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SYRACUSE - At one point during the Syracuse town council meeting Tuesday, Syracuse residents in favor of an ordinance banning train whistles verbally attacked a woman who was against the ordinance.
They called her crazy, accused her of being deaf and made other negative references toward her. The council did not stop the disrespect, but when the woman tried to defend herself, council president Bill Cutter asked that only one person speak at a time.
Those in favor of the train whistle ban also implied that if someone is "idiot" enough to drive around railroad crossing gates when they are down, they may deserve whatever fate befalls them.
Syracuse residents in favor of an ordinance to ban train whistles packed the Syracuse town hall Tuesday at the town council meeting.
Last month, an ordinance regulating the sounding of train whistles or the ringing of bells on locomotive engines was defeated by a vote of 3 to 2 by the council.
Tuesday, because only three of the five town council members were present, another vote on the ordinance to ban train whistles was tabled until the Oct. 17 meeting at 7 p.m.
Ben Van Young told the council the crowd represented all parts of the town. "We just want all of you to realize the concept of quality of life and that's what we're here for," he said. And while they don't want anyone hurt, he said, statistics show that the number of train accidents has gone down.
Bernice Knisley was the only Syracuse resident at the meeting who said she was against a whistle ban. She said she lives 1-1/2 blocks from the railroad tracks and knew they were there when she bought her home. If the train whistles save one life, it is worth it, she said.
Another woman said she, too, lives by the tracks and knew the railroad was there when she bought her house, but there were fewer trains on the tracks then.
One unidentified man said there is no courtesy from the train engineers. Some of them, he said, blow their whistles "all the way down the tracks." Due to the loudness of the whistles, he said there was "no quality of life." But, he said, "the railroad is like the IRS, you're not going to win."
Phil Stump, a Medusa Street resident since 1984, said there is a definite difference on the number of trains and their loudness. He said he has lost the enjoyment of his personal property.
CSX Transportation Public Safety Coordinator Jay R. Kern told the public that the railroad is in a transitional period because of the extra traffic through town and they have new young employees. In the 25 years he has worked with the railroad, he said, he has seen people killed and that changes one's perspective on the issue. Train whistles are the only real means to prevent train-related accidents and fatalities, he said.
In a nationwide study conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration on towns that ban train whistles, the likelihood of highway-rail crashes is 84 percent greater at crossings where train horns are not sounded, Kern said. He said the railroad company opposes any whistle ban because "we know, through operations and research, train whistles save lives."
He also said the railroad has traveled through Syracuse for more than 150 years and they can't reroute the tracks. Syracuse, he said, was built around the railroad for a reason. And if the number of accidents has been decreasing, he said, it is because of their programs to help educate the public.
Resident Gary Wringler, a driver's education instructor, said he doesn't want to see anyone killed, but if someone is stupid enough to drive around the gates and through the flashing lights, there is nothing they can do about it. He said the town's quality of life is suffering.
Kern said all he can do is look at what the statistics say and they say more accidents happen where there are whistle bans. Referring to the statistics, resident Dennis Beadle said, "Forget those."
A person who goes around the gates, Kern said, is putting the town in danger, too. He said an accident can result in a derailment because an engineer will put on the brakes. He did promise to spend some time surveying the train whistles in Syracuse.
A woman said that with the increase of trains and higher rates of speed, she doesn't think the whistles will help prevent accidents, and the constant whistle blowing is devaluing residents' property.
