Concrete medians installed by the City of Nevada, Iowa for their Quiet Zone in 2008. Photo courtesy of Walt MacDonald.

Fairfield City Council has hired a Quiet Zone specialist Andrew Mielke of SRF Consulting using funds donated by the Fairfield Train Safety and Quiet Zone Committee. His job is to advise the City Council on how to implement their resolution of November 2007 to create a Railroad Quiet Zone for Fairfield. The debate has moved on from the sometimes bitter divisions of the past over whether Fairfield should have a Quiet Zone. A recent poll on the Fairfield Iowa Facebook page showed 91% were in favor of Quiet Zone, and dissenting comments are almost never seen in the Facebook discussions or in the comments on the three Quiet Zone articles published on Fairfield Voice this year.

Public discussion now centers on what configuration of Quiet Zone is best for Fairfield, and how much it will cost. According to the Federal Railroads Administration website there are now 385 Railroad Quiet Zones in the US. Fairfield may be the first in the US created with no taxpayer funds and be entirely funded from private donations.

In the public meeting at the Fairfield Library last Sunday night, Mr. Mielke said the minimum configuration to qualify for Quiet Zone for Fairfield would involve changes to only 4 out of the present 8 crossings. This would satisfy the Federal Railroad Administration, which requires the accident risk levels to be reduced to less than the present levels with the horns sounding. He suggested the four changes could be closing 3rd St crossing; installing Supplemental Safety Measures on 2 other Streets; and closing or upgrading one other street. He recommended including 23rd St among the streets to receive safety upgrades since this crossing currently has the highest risk level of the 8 crossings in Fairfield. This is a similar solution as a city in New Jersey he’s currently working which has elected to upgrade only 6 of their total 12 crossings to create a Quiet Zone for the city.

At the other end of the scale, Mr. Mielke said, is Burlington, Iowa, which last year upgraded 6 1/2 out of their 10 crossings. They closed 2 crossings, left one unimproved and installed medians on just one side of one other crossing.

Of the various safety upgrades possible on the crossings, only one is commonly used. This involves placing a concrete median down the center of the street for 60 to 100 feet in front of each railroad crossing gate. This prevents traffic from going around the gate, which is a major cause of accidents. Although cheaper plastic wands are possible as well, these have had problems with vandalism and snowploughs. A former City Council member of Nevada Iowa, Walt MacDonald said in 2008 they installed 920 lineal feet of concrete medians (pictured above) on five crossings for a total cost $28,350, plus around $10,000 for signs and street repairs. This comes out to a total cost of under $8,000 per crossing.

The biggest accident risk reduction for the Quiet Zone is achieved by reducing the number of crossings by closing less used ones. This is why BNSF and the Iowa DoT give cash incentives to close crossings. The Fairfield Quiet Zone committee made a proposal to the City’s Transport and Safety Committee in March in which they reported that these cash grants would be $50,000 total per crossing. Andrew Mielke cautions that deals vary in each case. “The City could expect to receive at least $40,000 per crossing closing,” he said.

In 2004 the Federal Railroads Administration gave two options to the City of Fairfield to establish a Quiet Zone. Both of these options involved closing 3rd and Court St crossings. While no one has come out publicly against closing 3rd St, opinions are more divided on Court St. This has become an issue since the most recent estimates presented to the City by the Quiet Zone Committee in March indicate that Court Street is the most expensive to upgrade due to the poor condition of the road which would need to be resurfaced prior to installing medians. The total cost is estimated at $67,040. So this together with the cash incentives provided by BNSF and Iowa DoT would likely save the City over $100,000 if Court St crossing were closed. This figure could be less if the City bore some of the cost of resurfacing Court Street prior to installing medians.

At Sunday’s public meeting one Court Street resident, Peter Dollive, asked about closing Court Street. Michael Halley, the Council member tasked with heading up the Quiet Zone project responded that his enquiries with fellow Council members indicated the City would not approve this. Mr. Dollive questioned this. “If the residents on Court Street want the street closed, why would anyone want to keep it open?” he asked.

One reason often cited to keep Court Street open is that closing it would inconvenience people traveling to the square by car, on foot or by bicycle. But evidently not for the residents of Court St – so far no resident of Court St has objected to the idea of closing the crossing and many have spoken out in favor.

Since Court St is a dead end on the north end it’s hard to make the case that it is more convenient for people traveling to the city from places other the street itself. To test this, I tried driving to the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center by three different routes from the intersection of B and Kirkwood Sts. Using B St came out quickest at 1 minute 25 seconds. Court St was 6 seconds slower, and Main St came in at 20 seconds slower. Obviously it depends on traffic conditions, but since B St has a better road surface and has parking only one side of the street, it’s likely to be the fastest route most of the time.

Some say business owners around the square feel closing Court Street would inconvenience their customers. Pam and Wayne Slowick, owners of one of the larger retail businesses on Court Street disagree. “We don’t think it will have any impact at all on Thymely Solutions traffic. We think our customers drive up B and Main to cross over to Court Street,” they said.

