“A little bit of this, a little bit of that” is what you’ll find here. First and foremost, opinion, commentary, and analysis you simply won’t find in the dead tree media. The Blog was started to offer “other side” thoughts on local governance and related subjects, unconstrained by the boundaries of the “free press.” Useful information, diversions, humor, and other distractions from the daily grind will make regular appearances as they occur to me, and as others contribute them.
Patricia Quinn, Executive Director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, has insisted that a Maintenance and Layover Facility for Downeaster train sets MUST be built in Brunswick if Amtrak service from Portland to our perfect little town is to continue. By MLF, we mean a large industrial building, approx. 60,000 sq ft, over 600 ft long, and nearly 40 ft tall.
She has further insisted that it MUST be built along Bouchard Drive at ‘Brunswick West,’ as no other location for the MLF is suitable, workable, viable, acceptable, affordable, ordained, or discussable. So it’s an industrial behemoth in an in town neighborhood, or the Downeaster’s vast but as yet undocumented economic benefit to us all will simply evaporate, like a thief in the night.
She has convinced those with a spiritual connection to the train that this must be taken on faith and faith alone. Questioning the assertions is heresy; questioning the Environmental Assessment performed by experienced Big Dig engineering firm Parsons Brinkerhoff is grounds for excommunication from the Holy Church of Saint Amtrak and the Downeaster Apostles. Not to mention having to return your Patron Saint Wayne of TRN Dashboard Bobblehead, and the Saint’s Benevolent Countenance mounted above the living room mantle.
While the vapors coming from the Downeaster fire breathing deity can be punishing enough, such threats can really send true believers swooning. Here we see one such disciple, and an actor playing Saint Wayne in his younger days, rehearsing for a skit at an upcoming town council meeting.
Curious cats that we are, we decided to look into things. We discovered on Saint Wayne’s web site that the Downeaster has been in operation out of Portland since December, 2000. We wondered what they have in the way of a Maintenance and Layover Facility there, and here is what we found. Two different google earth shots are shown below, and their use as the Maintenance and Layover Facility in Portland is confirmed in the Environmental Assessment report issued by NNEPRA in September of last year.
The MLF is the parallel rail spurs adjacent to the boarding platform at the upper center of the photos. This MLF is not enclosed, and we assume, has been in use since late 2000/early 2001 when Downeaster service began. Which, as we see it, makes this a historic railroad use area. There is significant open real estate around the sidings, with a number of industrial looking buildings. And no residential neighborhoods that we can detect.
So here are our questions, Ma’am:
1) How has the Downeaster managed to survive and ‘prosper’ (as advocates see it) without a fully enclosed, indoor MLF of the sort considered absolutely mandatory for Brunswick service, just 25 miles or so up the road?
2) Why wasn’t such a ‘mandatory’ indoor facility proposed, planned, and built at the Portland site years ago? Wouldn’t that make obvious sense, since Portland is effectively a ‘hub’ location for the Downeaster? Just like Chicago Ohare and DFW Airports for major airlines?
3) While reading your subsidiary web site run by Train Riders Northeast, we came across this report:
The NNEPRA Board voted to move forward today with Phase 1 of the Brunswick Layover Facility expected to cost $12 million. The board...
Approved a cooperative agreement with MDOT to fund the construction - Commissioner David Bernhardt, a member of the NNEPRA board, has identified federal funds available for this project.
Authorized NNEPRA to proceed with Phase 1 - preliminary engineering work for the development of a $12 million indoor train layover facility in Brunswick, with the award of the design-build contract to Consigli Construction Company of Portland.
It seems apparent this is a go-ahead to Consigli to get underway on the construction project at Brunswick West as of 25 March last year.
The Environmental Assessment was not completed and issued until September 2013, at which time public comments were solicited. Isn’t this tantamount to ignoring the environmental study process, and compelling Parsons Brinkerhoff to come up with an ex post facto conclusion that the Brunswick West site is the preferred choice, and that environmental consequences of this decision are a non-issue?
While we’re at it, we’d like to add a note to get rid of a yellow sticky we’ve had on our keyboard since we posted about Schadenfreude, Harpswell Variety.
