terminal project.
The Transbay Terminal authority paid two consultants to assess whether tracks could reach the terminal without tunneling under Myers' project. They said no.
"Petrillo was involved on the phone. He was trying to muzzle the consultants," said Tony Bruzzone, AC Transit's point-man on the terminal.
The same two consultants are retained by the Rail Authority and helped prepare its environmental study. Petrillo acknowledged they were placed in the awkward position of serving two masters.
Petrillo said he was merely trying to cut to the chase to see if 80 Natoma and the terminal could co-exist. "They were debating numbers that didn't communicate to me the basics I needed to know: whether there were any fatal flaws," Petrillo explained.
AC Transit fired off a letter to San Francisco officials two weeks later, arguing: "Failure to acquire this parcel will cause the entire Transbay program to collapse."
Contact Sean Holstege at [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
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