Glenview Considers $400,000 Project To Fight Amtrak Expansion

GLENVIEW, IL — Glenview trustees Tuesday are set to approve a recommendation from village staff to allocate $400,000 to a project to oppose a railroad expansion plan and begin spending it immediately by signing a $50,000 agreement with a public relations firm. The village aims to show that a project to expand Amtrak service to Milwaukee is unneeded, mobilize opposition to the plan and demonstrate that its environmental assessment is insufficient, according to a memo from village staff.

State and federal rail officials have for years proposed adding three additional daily round trip runs on the Amtrak Hiawatha line in order to improve reliability, reduce traffic delay and handle increasing congestion on its trains, according to the draft assessment.

Officials with the Federal Railroad Administration, and Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation are due to release a final version of the environmental assessment of the project, and when they do, Glenview is preparing to push back.

The village is calling for the proposal to eliminate a proposed third track in Glenview, relocate a planned crossover switch allowing trains to switch tracks in case of emergencies or congestion and move the stop from downtown Glenview to The Glen of North Glenview.

Beyond the marketing assistance, Glenview staff advised trustees they should be ready to pay for lobbying, research and potential litigation. With each listed as "TBD," the memo estimates $50,000 could go to lobbying, $100,000 to research, $100,000 to lawsuits and $100,000 as contingency.

The marketing firm chosen by the village, Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications, has previously contracted with Glenview during the publication of a draft environmental assessment and ahead of a public forum on the rail project last month.

There was no request for proposal or bidding needed for the contract, as the firm was already intimately familiar with the details of the rail proposal. Some of Jascucla Terman's past clients have included ComEd, tech incubator 1871 and the American Medical Association, according to the firm's website.

More than 1,000 people attended the March 12 forum, indicating deep community opposition to the project. Opponents of the Hiawatha expansion in several North Shore communities argue such an assessment is insufficient and have called for a more in-depth environmental impact statement to examine the full effects of the project in greater detail.

Recent grassroots efforts have let to the creation of the Glenview ACTION Committee (Alliance to Control Train Impacts in Our Neighborhood.) A similar group in Lake Forest is also organizing against the plan.

One member of the Glenview committee at the March forum said he has lived next to the tracks and noticed freight trains have gone from quickly passing through to stop-and-go traffic.

In their efforts to push through the expansion, Gary Dubofsky told Pioneer Press the rail agencies have "completely glossed over" concerns about air pollution and other threats "all at the expense of the safety and quality of life in our communities."

Metra has said the expansion of rail service will make the Midwaukee District North Line, where there's no reverse-commute service, more reliable.

"Concern has been expressed that providing third-main tracks will result in more freight trains," wrote Metra CEO Don Orseno in a 2017 letter to North Shore village and city managers.

"This effectively is 'a build it and they will come' thesis. It is well documented that the fluctuations in freight traffic are driven by fluctuations in economic activity, not by the given capacity of a given rail line."

According to the proposal from the firm, here's how the $50,000, plus expenses, is set to be spent:

• Ongoing strategic communications counsel and participation in strategy meetings and calls as needed.
• Development/refinement of core messages and themes.
• Preparation of written materials, including news releases, fact sheets, informational flyers, talking points, web content and so forth.
• Media relations, including liaison to the news media, development of story and editorial pitches, management of news conferences and related services.
• Development of video content for use in outreach activities, social media and legislative briefings.
• Outreach to targeted constituent groups through neighborhood meetings, email, social media and other channels.
• Production management of design materials, as necessary.

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