The Journal Star weighed in this morning on the latest Kellar Branch ruling from the Surface Transportation Board (STB).
I have to confess I’m tired of reading these ridiculous editorials. They just keep repeating the same disinformation over and over. They’re not adding anything new to the debate, so if you want to read my response, just check out any of the myriad posts I’ve already done on this topic.
There’s just one comment I’d like to answer, and that’s this:
One final point about the federal ruling: It does not kill the bike path, contrary to claims circulating in the community.
No, it doesn’t kill the bike path. As has always been the case over the past 10-15 years, the bike path could happen in short order if the city and park district would stop this all-or-nothing approach and instead start planning a shared rail and trail use on this corridor. However, if they keep up their bullheadedness, they will likely get no trail at all.
Of course, when the Journal Star says the federal ruling does not kill the bike path, what they mean is that it doesn’t kill the dedicated bike path — the one that would kill the Kellar Branch as a rail line. That’s technically true, but in order for the city to continue pursuing that route, they’d have to hire yet a third carrier (i.e., someone other than Pioneer Industrial Railway or Central Illinois Railroad), sign a new contract, get them up and running, and have them petition the STB to discontinue service on the Kellar Branch — essentially starting the whole proceeding over again — and fight Carver Lumber and Pioneer and CIRY the whole time. The new proceeding could drag out for a year easily. This would be a foolish, expensive, time-consuming, and risky path to take. The chances of it being successful are not in the city’s favor.
It’s time for the city to change direction, pursue shared use of the rail corridor, and move on.
UPDATE: David Jordan has written a more thorough rebuttal over on the Peoria Pundits site.
Contrary to the rot printed in the Propaganda Star, this battle has absolutely nothing to do with property rights. It about governments. Who decides transportation policy, the city or the federal government. Well over a century ago, Congress decided it should be the federal government when it passed the Interstate Commerce Act. And you can bet that these editorial writers’ discovery of “property rights” has nothing to do with principal and everything to do with the result they want. They want a trail, no matter who is hurt, no matter what it takes, etc. I can’t wait for that “newspaper” to be sold and I fervently hope the new owner “cleans house”