We’d like to hear back from Timothy Halpin, the Harpswell resident who wrote the subject letter, whether he wrote a similar letter indicting his fellow residents when they groused over the potential for an LNG tanker depot on their fair shores.
We imagine he could have said something like this:
Enough already with Save Harpswell’s Waterfront
After years of bellyaching over the LNG depot area, I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: the coastline, the water, the boats, and their sea lanes have been in the same spot for very long.
I’m 35 and they been in the same spot, even when my grandma told stories about riding on boats in her younger days. My point is that the water and the boats have been in Harpswell longer than most of the Save Harpswell’s Waterfront members have been alive.
Why did you move in to a house so close to the water if you’re a ship hater?
Asking the selectmen and the public for support is wrong. The selectmen are there for the entire town and the taxpayers of Harpswell, not just your property.
We hope he’ll get back to us on this, just as we hope we wake up tomorrow with a full head of hair, and find ourselves 20 years younger, 50 pounds lighter, and with a winning lottery ticket.
Who knows; maybe in a few years the LNG tanker proposal will come back, and we can schaden some freude in Timothy’s general direction.
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: using a full sized SUV for personal transportation, or a Prius, a bicycle, or walking?
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: using Ford Crown Vic or Chevy Caprice land cruisers as taxis, or small, highly efficient, LNG powered Ford Transports?
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: transporting 10-50 people between Brunswick and Portland, or Brunswick and Boston in a 4,250 hp diesel powered transporter on a limited access thorofare, or a 325 hp diesel transporter on a full access thorofare?
Which answers to the above ‘send the right message about Brunswick?’
We have our guesses as to how elite and beautiful Brunswick attitude leaders come down on these questions, and we’re pretty sure not a one of them will see the cognitive dissonance in their discordant answers.
These questions got us pondering further questions, such as:
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: an electric powered trolley with no carbon footprint, or a fossil fuel powered Brunswick Taxi fleet?
Once again, we can’t help but wonder how Brunswick’s Elite & Beautiful people would answer this question. And how the town’s attitude formation central committee would receive such an innovative and remarkably growth oriented economic stimulus idea?
You’re probably thinking we’ve gone off the rails and lost our clapper. That’s a fair reaction, but as it turns out, a totally misguided one.
Feast your eyes on this:
This is a current day zero carbon footprint trolley in Memphis, a tourist mecca if there ever was one. You can read about it here: http://www.matatransit.com/services/trolleys/ You’ll see this passage on the web site:
MATA’s vintage trolley rail system has become a part of downtown Memphis culture and is a tourist attraction all on its own. The year 2013 will mark the trolley’s 20-year milestone since the Main Street line first graced the mall and began transporting millions through the heart of the city.
How could Brunswick’s movers and shakers not embrace such a gracious, environmentally conscious idea? Think of the history, the charm, the tourist appeal! Think of the name we could make for ourselves! Cape Brunswick? You betcha!
And the switch from Brunswick Taxi to Brunswick Trolley would be consistent with our leader’s commitment to Downeaster Passenger Service as far more desirable and appealing than riding a yucky old bus.
Not only that; think of the inherent ‘traffic calming’ features of the trolley and its infrastructure. And the pedestrian safety improvements as the coach announces its approach with that romantic and soothing clang, clang, clang.
Hot damn! This is an idea whose time has come, and it would confirm and reinforce Brunswick’s long term commitment to passenger rail travel.
We can smell the cleaner air already.
Bye, bye, Mr. Taxi!
Hello, Mr. Trolley!
But that’s not all we have in mind. For longer range planning, we’d like to see the Downtown Master Plan set a goal to move forward in this direction:
All the advantages of the electric powered trolley, plus free bio-solid materials for nourishing town plantings. And even greater traffic calming abilities!
Plus it gives us another idea for a new musical that MSMT could produce and debut. How’s this for a name: Geldings and Mares. We see it based on a game of dice, with lovable gamblers and beautiful ‘goyels.’
We’ve even got an idea for a song that starts off with “I got the horse right here, his name is Josh Revere……” The chorus could be ‘might do, might do.’
The muse is in! Get excited, oh little town of perfection.
(Ed note: File this one under schadenfreude, which we introduced you to yesterday.)
