The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) train maintenance depot that has created controversy in Brunswick will probably be an ugly sheet- metal structure that will remind me of all the dilapidated factories and warehouses that were abandoned in southeastern Pennsylvania, where I grew up.

When the factories were shut down for whatever reason, no one was held accountable for cleaning the debris left behind at these properties. The structures were falling apart, broken windows everywhere, a place unsafe for anyone passing through or perhaps young people out of curiosity visiting or playing around these hazardous areas.

No one in the town confronted the factory owners and demanded that they clean up their mess before they leave town, thus the town was left with a dangerous eyesore that stayed for many years.

I do not expect the train running through Brunswick to be as successful as many people want to think. I can’t imagine enough passengers or freight requiring two trips a day, let alone five trips. Don’t be too enamored by numbers and marketing.

Who will be using these trains to make such a busy schedule? What will be the cost of passenger fees?

I experienced long-term, reckless development of all kinds in Pennsylvania. Any square foot of land was used without thought about the accompanying complications. No one was looking into the future beyond the profits to be made and not realizing the profits were offset by problems that would affect all things. It was full speed ahead while blindfolded.

Many times, developers are not local so that they will never see the disaster that other people must live with. There are other people who are simply apathetic. They will shoot themselves in the foot with the solution being to reload the gun.

Recreating the past does not solve present problems and give long-term benefits. There must be an attitude change to solve current problems and enable wholesome growth into the future. Simply “doing” for the sake of profits alone, without any vision for accompanying pitfalls, is the equivalent of marching in place in quicksand.

Oh, the authorities will tell you this and that is the miraculous cure for the town — to create jobs, to lower tax burdens. We’ve all heard this rant too many times and have been hugely disappointed.

The people of NNEPRA are concerned with profits alone, no matter how warm and fuzzy their comments might be.

I give the entire train project no more than five to seven years before it fails. Trains are fun to watch occasionally and they have what seems like a fascinating place in our history. Train transportation could even be beneficial, but not when implemented by the irrelevant economic mind- set that has brought us into this socio-economic, political disaster we are currently experiencing in America and in Maine.

So, who do you want for your engineer?

I say be your own engineer and consider the entire town’s people, not simply those who have some personal interest at stake by building large, ugly sheet- metal structures with associated solvents, oils, fuel, soot, noise and so on.

Will NNEPRA make sure the building is maintained so as not to be an eyesore? Why should people need to make adjustments in their lives so that some other entity will not be inconvenienced?

Other locations have been suggested for the location of this Godzilla-like structure. No matter where this building is located, it will be an insult to the aesthetics of the Earthscape.

Degrading the environment, which humans are only one part of, is something we seem to do well. Does anyone ever consider the psychological effects from spoiling what is visual?

The shock effect we might experience from this is a form of violence.

Shall we continue to destroy our air, our water, our soil systems, the natural scenery and other necessary things for our ecosystem, and call this progress?

JOE CIARROCCA lives in Brunswick.

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