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Letter--Train complainers should fund crossings

Dear Editor,

Recently I have been reading in the newspaper about local citizens complaining about the noise from railroad trains--specifically the warning horns. Now, let me get this straight, people who bought a home near railroad tracks are complaining about trains--how does this make any sense? Two things can happen if you live near a railroad: trains can use the track more or less frequently. If the trains run less you are ahead of the game and if they run more, well that is the chance you took.

My guess is that purchasers paid somewhat less for the home because of its location near the tracks; at least I would certainly have negotiated such a deal. Since it has been written in the newspaper that some 756 or so people have complained versus about 67,000 or so who will be paying for the increase in property value of the 756, my suggestion would be that each of the 756 come up with $3,307 and make the improvements to the crossings. If you can get more folks to care about it and chip in the cost will only go down. In any case, I suspect that the small amount of improvement cost to your "home" will come out when you sell it in the future. Then of course, we can use the $2.5 million to do something great for Pleasanton like helping overall traffic by completing Stoneridge Drive. In my scenario, everyone wins.

I love our country--even if the city spends the money to modify the crossings so the train operators aren't required to blow the horns, the operators still have the right to blow, even if they just want to signal "gotcha."

Dave Walden Pleasanton

Posted by tired of whiners, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Jul 26, 2008 at 11:08 pm

Dave -- you said it just right! 756 whiners should not control the budget in this town. If they want silence, in spite of buying homes near the tracks, they should pay for it.

Posted by Doo Doo, a resident of the Valley Trails neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2008 at 4:14 pm

I might not be the most educated man in town, but even I understand that if I buy a house near railroad tracks....then from time to time, a train will come by. Kind of like those people that bought houses near the freeway or fairgrounds.( you accept your choice) You look at the available houses on the market and you choose the right one based on the details (such as train tracks.) I agree with Dave, they decided to buy a house at their location...so make peace with it. Unless they owned their houses before the railroad was there...I believe it was around 1901. So those people don't seem selfish to me, but the other homeowners are out of their minds to ask the community to pay for their comfort.

WAIT.... I hear a nearby school bell....Wheres my compensation? I shouldn't have to hear a ringing school bell just because I bought a house near a school...should I??