Remember the Harpswell LNG tanker terminal controversy of some years back? The idea was to ‘repurpose’ the decommissioned fuel supply terminal in Harpswell that once delivered aviation fuel to the Brunswick Naval Air Station.
Here’s at least one archived article to remind you of what it was about:
As it happens, we came upon a letter to the editor in today’s Ostrich from a Harpswell resident. It reads as follows:
Enough already with the train foes
To the Editor:
Enough already with Save Brunswick West.
After three years of bellyaching over the train layover area, I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: The trains and their tracks have been in the same spot for very long.
I’m 45 and they have been in the same spot. My grandma used to tell stories about her using the train in her younger days. My point is that those tracks and the trains have in Brunswick longer than most of the Save Brunswick West members have been alive.
Why did you move in to a house so close the tracks if you’re a railroad hater?
Asking the Town Council for their support is wrong. The Town Council is there for the entire town of Brunswick and the taxpayers of Brunswick, not just your street.
Timothy Halpin Harpswell
This letter, after a bit of cobweb removal, reminded us of that controversy.
So we posted this comment to the letter on line:
If you don't know the difference between a train and a 600 + foot long 40 foot high building, maybe you should abstain from this conversation. Hint: It's a BIG difference, kind of like the difference between a lobster boat passing your waterfront property, and a supertanker mooring off your deck.
Doesn’t anyone these days have the ability to stop for a moment and think critically? Is the general public so information starved that they have no sense of proportion and context?
If this is typical of society these days, we’ve got far bigger problems than running loss leader Amtrak ego-trips to Brunswick, so they can cart area residents and their shekels elsewhere.
Apparently the editors communicate with sources on other planets:
“I don’t know what more they could want,” he said.
Reynolds said the BWNC is “the poster child for NIMBY [Not in My Backyard]” and said their request for a new environmental study was a delaying tactic designed to eventually end the project altogether.
You should know by now that the source mentioned above is the one we mentioned earlier today, who isn’t sure he lives on the same planet as the rest of us. (Perhaps we’ll label him a ‘NOMP,’ or ‘Not on my planet.’)
The story continues:
But Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, on Tuesday objected to what he called “NNEPRA’s continued arrogance at trying to site something where it’s not wanted.”
We could take this as a thinly-veiled reference to Mr. NOMP, since he is a NNEPRA foot-soldier in the Train Riders Northeast volunteer militia. But we’re not used to seeing such rhetorical nuances from Stan.
Gerzofsky said he also wrote to the FRA urging more transparency “so we don’t have an environmental mistake happen because we didn’t ask questions. … This is the single most important event happening in Brunswick that could negatively impact our environment. NNEPRA is a creation of the state and it’s taxpayer funded. They should take into consideration what the taxpayers want.”
We’ll take that to mean the Senator doesn’t favor the ‘we’ll have to build the MLF first to find out what effect it has on your neighborhood, away from the fog of controversy’ stance seemingly favored by his Federal colleague, Senator Angus King. (BTW, how many Kings can you have at the same time? Or Governors, for that matter?)
Gerzofsky supports an alternative location in east Brunswick near the former Navy base.
Which to Mr. Reynolds will raise the issue of what planet the good Senator lives on. “Hey, Hon, take a memo to the local extra-terrestrial; tell him Stan lives on the same planet we do.”
We were also surprised and delighted to see this citation in support of a Brunswick East location from the head of MRRA:
That site would benefit companies at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, as well as all companies in the area, from L.L. Bean to Bath Iron Works, that transport significant freight, according to Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which is redeveloping the former base.
We’re hopeful this encouragement will lend impetus to the Governor’s interest in leveraging MLF location for economic development purposes.
Even though that may not be a priority on other planets.
Sweety Bitch (Maggie,) our blind female Springer, had us up at Zero-Dark-Hundred this morning, thankful that no snow had fallen. Boo-Boo (Boomer,) could not be rousted until an hour later. He was apparently sawing sticks he can no longer fetch because he can’t see them.
Once we made it to the coffee pot, our nose for news began to twitch, so we took a few sips and did some googling on background for the MLF siting controversy, which is now a real news story, at least on a southern Maine scale.
