(The following article by Brandi Barhite was posted on the Sandusky Register website on October 20.)
SANDUSKY, Ohio — A group of residents concerned about trains blocking city streets is appealing to commission hopefuls.
A letter was sent to the 11 candidates Friday, stating that the railroad is consistently violating Sandusky’s ordinance prohibiting stopped trains from blocking streets for more than five minutes — and the city is doing nothing about it.
“We need commissioners that can come out of the starting block running,” the letter stated. “A five- to 12-year learning curve for commissioners, as some have suggested, is ridiculous and unacceptable. Commissioners and candidates who have that mindset should find an afghan and rocking chair and take a nap.”
The letter stated that the city could bring in thousands of dollars in revenue daily if it enforced the ordinance.
In a previous commission meeting, city staff said only a few dollars could be realized from fines for blocked crossing, the letter said. One commissioner said city officials have talked to the railroad “until they are blue in the face.”
The authors of the letter are the same residents who spoke out last summer about the city’s overpass plan for Venice Road and Tiffin Avenue.
The group supports building an overpass, but was concerned about farmland that would be destroyed with one of the plans. Joanne Braun, whose family’s farmland was in jeopardy, signed Friday’s letter.
Assistant police Chief Gary Lyons said the city has been enforcing the blockage rule for several years. However, it is hard because if the trains are moving — even slowly — they are not in violation, he said.
The number of citations issued to the railroad was not available Friday. The penalty is a third-degree misdemeanor, which for an organization is punishable by a $3,000 fine, according to city records obtained by the letter’s authors.
Lyons said the city has collected money from the railroad in the past. It also has the option of arresting the train conductor, although that has never happened.
Besides Braun, the letter was signed by Roy S. Patterson, III, Roy S. Patterson, Jr., Victoria Patterson, Joyce Patterson, Audrey Shafer, Seretha Taylor, Samuel Taylor and Naomi Thompson.