Ground Broken for New SF Transbay Terminal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a groundbreaking ceremony for San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center Wednesday morning. She was joined by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood, Sen. Barbara Boxer, and local supervisors and legislators.
They all wanted to celebrate, and take some measure of credit for the new Transbay Transit Center, which will replace the old Transbay Terminal, which was shut down for good last week.
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Work will now begin on the new million square-foot center which will be five stories tall. High speed rail will be on the bottom level, with buses above. The building is expected to be the northern terminus of California's yet to be built high-speed rail system. It's will take at least seven years to complete the project, which is expected to be thought of as the "Grand Central Terminal," of the west.
The politicians present at the groundbreaking were pleased to say that the project is expected to create 48,000 jobs as it's built.
Displaced Transbay Homeless Camp Nearby
Mayor Gavin Newsom says they're still working to place all of the men and women who have nowhere to stay now that the old terminal has been closed.
Some of the 150 displaced have set up camp nearby the place they used to call home.
Newsom says that of the 57 people who remained at the terminal last week, they got 51 to agree to some kind of housing, although it is temporary.
"The challenge is, we spent so much time and energy out there that we're starting to notice other pockets of problems throughout the city, which shows you how difficult this issue is," said Newsom. "We're working on the final six people, and we'll obviously see some people come back, I'm not naive and I know this process intimately, and we're going to constantly have to do better, and more."