We found a couple of interesting items. The first one was this item from August of last year by local celebrity Jeff Reynolds, the Wayne Davis protégé we referred to in yesterday’s post.
Yes, that one. And our response to his rhetorical question in The Ostrich is to say he’s right; he and facility opponents do not live on the same planet.
Perhaps that’s why he has trouble breathing normally on ours. The one where Brunswick is situated.
The linked item was published in August of last year. Long enough for the author to have returned to the mother planet for some re-education, but based on the Monday night meeting, he must have missed the inter-planetary Amtrak express.
So we’ll do him a solid and offer a few corrections. Let’s start with this passage:
The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, by law, cannot be governed by state and local laws. The fact that NNEPRA’s chosen site for the layover facility is consistent with state and local laws — and, in particular, Brunswick zoning ordinances, has eluded Ms. Heath’s attention.
We’re not sure what he’s getting at here, since he says they cannot be governed by such laws, but have adhered to such laws, at least as he sees it. We also want to point out that NNEPRA is a creature of State law, having been created in Maine Statute. You can find it here and in the sections following: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/23/title23sec8111.html
We fail to see in that language where NNEPRA, created by state law, is excused from complying with state and local laws.
It clearly shows that the zoning limit was 20,000 sq ft, and that a variance was requested (and granted) to increase size to nearly double that – 39,560 sq ft. Since then, building plans expanded to 60,000 sq ft, and we believe, are now back in the range of 55,000 sq ft.
None of this matters though, because NNEPRA and the Federal Railroad Authority have claimed exemption from local zoning laws by virtue of a right of pre-emption.
So Reynolds’ claim that the proposed MLF is ‘consistent with…in particular, Brunswick zoning ordinances,’ is so much Brunswick Sausage.
This passage also caught our attention:
The Town Council and NNEPRA have exercised due diligence.
Frankly, we’re not sure either knows what ‘due diligence’ means, other than in the bureaucratic, governmental, public servant sense, which is ‘we talked about it at a meeting, and gave some people some money.’ Witness the old Times Record Building, The McLellan, and numerous other examples. And the plan for a 39,560 building which now stands at nearly 60,000 sq ft. With a price just 3 years ago of $4 million, that now stands at approx. $15 million.
Sounds pretty ‘diligent’ to us, at least when it comes to diligently seeing to it that much larger payments are ‘due.’ Speaking from his planet, Reynolds finds this cost appealing:
If it happens that, in addition to being the best site in operational and environmental terms, Brunswick West is also the least expensive, that’s cause for admiration.
We’ll move on from this item with one more passage, with a reminder to the author that he needs to carry emergency equipment with him.
If the facility is not built at Brunswick West, it will not be built anywhere in Brunswick. No facility means no additional trains, and that translates into full-blown failure for the service. We (and Freeport) can wave good-bye to our Downeaster.
But we don’t hold any grudge, because we have to make allowances for visitors if we’re going to be a tourist destination. We wish the author happy trails, no matter where they may take him.
Now another interesting article, this one from The Forecaster. Here’s the link:
It also dates from 2011, in fact, just four months after NNEPRA was granted the variance for a 39,560 sq ft MLF building plan. Look at this opening passage:
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 8:10 am
PORTLAND — Ending months of study and debate over where a 60,000-square-foot Amtrak layover facility should be established, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority voted Monday to build the $4 million train maintenance building between Stanwood Street and Church Road in Brunswick.
As you can see, the building footprint ‘inflated’ by 50% in just a few short months. Since then, the cost has inflated by something like 300%.
Take note of the fact that the NNEPRA Board voted to build it at Brunswick West a full two years before the Environmental Assessment on the site was released. Not a problem for them, we suppose, since they were paying for the study, and knew what the results of the ‘assessment’ would show, even back then.
That could be because Parsons Brinkerhoff was engaged to do the work.
But in their final report, the consulting firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff, hired by NNEPRA, concluded that "because of its historical use as a railroad property, proximity to the station, availability and cost effectiveness, (Brunswick West) best accommodates the operational requirements of Downeaster service and the overall development plans of the Town of Brunswick."
You might recall that we discussed PB in an earlier post, and pointed out that they were the Quality Control contractor on the Boston “Big Dig.”
