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Contrary to what the project partners want you to believe about the Dillerville Rail Yard relocation, the fight is NOT over. As part of the Northwest Gateway Project’s now $80 million price tag, the rail yard is still NOT a done deal. The partners do not have $19 million of the funding required. And with their masterful public relations efforts, manipulation of public opinion, elected officials and even the local newspapers, very powerful and influential people have been raising millions of tax-payer dollars behind closed doors.

But our investigative work is paying off. The big news is that we have a TRIAL DATE tentatively scheduled for September 8, 2009 on our appeal of the PaDEP’s approval of the cleanup plan and public involvement plan.

In addition, we have obtained thousands of documents from both state and federal agencies. As a result, we have significant questions about:

the potential misuse of state grants by the project partners and their consultants.

the economic impact of relocating the rail yard

the absence of impact noise studies

a coordinated effort to minimize public participation.

the projected number of tractor trailers purportedly being “diverted” from roads

Some highlights of our investigation include:

correspondence between Manheim Township and F&M’s law firm, agreeing to

deny the public the right to notice and comment on excavation in the floodplain

PennDOT grant money being spent on hotel and airline tickets in Orlando ,

Florida instead of analyzing potential alternative locations for the rail yard

Governor Rendell (in his December ’08 presentation of the cardboard

Check) claimed the $10 million in tax money would create THOUSANDS OF

JOBS and MILLIONS in tax revenue. It now turns out the money is proposed

to pay for cleaning up the dump and paying ‘tipping fees’ to the Lancaster

County Solid Waste Management Authority (who is legally responsible for the

pollution).

PennDOT initially claimed the project partners’ request to be excluded

from the requirement to prepare an environmental assessment was not a public

Document, forcing us to file an appeal

PaDEP has awarded grant money to clean up the municipal dump; paying

the responsible party to clean up its garbage is an unprecedented use of Growing

Greener funds.

PA Historic Museum Commission, without public notice, reversed its earlier

determination that the relocation of the rail yard would have an adverse effect

on an historic resource

PennDOT has now provided hundreds of pages of documents, yet contends

the public does NOT have the right to comment on the categorical exclusion

(Your right to comment was last June 19^th, even though the request for categorical

exclusion was not prepared until August ’08!)

What is Next?

Come to the meeting on Tuesday, June 23^rd at 7pm with your neighbors. Hear details only highlighted here, and the plan to continue to combat this site. It is not too late for you to volunteer your time, your efforts and your finances.

Our efforts now can have a huge effect on the quality of life we deserve.

Don’t let a private college (with an endowment fund in the hundreds of millions of dollars) and a ‘non-profit hospital’ (that reported a $113 million profit last year)

take your tax dollars and give you noise, pollution, and decreased property values in

exchange. They’re simply not entitled to that trade.

For More Information, Log Onto www.trraac.com

And we’ll explain more about the bullies wanting us to change our name

On June 23^rd!

www.TRRAAC.com

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT NOW MORE THAN EVER!

We can only continue to support this cause through the work of the talented attorney and environmental engineer who have joined forces with TRRAAC. These two professionals are largely responsible for TRRAAC’s progress to date. In order to continue retaining the services of these consultants, we ask that every household affected by this site contribute generously.

Please know that TRRAAC is comprised totally of volunteers who live in your neighborhood. We are not paid at all. We volunteer our time and contribute our own personal funds because we believe that another site exists that will fulfill the project goals without detriment to our communities.

But we can no longer rely on a generous few to support our cause and our neighborhoods. We ask every household to contribute toward the collective welfare of our neighborhoods. Please give generously, as this may have a tremendous impact on our health, our children’s health, our quality of life and our home values for years to come.

Click coupon to download. (coupon not required.)

Thank you for your support! Only with your help can we move this project forward in a "Win-Win" way that truly benefits all residents, not just the few.

