Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Make station a centerpiece

Complete report

TO THE EDITORS:

Thanks to staff writer Chip Smedley and the Sunday News for the in-depth story of the Lancaster Amtrak station mess.

It's probably easy to just throw up one's hands and say it's all the fault of out-of-control government agencies. You did at least hint there's more to it. I agree.

If it was just Amtrak, then we would not have the dozens of fine railroad station refurbishments around the country. You don't have to go any farther than Elizabethtown or Harrisburg or Radnor on the Main Line to see recent beautiful work.

A bit farther away, you can see fine examples of historic structures performing public service. The best locally are Perryville and Point of Rocks in Maryland; and Joseph Biden Station in Wilmington, Del. In San Antonio, Texas, Sunset Station, 30 years older than Lancaster's station, gleams with beauty and serves as a hub for that city's convention and sports venue area.

The station houses both retail stores and restaurants, and draws visitors with a historic (built in Pennsylvania) steam locomotive on display outside the station. It's clearly an example of a city seeing the value of its station and doing something about it. Lancaster could do so much better if someone was clearly in charge.

Michael Carter

Lancaster

TO THE EDITORS:

Thanks for the great piece of investigative reporting in Sunday's paper [on the train station]. Thorough and impartial, it answers a hundred questions that have been bugging me since I first arrived by bus at the station four years ago. Huzzah!

Lowell Brown

Lancaster