A train with a view
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No comments [ Add Comment ]Odd as it may seem at first blush, the view from commuter trains is roughly the same in Roy as it is in the San Francisco Bay: the unattractive backsides of homes and businesses.
But now that Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner rail line is operational, riders are over the giddy novelty of daily train travel, and have begun to complain about the view -- and Roy seems to be taking the brunt. That's probably because nobody expects Ogden's or Salt Lake City's rail yards to be anything but rail yards.
We're wondering, though: This is a commuter train, right? It's not a narrow-gauge railway through a picturesque national park. It's meant to convey commuters from one place to another.
Sure, lots of backyards are messy. But cut these people some slack: They've been living against a freight-rail line for decades and decades.
Roy's elected officials, understandably, are concerned. They'd rather not get the reputation attendant to such unsightly and unkempt properties. As Mayor Joe Ritchie told members of the city council recently, "Some people have even gone as far as saying Roy is the armpit of Weber County."
Well, it isn't. Each city in each county, as far as we can tell, has its pockets of problematic properties. Unfortunately for Roy -- and the other cities -- those backyards that used to be seen only by a handful of railroad employees are now on display six days each week for hundreds or thousands of commuters.
Like we said at the outset, the Bay Area Rapid Transit rail system has been running for decades in and around San Francisco -- generally acknowledged as one of the most beautiful cities in the world -- and the view from its cars range from postcard-pretty to embarrassingly ugly. It's the same for virtually every commuter-rail line in the nation.
Still, we are encouraged that Roy has adopted an eagerness to review the complaints. The city is considering a fresh look at its code-enforcement laws, and if property owners are breaking the law they need to be accountable. That's all good.
But we think commuters are asking a bit much for property owners along the route to spruce up the route for their commute-watching pleasure. It's a rail line, for heaven's sake.
