Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Iwanttoknow wrote on Mar 26, 2009 10:55 PM:
IWTK: Why the Im Port tent did not buy the whole rail from Coquille to ?Eugene. The way I understand the deal the Port only bought the 'rails' to 300' give or take a foot, south of the swing rail bridge. If this is the case then the (majority) of the rail shippers South still must deal with CORP/Pacific rail/ to get their goods shipped. The port does not own the switching yard by Thomas and Son. I want to know why! If anyone wants to question my qualifications I've own 4 railroads over my life time: the Reading;B&O;Short line;Penn.... what a game! Bye
Of Course wrote on Mar 26, 2009 10:11 PM:
Someone other than the port is smart enough to know a doomed project when they see it. Why would you expect someone to want to dump millions into this when the return is going to be a few pennies on the dollar?
Basis Continued wrote on Mar 26, 2009 7:40 PM:
Furthermore, I suggest you attend one of these business plan workshops. You know, the ones you must attend to be blessed w/ the revitalization grant.
Awarded by the all mighty figurehead who slobbers upon himself in shear self admiration, doling out grants as if they were pardons.
It is obvious the confidentiality ploy is only an excuse, the truth is, you do not have a business plan.
Why do you feel it necessary to embark upon an April retreat? You can't roll up your sleeves in the downtown office & accomplish just as much?
Monkey see Monkey do, I got an Incubator how about you. Spoken like a true fisherman. Pssst... The Hook is IN you!
You see, this is all intended to appear as if it is going to change things, create opportunities for common individuals. Nope! Sorry, the fact of the matter is, funds are being funneled indirectly to the very same pockets, time after time.
Do you know who handles the money behind the scenes? Who is being paid to process the transactions?
Why do you see the same faces vacillate like Vulture's & Hyena's?
Awarded by the all mighty figurehead who slobbers upon himself in shear self admiration, doling out grants as if they were pardons.
It is obvious the confidentiality ploy is only an excuse, the truth is, you do not have a business plan.
Why do you feel it necessary to embark upon an April retreat? You can't roll up your sleeves in the downtown office & accomplish just as much?
Monkey see Monkey do, I got an Incubator how about you. Spoken like a true fisherman. Pssst... The Hook is IN you!
You see, this is all intended to appear as if it is going to change things, create opportunities for common individuals. Nope! Sorry, the fact of the matter is, funds are being funneled indirectly to the very same pockets, time after time.
Do you know who handles the money behind the scenes? Who is being paid to process the transactions?
Why do you see the same faces vacillate like Vulture's & Hyena's?
Hanover wrote on Mar 26, 2009 4:46 PM:
Soon the blame game will start passing the buck to some one else besides the port.no not us and they get away with it because we let them.Just like all the other geewiz projects.At the cost of this line and repair how much money would one passenger pay round trip? to pay it of and make it profitable? Alot more than I could afford I'll bet.Let's all just set on our hands and let it happen good job people.
Basis of risk model wrote on Mar 26, 2009 12:10 PM:
Thank you so much, very thoughtful piece.
Jethro? They're one and the same, sorry.
Railroads to nowhere.
Natural gas lines no one uses.
An airport no one uses.
Another airport no one uses.
The bridges to nowhere happened before I got here five years ago.
By my figure the taxpayers have funneled $88,000,000.00 into this county in five years.
Question is, how much of that did you get? Huh?
Jethro? They're one and the same, sorry.
Railroads to nowhere.
Natural gas lines no one uses.
An airport no one uses.
Another airport no one uses.
The bridges to nowhere happened before I got here five years ago.
By my figure the taxpayers have funneled $88,000,000.00 into this county in five years.
Question is, how much of that did you get? Huh?
