NIMBY-ism One More Time !!!!

One more time people build large expensive homes next to existing public utilities, then whine about the noise, inconvenience, whatever....!!

This time it's an existing railroad that's been operating there for a hundred years, but it's also airports, roads, power plants, even sewage disposal plants. Just because people who move into these homes have money and friends in politics, they feel they can shut the utility down or prevent it from operating.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122990092492124959.html

 

I agree with the cry of NIMBY, but to be fair, EJE was NEVER a class 1. Canadian National is proposing a major change in the useage of the line. Those people have every right to complain.

It's not like the people who moved to Park Ridge in the 80s and complained about the noise of O'Hare. (Though people who moved there in the 40s might complain)

This seemed like a good idea for the City and surrounding counties and I think the Suburban people are being short sighted, but I don't think this is really a case of the rail line being there for 100 years. This is a huge change.

 

Since I have no idea what the EJ&E's traffic density is now, versus what it was before the steel mills became part of the Rust Belt, you probably have a valid argument. However, if a rail line has not been abandoned and the land offered for sale to the general public, the company is wholly within its legal rights to re-establish the line as an operating entity with whatever traffic density the line will support.

In thousands of cases such as this, it should fall back to Caveat Emptor for the developers, and especially those who buy into such developments. Sadly, most buyers don't bother because it's costly and time-consuming, and the developers don't offer unless asked directly, and in writing.

Many courts, at least in the Deep South, are beginning to rule in favor of the existing utilities in cases such as this, citing Caveat Emptor, also seller/developer non-disclosure. I agree that it's not a pleasant situation, but I keep hoping that logic and common sense will eventually prevail.

 

Now the wealthy people should know is CN should not buy the land but sign an agreement to run 30 trains a day over the EJE. That would fix them, they could not complain then.

 

My point is that these people bought property near a shortline with the expectation that they would have to live with a shortline's level of traffic and are now being presented with a Class 1's level of traffic. That isn't accounted for in the "normal fluctuations of traffic."

THis is a major change. And, at least around Chicago, they have the right to decide what is best for their suburbs. That's why they have municipalities.

I wish that these people would see that they are hurting the health of their city through this and work more cooperativly with the railroad, but I don't fault them for raising thier concerns in general.

 

But those went through, because the governing body of that municipality decided it could.

The city of Barrington and other encorporated cities have every right to make a stink about what does and doesn't happen in their city limits.

And I take issue with the idea that the railroad has always been there
Those people moved to those suburbs based on 100 years of history. CN doesn't have 100 years of history. They are new too.
CN and EJE are not the same and represent a huge change in traffic profile. The entire purpose of the line is being changed. THAT is new and unprecidented based on what EJE could and did do.

Again, in my view, they have every right. It's their town. Just as they can enact eminent domain to change private property to suit the public good, they can put the screws to the Railroad.
I wish they weren't being such jerks about it. It's counter productive and they are being short sighted fools, but they still have rights.

It's the job of government to mitigate when two group's rights cross each other's. That's what the STB is doing here. If they decide against CN, then they decide against CN. Perhaps the people of Barrington will ultimately suffer for it.

 

Ah, yes - Nimby's, just another growing entitled class.

But, people in other areas probably never had a deal like we did locally.

The main line of the Charleston & Savannah had been in continuous use since 1853. Then, in ~1898, a relocation demoted it to a nine mile branch. Once a day, 5 sometimes 6 days a week, an engine or two with normally 2 to 6 cars made a trip down the branch and back.

However, in 1964 with the building of a second Cooper River bridge, a prestress company at the end of the branch began building components for the new ~3+ bridge. Not too often, mostly 1 day a week, 60 car trains of hoppers loaded with sand and gravel with two or three engines oberving timetable restrictions began moving these rather long and slow (10-15 mph) trains down the branch normally late in the afternoon.

Well, the train happened to inconvenience one of our local babbit/boosters who had pushed for construction of the new bridge. This brilliantine had just bought a new house in a new subdivision that happened to be on the "wrong side of the tracks."

Well, the guy was connected - to the local politicos, the local newspapers and apparently the railroad. For ~20 years you should have seen the timetable restrictions on that branch.

 

If the railroad owns the land, they can run any amount of traffic on the line whenever they want. Anyone who bought near it knew it was a railroad line. What do they expect? Hobos and Pushcars???

Don't worry, these people will all be out of money real soon in this little economy downturn and then people will understand that NOISE = JOB!!!

 

Yeah, I've seen factory expansions hamstrung because the aural and Visual noise would affect the municipality.

C&NW had to raise their tracks coming out of Chicago to convience Municipalities.

Saying "They own it and can do what they want" is a simplistic and incorrect view of the legal situation.

And I agree on Due Dilligence, but there are a lot of other things going on here. And it's not like there's an infinite amount of land on which to build plus there are other environmental, social and economic issues that each person and community need to balance.

