(rshsdepot) Statesville, NC

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_home.com>]

Will Statesville do the locomotion?
Grant would help retrofit train depot for Salisbury-Asheville line

By JOEY POPP
Special Correspondent - The Charolotte Observer

STATESVILLE -- It all comes down to whether or not Statesville wants to get
into the train transportation business.

The city has an opportunity to accept a $614,700 grant from the N.C.
Department of Transportation and the federal government to retrofit the
Historic Depot off Shelton Avenue for passenger rail service. Statesville's
local match would be $68,600.

City Manager Rob Hites told the City Council Monday night that Amtrak wants
to run a daily train from Salisbury to Asheville beginning in 2005. In the
meantime, the depot could be used as early as next year for bus service
between the cities.

But council members questioned the demand for such service and whether the
deal is good. "I don't understand why we'd subsidize the station," council
member Jim Lawton said.

Historic Statesville Inc., not the city, owns the facility and leases space
to Downtown Statesville Development Corp. "DSDC is eager to cooperate with
the city to see that passenger rail service is restored," DSDC manager Bryan
George wrote the council last week, stressing the need for city funding.

Costs could run about $2,300 a month for security, custodial services and
potential lost revenue, since the depot is rented throughout the year for
special events. George wants the city to pick up that tab besides upfront
expenses.

That raised even more questions for the council, which will look at the
proposal at its next meeting.

If the idea is scrapped and the train zips through someday without stopping
in Statesville, will this be a missed opportunity? "If they could benefit
without it costing anything, then let's talk about it. But if there's going
to be a cost, maybe we're not so interested, and that says a lot, too,"
George said later.

In other action, the council voted to remove a healthy oak tree at 214 Webb
St. because it has torn up a sidewalk and has blocked a driveway. An
arborist's report shows that if structural roots are cut, the tree should be
removed. As homeowner Pat Stewart said after the vote, "Everybody is
reluctant to see a beautiful old tree taken down, but for threeyears I've
been talking with the city about the hazardous situation."

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