Farm Bureau opposes Great Lakes RR

 

 

The Illinois Farm Bureau announced in a press release on Friday that its board of directors voted to oppose the construction of the Great Lakes Basin Railroad.

Great Lakes Basin Transportation filed an application on May 1 with the Surface Transportation Board to approve the 261-mile long railroad along with a toll road which would run from Milton, Wisconsin, to La Porte, Indiana.

The application has a map of a "preferred route" that runs through Grundy County and then to the Will and Kankakee county border starting close to I-57. The highway would run closely along the railroad starting from I-80. The bureau said the projects, both of which are privately funded, would run through hundreds of miles of Illinois farm ground.

“Like the county farm bureaus affected by the project, we are concerned about the impact of the Great Lakes Basin Railroad on private property rights and the potential loss of farmland,” said Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert, Jr. in the release.

The decision to oppose the project came after county farm bureaus sent letters and tried to contact bureau leadership expressing their concerns about private property rights and the potential loss of farmland.

The Illinois Farm Bureau filed a request for an extension of time for public comments about the project. The Bureau said it will file comments opposing the project and it urges its members to do the same.

“Our goal is to facilitate economic growth with minimal effects on the environment and local residents,” The Great Lakes Basin Transportation, Inc., website states about the project. “While the new railroad will occupy land that currently is devoted to agricultural and other uses, we intend to avoid settled areas and minimize the railroad's impact on the way area residents live their lives today.”

The GLBT website also states it anticipates acquiring no property for the project until the environmental review process is completed and the Surface Transportation Board authorizes construction.

Above is from:  http://www.morrisherald-news.com/2017/05/19/illinois-farm-bureau-decided-to-oppose-great-lakes-basin-railroad/ahuxmms/

Locals, Kinzinger buck contentious railway

 

 

 

Locals, Kinzinger buck contentious railway

May 10, 2017

By Jim Hagerty
Contributor 

Those behind the contentious 261-mile railroad extension that would meander through parts of Winnebago County took another step toward federal approval, as partners on behalf of Great Lakes Basin Railroad on May 2, filed an application to go ahead with the project.

“This is a historic day for Great Lakes Basin Transportation to file its formal application to construct the Great Lakes Basin Railroad,” Chairman Frank Patton said in a statement. “Our application explains the need for this vital project to the STB (United States Surface Transportation Board) and the public.”

But, it may take a lot to sell the public, which so far has chided the $2.8 billion project aimed at taking freight cars off of Chicago’s tracks, making them better suited for passenger service. The new line would run through LaSalle, Lee and Ogle counties, and pass through Winnebago County west of Rockford. The company would likely utilize eminent domain laws to obtain farmland for the project, something that has spurred significant debate.

“This is the largest rail project this country has seen in 125 years, and they’re using eminent domain laws from 125 years ago to force this through,” Susan Sack told The Times in an earlier report.

Sack helped organize the group, Block GLB, which hasn’t relented since last fall.

“Private toll roads have been sold to the public as a surefire something-for-nothing bargain – new infrastructure with no taxes,” Block GLB posted on its Facebook page. “But it turns out that the risk for taxpayers is actually substantial. The firms performing traffic projections have strong incentives to inflate the numbers. And the new breed of private finance deals are structured so that when the forecasts turn out wrong, the public incurs major losses.”

The project does not sit well with U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, who says not only would it be inappropriate for Great Lakes to seize land through eminent domain, there is no demand.

“I am skeptical of the demand and need for the proposed project,” Kinzinger said in a letter to the transportation board. “Decades of investment by six Class I railroads have made Chicago a national rail hub and with it comes congestion. These rail companies are working in concert with U.S. Department of Transportation, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago and other stakeholders to improve efficiency within the existing network.”

Kinzinger said the GLBT line will not serve two of the six Class I railroads, calling into question the viability of the project and whether it makes sense economically.

“The proposed line will be detrimental to the prime farm land in northern Illinois,” Kinzinger continued. “According to some estimates, the rail line would require tens of thousands of acres of farm land to be bought or seized. Nearly all of this farmland is considered prime, is some of the best quality soil in the country, and is often the most productive in the country. Furthermore, the project would sever tracts of farmland making it more difficult farm. These are just some of the costs of this project and I do not believe the project’s benefits outweigh them.”

