Quiet Rail

Some Downtown andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/bismarck-ndandamp;quot; clas...  More »

Some Downtown andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/bismarck-ndandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;Bismarckandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt; Business people are tired of not being heard. They say their voices are being drowned out loud train whistles. andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/brad-feldmanandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;Brad Feldmanandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt; shows you the latest effort to create a quiet rail zone. (Sound) Nearly two dozen times a day. (Joe Sheehan/ Cornerstone Bank) andamp;quot;The train will literally kind of shake you right at the nervous system and you will have to reboot to get going again.andamp;quot; (Loran Galpin/ Quite Rail Zone Committee) andamp;quot;It's continuing to be done in an extreme that is making us all quite miserable.andamp;quot; Loran Galpin has owned a business in Downtown Bismarck for twenty-eight years. He, along with three others have seen the debate take place over the past few years. While plans and decisions were being made...other business owners decided they had enough. (Dawn Kopp/ Bismarck Downtowners) andamp;quot;I know that there have been at lest two businesses that have moved out of downtown due to the excessive noise with the trains and I do believe that there is one business looking at other locations.andamp;quot; Now, they have a plan to end the debate...and STOP ANY more businesses from fleeing the noise... They have a new solution. (Loran Galipn/ Quiet Rail Zone) andamp;quot;If our request is successful what willl happen is is we will stop the train whistles from twelfth coming west all the way through until andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/mandan-ndandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;Mandanandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt;.andamp;quot; (Brad Feldman) andamp;quot;The question now becomes funding.andamp;quot; Last year voters turned down a measure by almost a two to one vote to use andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/sales-tax-ndandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;sales taxandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt; dollars to pay for a four million dollar project that would have silenced the horns throughout Bismarck.. This time, the project has a price tag of nearly one-point-three million dollars... and only puts in place the quiet rail zone on the third and fifth street crossing. However, the group wants to use TIF, or Tax Increment Financing money to ppay for the improvements. This is money collected from property owners in Downtown when they renovate properties. (Loran Galpin/ Quiet rail Zone) andamp;quot;People dont want to be taxed and the bottom line is this doesn't require any taxes of anyone. Our taxes in this district have already been paid to do it.andamp;quot; Galpin says it might just be the plan that will make their voice a little higher than the pitch of a blaring train whistle. Brad Feldman KX News Galpin says they are working on collecting signiatures from business and property owners in the Downtown area. He says they will be going to the Bismarck City Commission to get their support for the project in the coming month.  « Less