That experience cost them $40 million to settle a law suit against the contractor team. Obviously they have impeccable credentials for consulting to NNEPRA. We’d love to see the ‘source selection’ materials that were used to bring them on board. We trust it was a competitive process, and totally objective.
In the article, Patricia Quinn, NNEPRA ED, is quoted:
"The layover facility we are proposing is not the size of the Bath Iron Works dry dock ... it's no taller than a two-story house," Quinn said, referring to a video produced by the Brunswick Neighborhood Group.
The latest figure we’ve seen for the height of the proposed MLF is 37 ft, and that’s before allowing for possible footprint elevation due to site soil conditions. We have a ‘two story house,’ and we can guaran-damn-tee you it isn’t 37 ft tall. We’d be surprised if it was much more than 25 ft or so.
But hey; what’s 20,000 sq ft, $12 million dollars, and 15 ft in height among friends? These are just ‘rounding errors’ in government work.
Which brings us full circle to prior discussions of The McLellan here on Side. You may recall that we coined the term “TRS” (Times Record Syndrome) to describe the affliction that prevents public servants from being able to manage capital property projects. To refresh you, the old TR building, purchased for roughly $1.3 million, and reported by a consultant to be in pretty good shape, was found to need $5 million or so in renovations to become fit for town use. So the demolition team was called, and the diligentsia began to look elsewhere.
Elsewhere turned out to be a deal with those softies at Bowdoin College and a swap for The McLellan, whose adaptation costs began at “about $100,000,” and are now in excess of 12 times that, with unknowns still in the mix to remedy exterior deterioration.
We’re wondering whether we should call The McLellan the “McLellan Municipal Facility,” or MMF. That would pair nicely with MLF, just as CoJo and GoJo pair nicely.
In any case, it’s clear that the use of the term “due diligence” in such governmental undertakings is a direct insult to straight talk and public sensibilities, just like the term ‘public servant’ has become. So we’d ask that those who spend public monies on our behalf go sell those terms somewhere else, because we’re all stocked up on craziness around here.
If it hasn’t dawned on you by now, it’s clear that there is a shadow industry that we can think of as the Governmental & Consulting Contractor Complex. The latter are the wolves, and the former are the sheep, acting with the authority of the sheep they represent.
The consultants have learned over a long history the fine art of building expectations, underestimating costs, promising they know the golden goose personally, and generally nurturing things along until such time as a proposal becomes an irreversible mandate.
At that juncture, the OOPS memos start rolling out, and the crafty bureaucrats start issuing ‘updates’ that rely on very short public memories to help them get over the ‘speed-bumps.’ And if need be, they can always hire more consultants to manage the story line.
What’s that old saying: ‘who you gonna trust – us, or your lying eyes?’
You really should. It’s been produced on Broadway multiple times; at MSMT here in town; and the Merrill in Portland hosted a touring company version several years ago. It’s also been made into a movie; we own both that and the CD. It’s a lively show, with great music and dance numbers, and unforgettable characters, including a slick lawyer, two foxy ladies, and a matron who oversees the inmates. As the lyrics reveal, ‘tit for tat’ is part of the story line.
The opening words of the show come from an offstage announcer, who says this:
While we’re neither a musician, an actor, a composer, or dancer, we do love musicals, and have been going to them for a good 50 years or so. So we occasionally go off on a tangent with lame-brained ideas for shows and tunes. Last night, after attending the town council meeting, the muse came knocking, and gave us an idea for “Brunswick - The Musical.”
We’ve already got a working draft for the intro that reads like this:
“Ladies and gentlemen! You are about to see a story of carbon footprint, diesel fumes, foul smells, bad vibrations, moral hazards, greed, corruption, exploitation, and treachery. All the things we hold near and dear to our hearts.”
Adapting the music and casting are two of our biggest challenges, and we’re hoping some collaborators will step up to help. Maybe a friend or two from MSMT staff would like to get involved. We’d gladly give them first rights to debut the finished work when it’s ready for a tryout. They can help with auditions and all the other nitty-gritty details.
