Fresno High Speed Rail Lunch Event — Tuesday August 20th
Forget Elon Musk’s Hyperloop — high speed rail is coming to California. Construction is slated to begin in California’s San Joaquin Valley in the next few months (and possibly sooner). What will the impact be on the Valley’s cities, farms, and pocketbooks? How can Valley leaders ensure that the system maximizes the economic and environmental benefits for residents?
Join the UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law for a lunchtime forum in downtown Fresno on high speed rail implementation on August 20th. This event will discuss these issues and offer policy ideas to address the challenges. The two law schools will also release a joint report at the event on this topic as part of the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative, entitled “A High Speed Foundation.”
- Keynote: The Honorable Ashley Swearengin, Mayor of Fresno
- Panel presentation:
Holly King, King-Gardiner Farms, LLC
Tom Richards, High Speed Rail Authority
Jeff Roberts, Granville Homes - Date: Tuesday, August 20th
- Time: 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. (registration and lunch begins at 11am)
Please RSVP by this Friday by registering here (space is limited). All aboard!
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2 Replies to “Fresno High Speed Rail Lunch Event — Tuesday August 20th”
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About Ethan
Ethan Elkind is the Director of the Climate Change and Business Program, with a joint appointment at UC Berkeley School of Law and UCLA School of Law. In this capacity, h…
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Ethan said:
“… Construction is slated to begin in California’s San Joaquin Valley in the next few months (and possibly sooner)…”
Dear Ethan,
Before getting too excited, perhaps we should also remember reports that construction may not start until sometime after 2014, depending on various financing and other hurdles. There are still some disturbing issues plaguing this project which will take more than a few months to resolve. We should be patient and keep an open mind about high speed rail and other transportation options.
In Italy, as in many other places around Europe, High Speed Rails are not a new thing. I am glad to see that at least one state in the US is heading in such direction. Being able to commute within cities by train not only decongests roadways traffic, increases travel security (of course accidents happen – see recently in Spain – but statistically trains like airplanes are safer than automobiles), enables commuters to read, work or simply relax while traveling and reduces CO2 emissions. Coupled with clean electricity, shifting travelers habits toward alternatives way of commuting can play an important role in mitigating climate change.