Closing Court St achieves a significant risk reduction for the Quiet Zone as well as saving donors and the City the cost of upgrading the street. However, as Mr. Mielke points out, it is still an option to not select Court St for one of the streets to be upgraded.

Mr. Mielke expects to have a report with his recommendations ready for the City Council within a month.

If you ask the Rabalais (say “Rab uh lay”) brothers how their band Utopia Park won the award for Best Musical Act 2009 in Fairfield on FairfieldVoice.com, Phillip will tell you they stole it, with a grin on his face.  Dominic jumps in quickly to point out that while other local favorites The Jefferson County Green Band were leading the poll at the time the brothers discovered they were in the running, all it took was a few emails, Facebook and blog posts to mobilize their established fan base into voting them the winners.

Brothers “their whole lives”, Phil and Dom both got into making music in their mid-teens.  About two and a half years ago, they wrote their first original track, and they’ve been steadily producing, performing and refining their high octane, catchy electro-pop ever since.

Starting out with the band name Porno Galactica “pretty much as a joke”, the Rabalais brothers recently decided to change it to Utopia Park.  They feel the name speaks to the magic of their childhood growing up in a local trailer park of the same name.  Plus they were looking to match the aesthetic that evolved as they began to take themselves a little more seriously as a band.  What began as mostly a “laptop DJ” show has expanded to include live guitar and keys over their programmed backbeats.

Still, while their commitment to making music may have gotten more serious, the only thing serious about a Utopia Park show is the amount of fun to be had!  To quote the brief write-up in Fairfield Voice when the winners were announced, “If you don’t start dancing by the time Porno Galactica (Utopia Park)’s song Sea Best Released is over; then you just might be dead.”

Utopia Park recently returned from their Deep Chill tour of the Southern US, starting off this March in Austin, and looping back there again in time for SXSW by way of Houston, Louisiana, Georgia and Arkansas and a few other places in-between.  They played lots of shows, learned lots of things, made lots of friends and chronicled it all in their funny and irreverent blog (warning, it does contain occasional not safe for work language).

Since returning home, the brothers haven’t even stopped to catch their breath.  Between promoting and hosting shows in Cafe Paradiso, The Beauty Shop, and their house, they started a new label called Sweat Power Records.

Sweat Power Records is bringing back the cassette tape for limited edition releases by Utopia Park and several of their friends.  The novelty concept is sparking creative ideas among the bands releasing music on the label.  Some want to create a whole package deal where you buy the cassette with a walkman and headset.  Others want to do split EP’s with Utopia Park.  The beauty of it is that Phil and Dom have that, “Why not? Let’s do it!” attitude that not only supports creative ideas but actually makes them happen.

To me, that is part of what makes Utopia Park so deserving of their award for Best Musical Act.  Not only do they make great music and put on great shows, they serve the younger generations in Fairfield through their examples of how to take an idea and follow it through to reality.  In a small town where you aren’t as likely to have your entertainment handed to you on a platter, creating the environment you want to experience can be the difference between happiness and boredom.  I applaud their generosity, energy, and ingenuity and look forward to whatever the Rabalais brothers may come up with next!

In fact, I know the very next thing they are doing is this Saturday, May 8th at The Beauty Shop. Utopia Park will be playing their first Fairfield show since returning from their March tour.  They are sharing the bill with several other artists, including two bands who will be releasing their Sweat Power Tapes on the same night.

Check out the line up:

Valley Tounges from Iowa City — SWEAT POWER TAPE RELEASE!

Tall Too and Maid Marian from Ames — SWEAT POWER TAPE RELEASE!

Alex Body from Iowa City

Utopia Park

The show starts at 9pm at The Beauty Shop.  Cover is $2.

The 61st annual Iowa FBLA State Leadership Conference was held April 8-10 at the Crowne Plaza in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Locally, twenty Fairfield High School students attended this SLC conference. Approximately 540 students from 24 schools were represented at the conference.

FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda) is the largest business career student organization in the world with a quarter million students preparing for careers in business-related fields. The theme of Future Business Leaders’ of America this year is “Simply the Best”.

FHS 2010 FBLA Team Photo courtesy of the Fairfield Ledger

The main highlight of the conference is the opportunity for students to compete in business—related contests. Each FHS student attending the conference tests in two national-level contests, and one state-level contest.
Local national-contest results included:

• Networking Concepts:   1st place Devin Wadsworth
• Business Calculations:   1st place Alec Schubick
• Public Speaking I:    1st place Mitch Goudy
• Intro to Parliamentary Procedures:  1st place Jaci Bell
• Business Law:    1st place Mitch Dorothy
• Intro to Business:    2nd place Jenna Nelson
• Cyber Security:    2nd place Robert Lopez
• Personal Finance:    3rd place Hanna Kerr
• Business Math:    4th place Avi Marks
• Business Procedure:   4th place Josh Cooper
• Business Ethics:    4th place Qianying Li & Devin Wadsworth

Local state-contest results included

• Salesmanship Presentation:  1st place Mitch Goudy
• Creed Oration:    1st place Jaci Bell
• Advanced Spelling Relay:   1st place Josh Cooper, Nitish Dhungana, Kyle Greiner
• Advanced Vocab Relay:   4th place Joy Oliver, Alex Schubick, Devin Wadsworth
• Business Filing:    1st place Edna Jones

Thank you to local businesses who financially sponsored the award program for FBLA included: Edward D. Jones, The Nelson Company, Midwest Development & Investment Corporation, Fairfield Business Park, and an anonymous donor. Other members competing were Redonna Colluka, Dimitrije Kolovic, Adam Mueller, and Aybar Sharipov.

