By Tony Cantú
Contributing Writer

In the wake of stalled efforts to create railroad quiet zones in Olmos Park, residents are now casting the train noise issue as a health threat – particularly to children constantly exposed to decibel levels exceeding those of motorcycles.

The momentum council member Jeff Judson has built since late last year for quiet zones – which would ban train horns from blaring as locomotives traverse Olmos Park – stalled after a March 27 council presentation. While endorsing the concept, fellow council members balked at the $45,000 cost of a prerequisite study, saying the city of San Antonio should pay half.

Federally mandated modifications at existing crossings slated as quiet zones are predicated on study findings, Judson said. But his shared funding request was rebuffed as San Antonio – which has jurisdiction – is already in the throes of developing next year’s budget.

Hoping to re-ignite discussion, quiet zone proponents have re-cast train noise as a public health issue – more than just a sleep-disrupting, property-value-eroding annoyance. Maggie Sledge, living at the corner of Paloma and Westside – one street over from the noisy McCullough/Mandalay crossing – is one proponent.

“We now know the train horn blasts can permanently damage hearing – especially in children,” Sledge said. “Working in the yard, walking in the neighborhood, or just our kids playing football in the front yard can permanently damage hearing.”

Sledge partially attributes an inability to sell her home to track proximity – a situation exacerbated by a soft real estate market. A requested study from her Phyllis Browning Co. Realtor – showing homes close to tracks depreciate in value from $30 to $70 per square foot from those far from crossings – only confirmed her suspicions, she said.

“For those not living close to the trains, it would be worse than a motorcycle blasting down your street 15 to 20 times a day and night, every day, for as long as you lived there.”

Her research indicates motorcycles emit 88 decibels, while a train horn registers 95 – just 10 less than a power saw. Judson has estimated almost 30 trains pass through town each day, and 11 at night.

Judson wants quiet zones at the Basse Road, McCullough Avenue and Dora and Zilla streets crossings. John Whitsett, a resident of Mandalay, thinks council should spend the money.

In informal meetings with council members since the March meeting, residents were advised it would be 2010 before initial zone installation – assuming San Antonio somehow found the money for half the cost of a study.

“Olmos Park ought to go ahead and spend the money, but I’m not on council and don’t get to vote,” Whitsett said.

Whitsett said the council should view the matter as an extension of the $9.2 million infrastructure project begun in 2000 that overhauled city streets: “They took the opportunity to upgrade the city along those lines, and this is an upgrade that should be in line with those options.”

At 48, Whitsett has spent most of his life in Olmos Park, growing up along Paseo Encinal. But in his youth, there were far fewer trains blowing through town and now he worries about the negative effect of such exposure on his 11-year-old son – who now plays with his friends along the same streets he did as a child.