If approved, the privately funded rail project could be finished and up and running within the next 10 years.

Above is from:  http://rockrivertimes.com/2017/05/10/locals-kinzinger-buck-contentious-railway/

Great Lakes RR brings formal application

 

May 03, 2017

Investors float $2.8 billion plan to get around Chicago's rail bottleneck

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By Claire Bushey

 

Photo by Thinkstock

A former software businessman and president of the Union League Club has formally asked a federal regulator to approve his plan to build a $2.8 billion, 261-mile freight railroad line that circumvents Chicago.

The Great Lakes Basin Transportation company, chaired by Frank Patton, filed an application today with the Surface Transportation Board. The company is seeking permission to construct a privately funded railway that would charge other railroads to use its tracks to skirt the congested city. It is an attempt, company President James Wilson writes in the application, "to do something no one has attempted for over a century: to build a new common carrier freight railroad bypassing the Chicago area."

But while the company has 10 principal investors—whose names are redacted from the application—it has yet to obtain funding to complete the project. Nor is it expected, according to the application, until Great Lakes Basin "receives (Surface Transportation Board) authority to construct the proposed line."

Patton, 74, who sold his company Portfolio Dynamics in 2002, has championed the project for eight years. In 2015, the transportation board began studying the proposed railroad's environmental impact. Since then, Great Lakes Basin has asked for an extension, and then a suspension, of the study, while it hurried to provide requested information and finish its formal application by the May 1 deadline.

The proposal lands at a time when the new chief executive at CSX, one of the six major railroads operating in Chicago, has advocated diverting freight traffic away from the city. About 25 percent of the country's freight moves through the region, with 29 to 50 percent of that volume passing through en route to another destination, according to the application.

"If Chicago's rail facilities are overwhelmed by today's freight volume, they will be even less adequate to handle the much greater traffic levels projected for future years," the application says.

The railroad proposed by Great Lakes Basin would skirt downtown by 38 to 89 miles at any given point, the application says. The route runs from near Milton, Wis., in the north, past Rockford, Rochelle and Kankakee in Illinois, and terminates near La Porte, Ind. With 36 interchanges, it would allow 110 trains a day to bypass Chicago.

The railroad could be fully operational within three years of the transportation board's final approval and obtaining construction financing and legal right-of-way, the application says.

The project will be funded through a combination of debt and equity financing. A pro forma income statement has Great Lakes Basin losing $151 million in 2021 but turning a $216 million profit in 2025.

The news was first reported by the Post-Tribune.

Above is from:  http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170503/NEWS10/170509929/railways-plan-takes-aim-at-chicago-freight-bottleneck

Boone County firefighters push for voter-elected trustees

 

Wednesday

Posted May 3, 2017 at 2:38 PM Updated May 3, 2017 at 5:20 PM

 

By Susan Vela
Staff writer

BELVIDERE — Volunteer firefighters angered by a decision to dismiss Boone County Fire District 2 Chief Brad Bartell are asking for changes that include allowing voters to elect the district’s board of trustees.

The firefighters are upset that trustees Jack Ryan, Kevin Stark and Jim Marrs replaced Bartell with Deputy Chief Bob Koehn two months ago. The trustees are appointed by the Boone County Board chairman. Voters would be required to approve a change to a system of elected trustees.

Trustees cited a number of complaints regarding Bartell, who remains the Boone County Emergency Management Agency coordinator. They include accusations of mismanagement, missing equipment and failure to follow proper protocols, according to a 40-point list of complaints acquired from the board by the firefighters through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“Do you truly feel what you’re doing is best for the community, our fire district and our department by removing Chief Bartell from his position when he’s done so much good for this community?” Joshua Norek, one of the district’s approximately 45 volunteer firefighters, asked the board during a packed public meeting on Monday. It was the second time in two weeks that firefighters filled a public meeting to express support for Bartell.

The trustees didn’t respond Monday and also declined to comment after the meeting.

Firefighters plan to circulate petitions intended to put a trustee referendum on the March 2018 ballot. The district covers about 145 square miles, including the unincorporated communities of Irene, Herbert and Garden Prairie.

County Board Chairman Karl Johnson would lose the power to appoint the trustees, but said he would not oppose the referendum. More than anything, he wants the trustees and firefighters to move forward.

