The Oakland Tribune has published a series of articles in recent weeks about the dangers rail cars containing hazardous materials pose to the general public. Predictably, this coverage has ignored important facts such as accident rates, rail car design, and hazardous materials transportation regulations, and instead has focused on relatively trivial matters such as day care centers near railroad tracks or how easy it would be for someone with nefarious motives to enter a rail yard. Needless to say, the only thing this has accomplished is to insult the intelligence of the knowledgeable and scare the bejesus out of the uninformed.

In regards to the point about land use, most cities and counties in California recognize that mainline railroad operations are not compatible with sensitive land uses such as day care centers, schools, nursing homes, etc. and typically zone areas around railroads for industrial, commercial, or other more appropriate land uses. However, this isn’t always the case, particularly in older areas such as Rodeo, but also isn’t going to change anytime soon.