Basis of Risk Model wrote on Mar 26, 2009 10:49 AM:
Who are you kidding? You have no basis. What are you going to ship? Have you noticed there is no demand for forest products, aka LUMBER. There is not going to be short of a natural disaster. In your case this is an intentional man made disaster. Clueless. Every single entity in this area is haunted by one self serving blunder after another. If you ever want to become anything you will have to come together as one and accomplish something that creates a desire for others to spend their money in your community. To date there has been nothing but scatter brained acts resembling the likes of ADD children in school yards. Spare me the poise & important posturing from your padded chair with microphone. I suggest you all invest in gavels, so you can validate how important you are. Maybe then you get over yourselves & do something that makes this community functional. By the way, look back 40 years, you are still talking about the same bridges. Nothing has been done. Do you just pass these scripts down from one generation to the next? It is a tragic waste of money & an embarrassment. 40 YEARS!
TRUCKER wrote on Mar 25, 2009 1:16 PM:
How dumb can we be? We somehow thought the Oregon Legislature (totally controlled by Portland Metro area Democrats) and good ole' Pete DeFazio (a virtually powerless back-bencher in Congress for over two decades) give a darn for the health of the Bay Area economy! We don't have the votes to be of much interest to either.
Jethro wrote on Mar 24, 2009 1:20 PM:
Well, the way I see it, this is a chance for Coos Bay to start competing again. A rail line connecting Coos Bay to the major transportation corridors makes the port open to shipping. This is a much more realistic idea to draw in money than the exmaple of cronyism we find in the refurbishment of the visitor center.
Gene wrote on Mar 24, 2009 1:00 PM:
Most of the population in this country lives on the East side of the Mississippi. Once you unload on the Southern end of the continent the land is reasonably flat and doesn't require multiple engines to climb over the Cascades and Rockies. Our little Port rail line is only for the benefit of a very small group that will never pay for it by themselves. Their little dribble of rate infusion won't even cover the maintenance costs. For any real hope of our area getting jobs, manufacturing should be encouraged. At the same time, maybe push for some of the stimulus funds to improve our highway connections to I-5.
Gene wrote on Mar 24, 2009 12:59 PM:
It gets very frustrating reading all the dreams of the Port railroad saving this community by somehow importing jobs. The existing rail line is so far out of date for container traffic that it would be almost cheaper to build a new one. As for competing with LA, SF, Seattle/Tacoma or Portland, get real, it won't happen. At a cost of about 150 million dollars, there won't be any new rail line into Coos Bay. Those other ports are stopping expansion even now due to the downturn in business. A Mexican port in the Sea of Cortez on the Eastern side would make more sense. Remember, once the goods are ashore, the infrastructure must be in place to move it to the population areas.
Joe Sixpack wrote on Mar 24, 2009 11:04 AM:
The people and government in Portland DON'T like to compete with North Bend Coos Bay in the World shipping. A railroad will would level the playing field!
Duh wrote on Mar 20, 2009 11:26 AM:
Port commissioners don't get paid. They volunteer for those positions. Lucky them.
Why does the WORLD wrote on Mar 20, 2009 11:12 AM:
Cover up for the Port president? His blatant conflict of interest, collecting a six figure salary, while operating his construction company on a full time basis. This job can go to a person willing to devote 100% of their time to doing the job as president. I am sure there is a family in this town who would benefit from the employment. This is greed aided and abetted by the World who refuses to pass my post through! First Amendment YOU of all should honor it! This is the sixth time I have put this up.
Ghost rail line scam lining the pockets of the Port commissioners wrote on Mar 20, 2009 10:25 AM:
Anyone but corrupt Oregon leaders would give up on this Ghost rail line going to Brokesville, CoosBay! No money, offering No jobs to the local area, No business, Tax payer footing entire bill, Gov Ted wake up & stop this Ghost rail line SCAM or are you the puppet master...???
GetRDone wrote on Mar 20, 2009 8:55 AM:
Ok so you didnt get the amount you all wanted.instead of wasting the funds you got trying to figure out more funding get to work and do what you can with the funds you got,at least there will be some progress made.
Joe Six Pack wrote on Mar 19, 2009 10:26 PM:
This project made sense before the economy when the heck in a hand basket but now it just makes no sense. How could the Port have pursued this path of nonsense when there is no money available for these types of projects. Petition Congress and the State all you want but there are more important things to spend our tax payer dollars on right now. Things like keeping people from loosing their jobs and homes!