“I truly appreciate the show of camaraderie ... that Chief Bartell built,” Johnson said at Monday’s meeting. “I think that’s amazing. What you guys have to do to save a life or save a building ... you have to trust each other. (But) it’s not just up to the trustees. I think it’s up to you, too. My challenge to both of you is to work together.”

Some county residents like the idea of elected trustees.

“That should happen,” said Linda Treu, who lives in Boone County but not in the district. “That needs to happen because otherwise, you will end up with the same families, the same people getting in constantly. It’s time for a change.”

Firefighters Association Treasurer Brent Bryan worries today’s trustees aren’t suited to represent district residents.

“We pretty much lost all trust in them,” Bryan said. “We need people on that board that are going to be nonbiased. We need nonbiased opinions.”

Across the state, there are some 800 small fire protection districts. Appointment by the county board chairman and elections are the two most common ways that trustee positions are filled, said Cheri Breneman, administrator for the Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts.

County Board member Brad Stark, who is Trustee Kevin Stark’s son, is opposed to making trustee an elected position.

“The problem with that is anybody can get elected,” he said. “What if we get ... people who do nothing about managing. We could run that district into the ground.”

Susan Vela: 815-987-1392; svela@rrstar.com; @susanvela

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/news/20170503/boone-county-firefighters-push-for-voter-elected-trustees

Controversy in Boone County over resignation of fire chief

 

GO TO WREX TO HEAR ACTUAL BROADCAST; GO to:  http://www.wrex.com/story/35325635/2017/05/02/controversy-in-boone-county-over-resignation-of-fire-chief

 

Controversy in Boone County over resignation of fire chief

By Kristin Crowley

Connect

Posted: May 02, 2017 10:54 PM CST

BOONE COUNTY (WREX) -

A Boone County Fire Protection District is in the midst of turmoil. It's chief says he was forced to resign by board trustees.
The move is not sitting well with his firefighters but the county is standing behind the trustees. 13 WREX spoke with the former chief and the county board chair to get both sides on a controversial issue impacting a small community.

"I think it was very cowardly," said  former District 2 Fire Chief Brad Bartell.

Bartell says he was blindsided last month when the district's board of trustees asked for his resignation.

"They never came to me and said we have problems to address and there's never been any issues that were ongoing," he said.

After 26 years with the department, four of those as chief, Bartell says he was asked to step aside. The reason?
A list of dozens of complaints from the trustees.

Including accusations he didn't monitor the budget-, didn't know who damaged a truck, left the administration door open and didn't address facial hair on firefighters.

Bartell doesn't deny some of the issues the trustees brought up did happen. But he says they weren't safety issues and all were addressed after they happened. He says his forced resignation wasn't about the list.

"I think there was some personal vendettas there, they were losing power. They couldn't control it," said Bartell.

"They told me in their opinion, this is something that needed to happen to move the department further ahead," said Karl Johnson, Boone County Board Chair.

The three trustees, Jack Ryan, Kevin Stark And Jim Marrs, will not comment on the accusations. But Johnson says he doesn't believe the decision was made lightly.

"I've gotta trust the trustees who are there every day, who are in charge of that department, Running that department. Know what they're doing," he said.

13 WREX asked Johnson specifically about the allegations against Bartell and whether they're grounds for removal.

"How they came to that decision, that's all for the trustees to decide. I can't really second guess because I don't have all their information. And just looking at a list of stated things may be different than living them," he said.

Bartell's force of volunteer firefighters want more information about these accusations, however, Johnson says trustees don't have to give it.

"That would undermine the authority of the trustees and what they're there for. Their job is to run the department financially," said Johnson.

Whether the trustees will eventually comment on these accusations remains to be seen. Their next meeting is the first Monday in June.

Boone County fire officials replace chief, upset firefighters

 

 

Sunday

Posted Apr 30, 2017 at 3:02 PM Updated Apr 30, 2017 at 8:51 PM

By Susan Vela
Staff writer

BELVIDERE — Brad Bartell’s ouster as chief of Boone County Fire Protection District 2 has riled up some volunteer firefighters, who are protesting the decision.

Several of the district’s approximately 45 volunteer firefighters showed up at a recent Boone County Board meeting to protest the trustees’ March 6 decision to replace Bartell, who also serves as Boone County Emergency Management Agency coordinator.