Herewith some ideas for musical numbers:
All That Noise (based on All That Jazz)
Funny Money (based on Funny Honey); the words alone suggest who should perform this number, but we’ll let the pros decide. Here’s how we see the first few lines:
Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong.
But he doesn’t care, he’ll string along.
Rail Block Tango (based on Cell Block Tango); we see this as being performed by the Schadenfreude Six, consisting of Wayne Davis, his acolytes Jeff Reynolds and Jim Trusiani, and others who have successful auditions. Susan Wilson, other councilors, and former councilors are expected to vie for the roles. The opening words will go like this:
They had it coming, they had it coming.
They only had themselves to blame.
When You’re Good to Mama: this number is so ripe for adaptation and casting that we’re considering a number of obvious options. The theme is:
Got a little motto, always sees me through.
When you’re good to Mama, Mama’s good to you.
Razzle Dazzle; one of our favorites, and a real show stopper, sung by Billy Flynn, the attorney in the show. The words almost need no change, and we do have a leading prospect for the role, but we’ll have to see how good he is in the audition with the pink feather fans and the leggy dancers. Check these words:
Give ‘em the old flim flam flummox, fool and fracture ‘em
How can they hear the truth above the roar?
All I Care About; this is another Billy Flynn show-stopper, with words like these:
I don’t care about expensive things, cashmere coats, diamond rings
Don’t mean a thing
All I care about is love; that’s what I’m here for
Cash (based on Class), which opens with these lines in our imagination:
Whatever happened to fair dealing, and pure ethics and nice manners?
Why is it everyone now is a pain in the ash?
Whatever happened to cash?
I Can’t Do It Alone; we see this as being performed by the two blonde headliners, who ever they turn out to be. They’ll have to be fast on their feet, of course, and as the old saying goes, ‘always one step ahead of the sheriff.’
Oh alright. Enough of our stupid theatrics. Besides, the muse just walked out the door; she only works half days. The problem is we never know which days she’ll work half of.
Let’s get down to the business of reporting. All the action related to the MLF and the Governor’s letter and the letter to the council took place in the first 45 minutes of the meeting. And there were some ‘theatrical’ moments, if you don’t mind us saying.
Hyperventilation:
One speaker, Jeff Reynolds, who we believe to be a NNEPRA groupie and devoted protégé of Wayne Davis, Chairman of Train Riders Northeast, asserted that the Bouchard Drive neighborhood coalition (Brunswick West NC) is a hyperventilating cabal of train haters. Wayne was in attendance, but left the excessive respiration to others this time around.
Reynolds then proceeded to hyperventilate himself, and hyperbolize on broader subjects, like the end of railroads, Amtrak, New England, Maine, the mid-coast and Brunswick, and who knows what else, since he seemed to consider any petitioning to authorities as anarchistic, scorched earth politics gone mad. He did have a neighbor who agreed with his lunatic doomsday scenario, curiously enough.
Jim Trusiani joined the hyperventilation bandwagon as well, though we couldn’t actually discern what he was hyperventilating about. Maybe he and Jeff should spend a few hours inhaling Downeaster fumes so the oxygen overload subsides.
Schadenfreude;
We mentioned schadenfreude earlier while describing one of our song concepts for the new musical. It was on display last night, and has been on display in the past at other meetings, and in other conversations and published material.
We can’t remember who triggered the concept last night; but he made a comment something like “I don’t feel any empathy for folks who bought a house next to railroad tracks, and are now complaining because trains use the tracks.” Snickers were heard here and there in the council chambers as a result.
Any way you slice the sausage, taking delight in other’s misfortune is uncharitable, and rather unseemly in a perfect village like Cape Brunswick, where ‘community’ is a core value. The implication, of course, is that anyone who moved next to railroad tracks should have known that a 600 ft wide, 40 ft tall industrial facility would eventually be built over the tracks. (Reminder: commercial and industrial are not the same thing.)
The dismissiveness is bizarre on its face. These folks have lived with trains passing by for years, and never raised a voice, as best we can tell. We ourselves had an office that faced directly at these tracks, and was closer than any home on Bouchard, for 6 years, and were always happy to see a real train go by. Let’s be clear; this is not the same as having an idling 4,250 hp engine park outside your window for 5 hours, where you can smell, feel, and hear it for the duration.
