On Monday, the Times Record will run a piece on the state of the train garage planned for our neighborhood. It will focus on a letter sent from NNEPRA to town manager Gary Brown on November 3. The crux of the letter is the statement that "construction estimates . . . indicate that a facility which maximizes mitigation will exceed the anticipated budget," and that "it is unlikely that a facility could be constructed prior to the commencement of expanded Downeaster service next year." You will be able to read about it on Monday. But, effectively, this means that NNEPRA is delaying construction of the facility for perhaps a year, and possibly even longer.
This is good news for us. The facility has been put on temporary hold. There is still much support on the NNEPRA board for Brunswick West, and Patricia Quinn still intends to build here. But we now have more time to convince everyone that Brunswick East is the best choice. The vagaries of federal funding for rail projects are making it hard for NNEPRA to find the money to build. In addition, we can thank ourselves: our calls, emails, and letters have mattered!
This brings us to three points.
Hopefully this will allow time for everyone to step back and think about what is best for the future of the Mid-Coast. In contrast to the Brunswick East site, Brunswick West offers little opportunity for broader economic development. Brunswick West is too narrow to expand; no one could leverage a transportation hub out of it. At Brunswick East in Cook's Corner, however, it is possible to imagine the train garage was part of a larger hub connecting freight, passengers, and tourists. This means jobs and tax revenue for everyone, instead of a lowered property values for us. We welcome the facility to Brunswick in a location that offers far greater economic potential than does Brunswick West. Rather than being NIMBYs, we are looking out for Brunswick's larger interests. This contrasts us with our town leadership, which seems more interested in giving the town to NNEPRA rather than thinking sensibly about how to grow the local economy.
Second, as you can tell, much of this is about local politics. Frankly, we have been appalled that our town leadership has so casually, and so mercilessly, thrown us "under the train." It is thus vitally important for us to support Benet Pols in his bid for the at-large council seat this Tuesday. Benet is not just an outspoken supporter for our cause. He is one of the few people in this town willing and able to take on the existing town leadership, which has shown that it is more interested in running Brunswick as its own private preserve than in listening to the people who actually live and work here. Because this is a three-way race, Benet cannot win without strong support. His victory is likely shake up the town leadership far more than a victory for Dana would. So, please, if you can, get out the vote. Much more than our neighborhood is at stake.
Finally, the struggle continues. As you know and will read on Monday, NNEPRA is convening an advisory panel to help oversee the construction of the facility. This was a concession to our concerns, and was to include residents of the effected neighborhoods, town officials, and NNEPRA representatives. As expected, though, NNEPRA is trying to make the panel as weak as it can possibly be, by packing it with people supportive of the Brunswick West site. We are working hard to ensure that our view is strongly represented. Similarly, our own Charles Wallace is working hard to make sure that NNEPRA conducts its studies of our site in strict accordance with best professional practices. In short, we are continuing to work hard on all fronts to protect our neighborhood and Brunswick as a whole. This is grass-roots politics at its finest: we have all gotten here together, and your continued support is critical.
As ever, we wish to keep you informed, and we need to hear your voices! Write or call us, or leave comments at our online presences:
You can email us at: NeighborhoodVoice13@gmail.com
And our Facebook page is at: https://www.facebook.com/
Thank you for your support!
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