If you’ve walked around downtown Palo Alto lately, you may have noticed people stationed near every intersection, stopping passersby. No, it’s not the army. They are volunteers from the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) trying to persuade others to support one controversial issue that appeared on the 2008 state election ballot: the high speed rail.

In November of last year, Prop 1A (or the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 2Century) was narrowly passed with 52.3 percent of the 12.4 million voters voting affirmatively. The proposition approved $9.95 billion for the 80-mile high speed train that is planned to run from San Francisco and Los Angeles—and through Palo Alto.

Since the passing of the bill, groups on both sides have been hard at work advocating for their views. While groups like CALPIRG have been devoting their time to grassroots methods, residents of Palo Alto have not had quite the same reaction. More than 50 protesters marched from Lytton Plaza to City Hall on March 2 to protest the high speed rail, whose need for a constructed wall concerned citizens the most.

Though the wall would be considered an eyesore, French teacher Jennifer Wolfeld has a much more personal reason for opposing the issue: she lives in the area that will be affected by the construction of the high speed rail. “This project envisions four train tracks for which a 75 foot horizontal clearance is needed,” she said “And while we haven’t been informed of exact the number of houses this affects up and down the Peninsula, those people who own homes that are right across from the PA District Offices and Paly on Churchill, will definitely have to move. In addition, we also know that the value of homes in neighborhoods near the tracks will decline in value--we just don’t know by how much.“ The properties currently standing in areas that will need to be cleared will become “eminent domain,” or sites under ownership of the government.

The wall is also a concern for Wolfeld, whose property is in a location where the rail will be in her view. “You’re going to see a 16 foot wall with 30 to 40 feet of wire sticking up,” she said. “It’s one continuous cement wall.”

Senior Christine Juang, who also lives near the projected construction site, was more concerned about the noise level change caused by the new addition. “What worries me is that I’ll be trying to sleep at night while [the high speed rail] keeps going by,” she said.

CALPRIG, however, has started a citizen outreach program that has reached over 120,000 people. “We couldn’t be more thrilled with the voters’ approval of Prop 1A. With this vote, Californians decided to reduce our oil dependence, to build alternatives to traffic and long airport lines, and to help solve global warming,” it said in a press release after the proposition was passed last November. The idea of a high speed rail is not the issue, Wolfeld says. “The problem was that they had the choice not to go through Palo Alto,” she said. “They could have gone through the East Bay, and there’s an old railroad on the Dumbarton Bridge they could have used, but they didn’t.” She does, however, support the high speed rail itself. “Of course I am for more ‘green’ transportation,” she said. “However, the people who will lose their home or whose homes will lose value are, in my opinion, being asked to shoulder an inordinate amount of the burden that comes with this project. Many people’s retirement savings are invested in these homes and so when the values decline, so does the amount of money they had planned to live on when they retired.”

Though the Santa Clara Valley Authority is heading the project, Prop 1A had the support of many political leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Diane Feinstein. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, who represents District 12 (which spans Western San Francisco and part of San Mateo), joint-authored Prop 1A with Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani of District 17.

Wolfeld’s own property is not her only concern. “I grew up in Palo Alto. I actually went to Gunn High School, and it’s a very nice community,” she said. “I cannot imagine the difference when this huge wall is constructed that runs the length of the Peninsula. It’s going to separate one part of Palo Alto from the other.”