What do railroads & genitalia have to do with each other?

1. Some people wonder why I pick on the incompetence of city government, but you can’t make this shit up if you tried.

2. Well, the bottom drawing does look like a sex-ed drawing of the fallopian tubes relationship to the vagina etc.

3. Yesterday’s Council Informational meeting is available this morning on SIRE, but the pdf doc is not.

   After last night’s meeting at the Orpheum, I’m guessing that both Sioux Falls and Brandon citizens are going to want to look at this doc TODAY, I hope they do not use this mistake to try to block access to information!!

   Also, last night I noticed that they did not give the times that the Orpheum meeting would be re-broadcast on Channel 16. At all other public meetings that I have attended over the years, they have always been very careful about sharing this info!!

4. I was disappointed when CityLink did not televise the railroad meeting at the Orpheum. If anyone knows when/if it will be rebroadcast and the time, please post. I sure would like to see the Q&A.

5. I still don’t understand the City of Brandon’s objections to the switchyard near Rice St. It would be built between the existing tracks and the river, near an electrical substation and a water treatment plant, in an already heavily-industrial area. It’s not like this land was going to be prime real estate anytime soon.

6. CR made have a point. It might not have been broadcast because they didn’t have the presentation fixed yet.

7. I agree about the Brandon situation. I told someone last night that trains are still the most affordable way to transport goods. If we move them from DT they have to go somewhere.

8. The railroad relocation meeting at the Orpheum was originally set up to consist of a 30 minute formal presentation and then one-on-one conversations with officials. (NO structured Q & A)

   I believed that this did not allow citizens to ask questions in an OPEN, TRANSPARENT way.

   So, several weeks ago I contacted all members of the Council, the Mayor and the Public Works Director.

   I requested that there be a formal Q & A session and that it be recorded on SIRE. The compromise that was reached was that there would be a formal Q & A and that it would be broadcast on Channel 16.

   Since I knew from past experience that the Events Center Q & A sessions had been broadcast live, I assumed that the RR meeting would also be live.

   I just spoke to Media Services and was informed that Public Works had requested that it NOT be broadcast LIVE!!!! I’ll let you form your own conclusions on THAT!!!!!!!

   I was also told that it is in the process of being edited (let’s hope ALL of the questions that were asked are aired) and that it will be broadcast 4-5 times over a one week period. They do not know the dates and times, but they will be contacting me with that info tomorrow.

9. I see the citizens of Weirdsville were not to happy about the trains coming their way.

10. I fell in love with train travel/trainhopping about 12 years ago. I have only partaken in the legal form of rail travel.
    At that time, I started to learn as much as I could about the rail industry. There has been very little need for rail service in DTSF for years. No customers in the vicinity and pasenger service left in the 50’s. I know a local rail line moves goods from some customers near the fairgrounds out to a plant in Corson where it hooks up with BNSF. BNSF handles switching duties in downtown. It’s really an inefficient spot for rail activity. While I admit it gives my hometown quite a bit of character having rail run through the heart of the city. The fact remains there’s no real need for it.
    The Rice Street / Brandon area is by far the most logical site because of its location to main lines and commercial nature of the area.
    I lived downtown for many years and can say that even before my “baptism” into rail, I rarely noticed any noise or otherwise disturbances from BNSF’s activity.
    This will be something I will watch with interest as a railfan.
    However, I’m sure typical NIMBY mentality will take over, throw in a few church references, etc and we’ll be back to square one.

11. Oh, they already have. If I knew the people of Weirdsville were going to piss and moan and use the ‘not in my backyard’ excuse I would have went to their meeting and said, “It’s in my backyard, my frontyard, my sideyard. It’s time we move the tracks out of DT.

    Nothing will happen. Nothing. Once again this is an example of city government dragging their feet and fucking around until they are pressured to do something (take the Federal money).

12. I really love getting a hot chocolate at the Queen City Bakery and watching the trains rumble by through the upstairs windows.

13. You should be a show at Latitude when they come by, they literally are 2 feet from the window.

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