NOw I'll say it again, I hate the Nimby mentality, mainly because it tends to be poorly thought out and rudely executed, but Due Dilligence goes both ways and I see nothing inherently inappropriate with these munis raising the issues.

 

I'm gonna laugh when each of these munis goes bankrupt in turn.

You talk of all these issues Munis need to deal with. Now did you once consider how much BIGGER the footprint of all those new housing developments is on physcial, social, and economic environments compared to the railroad doubling traffic levels?

I really get teed off when it comes to other people telling property owners how they will and will not use the land that is theirs to use as they so so fit as covered under the zoning laws.

Those areas that are grandfathered, Like railroads, are not under those laws.

I am also very much against HOAs. If I want to paint My house Bright pink that is my right as a property owner. Granted, I cannot play my stereo at 1:00 am on notch 10, but I agree with that rule.

 

Well, HOAs are supposed to be there to make your life easier. They cover stuff you don't want to have to deal with.

But you don't need to have an HOA to get in trouble over what you do on your property. In the town I grew up in, you could get fines for not keeping your yard and house in good repair or for being really really badly garish such that it affects other's property values.
In other words, my life, liberty and property are as important under the law as yours and if your paint is going to affect the value of my property, well than the governing body has a right to do something about that.

Yeah, it can be annoying and it gets out of hand, but that's why it exists and it's fundimental to the way our government was designed.
The same applies to railroads. If their activities on their property have an effect on my property, well then I can complain and the government MUST moderate and make sure that our liberties are harmed as little as possible.


And, I think we'll all be good and dead before Barrington runs out of money. As the news post said, CN is paying to make a bunch of other communities happy, so...

 

Your PURSUIT of property is equal to mine - Your PROPERTY is not!!

By what you just said, the presence of your property in the vicinity of this railroad property is having a direct impact on the value of the railroad property. So maybe you and your neighbors should have to pay the railroad for this Precieved Traffic Loss, which would be the total difference in revenue between what the railroad could run at max and what the railroad is actually running due to your communitie's nimby BS, since they cannot run the maximum amount of trains that line can carry due to your communities preceived lost protpery value due to this huge ugly industrial frieght trian moving through it.

And don't think communities are immune from the impacts of economy downturns - a number of municiplaities in my area are facing budget shortcomings in the millions and tens of millions.

Keep your nose inside your fence. If you don't like what you see outside your fence, then it's time to build a bigger fence. If you can't stand being penned up like that, it's time you bought a condo in a big city project and truely grasped the meaning of "cooped up!"

 

First of all, Maybe those communities (they aren't mine anymore) DO owe the railroads something. That's what the STB and the courts are FOR!. That's what the rule is FOR. But the STB has decided that's not true.

The Environmental Impact report isn't just about Watersheds and endangered spieces. It's also about the Human environment.

And as for the maximum trains possible. That's not true either. CN is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to UPGRADE the line. They are improving the property and that improvement will have a major impact on other property owners.

As for the economic stability of these suburbs, they certainly are hurting, of that there is no doubt, but this is Chicago not Tucson. Tucson is all new wave emigration and new homeowners. The two don't even compare, and unless the Bulls and Bears go under, Barrington won't be hurting.

Living out in wide open spaces where your neighbor's actions have zero impact is just not the way most people live. We're talking about Millions of people here in the 3rd largest urban area in the country, not a handful of foolish people that chose poorly. Those millions of people have had a far bigger impact on the health and economic vitality of Chicagoland over the 50 plus years of the suburban expansion than this single expansion will. (not that the expansion is bad or not significant)


Again, I think that the CN purchase is ultimately good for Chicago, good for CN and good for the country, AND, I think that NIMBYs in general have a bad attitude on these things that hurts more than it helps. That's why they're NIMBYs, but that doesn't mean that the opposite extreme is valid either.

 

train volume

here is my beef with this issue

even if CN runs 50 trains per day over J, thats TWO trains per hour!!!!!!!!!!! please, do not try to convince me that this represents even the slightest hardship.

finally, if we ever got to the situation that the feds took over RR's (as they did in WW2) this bypass would be the first utilized to lessen congestion in chicago.... and then where would the crybabies in Barrington be?

I cant really blame USSteel for their position.... this entire issue is asinine

 

One would hope the Crybabies in Barrington would be planting victory Gardens or otherwise supporting the war effort (or not supporting it depending) and be too busy to care.

 

Also, when I lived in Chicago area, I spent a fair amount of time on rt. 59 which is one of the major streets that people are up in arms about. 50 trains a day would be an unfathomable impact. These are grade crossings of major major intersections. 59 is a highway in many parts.
Not to mention changes in emergency response needs and so on.

These are all costs the muni or state would incur if CN goes through with the plans.
People may complain about noise, but the munis care about their pocketbook. And CN is playing ball.