Jaci Bell led the entire student assembly reciting the FBLA Creed prior to the banquet. Students earning the top first, second and third-place rankings are eligible to attend national conference in Nashville, Tennessee July 13-18, 2010. If the first, second, or third-place students cannot attend the competition, opportunities are then given fourth and fifth place winners. Students will have the opportunity to compete again on the national level, attend educational workshops, and Nashville specific activities.

A representative family of the March of Dimes program (FBLA’s nationally affiliated charitable organization) shared with FBLA students what experiencing the birth of low-weight babies has on the family and how the March of Dimes helps with the growing process by financially addressing specific concerns. Other highlights of the conference included election and installation of state officers, with Jake Adam and Mitch Goudy serving the chapter as Voting Delegates. Various awards were given to chapters, advisers, and students. Local FBLA Advisers, Diane Goudy and Mr. Repp were presented with a 5-year award of merit for service to the organization. In addition, the local Fairfield chapter was honored for its five years of being an active chapter. Representatives of PBL (the post-secondary/professional division), as well as the Business Consultant, Kelli Diemer, from the Iowa Department of Education were also in attendance.

Local advisor, Diane Goudy shares “ This is the best showing Fairfield FBLA has had in terms of not only attendance, but also in rankings in the last five years. The students develop more self-confidence during such a conference in terms of attempting opportunities outside their regular ‘comfort zone.’” Students or parents desiring more information about FBLA, or who would like to support in any way an organization promoting excellence in career-tech programs are encouraged to contact Brad Repp or Diane Goudy at Fairfield High School (472-2059) or diane.goudy@fairfieldsfuture.org”

There’s a whole lot of noise going on about the Fairfield Quiet Zone over on the Facebook page for Fairfield, Iowa. It’s an issue that has had people on both sides of the tracks (pardon the pun) up in arms for about five years, so much so that at one point the Fairfield City Council put a ban on discussing a Quiet Zone for a period of time. Recent developments have people talking again, but there still seems to be a lot of confusion about Quiet Zones in general and what one would mean for Fairfield, so maybe we should back up a little and make sure everyone is up to speed.

First off, what is a Quiet Zone? Back in 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a final rule about locomotive horns at train crossings. While the rule requires that the locomotive warning horns are sounded at all crossings, it also provides communities the chance to establish “quiet zones” by modifying the railroad crossings with safety measures that prevent people and cars from crossing the tracks when a train is coming. A 2007 study in Fremont California showed that when the Federal Railroad Administration’s Supplemental Safety Measures to create a Quiet Zone were adopted, the risk of accidents dropped by 75%-92%!

With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that cities all over the US are taking advantage of this law not only for safety’s sake but also to gain relief from train noise and increase property values for residences near the tracks. 155 Quiet Zones have already been established in Iowa’s neighbor states alone: Wisconsin has 68, Illinois has 20, Minnesota has 43, Nebraska has 2, and Missouri has 22. Iowa itself has 6 Quiet Zones in Boone, Nevada, Denison, Burlington, Le Claire and Bellevue. Marshalltown, IA has stated in their 2010 city plan that establishing a Quiet Zone is a “high priority”.

Some folks claim that they would miss the train horns as a quaint reminder of days gone by. That may be, but take into consideration that in Fairfield in the 1970’s there were less than 16 trains per day, often only sounding their horns once or twice with a long blast as they passed through town. Compare that to the increased numbers since the year 2000 – we now have up to 70 trains per day, with 20-30 required-by-law whistle blasts per train as it passes through Fairfield. This adds up to 2,100 whistle blasts per day, not to mention the horns are much louder now than in the 1970’s and 80’s.

Another concern raised by opponents to the Quiet Zone is that the City of Fairfield does not have the budget to make the necessary modifications at the railroad crossings. In November of 2007, the Fairfield City Council voted 5-1 to support a Quiet Zone subject to certain conditions, such as not using any tax revenue, and that the cost of the quiet zone would have to be raised by the community. The only exception being that the city agreed to contribute 50 percent of funds it will receive from Burlington Northern Santa Fe for the closing of the 3rd Street crossing. So the City of Fairfield will not use any money or tax revenue to establish a Quiet Zone. In fact, they would end up receiving $100,000 cash if they close both the 3rd and Main Street crossings.

Safer crossings, less noise for residents and businesses, increased property values, no money spent from the City budget or taxpayer dollars, cash back to the City from BNSF – it all sounds like a winning proposition to me. The Fairfield Train Safety and Quiet Zone Committee has reached their fund-raising goals and is ready to implement their proposed plan. All that is required now is the approval of the Fairfield City Council. What will you be telling your council members?