War of words heats up in Minnesota. Good thing these folks were not around when the transcontinental was built.
The CEO of the Mayo clinic he was the one who wanted to take me off a med that was working already so he could prescribe it instead. All he is looking for is ca***o make himself look good, the Mayo clinic does everything in secret to begin with I think they took lessons from the George W Bush and *** Cheney school on how to run a business.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with the Mayo conducting THEIR business in secret. That is their business, and a good business would want to do that to protect their trade secrets. However, in this case, the bedfellows are the Mayo clinic (a private enterprise) and the city of Rochester (public officials elected by the public to do public work). I think Kevin Scheiffer is right. It would be one thing if the conflict was between the Mayo clinic and the DME. It is between the Mayo clinic, the city of Rochester, and the DME. These meetings should be public, because they affect the public at large. If the city officials have the support of the public, why do they feel the need to conduct negotions in secret? What purpouse would that serve? Unless, of course, the public supports the DME and the city officials are aware of this. Then I can understand why they don’t want the public to know. Seems to me like this is another example of a government chasing after the needs of a special interest in opposition to the expressed will of everyone else. 55 of 56 communities support the project. It will provide competition and add capacity where it is desparately needed. It has government approval. One city objects so the whole thing is killed? This should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Can’t DM&E play the interstate commerce card?
They can and more than likely will but I think they are trying to do this nice before they get mean.
I’m amazed/amused.
When localities complain about ever louder diesel horns at the crossings in their towns, that cat calls here of “gee why did the moronz move close to the railroad if they didn’t expect ~diesel horns to get 30% louder than when they bought their place~ noise”?
So here we have the tables turned, the community is attempting to address the problems before they are built, and it is still they who are at fault?
While I’ll admit that the coalition of the gov’t officials/Mayo’s insistence for confidentiality looks like some form of shady deal is being kept below the horizon, I hope the city has the foresight to include in the final agreement the required interval on which the railroad, it’s successors, or assigns is required to repaint the overpass bridges… [}:)]
I don’t fault Rochester for having concerns. I think every other city would. The problem is that they seem to be negotiating under false pretenses. Scheiffer’s letter mentioned the city of Rochester wondering if a tunnel could be built under the city. That is ridiculous. Again, it may be different if the DME wanted to lay a NEW line right through the middle of the city. Instead, they want to UPGRADE their existing line to accomodate more traffic safely. But, as Scheiffer pointed out, they have chosen to resist any idea of this. If they could give logical reasons as to why they don’t want the DME to upgrade their line, that might be a good place to start and make their case. They have not done this. I think that the DME has started to realize this and they are going to try some different tactics in the city proper. One of those tactics seems to be taking the case to the people instead of the elected officials, who appear to be under the thumb of the Mayo clinic. So what is the false pretense? Rochester seems to think that if they do not get everything they want they will kill the project on their ow
Ummm… you obviously haven’t been to Mayo- they are by far the largest employer in Rochester. I wouldn’t be surprised if 50% of the town’s 85,000 population is either an employee or a family member of an employee, including one of my sisters and a brother-in-law (married to another sister). Initially I was leaning toward Mayo’s side on this one (you know, blood is thicker than water), but recent developments (including this article) have me sitting on the fence now, and facing the RR’s side.
Yeah, I can see that that one is going to get used a bit around here… until Bergie comes along, and then it’s [xx(]
Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to minimalize the importance of the Mayo clinic to Rochester or MN. They have a world renowned reputation in the medical field. My point is that it seems there are cross purpouses here. I honestly think the Mayo clinic doesn’t want the DME to build, period. Of course they can’t come out and say that when there are so many more people who’s livelihoods will depend on the success of the DME. Politically, I think they are taking the best route one can take when you don’t want the railroad to succeed but you also don’t want to be blamed for killing it. They have failed to present any serious reasons for not wanting the railroad to fix up its track. Let’s face it. A good track is far safer then what is there now. It is really too bad that the parties involved can’t come to some sort of an agreement. There has to be a way for BOTH industries to exist without engaging in a war of words.
I won’t disagree with any of the political points you touch on, I doubt seriously that the City is a white knight in the matter.
A tunnel would be outrageous, my bizarre sense of intrigue makes me wonder if some entity (Mayo related., perhaps?) Has a tract of land they would like to sell to DM&E at
Ryan, I am 100% in agreement with you there.
No, TheAntiGates, you’re right- that’s where they want to run the coal through, east to Winona and a barge-loading facility.
The way I read the plans off of DME’s website was that most of the new coal traffic would split off in Owatanna. It is possible that the DME is just saying this to placate, however. IF they build everything that they want to build who is going to stop them from running a couple more trains on their track anyway?
My take on Mayo is that, as many another large institution, they object to any change that they might see, no matter how incomprehensibly, as posing a challenge to their operation.
OT: I read a couple of years ago that an American home could save easily one-quarter of its electric bill by: (a) turning off the PC if it’s not going to be used for an hour or more; (b) getting the most efficient refrigerator; (c) using compact fluorescent bulbs, and (d) setting the thermostat two degrees lower in winter and two degrees higher in summer.
But alas, that ain’t gonna happen. The Midwest needs the electricity. Nukes have proved to be too expensive in the long run, which limits our options. At least our power is domestic in origin, mostly.
Hold the Mayo!
Personally I think D&ME should take the “ultimate bypass” around Rochester, then stop all rail service entirely and begin the process to remove all rail service to the city entirely and let them choke on the extra truck traffic it will take to get anything into or out of the city!
Then we’ll see how much the Mayo whines about how much freakin’ traffic that will cause!!!
Um, query about Mayo: does the hospital routinely accept trauma victims such that a delay of several minutes at RR crossing would severely inconvenience people? And doesn’t the place have a heliport already if that were the case?
Inquiring minds, etc.
I don’t believe Mayo per se deals with trauma victims- however, the two hospitals affiliated with Mayo, Methodist and St. Mary’s, do. Methodist is downtown, within a block or two of the RR ROW. St. Mary’s is on the west side, very close to US 52, which crosses the RR on an overpass already. St. Mary’s does have a helipad- I’m not so sure about Methodist, but I suspect they do as well.
Taking away Rochester’s rail service would probably suit them just fine. Alot of the industry served by the DM&E is on a spur to the south side of town, so forcing it to trucks would increase the truck traffic down there, and not necessarily through downtown.
So, is there a letter, made public, from the coalition or the Mayo Clinic that answers this?
Or is the DM&E’s claim of them wanting secrecy and accurate one?