To the Editor:

The merits of building the train repair facility should be based on facts, not opinion.

The following information should be presented prior to the construction of the facility:

— the profit and loss for Maine Street businesses since the arrival of the train;

— the number of new downtown businesses since the arrival of the train, and the number that have left;

— the change in value of homes sold in west side neighborhood, pre- and post-train;

— the number of west side neighborhood homes on the market in the year prior to the proposed facility announcement, and after;

— the number of local jobs created based on the train arrival;

— the change of the town tax revenues pre- and posttrain; and

— the number of visitors per month coming to Brunswick on the train.

Answers to these questions will highlight if the train is the business boom it has been touted to be.

Is Brunswick the kind of town that will permanently change a residential area without making sure the benefits are there?

How much business growth is enough to change a neighborhood? Is it 2 percent, 6 percent, 10 percent? Should we base our decisions on what happens to neighborhoods on what was going on in 1860s? How many people even know what was going on 150 years ago in their neighborhood?

Our council and residents should be supporting neighborhoods with the same gusto that businesses receive.

DeWitt Kimball
Brunswick