BTW, we’d like to ask why the MLF building isn’t being built over the MLF track area in Portland, where all the logistical and maintenance support already exists. If the work is already being done there, building a shed over the track area shouldn’t change the environmentals, right? And it’s not in a residential area, is it?
The comment made was akin to suggesting that if you moved near a gas station, you shouldn’t be surprised or unhappy if a refinery was planned for the site. Or that if you purchased a home ‘on a road,’ you have no right to complain if a huge distribution center is built across the street, with diesel powered 18 wheelers coming in and out 24/7/365. How many of you would respond to that with a shrug, saying “I should have known,” and that “it’s all for the greater economic benefit of Brunswick.” Think back to some of the industrial park expansion proposals put forth in recent years, and the reactions they got from those in the vicinity.
Now let’s add zoning into the mix. The neighborhood had a right, as we see it, to expect that Brunswick’s zoning ordnances would give them some level of protection from inappropriate use, though you can never predict what a Zoning Board of Appeals with stars in their eyes might do. No matter; turns out the Feds claim to have ‘pre-emption’ authority, meaning they can override local regulations, and do exactly as they wish.
How nice. When you think about it, how far is that removed from eminent domain action? Have you read about Kelo and New London and the ridiculous decisions and outcomes there?
Questions for Brunswick’s Elite & Beautiful:
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: using a full sized SUV for personal transportation, or a Prius, a bicycle, or walking?
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: using Ford Crown Vic or Chevy Caprice land cruisers as taxis, or small, highly efficient, LNG powered Ford Transports?
Which makes more sense for Brunswick and the earth: transporting 10-50 people between Brunswick and Portland, or Brunswick and Boston in a 4,250 hp diesel powered transporter on a limited access thorofare, or a 325 hp diesel transporter on a full access thorofare?
Which answers to the above ‘send the right message about Brunswick?’
We have our guesses as to how elite and beautiful Brunswick attitude leaders come down on these questions, and we’re pretty sure not a one of them will see the cognitive dissonance in their discordant answers.
Selling Vacuum Cleaners Door to Door & the MLF Siting Decision:
We remember reading years ago that the first rule of being a ‘closer’ in door to door sales (and most other sales encounters) is to get your foot in the door, and then ask which model the customer wants to buy, not whether they want to buy.
Discussing and debating the building of the MLF in Brunswick West is like the Kirby salesman asking you which model you want to order even though you told him you have a perfectly fine vacuum, and you aren’t interested in a new one. He’s managing to get you playing in his yard with his rules and referees, instead of playing in your yard with your rules and referees.
It’s like asking animal rights zealots whether bears should be baited with Dunkin’ Donuts or Frostys Donuts? Wait….there’s another choice.
NNEPRA and its advocates act for all the world like building an MLF in the first place, and building it in Brunswick in the second place, are unimpeachable points of view. The hell they are. What if green eggs aren’t needed, or any colored eggs for that matter? And as we suggested earlier, why aren’t they selling green eggs to Portland, where there’s already plenty of bacon to go with them?
Challenging the Experts and the Advocates:
When we’re feeling especially cantankerous and grumpy, we tell ourselves that the whole idea of Amtrak passenger service to Brunswick is a fraud, based on flawed and unsupportable thinking. Let’s not forget that passenger rail died off for a host of reasons, and those reasons have not been rescinded, any more than horses have stopped pooping in their buggy tracks.
But we’re willing to put ourselves out there with this assertion, and test the waters, so to speak. Let those to whom it has been revealed enlighten the unwashed here at Side offices. In the following areas, if you please:
Convenience: Can anyone make a plausible argument that the Downeaster is more convenient that the Concord Trailways Bus? Especially when it comes to heading to Boston’s Logan Airport and back? Or connecting to points further south? Have you had anyone help you with your bags when boarding or disembarking from Amtrak? Have you had them drop you at a specific airport terminal, and pick you up there?
Price: Let the arguments about the Downeaster being cheaper than the bus begin, but make sure you mention what kind of coupons/or nearly free rides for Bowdoin students are being factored into those numbers. For our money, being able to take the bus directly to the departure terminal at Logan, get your luggage unloaded, and then reverse the process on the return trip make the value proposition a slam dunk. Not to mention the free wi-fi, bottle of water, and a movie.
