WATERLOO, Iowa — Members of some east Waterloo neighborhood associations feel like they’re on the wrong side of the tracks, the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier reported.
They wish someone was “workin’ on the railroad,” particularly on brush and trees growing along nearby railroad tracks — a years-old concern.
“My thing is if they don’t want you on it, why don’t they clean it up themselves?” said resident J.C. Green, who lives on Cherry Street and is a member of the Northeast Neighborhood Association, which includes the area along Independence Avenue immediately east of downtown.
A neighbor tried to mow some of the right of way.
“They came out and put a sign on it and told her to stay off it,” Green said.
The situation also perturbs members of the Highland Neighborhood Association up the hill and immediately east of the Northeast Neighborhood Association.
“Our biggest concern is the cleanliness of the area,” Highland resident Matt Boyd said. “Trains for some reason seem to spew out an awful lot of garbage.
“Safety would be another issue,” he said. “I’ve seen kids have built little forts and things with debris they’ve taken down by the tracks. I’ve lived in this neighborhood all my life, and I played there as a kid.
“I would like to see the railroad take a little responsibility for its own property,” Boyd said.
At issue are two tracks. One is a former Chicago North Western rail line, now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, which runs from downtown to Oelwein. The other is the former Illinois Central rail line that runs through the city’s east side and is owned by the Canadian National Railway. The two lines cross near Lane Street adjacent to the Northeast Neighborhood Association’s boundaries.
Frances Melsh, who lives near the Canadian National tracks along old Logan Avenue, has been cleaning up that area herself for years.
Until recently, city officials were unable to get the railroad’s cooperation. “They don’t want us on the property, and they aren’t gonna clean it up,” City Planner Don Temeyer said. Neighborhood groups and University of Northern Iowa public policy professor R. Allen Hays, part of the university’s Community Outreach Partnership Center, gathered last week to view the tracks and express concern again to city officials. This time, the city’s attempts to contact railroad officials yielded some results.
Canadian National officials say a company crew is responsible for spraying and mowing along rail rights of way, but a new crew recently assumed those responsibilities and may not be familiar with the areas of concern. Area road master Louis Bouchard said residents may contact the railroad with concerns.
Mike Payette, governmental affairs director with the Union Pacific in Chicago, and Joe Cuttle of the UP’s engineering department in Omaha, Neb., said the railroad in many cases has mowing and spraying arrangements with cities along their rail system. UP officials with Cutlet’s staff in Omaha said Friday they will look at the tracks in question.
Maintenance, Payette said, is “really on a case-by-case basis,” and depends on residents. In some situations, the residents don’t always agree among themselves, he suggested. Some want the trees and brush removed, while other neighbors consider it a visual buffer and a deterrent to trespassing along a neatly mowed right of way.
“Many times, when we do get complaints about the trees, you satisfy five people and anger 100 people,” Payette said, regardless of action or inaction.
Payette noted the UP is in discussions with the Transco rail car company of
Oelwein about partial acquisition of the Waterloo-Oelwein line. Those talks
should be concluded in two or three months. It is likely the railroad will keep the
Waterloo portion of the line, over which many finished John Deere tractors are
shipped from the East Donald Street Tractor Works.
Cuttle said UP officials will follow up on the Waterloo situation.