Fulgenzi, Resident Battle Over Mt. Pleasant Grade Crossing Talks
Mount Pleasant Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi and a town resident clashed last week over a potential closure of the Cleveland Street railroad crossing.
Resident Ken Noonan said Fulgenzi called for the closing of the Cleveland Street crossing shortly after the deadly crash at the Commerce Street grade crossing on Feb. 3, 2015.
“When Town of Mount Pleasant Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi called for the closing of the Cleveland Street railroad crossing within a week of the terrible train accident at the Commerce Street crossing I was very suspicious and concerned,” Noonan said. “Calling for the closing (of) the Commerce Street crossing could certainly be understood as this tragedy shook us all to the core but, why close Cleveland Street.”
He added that “it now seems that my worst fears may be realized.”
Fulgenzi announced at last week’s town board meeting that representatives of the MTA and the state Department of Transportation (DOT) were scheduled to attend Tuesday night’s town board work session to discuss the potential closure of the Cleveland Street and Commerce Street crossings.
“We are working hard to get members of our community to attend this important meeting,” Noonan said.
The town board has scheduled a public hearing on Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. on the potential closures.
“He (Fulgenzi) is certainly not allowing much time for discussion,” said Noonan, who has harshly criticized the supervisor and town Republican leadership for what he believes are lapses in transparency. “He originally said that he would do a mailing to the residents in the immediate vicinity of the Cleveland Street crossing. Frankly speaking, I don’t see how he could do this in such a short period of time. We are trying hard to fill the courtroom with residents.”
In response, Fulgenzi slammed Noonan, saying it’s unfortunate he’s spewing negative rhetoric at board meetings and to the media.
Fulgenzi said dangers at the Cleveland Street crossing have been brought to his attention by residents living in the area. Those residents have told him that if the Commerce Street accident would have taken place at Cleveland Street, “the fatalities would have been even more catastrophic,” Fulgenzi said.
The first discussions about potential closures were brought to his attention by engineers and safety personnel, he said.
“The meetings we are setting up are to educate the town board members in order for all to have the appropriate information directly from the individuals that have the authority to file a petition in order to close the crossings,” Fulgenzi said in a letter to the editor that also served as part of his response to Noonan’s comments. “They have the right to have the information that was confidentially shared with me and the town engineer (David Smyth) as recently as last week.”
The supervisor said that Noonan lacks a full understanding of the issue.
“The accident was beyond serious, lives were lost, and many other lives will never be the same,” Fulgenzi said. “It has impacted our entire community, especially our volunteer and paid agencies that had to face such horrors.”
Fulgenzi said the town is a defendant in lawsuits seeking millions of dollars related to the accident. Although he’s confident that there is no responsibility on the town’s part, if not handled properly the town could be financially damaged, he said.
The Oct. 24 hearing will allow for everyone to be in the same room to discuss this critically important issue.
“No one has stated that at that meeting a decision will be made, and if other meetings are required then they will continue until we have satisfied the needs of the community,” Fulgenzi said.
“I in good faith cannot sit back and wait until another fatal accident happens at a crossing,” he continued. “If I am advised, as I have been, to close the crossings it would be totally irresponsible on my part to ignore those safety recommendations and expose the town to further litigation.”