Value? Are you kidding? By any measure, Amtrak comes in last, reinforcing why passenger rail service died off a long time ago, except for a very few limited situations, like New York City to Washington, D.C. And even that takes huge subsidies to sustain.
Flexibility: Compare the ability of The Downeaster to modify its schedule, its routing, or where it stops to that of the bus. Or to add or delete service quickly in response to changing conditions. Or to extend its runs further up the coast, or anything else you can think of. Can The Downeaster pull up just about anywhere in any town? Can they call crews and tell them to fire up another train set tomorrow morning? Do buses need multi-million dollar stations and boarding facilities to deal with passengers? This is so not even close that frankly it angers us to have to think about it and make a case to you.
Overhead Costs:How much did the stations/platforms in Brunswick and Freeport cost? How much does it cost to operate and maintain them? How much does it cost to transport crews back and forth to Portland via Brunswick Taxi vans? How much does the “Visitors Center”, which is more realistically a “Departure Center,” cost to operate? How much is being added to the national debt to keep the train running?
Public Subsidies & Economic Viability:
Do we even have to talk about this?
Environmental Footprint:
OK, so which looks like it has the lesser carbon footprint? We guess we forgot that if you’re a true believer, in the Cape Brunswick sense, the numbers aren’t important, because you just know the train is the right thing to do.
Economic Benefit: We challenge anyone to objectively prove that Downeaster service to Brunswick is a net economic gain for the town. As we’ve said before, we continue to believe that the train is hauling more discretionary dollars out of town to be spent elsewhere, than it is hauling similar dollars into town to be spent here. We remind you again of the ‘long term parking lot.’
Ask yourself how much a couple or family spends in Portland or Boston when they attend professional sporting events, including the fares. You’re going to have to get a lot of people coming north to buy Danny’s Dogs to balance that out.
Adding more trains (“five round trips per day”) will just increase the efficiency of taking dollars from Brunswick to provide economic benefit elsewhere.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s right up there with giving a quarter million dollar grant of public money to a local taxi company owner to boost the town’s economy.
If you think these are great ideas, let us know. We’ve got a million similarly productive ideas.
“Why We Love Trains:”
This seems like a great time to remind you that underlying the entire Downeaster business case is the romance angle. And nowhere is it more clearly articulated than in the publication of Train Riders/Northeast. There are any number of smitten supporters here in Brunswick, but so far, we’ve been unable to find them waxing romantic in print.
Wayne Davis, shown in this picture, is the Chairman of Train Riders/Northeast, as we noted earlier. As the photo shows, he’s in love with other things besides Downeaster trains. He and his associates are dependable water-carriers for NNEPRA.
We don’t know if that is a ‘selfie,’ but it is a selfie as we see it.
Ten years ago, in this newsletter, Wayne the romantic waxed rhapsodic about ‘why we like trains.’
The article begins right there on page 1, but if you’re too exhausted from what we’ve hit you with in this lengthy post, you can glory in these highlight phrases:
“the sancity of the land; a dialogue in time and space with the landscape.”
they “travel center city to center city.” Oh yeah? Check Portland and Boston.
“they are spirited and intelligent”
“the ride is smooth and laid back and infinitely charming”
“what do we not like about trains? nothing.”
Sounds to us like in the opinion of some, Buddha can assume the form of an Amtrak train set, and bring peace, tranquility, self-enlightenment, and harmony wherever it should go. As long as it stays on the rails. And maybe lighting the lamps from long, long ago too.
If that’s not a detached, objective, well-reasoned assessment of the value proposition for bringing Amtrak to Brunswick, and building the MLF in the Bouchard Drive neighborhood, then nothing is.
Which may be the pithiest thing we’ve written in a very long time, if you stop and think about it.
Conclusion:
So what are we to conclude? We could chat further about CoJo, GoJo, and all the other factors involved, but it’s probably time to close by saying it with pictures.
All aboard! All aboard the B train! And don’t forget to tell The Shadow to get in touch with us if you run into him; our conviction that something wicked is going on is undiminished, and we wont be happy until we know the who, the what, and the why.
