Council liaison reports multi‑year budget gap, deploys 24/7 rail crossing guards and opens 60‑day study on Churchill Avenue

Council liaison Lithca Hames provided an extended City Council update to the Parks and Recreation Commission on Feb. 24, saying the city faces a projected budget deficit that will extend through 2032 and will require expense reductions.

"The City is facing a projected deficit in the coming year and for an additional 6 years through 2032," Hames said. She told the commission the shortfall is driven largely by state changes to sales‑tax computations affecting sectors such as auto sales.

Hames also summarized a closed‑session briefing on a proposed housing project near California Avenue by the owners of the Molly Stones market. She described the proposal as roughly 382 units, of which about 13 would be designated affordable; the project details remain in closed session and were not finalized in the commission meeting.

On rail safety, Hames said the council's rail‑safety ad hoc is moving quickly. "Those guards are in place," she said, noting the city and the school district have partnered to provide human crossing guards at the four crossings and that the school district is contributing to those costs. Hames gave an approximate annual cost of $1,800,000 for the guard program.

The council will also spend 60 days studying whether to close Churchill Avenue to improve rail safety. Hames told commissioners the city does not have unilateral authority to close a street that intersects a railroad and that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Caltrain would be partners in any closure request: "If closure is the right idea after we've studied it for 60 days ... then we have to make the case to the CPUC."

Hames said the city is pursuing several parallel rail‑safety strategies, including installation of anti‑intrusion technologies that use lidar and AI to detect atypical human behavior near tracks.

The liaison also outlined a two‑track approach to vehicle dwellers: stepped enforcement and cleanup in impacted corridors while exploring permit‑based safe parking and regional coordination to reduce the practice of pushing RVs from city to city. Hames said staff will seek regional best practices in mid‑April.

The commission asked clarifying questions about the housing proposal, the study timeline for Churchill Avenue and the anti‑intrusion systems. No formal commission action was taken on these items at the meeting.