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As I said in the "Case of the Rose Bush" I had another right of way story. This is a sighting in it's greatest because it has two types of Suckiness in it. While not retail related, it's worth noting because of the result of it.
Unlike many of my stories, I'll tell you the end result; and then let you read what happened. Maybe you can decide what you'd have done in the same situation.
The city near where I live was approached to run amtrak through. However, inorder to do this a major upgrading would need to be done to the railroad, and a disused stretch of track would need to be brought back into service. The RR and state didn't realise that in the ten years since that portion of track had been out of service, that a large number of people had removed the rails, ties, and even much of the roadbed. Because of the land owners, and in some cases the home owners actions, the city lost the Amtrak contract, and by many estimates a possible ten million dollars a year boom to the local economy.
Here's the story:
The railroad had once been a major thouroughfare. In fact, it had once been the fastest way to Miami Florida. Over the years, with passenger traffic falling away, this track saw a heavy service in freight. Around nineteen ninety, maybe a bit earlier, the company that owned the line began to question the profitability of the particular line. While it was still seeing some traffic, shipping wasn't what it used to be. Gradually, over the next five years, the line was slowly phased out. However, since this line had been very profitable in the past; and the company expected that at one time it may again be profitable, the trackage wasn't simply abandoned.
Rather, it was left intact, but not maintained. Disused they call it. The company continued to pay taxes on it, but didn't send crews down to keep it up. It was left in a serious state of disrepair, but the trained eye could see that yes, it had potential. So it lay for a decade. Forgotten, misplaced, ignored.
And then, something happened. Something breathed a gasp of life into that line. Amtrak.
Having lost a corridor to Miami due to federal restrictions, Amtrak approached a few common carriers with a proposal. If they could band together and upgrade their tracks, and if the company could return this disused track to modern standards, then Amtrak would foot the bill for a new station, and open a service corridor which was expected to bring new life into the small city.
With great gusto, the surveyors were dispatched. That's when they started to run into problems.
Much of the track, for lack of a better word, was gone. Vanished into thin air. In some cases, they found old ties, but no rails. In others, the rails remained, pushed to the way side while the ties were missing. In many cases, nothing remained. Not even the old road bed and grade. Several times, the surveyors found themselves standing in some person's yard, trying to figure out where on the map they were, only to be run off under threat of personal injury. The upgrading would have taken just over two years, had the tracks remained disused. Now, with all the things they were finding, no one was sure HOW long it would take.
The company petitioned the state to find out what happened. Sure, in some cases of abandonment, the land reverts to the state (not the original land owner. *this note is key). Thinking that the line may have been abandoned by mistake, they waited. The state told them that no, it was still listed as disused, and that as far as they could tell no one had been given permission to build.
So, it went to court.
In the first of what would become many lawsuits, the company sought damages from the home owners. In several cases, the suit was settled out of court, with the owners having to pay substantially for the land. They were in turn suggested to file suit against who ever they bought the land from, since the sale was illegal. (state land can not be sold by private parties. RR's count as this.)
Suit after suit hit the courts, and Amtrak waited in the wings.
Last year, Amtrak gave the company an ultimatum. Begin trackwork and rebuilding, or we'll look someplace else. What could they do? Trackwork began in areas that were not contested, while owners fought tooth and nail.
It was one woman that threw a wrench into everything. One woman whose husband was a prominent doctor. She refused to pay, sued the company; and for a time looked like she might win.
In an interview to the paper, she said in what we all know as the perfect sucky tone: "It's not my fault they want the land back. I bought it from <so and so> and it's mine. So what if he didn't have right to sell it. It's mine now and they can't have it back!"
The thing is, after having fought so many people for land that it owned, the company had capitulated to a degree. It was offering to give the land to the people, if they would sell tracts to the railroad for fair market value. That way, the company could divert. In some cases, people were rumored to have been offered as much as fifty thousand dollars for less than an acre of land.
Would you belive that some people turned that down? Many accepted the offers, some getting as much as that, most getting less. Yet, that one woman held out.
Six months later, Amtrak had had enough. It was taking too long, and while trackwork was going on, the stink of that one woman and her husband was enough to make the corporation decide that no, it just wasn't worth the trouble. That, compounded with another company's rebuilding of another line, well the offer was pulled back and the city suffered. All because one <blank> didn't know when to shut up and sell.
There is a happy ending to this story though. Well, Happy for the city, but not the lady.
No one knows why it happened, maybe the state got tired of this one woman. More likely they saw the trouble some companies were going through and decided to help. The state passed a law, and what a law it is!
It has recently become legal for transportation companies (road and rail) and cities to sieze land from a citizen without having to pay. Of course, they'll offer the fair market value for it first, but if the owner doesn't accept that, then the city or company can just take it. I hear that progress along the line is doing rather well, and possibly by the end of next year it will be completed. Further, it looks like Amtrak will be coming through anyway. Still, I have to wonder, what's going to happen when that one lady, the one who made such a stink and arse of herself, is told to sell or they'll take it.
Somehow, I suspect this story isn't over yet. I see a second part coming, but that won't be for some time.
The moral of the story is this:
Buyer Beware. If you buy something without making sure that you're paying for everything that comes with it. If later on you find yourself having to pay more, don't complain because you were too lazy to do your research. Sometimes, the price doesn't cover everything included.
