The Journal Star Editorial Board is clearly still stinging over the Surface Transportation Board’s ruling in favor of continuing rail service on the Kellar Branch, so they published these sour grapes Monday. They don’t think the city is being aggressive enough in demanding fees from the railroad companies for their use of the Kellar Branch.
Indeed, the city and village have been subsidizing service over Kellar since they purchased it. But if it’s the gold mine that rail carriers and their backers claim it is – why, it’s practically a sure thing – then there’s no need for those freebies. Just think how much Peoria and Peoria Heights residents would benefit by collecting a per-car fee or a yearly percentage of Kellar’s fair market value, up to $200,000. Those dollars could fund core city services, such as fixing potholes, plowing roads, building sidewalks. Isn’t that what the back-to-basic-services crowd has demanded?
This would be a sound argument, except for the fact that the Journal Star’s position is that this corridor should be leased to the Park District for $1 per year for 99 years so they can convert the corridor to a linear park. They have claimed that a linear park will be a catalyst for development. Perhaps they would support a special assessment on the businesses and developers along the proposed linear park — perhaps a yearly percentage of Kellar’s fair market value — since those private businesses would be profiting from the Kellar corridor, too.
To that end, the municipalities should enter into formal negotiations with the carriers over a usage fee. If a deal can’t be reached, the cities should file a pleading with the STB. While it’s rare, the STB has helped resolve disputes over contracts and conditions. Surely the feds could find some reasonable compromise between $1 and $200,000.
Yes, by all means, spend more money fighting the railroads. It’s proved so fruitful over the past decade and a half. If they’re really serious about wanting to get money out of the Kellar Branch, there are a couple of ways it could be done:
- Sell the line. Pioneer has had a standing offer of $750,000 to purchase the Kellar Branch from the city. This would get the city completely out of the railroad business, and give them three-quarters of a million dollars to boot, which they could use to help finance the CSO project or other needed things.
- Negotiate a long-term lease. There’s a legal dispute over Pioneer’s contract with the City. The City says it’s expired, and Pioneer says it’s still in force. Since neither side wants a legal battle over that, and since the STB has already ruled the line has to stay, the City could negotiate a lease that would be better than the disputed one. I believe Pioneer would welcome such a lease, even if it had higher lease rates for the line, provided the rates are reasonable and proportionate to the amount of traffic the line gets. It would take out all the uncertainty and finally put this issue to rest.
Or, the City could try to have the STB set the rates, which would be costly, time-consuming, and only exacerbate an already adversarial relationship, like the bitter Journal Star Editorial Board wishes. Here’s hoping the City ignores their advice and looks for a more constructive solution instead.
Well, look who’s on the federal earmark bandwagon: 
I’m sad to report that I’ve run into more than a few people who apparently believe that Obama is a Muslim, took the oath of office on the Koran, and doesn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. These allegations have been debunked for quite a while now, but I’m still hearing them, and I still occasionally get an e-mail about them. So, for all those who haven’t heard, 