West Washington Street Grade Crossing

        In additionto the delay for through traffic, left turns of west bound cars were blocked by east bound cars afterthe gates went up. The same could be said for east bound cars. Access from the side streets and deiveways werealsoblockedfrom the crossing to Rt. 38 untiul all of the west bound back up had cleared... same for east bound traffic.

        About 3 pmon 8-13-07 a train on the EJE blocked the crossing creating a four blockback up. The gates went up, about 5cars crossed the tracks, the gateswent down and two freights on the UP blocked the crossing, not completely simultaneously.  Of course, during both of the blockings emergency vehicles were denied read access to the southwest corner of the city.

        What is trstrating, with this mess being a daily occurence in various degrees of severity, the West Chicago city council and the administration continues toignore the problem and focus on a new city hall and downtown redevelopment plans that serve noreal community purpose except for realestate developers and various merchants.  Wake up, West Chicago! These are your elected representatives and they are not servicing you well.

Gordon S. Brand

231-0136