eolafan wrote: Poppa_Zit wrote: jeaton wrote:Of course there was no problem handing out $150 Billion in Federal funds to the tune of about $600 for each of us. We pay a lot of taxes. Neither my wife or I received such a check. Unfortunately, this country is set up to penalize people who work hard and become successful.AMEN PZ, AMEN!
Poppa_Zit wrote: jeaton wrote:Of course there was no problem handing out $150 Billion in Federal funds to the tune of about $600 for each of us. We pay a lot of taxes. Neither my wife or I received such a check. Unfortunately, this country is set up to penalize people who work hard and become successful.
jeaton wrote:Of course there was no problem handing out $150 Billion in Federal funds to the tune of about $600 for each of us.
We pay a lot of taxes. Neither my wife or I received such a check. Unfortunately, this country is set up to penalize people who work hard and become successful.
AMEN PZ, AMEN!
Jim, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law haven't worked in 20 years and live rent-free in a house owned by his mother. Both are healthy and able. They do a little flea market selling once in awhile, just enough to get a few bucks in cash for gas and incidentals. Neither has paid a nickel in any taxes in those 20 years, either. But BOTH got checks. There oughta be a law.
If the aquision doesn't go through, what would stop CN from getting running rights ove EJ&E?
George
Poppa_Zit wrote: If the Aurora mayor is so big on preventing traffic messes, why doesn't he roll up his sleeves and do something about the daily gridlock on Route 59 between I-88 and Plainfield? Or is that deemed acceptable because of the thousands of sales tax-generating merchants lining both sides of Route 59?
If the Aurora mayor is so big on preventing traffic messes, why doesn't he roll up his sleeves and do something about the daily gridlock on Route 59 between I-88 and Plainfield? Or is that deemed acceptable because of the thousands of sales tax-generating merchants lining both sides of Route 59?
The word I got from the politicians (locals to US Congresspersons) speaking at the Barrington hearing is that there is no money for those kind of things. (Somebody else should pay-to loud cheers.) Of course there was no problem handing out $150 Billion in Federal funds to the tune of about $600 for each of us. At least that way we could immediately go out and buy some foreign made junk, keep the consumer spending up and make the GDP numbers look OK.
Since we seem unwilling to spend money on things we really need, such as streets, highways, tracks and waterway locks, I guess we are going to have to waste time and gasoline sitting in traffic jams.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
jockellis wrote:When I went to my older brother's wedding in Aurora on the weekend of Feb. 4, 1967 (the week of the heaviest snowfall ever at that time, I think), I went to a basketball game between East and West Aurora High Schools and learned the cheer, "East is east and West is west but in Aurora, West is best!" Does the railroad determine what is east and what is west in Aurora?
The Fox River is the divider.
Jock Ellis Cumming, GA US of A Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers
I said back towards the beginning of this mess [either in here or another forum], that CN started this wrong. They should have entered into a lease or trackage rights agreement first, then bought it after a few years.
Now even if CN and the EJ&J/US Steel backs out of the deal and enters into a trackage rights or lease agreement, they will still see lawsuits from the NIMBY's in state and federal courts.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
The Aurora mayor is in his own little fantasy world. The trains are coming one way or another to the "J". The mayor is making an attempt to get CN to pay for something - anything - before the taxpayers foot the bill. The part I don't like is the local politicians missleading people wtih these automated phone calls / messages claiming, in general, that to stop the number of trains from increasing on the "J" they must block the sale of the railroad. Not exactly. CN can always back out and use trackage rights. I guess that would be a victory initially for towns like Barrington and Aurora because CN wouldn't be running thirty trains a day on the CN. Five to ten years from now? Who knows.
On a side note... the STB has said they are not going to make an early ruling on the sale of the "J". Full story from the Chicago Tribune at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-cn-railroad_bothsep09,0,2778199.story
CC
Boyd wrote:If I were CN I would tell the mayor: all of the roads in town that were in place before the RR line came through, we will build an overpass,,, all the roads that you made cross our line after the tracks were laid, YOU build the overpass.
Yours is a VERY good suggestion indeed. I doubt CN would have to build too many overpasses at all. I believe Route 34 was there when the EJ&E was built but likely not very many other roads.
Should be interesting, I doubt the federal goverment will be able to pay for improvements, as the federal highway trust fund was exhausted on Friday, the feds have no more money to pay for highway projects......
Randy at the house
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
I can only imagine the public reaction of the NIMBY's who, today, don't want the CN to buy the EJ&E and move more traffic through the collar towns like Aurora (where I live within 1.5 miles of the EJ&E) to the inevitable increase in truck traffic as this area continue to grow with more homes, support businesses and thus the need to transport goods to serve that market growth.
I will bet that the folks who want no more trains will become very frustrated at the noise, traffic congestion on the streets, diesel truck exhaust AND increased wear and tear on their roadways (which are none too good right now!) if they are successful in killing the EJ&E purchase.
Quite often (i.e. most of the time) one has to settle for the lesser of two evils and not adopt a "all or nothing" stance...this is one of those times folks.
CShaveRR wrote:Yet CN seems very willing to work with Joliet.Saw an interesting article on this subject just today (hope this link isn't too combersome in use):http://www.rtands.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature2-9-08
Yet CN seems very willing to work with Joliet.
Saw an interesting article on this subject just today (hope this link isn't too combersome in use):
http://www.rtands.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature2-9-08
There are a few articles there on the whole CN/EJE deal. I read the one on Joliet. Most interesting. What would the ramifications be for the Markham facility? Would it be closed down? Also, what about the route out of Markham, would that be abandoned, or just used less?
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Tom Weisner, mayor of Aurora, was talking to Jerry Agar on WLS-AM.
He basically said: "Ship it through Chicago, not through my town." He claims CN is not willing to pay for any mitigation of the "mess" they will create, with the large number of trains. He claims that there is no assurances that the number of trains will not increase in the next 3 years, and no long term assurances.
Typical politician, talking out of both sides of his mouth, stating he is not against business, or commerce, and at the same time, he says he is against any increase in rail traffic through his town. He is going to Washington, to speak in favor of some legislation to force the STB to consider the local issues, and the impact on the "quality of life" among the affected communities.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to listen to caller's phone calls, so the mayor was off the hook as far as having to answer to any callers, but he did sidestep alot of questions proffered by the host.....
You know, living along the tracks like I do, and as busy as the BNSF is, I can sympathize a little bit with the noise and factor, and the disruptions to traffic, although blocked crossings don't happen very often through here. There are times when then noise gets on my nerves, but not very often. I accept the fact that there is going to be noise, and there isn't a whole lot I can do about it, beyond living with it. So, I live with it, and eventually, one way or the other, the folks along the EJE are going to have to come to some sort of compromise with the CN so the railroad can run it's business and the residents can continue their lifesyles, albeit with some modifications.
The problem is, and I noted that Aurora's mayor had this attitude, is that it is an "all or nothing" proposition in some respects. The NIMBY attitude was prevalent in his tone of voice, and he seemed beyond accepting a compromise, as he put it. "Someone is going to pay for mitigation in the form of over or underpasses, it's either going to be CN, or state and federal tax dollars." He was willing to accept CN's purchase of the EJ&E so long as CN paid for most, if not all of the over passes, underpasses, noise and pollution reduction. He also touched on the fact that with the increase in train traffic, rail-related fatalities would increase. To which the host replied "That wouldn't be the railroads fault." I missed the mayor's reply to that, because the phone rang, but shortly after that the interview ended.
It would seem that these suburbs are really stepping up the fight, and I wonder if the CN will just walk away, and then come back and negotiate trackage rights.......
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