Neighbors lament rail yard's fast track

A plan for a massive intermodal rail facility in Joliet has won the backing of city planners despite pleas for more time from neighboring homeowners who want to sell their land to the developer.

[Mary Baskerville]

The Will County Environmental Network urges working to "protect and defend the environment." Visit
http://willcountyenvironmentalnetwork.wordpre...

[concerned citizen]

The homeowners do not "want to sell their land to the developer". They know that once the development is built, the value they have built in their property will disappear, as no one would buy a home next to the completed CenterPoint development.

Some homeowners "want" to sell to CenterPoint, but only because they have few other options. They can either take what CenterPoint offers (and believe me, I have seen the offers and--at least the ones I have seen---they ARE NOT based on fair value, don't get me started on the "25% premium") or they can keep their home and live next to the giant development and the trucks, traffic, and congestion it will bring.

Go to http://www.cityofjoliet.info/ and look for the CenterPoint documents on the side bar to examine the proposed development for yourself.

[Sick of Trains]

We live in Coal City, a small town south of JOliet about 20 miles or so. Trains never used to be an issue back in hte day pre-Centerpoint. Now you cant hardly get through town because there is something like 82 trains a day roaring through here. Our quality of life has drastically changed from air pollution to noise to safety concerns all the while BNSF doesn't even clean stuff up along the tracks. Now we hear that our Fire Department needs tax money to build a new station on the other side of the tracks---not because of the town growing, but because there are so many trains that the emergency services can't get to the scene. This is ridiculous anymore!

[Russell]

If the CN deal falls through the Pacific Rim Railroad is negotiating to purchase the EJE. The Pacific Rim will rebuild the Milwaukee Road line across the Rockies to connect Humbolt Bay to Chicago.