Secondly:
If offered fifty thousand dollars for one acre of land and you turn it down, go see a doctor. There is something WRONG with you.
Unlike many of my stories, I'll tell you the end result; and then let you read what happened. Maybe you can decide what you'd have done in the same situation.
The city near where I live was approached to run amtrak through. However, inorder to do this a major upgrading would need to be done to the railroad, and a disused stretch of track would need to be brought back into service. The RR and state didn't realise that in the ten years since that portion of track had been out of service, that a large number of people had removed the rails, ties, and even much of the roadbed. Because of the land owners, and in some cases the home owners actions, the city lost the Amtrak contract, and by many estimates a possible ten million dollars a year boom to the local economy.
Here's the story:
The railroad had once been a major thouroughfare. In fact, it had once been the fastest way to Miami Florida. Over the years, with passenger traffic falling away, this track saw a heavy service in freight. Around nineteen ninety, maybe a bit earlier, the company that owned the line began to question the profitability of the particular line. While it was still seeing some traffic, shipping wasn't what it used to be. Gradually, over the next five years, the line was slowly phased out. However, since this line had been very profitable in the past; and the company expected that at one time it may again be profitable, the trackage wasn't simply abandoned.
Rather, it was left intact, but not maintained. Disused they call it. The company continued to pay taxes on it, but didn't send crews down to keep it up. It was left in a serious state of disrepair, but the trained eye could see that yes, it had potential. So it lay for a decade. Forgotten, misplaced, ignored.
And then, something happened. Something breathed a gasp of life into that line. Amtrak.
Having lost a corridor to Miami due to federal restrictions, Amtrak approached a few common carriers with a proposal. If they could band together and upgrade their tracks, and if the company could return this disused track to modern standards, then Amtrak would foot the bill for a new station, and open a service corridor which was expected to bring new life into the small city.
With great gusto, the surveyors were dispatched. That's when they started to run into problems.
Much of the track, for lack of a better word, was gone. Vanished into thin air. In some cases, they found old ties, but no rails. In others, the rails remained, pushed to the way side while the ties were missing. In many cases, nothing remained. Not even the old road bed and grade. Several times, the surveyors found themselves standing in some person's yard, trying to figure out where on the map they were, only to be run off under threat of personal injury. The upgrading would have taken just over two years, had the tracks remained disused. Now, with all the things they were finding, no one was sure HOW long it would take.
The company petitioned the state to find out what happened. Sure, in some cases of abandonment, the land reverts to the state (not the original land owner. *this note is key). Thinking that the line may have been abandoned by mistake, they waited. The state told them that no, it was still listed as disused, and that as far as they could tell no one had been given permission to build.
So, it went to court.
In the first of what would become many lawsuits, the company sought damages from the home owners. In several cases, the suit was settled out of court, with the owners having to pay substantially for the land. They were in turn suggested to file suit against who ever they bought the land from, since the sale was illegal. (state land can not be sold by private parties. RR's count as this.)
Suit after suit hit the courts, and Amtrak waited in the wings.
Last year, Amtrak gave the company an ultimatum. Begin trackwork and rebuilding, or we'll look someplace else. What could they do? Trackwork began in areas that were not contested, while owners fought tooth and nail.
It was one woman that threw a wrench into everything. One woman whose husband was a prominent doctor. She refused to pay, sued the company; and for a time looked like she might win.
In an interview to the paper, she said in what we all know as the perfect sucky tone: "It's not my fault they want the land back. I bought it from <so and so> and it's mine. So what if he didn't have right to sell it. It's mine now and they can't have it back!"
The thing is, after having fought so many people for land that it owned, the company had capitulated to a degree. It was offering to give the land to the people, if they would sell tracts to the railroad for fair market value. That way, the company could divert. In some cases, people were rumored to have been offered as much as fifty thousand dollars for less than an acre of land.
Would you belive that some people turned that down? Many accepted the offers, some getting as much as that, most getting less. Yet, that one woman held out.
Six months later, Amtrak had had enough. It was taking too long, and while trackwork was going on, the stink of that one woman and her husband was enough to make the corporation decide that no, it just wasn't worth the trouble. That, compounded with another company's rebuilding of another line, well the offer was pulled back and the city suffered. All because one <blank> didn't know when to shut up and sell.
There is a happy ending to this story though. Well, Happy for the city, but not the lady.
No one knows why it happened, maybe the state got tired of this one woman. More likely they saw the trouble some companies were going through and decided to help. The state passed a law, and what a law it is!
It has recently become legal for transportation companies (road and rail) and cities to sieze land from a citizen without having to pay. Of course, they'll offer the fair market value for it first, but if the owner doesn't accept that, then the city or company can just take it. I hear that progress along the line is doing rather well, and possibly by the end of next year it will be completed. Further, it looks like Amtrak will be coming through anyway. Still, I have to wonder, what's going to happen when that one lady, the one who made such a stink and arse of herself, is told to sell or they'll take it.
Somehow, I suspect this story isn't over yet. I see a second part coming, but that won't be for some time.
The moral of the story is this:
Buyer Beware. If you buy something without making sure that you're paying for everything that comes with it. If later on you find yourself having to pay more, don't complain because you were too lazy to do your research. Sometimes, the price doesn't cover everything included.
Secondly:
If offered fifty thousand dollars for one acre of land and you turn it down, go see a doctor. There is something WRONG with you.
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