Rochelle Railroad Park Giftshop Being Shut-Down

[Anonymous]

To those of you posting recently, thank you for understanding and being patient. The Tourism Board wants only the best for the Railroad Park and would welcome any suggestions for improvements from all of you.

Ross Freier, Director
Rochelle Tourism & Visitor's Association
[e-mail]

[blhanel]

As much as I liked the gift shop, I did wi***hat they had food and drink there. They did come in handy when I visited back in early March- it was a cold day, and I forgot all my hats, so I bought a stocking cap there.

[Anonymous]

Let's give the City a chance before we all go on a rant.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

They will probably replace it with a store selling nothing but Tommy the Too Too stuff[:(!][xx(][8][B)][:0].

Well, let's give them the benefit of the doubt and see what happens [:)]. If that does become the case, then complaints will be warranted.

I think that the fact that the Mr. Freier signed up on this forum today for the sole purpose of providing factual information on this issue says quite a lot about the city's commitment to the national railfan community.

[espeefoamer]

They will probably replace it with a store selling nothing but Tommy the Too Too stuff[:(!][xx(][8][B)][:0].

[Chris30]

Ok... nice to hear the other side. It sounds like changes are being planned for the better. Food and beverage would be nice for both the people who attend the park and the people who work for the railroad. (If the food is good, I can't wait to hear the exuses that the trains crews will make in order to stop and grab a bite to eat.) I wonder where they plan on putting the museum?

It would be nice if Ross keeps Trains magazine informed of what's going on at Rochelle as I'm sure the magzine and it's readers would like to know.

CC

[Poppa_Zit]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Chris30

I'm suprised... It just doesn't sound like something that the City of Rochelle (in general) would do. Rochelle and the people who run that town have always been very aggressive towards atracting the railroads and railroad related business - ie. Global III.

I have a feeling that there is more to this story.
CC

Me too.

[Anonymous]

There seems to be a lot of erroneous information out there so I want to let you know what is really going on. The City of Rochelle has decided to give management of the Rochelle Railroad Park to the Rochelle Tourism & Visitor’s Association due to reasons that I’m not at liberty to discuss. Neither the Rochelle Chamber or Park District have anything to do with the Railroad Park, nor have they ever.

The Rochelle Tourism Board is planning to continue to have some form of a gift shop at the Railroad Park and hopefully also to add a railroad museum, maybe a train layout and have some type of food and beverages available. I assure you that we plan to improve upon what is currently there, not to take anything away from the park. It may take us some time for these plans to come to fruition, but it will happen.

Thank you all very much for your concern of the Rochelle Railroad Park and your patronage as well. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at [e-mail].

Ross Freier, Director
Rochelle Tourism & Visitor's Association

[trainboyH16-44]

I sure am going to miss it, good times...

[Anonymous]

Ive never been to rochelle i REALLY want to go tho.

[Anonymous]

Web cam will not be taken away. We railfans appreciate Trains Magazines participation in the Rochelle Railroad Park.

[chad thomas]

I wonder if the web cam will get the boot too.

[rob1195]

I say we protest, have a trainwatchers sit in, LOL

[Anonymous]

What is ETTS?

[upchuck]

I just sent an e-mail to the Rochelle park district asking why the decision was made
and what more appropriate use there could be of this shop than what it is already.
Maybe I'll get a response or it will just be more of this...[banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead]

[pat390]

I was just at the park 2 weeks ago and the shop was closed, but I was told the owner was out of town, its a shame that something like this is getting closed down, politicians need to get their heads out of their[censored] and learn to appreciate what people want. Not just legal issues.

[Mookie]

Well, I guess I will just have to go there and stomp my feet and wave my arms in protest! But I can't go until May 21, so hope they can hold on that long!

Wonder if they are looking at a May 1st closing (month to month)?

I am not a happy unit, now that I am going to visit!

Mad Mook

[Chris30]

I'm suprised... It just doesn't sound like something that the City of Rochelle (in general) would do. Rochelle and the people who run that town have always been very aggressive towards atracting the railroads and railroad related business - ie. Global III. I have a feeling that there is more to this story.

CC

[edbenton]

The RR crews are going to be mad. The fact that the shop was there to help them whenever they had a low water condition to refill their radiators. they even have a hose long enough to reach the tracks either way.

[Anonymous]

As Jay Leno would say... "the terrorists have won... " [xx(].

According to a Google search, the mailing address is:

City of Rochelle IL
Office of the City Clerk
416 North 6th Street
Rochelle, Illinois 61068-1540
(815)-562-6161

[vsmith]

It sounds more like a chicken-[censored] way of the city saying "we dont want to risk the liabilty as park owner if the leasee got injured during a robbery or an accident".

[chad thomas]

Perhaps a campain to save it ts in order. Anybody have the addys of the city council?

[fuzzybroken]

Here's what I got in my e-mail this morning:

QUOTE: This was received by one of the board members of the C&NWHS shortly
after 4pm today:



We have just received notice that the City of Rochelle will not renew
our lease agreement and we will have to close down and clean out the
gift shop completely immediately. When we saw you last week we had no
idea this would happen and we would not see you again.

It seems the City and the tourism board want to use for building for
something else.
Hope the convention goes well and we know everyone will miss going
through our really neat shop, as we will miss seeing all our old
railfan buddies (miss meeting new ones).
Tony and I are in a state of shock as we had no idea this would
happen. We did nothing to have this happen, we have paid our rent on
time for seven years and felt sure our lease would be in place as
always before. We both feel this is a blow to railfans everywhere!
Just one more ETTS.



Anthony and Lynne Miranda
Rochelle Railroad Park = NOT ANY MORE!
124 N 9th Street
Rochelle IL 61068

815-562-8107

Too bad, I never even got to visit there... [:(]

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by fuzzybroken

The park is staying. The gift shop will be going.

any time frame on when?

[fuzzybroken]

The park is staying. The gift shop will be going.

[zwspnby9]

So will the "RAILROAD PARK" stay. Or will it go with the gift shop???

[Chris_S68]

Word on the Illinois Yahoo group is that the city of Rochelle, in their infinite wisdom, has refused to renew the lease on the park's gift shop. I live in the area and, while I admit I don't frequent the park, I have, on occasion, stopped at the shop. Supposedly has something to do with bringing the park more in-line with other park district properties while making it more "kid friendly", whatever that is.
This is a pretty sad example of politicians' short-sightedness and being completely out of touch.

Chris