Local Yokal wrote on Mar 19, 2009 8:24 PM:
I know where you can get 1.2 million!! Just tell that new Tourist Center (You know what) to hand it over, we need to be where "the rubber hits the road" and get some "real" jobs and sources of income in here, like in the old days when we had things like Brookmead Dairy, Cutlips Ice Cream, lots of Chip Ships, don't rail roads add to that?
PORT POOR wrote on Mar 19, 2009 4:40 PM:
I don't figure on using any of the products shipped out of here,so why should i help pay for something that someone else is going to benefit from.The PORT needs another 25 million,so they tell people they need 33 million,so that way you think you are getting a good deal whenthey approve the 25 million.POLITICS AT I'TS BEST.The PORT crew is not really hard to figure out,it's just a matter of replacing them.
Fred wrote on Mar 19, 2009 3:53 PM:
Unsafe tunnels, bad track, bridges consisting mostly of rust. Let's get some passenger cars rolling and call it a thrill ride -- more unpredictable and exciting than bungee jumping or skydiving.
Big spread wrote on Mar 19, 2009 2:42 PM:
What kind of management is this...that is a huge spread from 2.5 to the 33 million...how could you possible be that far off from what you thought you would get to what you got...I'll tell ya what we the tax payers got and that is #$%$$!@!!! This is just like the airport...keep telling us what you think we want to hear, and then back peddle as fast as you can and blame it on everybody else when the whole thing blows up in your face....what a joke!!!
Thomas wrote on Mar 19, 2009 2:27 PM:
Can we start up a pool on predicting when the trains will run here again?
I think 'never' is probably the most likely, but will settle for taking 2019.
I think 'never' is probably the most likely, but will settle for taking 2019.
CB wrote on Mar 19, 2009 12:52 PM:
ONLY IN COOS COUNTY ! ! ! ! ! ! !
WHAT A BUNCH, WHAT A BUNCH ! ! ! ! !
WHAT A BUNCH, WHAT A BUNCH ! ! ! ! !
Just An Observer wrote on Mar 19, 2009 12:37 PM:
No railroad equals no port of any signifigance. If the railroad was truly abandoned, no one else would ever bother building one to Coos Bay. People can complain about the current management and practices but the only hope for our port to ever come back is to make sure a rail line is in place. Later on we will have to hope that the seeds of rail transport will sprout into industrial firms locating here.
Later on we do need to also look at such things as more high voltage lines, docks, the jetty, dredging and policies regarding the sustainable use of our natural resources so that there is some meat on the bones of that railway. However if there is no rail, then all those things I just mentioned fade into irrelevance as without the means to transport goods and raw materials by rail, the port will never live up to it's potential. That's putting the horse before the cart, as is proper to do. No choo-choo with four legs and that cart isn't going anywhere.
Later on we do need to also look at such things as more high voltage lines, docks, the jetty, dredging and policies regarding the sustainable use of our natural resources so that there is some meat on the bones of that railway. However if there is no rail, then all those things I just mentioned fade into irrelevance as without the means to transport goods and raw materials by rail, the port will never live up to it's potential. That's putting the horse before the cart, as is proper to do. No choo-choo with four legs and that cart isn't going anywhere.
Mark Smith wrote on Mar 19, 2009 12:32 PM:
Is it even remotely possible that we could have a bigger rip off than what our "port of coos bay" group have pulled off here. We now own a buttload of metal track, best get it pulled up now and get it to the scrap mills. This plan was bad from day one, it's still bad, and you now have been crapped on by the federal government for funds. Write it off ASAP....
To Gene wrote on Mar 19, 2009 11:53 AM:
My sentiments exactly, this is some kind of scam, seriously.
Is there no bottom of this black hole?
Seems all they do is renew their paychecks for the forseeable future.
What else have they done to justify their existance?
What?
Is there no bottom of this black hole?
Seems all they do is renew their paychecks for the forseeable future.
What else have they done to justify their existance?
What?
WAGER THIS wrote on Mar 19, 2009 11:31 AM:
How much would it cost the taxpayers to get rid of the port crew at the main office?I think it's past time,like over due.Their dicision making is putting the tax payers in debt,big time.Their more screwed up than a football.
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines