Chat-anooga Choo-Choo
When CalTrans and the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) decided to close the rail spur along embarcadero in Oakland, no public input (or city input) was taken. They just decided to do it.
Thanks to the work of city leaders in both Oakland and Alameda (Tam, Matarrese, Johnson, de la Fuente, Wan, Kurita, and many others) community input is being sought regarding the construction project.
The joint community meeting will be held this Thursday in Oakland and Alamedans are encouraged to attend.
From Ignacio de la Fuente:
Community Meeting regarding the Union Pacific Railroad on Thursday, Oct. 11th.
Community Informational Meeting Regarding Union Pacific Railroad’s Fruitvale/Glascock Spur
Hosted by Oakland Council President De La Fuente and City of Alameda
When: Thursday, October 11th 6:30 - 8:00pm
Location: ARISE High School at Fruitvale Transit Village (3301 – E. 12th Street, suite 205)
Union Pacific Railroad has proposed to do work on the Fruitvale/Glascock rail spur. This rail spur has been unused for several years and would be reactivated. Impacts from construction and trains would impact Fruitvale Avenue, Glascock Avenue, 29th Avenue and the Park Street Bridge.
At this meeting, City of Oakland and Alameda staff will share information about the proposed project and the legal environment surrounding the issue and hear your questions and comments.
Please share with your neighbors
Ignacio De La Fuente
Phoenix Normand
October 14th, 2007 at 7:00 am
I attended this meeting and was surprised to hear that Union Pacific Railway had been so brazen in their attempts to reactivate these tracks without City notification or approval, environmental impact studies, etc. As a resident of the “new” townhomes lining the water on the Oakland side of the Estuary this issue directly affects the entire area on financial, health and safety, and quality of life levels.
It was discussed that the potential environmental impact could be substantial from traffic gridlock, idling locomotives, hazardous materials being transported, inability to effectively fight fires should trains block access routes, property devaluation and basic quality of life issues such as control of when these trains would be running through a densely populated residential area.
I encourage both citizens of Alameda and “Jingletown” to attend these meetings and at least hear about the possible nightmare that reactivating this spur could cause. Those living in the directly affected area will not only suffer a serious devaluation in their property (I’m a real estate agent) but will undoubtedly be affected in their day-to-day lives.
I’ve experienced a “trial run” of a locomotive through this area about 16 months ago (at 2:30am no less) and I assure you that regularly scheduled trains running up and down Glascock Street will not be a “minor inconvenience.” The train was incredibly loud, rumbled the earth and cut off ingress/egress to our complex for the amount of time it was on Glascock. Since we would have no control over how many cars would be attached to the train and the hours in which they would operate you can imagine the nightmare scenario of a ten-car train stopped across 29th street and halfway down Glascock during morning or evening rush hour. Considering the increasing traffic concerns that Alameda and Oakland are experiencing this could truly be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
My research has shown that Union Pacific has very deep pockets and lawsuits filed by residents are always appealed. The process is long, arduous and expensive and resolutions tend not to compensate enough for the stress, time and effort of those choosing to sue.
In all honesty, I’m already considering the sale of my waterfront “dream home.” However, I will continue to fight and would hope that residents on both sides of the Estuary do the same. Please spread the word and let’s get a majority of both communities involved. This truly is a call for action. My sincerest hope is that communities banding together isn’t out of vogue.