Comments on: If you use Jahnke Rd…

By: Jennifer C.

Jennifer C. — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:40:37 +0000

One of my coworkers’ brother works for CSX – he told me that it costs them something like $100,000 per minute to have trains making unscheduled stops and blocking freight traffic. They don’t fiddle when it comes to keeping things moving.

By: willis

willis — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:21:20 +0000

Jennifer is right in some regard with City Employees. As a state employee I can only assume that the resources that are afforded employees at the city are sub-standard as well. For example, I never received my personal property tax bill for my car this year. I had to go down there and explain that this was the case. I’m sure they thought I was simply making another excuse they have heard a million times. Either way when I inquired as to why I never received it they told me my address was a house I hadn’t lived in for about 5 years. I found this curious as my wife and I have our information in the public domain as property owners in the city on the GIS website and the DMV has my current address but they informed me that none of these systems communicate with each other. Not only is this archaic but it also serves to deprive the city of needed resources from taxpayers who want to pay in a timely manner and to upset persons like myself who find it incredible that in the 21st century the “efficency” that all these candidates for office talk about cannot be realized as a result of decades old databases and computer systems. In the private sector where my wife works you could not survive the competition if this was your modus operandi.
It is certain though that public adminstrators recognize and have implemented customer service training for all levels of government and a response such as “what do you want us to do about it.” is not appropriate for a public employee. They are the face of city government and all of the publics’ preceptions of city government begin and end with their service. Although seemingly unfair to be held to this higher standard this is simply a reflection of the realities of customer service in the public sector. Expectations run high especially when production has historically been so low and performance has been seen as under acheiving especially in the context of what I consider the limitless possibilties and potential of the City that have been squandered by ineffective public management. Just two pennies from a Public Administration graduate student….and the trains seem to be running fine again.

By: Jennifer C.

Jennifer C. — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:42:55 +0000

I understand the desire to make sure emergency responders know there’s a blocked main road. The tone of his comment was completely unneccessary, though. It’s always okay to call 911 if you think you need to, but don’t start crapping on the dispatcher if he/she doesn’t respond the way you think he/she should unless you’re a dispatcher.
The downside of all the blogs is that there seems to be an assumption that in any interaction between taxpayers and city employees, the employees are automatically the idiots. That is not always the case. I recall a post on here when someone was griping about not getting the response he wanted when he called the Mayor’s office to report a streetlight that was out (??).
I’ve lived in FH Terrace for fifteen years: for all the dealings I’ve had with doofi in various city departments, there’s always been another person in the same department that would bend over backward to help.
Everyone has bad days and everyone has to start somewhere (including local names for landmarks). I’d just like people to keep that in mind.

By: Z

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:26:34 +0000

Jennifer C, I think what Don was meant was not that 911 would do something about the train blocking the roadway…but make sure that police, fire, and rescue were made aware to use alternate routes. This is especially important considering the fact that CJW is on the other side of the tracks.

A side note: I called 911 a few months ago about an incident on the Nickel Bridge, and the lady had no clue where the Nickel Bridge was…who in the metro area doesn’t know the Nickel Bridge? Once I said Boulevard Bridge, she was able to dispatch.

By: Jennifer C.

Jennifer C. — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:54:17 +0000

There was a house fire on Hilltop yesterday in the early hours, which might have slowed them down when they first started running.
The trains seem to vary a lot in speed and horn use, from what I’ve seen and heard.

By: willis

willis — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:37:41 +0000

anyone hear what actually happened with the train? They were going much slower this morninng maybe being cautious.

By: Jacob K.

Jacob K. — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:30:01 +0000

Is it getting warm in here?

By: Jennifer C.

Jennifer C. — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:35:39 +0000

First off, the emergency communications folks don’t have anything to do with CSX. The CSX people know perfectly well that there’s a train stopped, and nothing the city’s 911 operators have to say is going to make it move. The extent of their involvement is to notify them if there is an incident on the tracks that would require stopping the trains. If there is an emergency incident on the tracks, the chances are very good that the emergency responders are already there, and are therefore well aware of the train.
Also, if you live in the area, you know that anybody can get caught by a train at any time, including the fire trucks and ambulances. Leicester comes in handy sometimes.

…but maybe you couldn’t think of those things on your own.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:33:38 +0000

I called 911 to let them know about the train. The gal asked “what do you want us to do about it”? I needed to point out to this 911 operator that perhaps she should notify the fire dept and ambulance in case they received a call and headed that way. I also suggested she call CSX and let them know. We are in trouble when the 911 operators can’t think of these things on there own.

By: Willis

Willis — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:41:52 +0000

I wake up around 5:45am which is a little after the trains begin to leave from the depot on the other side of the river. Around 6am I heard the whistle as the train approached Jhanke and it was much longer and more pronnounced than normal but there was no crashing, booms, etc. Also as the train must have been trying to slow down it was coming closer to the next crossing headed southbound at Bassett Ave and let out another longer than normal pronounced whistle. Now from experience with friends of mine I know that the hobo’s/ gutter punks and the like hop the trains at this time of day simply due to the schedule that the freight trains run on and it’s normally dark too so they can hop on undiscovered. Let’s hope that no one was injured but I have a funny feeling that either the “bulls” (what they call the train security) or the conductor noticed people on the train or otherwise and stopped it for saftey reasons.