2 June 2009
DM&E Bypass Proposal is Simply a "Temper Tantrum of the Powerful"
Rochester Minnesota USA - I recently found out that
a new possible route that is being proposed for a Rochester "freight rail bypass" (let's call it what it really is) runs
directly through the middle of both of my farms, and would cut nearly every one of my fields in half.
With no means of crossing the rail, and with access roads closed, I would perhaps not even have access to half of my farm.
Mayo Clinic has built itself up intentionally "within 100 feet of the tracks" (paraphrased from the
Post-Bulletin) knowingly, by its own choice.
The health and safety issues they raise now are no more of a concern than they were when they chose to expand throughout the years.
They didn't have to build right there.
That was their choice, and it was a choice they made with full knowledge of the existence of the railroad and any health or safety
concerns.
These are not unintelligent people who may act without thought.
They are highly educated people with doctorates and masters degrees, getting paid lots of money to make good, sound, safe, and healthy
decisions.
Mayo would never want anyone to think that expansion decisions were made without first considering the health and safety of its
patients, and I'm sure they always have made that their first priority.
The city of Rochester and Olmsted County also have always known that the railroad was there, and they too could have chosen to create
a larger "no build" zone around it for the health and safety of its citizens.
But instead, with the full knowledge of the railroad's existence and its authority to use, expand, and improve its line, the city and
county over the years have chosen to plan their building zones so they have the situation they currently do.
If Mayo or Rochester doesn't like now what they themselves have chosen to do up to this point, and if they recognize now in hindsight
that they have made a mistake, they should choose to voluntarily condemn their own properties that were ill-advisedly
built, rather than mine and my neighbors'.
They should start over with a better zoning plan.
Build a new, bigger, better, Mayo Clinic a little farther away from the railroad, and at their own cost, on land from a willing
property owner if you can find one, rather than forcing me and my neighbors to cut out our heart and soul for your mistakes.
I keep hearing about the jobs that a bypass would create, and the economic stimulus of it.
Who do you think is going to pay for this short-lived "economic stimulus" project and the temporary jobs it
would create?
It will be added to the state and national debt, and we will all be paying for it, as will our children.
That's not stimulus, that's shackles and chains.
However, think of the jobs that a new Mayo Clinic campus would create!
Think of the economic stimulus!
Rochester and Mayo Clinic can be a "shining city on a hill" that would rescue us from economic disaster.
Don't stick me with Rochester and Mayo's expansion desires just because I have a seemingly vacant piece of ground that they desire to
have.
And don't let this issue be disguised as a "health and safety" concern.
Of course health and safety is a concern, but it has always been a concern and, if anything, it is less of a concern today than it
would have been in years past, because of improved safety standards and regulations.
Health and safety concerns can be dealt with in ways other than with a bypass.
Rochester was so intent on getting a bypass that it chose to pass on the upgrades that DM&E offered to it early on.
Instead of a partnership with the railroad, it chose to become confrontational and go to war.
This bypass proposal now is an attempt to wage another battle in a war that Mayo and Rochester had already been declared a loser in.
Shame on them for shedding their infantry uniform, and trying to disguise themselves now as innocent civilians with "health and
safety concerns."
We can all easily see past this disguise.
We don't have to buy their propaganda campaign.
We can see that if the bypass is put in, and the rail through Rochester is shut down, the property that is abandoned is prime
real-estate for Mayo campus and Rochester development.
I believe this bypass is in no way about health and safety concerns, no matter how well it is packaged to appear that way.
And it is not about Mayo being prevented from growing and expanding, and creating jobs.
I believe it is about Mayo and Rochester coveting and wanting to redevelop the property next door to them that is owned by the
railroad, and now too, the property owned by me and my neighbors.
And it is about their unwillingness to accept that other entities have property rights, too.
Shame on you, Tim Pawlenty, and Tim Walz, and Amy Klobuchar, and Ardell Brede, and Olmsted County, and any other of the politicians
who support this, for buying into this temper tantrum of the powerful.
John C. Meyer - operates two farms south of Rochester in rural Stewartville.
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