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It has been a while since residents have pushed the City to do something about the train noise; this is because (after an initial ruckus by residents) City staff has been pursuing a large grant to fund quieting most of the train intersections in town. After a very long wait, despite Senatorial endorsements and lobbyists pushing our cause (the City did try), we did not get the grant. This surprised folks in City administration, and they are thinking about applying again next year. However, after years of effort we are almost back to square one—there is funding for one intersection, maybe 2, and nothing more. No physical improvements have been done. Longmont staff is looking for more grants, but so far have few leads.
When talking to the city manager about dedicating money from the 2019 budget towards building a quiet zone for the train, the talk shifts to competing needs: this year, improvements to busier streets and intersections in southwest Longmont; last year it was possibly increasing snowplow coverage for city streets. For several years, flood mitigation costs have been a higher priority, and hamper other funding. And multiple train crossings have to be improved (with crossing guards in all directions, as well as other changes) before a train can stop blowing its horn, since a contiguous 1/2 mile section of track has to have all intersections improved to make a ‘quiet zone’--one gets the sense that, while the local government recognizes quieting the train is an issue for some, it isn’t a priority and won’t get done for several years if at all, given the status quo.
The city’s attitude seems to ignore the facts that quieting trains has languished on the City’s wish list for a decade now. It ignores statistics in several polls that say train noise is an issue for about ½ of our residents (a litmus test most public works projects are never subjected to). It ignores the transportation advisory board’s recommendation that the City start funding quiet zone compliant train crossings 2 years ago, after which City Council asked staff to pursue funding.
There has been talk of establishing a ‘special tax district’ to fund this—which would make sense if the train noise impacted only a small minority of residents. But polls suggest otherwise, and almost all public works projects in the city affect only a segment of the population: most of our houses didn’t get damaged by the flood, yet we are spending millions on the ‘resiliant st. vrain’ flood mitigation project; I personally do very little business at Village at the Peaks, despite the City’s large investment there with my tax dollars. Some residents use the recreation center a lot, others the library; some don’t use either. Despite repeated polling showing the train is a problem to a large segment of residents, the idea of a special tax district seems to marginalize the need for train noise mitigation, and insinuates that it isn’t important to the public as a whole. Ironically, this special tax district probably isn’t feasible because there is a large amount of low income housing near the tracks, which would be hard to tax more—precisely the reason for fixing the problem, the low income housing is there because of the train—which itself speaks to the need to do something. On the flip side, perhaps we should be more concerned about our governance not being more sensitive to the needs of the underrepresented poor and the minorities, who live disproportionately near the tracks, when they don’t prioritize train noise mitigation.
The city determines where to spend money utilizing ‘priority based budgeting’ criteria: 1)community safety, 2)thriving economic climate, 3)vibrant amenities and opportunities for all, 4)reliable, innovative and resilient infrastructure, and 5)responsive internal operations and governance. By these criteria, it seems that dealing with the train noise should be given a high prioritization. In addition to affecting general quality of life, studies have shown deleterious health effects from repeated train noise, and have shown poorer school performance in schools next to trains (unintentional institutionalized discrimination at Columbine Elementary?). Certainly economic revitalization of the south Main Street area will be facilitated for everybody, if trains no longer blow their horns at intersections there.
Admittedly, the bill for a quiet zone for the whole city is substantial--$6 million, by the last estimate. And the estimate keeps climbing, which is why something should be done now. To put this in perspective, the annual City budget for 2017 was over $282 million, for 2016 it was $301 million. Longmont spent $11.6 million on transportation projects alone, in just the last year. Meanwhile, housing prices have jumped up, and with this, so have residential taxes; water and electric utility rates are also going up. Sales and use taxes have gone up about 7% in one year, and the economic outlook for the city has been described as ‘rosy’ according to economic forecasters, for at least the next several years. Asking to replace one intersection at a time for the next several years, meaning $481,000-$637,000 a year (these are the estimated costs for the Atwood section, 3rd-9th) seems like a reasonable request, if not too small of a request. Maybe fund 2 a year, for several years. Residents want to MAKE PROGRESS, rather than just fill out grant forms—the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And currently, the road is very noisy. And if we do ever get a federal grant to pay for this, which seems unlikely currently, we can stop internally funding these improvements.
And to re-answer the question that never fails to come up: “If the train is a problem, why did I move nearby? Why don’t I leave?”—Like many, I don’t mind the sound of a train passing in the distance, I often like it. Everything in moderation. The train was here before I and many others moved here, but the train’s current unacceptable, excessive noise level wasn’t--federal mandates greatly increased the volume of train horns several years ago to unreasonable levels, after I and my neighbors invested in fixing up our homes and old neighborhood. We need to keep improving Longmont, and not accept degradation of our neighborhoods and quality of life. Longmont should stop talking about this and start fixing this now, especially since cost estimates for the necessary improvements go up with each study done.
Rick Jacobi
Longmont, CO
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