A Better Location

The Rail Road Action & Advisory Committee

TRRAAC is in agreement with the project to improve and revitalize the northwest section of the city. We do, however, feel the project and all of its proposed benefits can also be achieved with a modified plan, one that would not negatively impact long existing residential neighborhoods. We ask all to support our efforts to move this project forward in a way that everyone benefits and not in a way that harms some in order to benefit others. It simply is not necessary to place our neigborhoods, residents, and properties in jeopardy.

A better solution exists that allows everyone to WIN!

See the 12 reasons below why we feel a better location exists.

Please speak out with us so that our community leaders hold all of our interests in equal consideration. Let's ask our leaders to exhaust all possible alternatives and share publicly their positions, in detail, as to why alternatives may or may not be viable.

12 Reasons TRRAAC’s alternative location is a better choice

First and Foremost, the alternative location WILL accomplish all of the Principal’s Goals and Objectives, except for 1 lacrosse field, which can be easily relocated in the remaining green space.

Secondly, the alternative location WILL keep 12 additional acres of taxable property on the city tax roles.

Thirdly, tax monies WILL be saved by reducing by 1/3 the amount of acreage that will need to be remediated due to 100+ years of railroad usage.

Fourth, the alternative location will allow for more time and thoughtful consideration to be given to the remediation of the old Municipal Dump. How will the dust created by removing many cubic yards of soil potentially contaminated with asbestos be controlled? How and who will be responsible for cleanup and monitoring outside of the work site for dust that settles throughout the neighborhoods. What potential health risks will be involved? This remediation can not just be rushed thru.

Fifth, Norfolk Southern saves the unnecessary expense of having to build a private access bridge over the Harrisburg Pike in order to access the disconnected piece of the rail yard. This also saves the public the inconvenience caused by this unnecessary construction on the busy Harrisburg Pike.

Sixth, the alternative location will give Norfolk Southern the ability to stage one long train of empty cars for the return to Enola on the “fly” rather than waste the extra fuel and create the extra diesel emissions to build the empty train at time of departure from multiple smaller segments.

Seventh, the alternative location DOES NOT move yard engine activities to the stretch of track that runs immediately behind and within 50 feet of homes bordering the tracks in the Barrcrest and Gentry Heights neighborhoods. This activity will be necessary to efficiently service the proposed site and to build the “empty” train from the western end of the proposed site.

Eighth, the alternative location DOES NOT add to the current blockages of Farmingdale and Good roads while the “empty” trains are being built. Additionally, a long train of 1 mile plus will cause blockage on Rohrerstown Road if the train is built from multiple segments working from the western end of the proposed location.

Ninth, the alternative location remains in a more suitable, long-standing industrial area. The proposed location will move industrial noise within close proximity and line of sight Long’s Park’s Summer Concert Series, there by diminishing one of the finest and free cultural activities in the Lancaster County area. Additionally, the proposed site will be directly adjacent to the proposed Crossing at Conestoga shopping center, which is being billed as a unique, upscale, outdoor, city-like atmosphere to draw people to the area from outside regions. It is not hard to image that the proposed rail yard will have a detrimental effect on the success of this proposed up-scale center.

Tenth, the alternative location will remain being serviced by a full-time, professional fire department, with prior experience dealing with HazMat events on the current rail yard. In the proposed location, these responsibilities will be shifted to capable, but burdened, volunteer fire companies.

Eleventh, the alternative location keeps Rt.30 farther, and thus less likely, to be shut down in the face of a larger HazMat issue or fire than has been previously experienced in the current yard to date. Small scale accidents have been happening. No one can say that a larger incident is NOT possible. The proposed location has the Rt. 30/Harrisburg Pike interchange within a ½ mile impact radius and a much larger stretch of Rt. 30 in a 1 mile impact radius. The traffic chaos that would be created on either side of a larger-scale incident in the proposed yard would unnecessarily create additional dangers in the event of an emergency.

And Lastly, the alternative location, while achieving ALL of the Principal’s Goals and Objectives, does not place long-standing, pleasant, tax-generating, residential neighborhoods in danger of decay. To endanger these neighborhoods DOES NOT enhance the project in any way. It is an unnecessary loss of wealth for the area as property values fall due to the change in character of the neighborhoods.