Trustees cited a string of allegations against Bartell, including accusations of mismanagement, missing equipment and not following proper protocols, according to a 40-point itemized list of complaints acquired from the trustees through the firefighters’ Freedom of Information request.

“It’s a laundry list of B.S. essentially that’s under-investigated,” said Brent Bryan, treasurer with the Boone County Fire District 2 Firefighters Association. “Brad Bartell was a great chief that had the firefighters, taxpayers and District 2 residents’ best interests at heart.”

He and others from the district plan to reiterate their protests and suggest policy changes that include a multi-step process for letting go firefighters during a 7 p.m. Monday meeting at the district office, 1777 Henry Luckow Lane.

Bryan said Bartell has served as the district’s chief for less than five years. He has been with the fire department for more than two decades.

Neither Bartell nor trustees Jack Ryan, Kevin Stark and Jim Marrs returned calls for this story. Bob Koehn, who served as deputy chief before replacing Bartell, declined comment.

County Board members appoint trustees. Bryan would like voters to elect them.

“That’s fine,” Board Chairman Karl Johnson said. “I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t have a problem with them going from three to five trustees.”

Bryan said he has asked Boone County State’s Attorney Tricia Smith to investigate the allegations made against Bartell. Smith said it’s the responsibility of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the matter first.

Susan Vela: 815-987-1392; svela@rrstar.com; @susanvela

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/news/20170430/boone-county-fire-officials-replace-chief-upset-firefighters

Immigration Jail in Rockford?

 

 

Posted Apr 25, 2017 at 10:36 AM Updated Apr 25, 2017 at 11:38 PM

By Cristina Gloria

I would like to express disappointment about how the immigration detention forum was handled April 17 at the YWCA. After attending, I question whether this public forum was intended to be an opportunity to hear from the sheriff about renting space for civil immigration detention in our jail and to answer questions from the public. If so, it did not meet that goal and it did not reflect the mission of the YWCA as it did not “promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity” to the attendees or the citizens of this community.

The members of the AAA & Latino American Voices feel that the presence of so many sheriff’s deputies dressed in bulletproof vests and carrying weapons was unnecessary, as well as the way they treated the forum attendees.

I have worked with law enforcement and have great respect for the work they do. However, the way that the deputies talked to us was as if we were criminal suspects or prisoners who were being lined up for a count. I was waiting to be asked to put my hands against the wall to be searched.

The audience at the meeting was made up of professionals, business owners and a few publicly elected officials. There appeared to be some deputies dressed as civilians in the audience taking up the already limited seating.

I perceived all of this as a technique to intimidate the people who were attending the forum. Why was this allowed in a facility of an organization that is promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity? Personally, I did not feel dignified by the presence of so many deputies, the ineptitude of the ICE officer and the final comments from state Rep. John Cabello.

Mr. Cabello did not demonstrate empathy at all and clearly demonstrated his “white male privilege” when he said that immigrants “should be afraid” and that they should “get legal.” I hope that the YWCA will invite Mr. Cabello to one of its workshops so that he may understand that his comments were completely inappropriate and reflected his lack of understanding of immigration issues.

As if they have any other option under the law or that only undocumented immigrants are deported. I know the YWCA does not have control over what he said, but the YWCA has the obligation to offer assistance to Mr. Cabello to understand how to speak thoughtfully to all people.

The responses that the sheriff provided insulted the intelligence of the attendees at the meeting. He presented the ICE detention center as something that he would have total control over, telling ICE whom he will take and whom he will not.

The ICE officer was unable to say if the sheriff had this authority or not. The sheriff did not clarify how the functions of law enforcement to fight crime would be affected even as he heard how the immigrant community’s trust of police will be broken if ICE has a presence in our jail. It is unclear if he understands that federal civil detention is different from criminal custody.

In conclusion, at the end of the forum we left with more questions, more distrust of the sheriff’s decision-making process and disappointment toward how we were treated at the YWCA, which is supposed to be a safe place for the community.

Cristina Gloria, MA, LPC. is a community liaison and board member for AAA & Latino American Voices.

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/opinion/20170425/my-view-immigration-forum-displayed-ineptitude-and-insensitivity