Editor: Re: These New Westminster residents are fed up with noisy, stinky trains, Record, Aug. 2
Seven years ago, I moved into a townhouse that just happens to be on a busy main street and with a stop just outside my window, but more significantly I moved in directly across the street from the city's main fire hall, Glenbrook #1 Hall.
Since moving in we have heard the crews do pre-trips on their trucks twice a day at shift change that involves testing air brakes, air horns, all types of sirens, cutting saws and every other piece of equipment that makes noise. We also are awakened at all hours of the night with one, two or more trucks leaving with sirens a blazing and horns a honking. And in the summer months, like now, we sit on the patio and the crews are constantly heading out on fire calls or emergency to save people.
Have I ever thought about writing the fire chief or going across the street and banging on his office door and asking the crews to knock it off? Have I called the mayor to say the fire trucks make too much noise? Have I got anyone from council involved to form a committee to complain about the noise? No, no, no! Why? Because when I moved in the fire hall had already been established there for years and I knew there would be noise and I accepted it as part of the place I was moving into.
To the people who bought condos next to train tracks that have been there over 135 years and moved into what was once a thriving industrial area - suck it up or move and stop your complaining. Trains and their crews have to work around the clock to deliver the goods that you use in your home every day. Same as the trucking industry, the ship industry and more. You should have done your due diligence before buying one of those places.
Sorry, no sympathy here. Come stay at my house and listen to what I put up with 24 hours a day. It’s the city people.
Ted Usher, New Westminster
