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but he still felt any proposal to bring rails through residential neighborhoods, across streets and through the Business Park will not be acceptable politically. One alternative is to take light or heavy rail down El Charro, down the median of the freeway or on the north side of the freeway, to the BART station and up to Walnut Creek. This is technically feasible, but probably not feasible politically. Consultants have looked at routing around Pleasanton and down the freeway with the least impact on Dublin and San Ramon residents to get a line to the 1-680 freeway and up to Walnut Creek. These are all visionary projects and there is not much money at this time. There is funding for a transit connection from BART to Greenville and potentially to the San Joaquin area. We need to study the options for the furore. He acknowledged the freeways will be congested and it is necessary to provide altemative means to get people in and out of town to work. There is a bus connection from ACE to BART. However, the ACE train has major limitations because Union Pacific doesn't want conflict between passenger transit trains and the freight operations. If we want to continue the vision of a transit project in the Valley, whether heavy or light rail, we have an opportunity to study the issues now. If we don't take the opportunity, it may not be available again. It is not taking significant amounts of money from highway projects, such as the flyover from westbound 580 to southbound 680, completing HOV lanes, Highway 84 improvements, etc. Those projects will probably not happen in the near term for various reasons. As a member of the Policy Committee, he would urge joining with neighboring cities and the BART Board to continue to study possibilities. If light rail on the Iron Horse Trail had been considered twenty years ago, before all the bike trails, etc. were constructed, there might have been a better opportunity to make the transit vision a reality. He felt it was foolhardy to ignore further transit studies. He believed the EIR should not include consideration of trains through the Iron Horse Trail and tunneling. It would not be acceptable to the residents at any time. Ms. Ayala expressed confusion. She felt the Mayor had reviewed each option and doomed them. Mayor Pico said he did not doom them. The alternative along E1 Charro Road and down the freeway median to the BART station was politically and economically feasible. If it were extended to Walnut Creek, through the San Ramon Valley, that is probably the best alternative. However, all alternatives need to be studied with the exception of Option 1. Options 2 and 3 are viable. Option 4, if it were an express bus on a dedicated freeway lane, rather than BART link, is probably the most feasible financially. He would like a fifth option of bus rapid transit connector from Tracy down the median to the BART station. The problem is achieving a ridership to make it justifiable. He questioned the validity of the consultants' projections. Ms. Ayala felt Options 2 and 3 have the same negative impact on Dublin as Option 1 does to Pleasanton. Mayor Pico disagreed. This study is to determine if it is feasible to go to Walnut Creek. He did not think it was realistic or feasible to go up the Iron Horse Trail, but there may be a way to connect to 1-680 and go up its median. All options have not been explored as yet. The EIR will provide valuable information on what is feasible and what project makes sense for all to agree on. There are several concepts; Walnut Creek to Tracy, Dublin to Livermore downtown or beyond to Tracy; etc. We need to continue to explore options. Pleasanton City Council 9 08/05/03 Minutes