Hennepin County and the MET Council (MN) plan to re-route long, frequent, dangerous freight trains to the MN&S (Dan Patch) spur tracks that run next to the St. Louis Park High School, through many St. Louis Park neighborhoods, and across many busy residential roads as part of the Southwest Light Rail build-out.
There is no reason to build this expensive railroad through the heart of our community and alongside our children’s schools. No private entity, including the railroad using the tracks, has asked for this project to be built. Hennepin County has simply planned to value the Minneapolis Kenwood community over St. Louis Park (The Kenwood community is home to the Kenilworth route, the alternative route that could house both SWLRT and freight rail).
Safety in the Park is a grassroots, self-funded, non-partisan group of citizens concerned about the safety of our residents, particularly our children. We fully support the addition of light rail to our community. We ask that honest evaluation of alternatives be studied. A true analysis of alternative routes will show that the MN&S is a poor alternative for safety and cost issues. Far less expensive and safer alternatives exist.