I am opposed to building an Emergency Response Facility (police station) across working railroad tracks at Head of Falls.

The site has only one entrance/exit. All someone has to do is throw something across the tracks or damage them in such a way that the train would not be able to move from the crossing while banks are robbed, accidents are left unattended, or police are assaulted in their own facility.

People in favor of the plan note that only three to four rail cars pass by three times a day. That is very shortsighted thinking. With the price of fuel rising, rail service is becoming and will become ever more important.

Passenger service is moving north and will continue to grow and cross those tracks since that is the main line from Augusta.

What about the many times police cars speed out of the station on emergency calls? Motorists heed the sirens and blue lights; not so a train.

Head of Falls is a better location for a train station. It would bring people to downtown. There is parking. It is a good location for a complementary businesses: restaurant, snack bar, newsstand, vehicle rental. The need to get across the tracks is significantly less urgent than for police.

Waterville could be a designated train stop or just a whistle blow on the way through. With three colleges in the area, we have an audience for train service.

The riverfront property is valuable and should provide tax revenue for the city.

If built on the riverbank, when something goes wrong, and sooner or later it will, the city administrator and mayor will be blamed but it will forever be the city’s boondoggle.

Let’s use this valuable property to bring more people to the city and create jobs.

Jill Hodsdon

Waterville

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