The California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSR) oversees an 800-mile system that includes building massive infrastructure through agricultural, suburban, and urban communities to connect the state’s population centers. The communications challenges include simplifying difficult and sometimes complex messaging and working with distinct cities to address a multi-year construction timeframe and a $65 billion price tag.
VMA has conducted public outreach and communications programs from Shafter to San Diego, including facilitation of CEQA/NEPA outreach, Title VI engagement, political coordination, and government affairs. We’ve worked closely with community residents and stakeholders to provide transparency, support, and clarification and have applied traditional and social media to develop crowdsourcing opportunities and engage stakeholders in advancing the project both technically and politically. We have executed hundreds of public meetings, workshops, and briefings to engage the public and work through technical issues. VMA led outreach on behalf of the Bakersfield to Palmdale and Burbank to Los Angeles sections, which secured CEQA/NEPA clearance in 2020 and 2021, marking the first Southern California sections to reach this important milestone.
In addition, VMA coordinated Southern California political efforts and campaign-related outreach to pass Prop. 1A, the $9.95 billion HSR initiative on the November 2008 ballot.
