Daily Archives: February 19, 2007

City Council, City of Peoria, Kellar Branch

Pioneer Railcorp ups Kellar Branch offer to $750,000

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Below is the text of the latest letter from Pioneer Railcorp to the Mayor and council members regarding the Kellar Branch. They’ve raised their $565,000 offer to $750,000. Tomorrow night, the city will decide if they want to pursue this three-quarters-of-a-million-dollars offer or continue paying legal fees out the nose for the benefit of the park district. It’s not like the city needs the money or anything.

February 16, 2007

Dear Council Member ——-:

Thank you for allowing me to speak at your meeting Tuesday night. I am writing to encourage you to support the selection of our Company to provide competitive rail service to the Peoria area, via the Keller Branch, and to reaffirm our commitment to share the railroad right of way with a trail, and work to develop a trolley/commuter service on the line to help local business and tourism.

Our sister Company Keokuk Junction Railway Co. is willing to purchase the Kellar Branch/”western connection” for $750,000. This is our last, best and final offer. I am confident that this offer is more than generous, especially since it is likely the City has already received a significant payback of its original investment from previous surcharges that were collected. Putting the Kellar Branch back in private hands will put it back on the tax rolls, allow us to make necessary investments in the track, and obviate the worsening weed/brush situation, which CIRY refuses to address.

Selling the railroad to our Company would facilitate the quickest and easiest means to build a trail, and will once and for all put an end to a problem that has festered for over 10 years. Please consider the fact that it is an unanswered question as to how much of the underlying real estate is actually owned by the City, if any. Aside from the rail issues, construction of a trail could be significantly delayed if it turns out that the property reverts to the adjoining landowners, if the Keller Branch were to be removed. This would not be an issue if the railroad remains intact. I am confident that a way to fund the construction of the trail will be found, once the decision has been made to keep the Keller Branch intact, just as it was for the trail between East Peoria and Morton along Highway 150. As I mentioned Tuesday, shared right of ways are being used all over the country and I would like to point out that the City already has a trail on railroad right of way along the downtown riverfront! Resolving this issue once and for all would allow the City to turn its attention to more pressing issues, such as reducing crime and increasing economic development. To date the City has wasted in excess of $100,000 of taxpayer money on legal fees alone on this issue, not to mention untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff and council time. Without immediate closure, this problem will be ongoing for many more years.

In regard to comments made concerning the importance of a rail carrier having a good relationship with the Union Pacific, please be assured that Pioneer Railcorp subsidiaries perform millions of dollars of business with the Union Pacific Railroad, all over the country, including handling 10,000 cars a year for the Union Pacific in Fort Smith, Arkansas and delivering 1 million tons of coal from the Union Pacific in Central Illinois. Of course, none of this would be possible if we were not able to work with the Union Pacific, as some have falsely claimed.

We have been the only company able to operate the Keller Branch at a profit, and anticipate significant growth in usage of the Keller Branch in the coming years. In addition, both current users of the line, including O’Brien Steel, have told the Council our Company provides excellent service. CRY has never provided reliable or dependable service to Carver Lumber, and I have concerns that CRY employees are not actually performing railroad services for O’Brien Steel, and instead believe the handling of O’Brien Steel rail traffic is being performed by O’Brien employees directly. If this is accurate, it is a potential liability exposure the City cannot afford to have. Mr. O’Brien’s company, contrary to the information he presented the Council, has historically been a moderate user of the Keller Branch. Please see the table below:

O’Brien Steel Rail Usage

Year Railcars
1998 95
1999 30
2000 76
2001 66
2002 74
2003 81
2004 116
2005 82
Total 620

In addition, it is my understanding that O’Brien received at least 45 cars in 2006. I think it is a safe assumption to make that O’Brien Steel would not have used rail it was not the most cost effective way to receive its product.

Thank you for your consideration of my request. Please be assured we want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. If you have any questions you would like answered please contact me anytime at […].

Respectfully,

J. Michael Carr
CEO and President

By the way, do you think rail and trail can’t coexist? Well, it does in South Elgin, Illinois. I guess they’re just more creative than we are here in Peoria:

Fox River Trail with Rail

Kellar Branch

(Disclaimer: No one is paying me to criticize Elaine Hopkins)

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Former Journal Star reporter Elaine Hopkins has a new blog (disclaimer: no one is paying me to advertise her new blog) in which she makes sweeping assertions about how wonderful Peoria will be if only the Kellar Branch is converted to a recreational trail (disclaimer: no one is paying me to make sarcastic comments about Hopkins’ blog).

That’s not news (disclaimer: no one paid me to write that last sentence). What is interesting about her article (disclaimer: no one paid me to be interested in anything Hopkins has written) is this paragraph (disclaimer: no one paid me to reproduce or comment on this paragraph) in which she talks about nameless blogs that oppose the Kellar Branch conversion:

The blogs drone on endlessly, but never proclaim their independence from Pioneer Rail Co., the company behind the litigation and other stall tactics. Are these bloggers getting financial support from Pioneer? They should declare their independence, if they can do so.

Think about the implications of that statement (disclaimer: no one is paying me to ask you to think). Normally, if there’s a conflict of interest, you state it up front; if you don’t state it, it’s assumed that you have no conflict of interest unless there is some evidence that will prove otherwise — you know, the whole “innocent until proven guilty” thing (disclaimer: no one is paying me to point out the obvious). But Hopkins turns that on its head. Apparently, she believes that you have an obligation to “declare [your] independence” in order to be free of suspicion about a possible conflict of interest (disclaimer: no one is paying me to demonstrate the logical conclusion of such an argument).

Can you imagine all the ink that would need to be spilled if every story had to include independence disclaimers? (Disclaimer: no one is paying me to put these irritating disclaimers all over the place to make a point.)

It’s also worth noting that she doesn’t declare her independence from the Park District or other trail supporters (disclaimer: no one is paying me to turn Hopkins’ cynicism back on herself). Are we to assume, by her standards, that she’s getting a check for her support? (Disclaimer: no one is paying me to scoff at Hopkins.)

Just for the record, four days before Ms. Hopkins’ post, I said right here on my blog, “The first thing [Khazzam] asked me was if I was being paid by Pioneer Rail in any way, shape, or form. He could hardly believe me when I said I wasn’t.” And three days before her post, I added in a follow-up comment, “No, my opinion on this issue hasn’t been bought. I’ve come to my conclusions honestly and after thoughtful independent research. I’ve never received any money from Pioneer, and that’s a fact.” (Disclaimer: no is paying me to say Pioneer isn’t paying me.)

So, put up or shut up, Ms. Hopkins. Do you have any evidence that bloggers are being paid off by Pioneer Railcorp? Let’s see it. The onus is on you. (Disclaimer: no one is paying me to challenge Hopkins.) Feel free to leave your evidence in the comments section of my blog; I’m not afraid to let people comment on my posts (disclaimer: no one is paying me to take a jab at Hopkins’ not allowing comments on her post).

Uncategorized

Back in the saddle again

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Hello everyone. Did you miss me? I enjoyed my mini-vacation. It was refreshing and so nice to be “unplugged” for a few days. Of course, that meant I had roughly 30 billion e-mail messages when I returned. I’m sorting through them now.

I haven’t read through the papers or checked any other blogs for the past four days, so I feel a bit out of the loop at the moment. I did happen to see the “Another View” letter to the editor in Sunday’s paper (the heading was the misnomer of the year since it’s not “another view” but exactly the same view as the paper’s) and today’s “Word on the Street” (which was right on point).

While I’m catching up, feel free to use this as another open thread to talk about whatever you wish.