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  • Site Location Blast from Past

There was an email address posted that we were to send feedback to. I sent feedback as did others. The task force reported no one was sending feedback or had any interest. I discovered that feedback was sent that was not getting to the people it was supposed to get to! Looking into this, the person tasked with collecting the emails said no emails had arrived when they checked the account. Though they were not the only one with access to the account. After some discussion, emails were resent and a few letters went out possibly since people knew they were being watched. I then sent a pretty good test email but also sent copies to all involved parties. Not only did the main account never receive the letter, neither did anyone else! Which was impossible. They know who they are. Absurd situation. Some feedback that came in and was ignored could have resulted in solutions.

April 1, 2022

Dear Building Task Force Members,

Thank you for requesting feedback regarding the proposed plans and direction.

I assume everyone has been to the lots at the AJCC for the proposed new synagogue and all the pavement, roads and lots it will come with, but it's worth checking out and walking the site in comparison to the site layout schematic we saw at the congregational meeting. Especially interesting is experiencing the site when the big freight trains go past. Tracks are a few feet from the property edge (and no fence yet) since the property is in an industrial park. Perhaps it was the least expensive land someone could find 60 years ago but at least the AJCC built their center as far from the tracks as could be accommodated. The synagogue lot, to be accessible from a new steep road behind the AJCC building, is considerably closer to said tracks. Fortunately that part is level and elevated from the next bit where it drops way down into a sort of sunken basin area that goes right up to the tracks. These fields appear to have little drainage and I assume get very wet possibly even submerged after a heavy rain. There's a couple of play fields there one for soccer another for frisbee with two of those frisbee catcher chain things.

We were lucky to stand on the site as the train went slowly past for what seemed like 20 minutes but had to be less, maybe 10. Not sure the exact speed but you would not have to run very fast along side it to be able to grab and jump up onto a flatcar to hitch a hobo ride. (I wonder if that possibility will occur to some of the students if they get bored of lessons and notice the absence of any fence. That reminds me, I'm not sure if fencing costs are in the building cost or it that is yet another unbudgeted but necessary extra cost.) I suppose it was going 3-5 miles an hour then which makes sense since it was in the city and maybe had just started up after dropping something off. Let's see. A box car, coal hopper, tanker all are 40-50 feet long or so and there was about 120 cars on this one so it was 5400 feet long, that's a mile. So at 5 mph then it took at least 1/5 hour or 12 minutes to pass. Seemed longer though.

The sound of the massive train passing was deafening and we could not hear each other. I thought the ground was shaking or rumbling, but Joshua say he did not feel that himself.

We ourselves live very close to a TVA steam plant and when the coal trains regularly go by they are about 3/4 mile away. Often they are fully loaded with multiple engines and up to the max of 200 cars that sometimes takes a full 30 minutes to pass. When waiting at the grade crossing we sometimes have to be there for a surprisingly long time. It is loud right up close when waiting but is nowhere near as loud as what we heard at the proposed site for the new Synagogue and school. Wondering why that was, I looked around and noticed there was a big factory building on one side that must be reflecting and echoing the sound, but also the whole site is in something of an amphitheater shape and the natural lay of the land was likely dramatically increasing the volume as well.

At our house sometimes our windows shake at night and the bed sways and the whole house is slightly moving. It feels a little bit like what earthquakes felt like when I lived in California. I can't imagine what it would be like to live 100 or 200 feet from those train tracks that are 3/4 mile away from me now. Would probably never get any rest and be on constant edge. Subaudible low frequency rumbling is famously used in hollywood blockbuster film audio tracks to subconsciously induce in the viewing audience feelings of dread, fear, and anxiety. It works surprisingly well and is a standard technique known to composers and film foley technicians.

We noticed also that this train going past the AJCC wasn't coal hoppers, as we are used to at home, but was tankers flatbeds and freight cars. A surprising number of them had warning signs on them advertising that they were carrying poisons, explosive substances, flammable gasses, pretty much everything except radioactive substances which I doubt are allowed to traverse through a city.

After it passed and we could finally speak again Josh commented that no way he could pay attention in class with something like that going by so close. I wondered how anyone could worship. Everything would have to stop for 10-20 minutes each time they go by. Perhaps we would be clenching tightly to our Siddurs and on the edge of our seats from anxiety, as I imagine the windows and doors will be rattling and the eternal flame swaying and window seals coming undone before long unless special attention is paid. Maybe we can build an extra deep foundation to stabilize it, get rid of most windows and have thick concrete reinforced walls and an acoustical engineer come and pad everything up. Which will make it so the building has to be sealed tight with no natural ventilation, no courtyard, no ability to ever feel a breeze or open the window of a classroom. And that gets to the consequences for the ventilation system and what that has to do with health. Enough about trains. I'll share some thoughts about ventilation and how that relates to accessibility and inclusion in a later letter.

Another thought regarding the site schematic shown to us in the meeting and the trains, there is in the lower left corner a proposed building for future expansion that is directly against the railroad tracks and possibly in the lowland, though the area at present is so overgrown we were unable to access it. I can not imagine what sort of building would be suitable for such a site other than perhaps a shed for storing landscaping equipment. Has there been any sort of discussion about what would be there? It almost seems like someone put a rectangle there in order to be able to say that we are not consuming all the remaining land, and thus preventing the preschool from expanding on site, and also preventing the eventual establishment of a synergistic shared campus where the various communities can come together and have shared programming and resources. It is pretty clear that that lower left rectangle will not be suitable as a kitchen and community room, a BBYO/Hillel youth clubhouse, a preschool, baby care, expanded community gardens, a Mikveh, or a Chabad site. The rectangle though implies there is room for a large future building expansion which I think is misleading unless someone can say what they are thinking will be suitable to go there.

Regarding the dilapidated tennis courts it makes good sense to reduce to 2 from 4 as is planned in order to make way for an exit road since apparently they are not used much. I wonder how much that had to do with their proximity to the train tracks. Do people not use them because the site makes tennis there an unpleasant experience especially since much nicer and not long neglected courts are available elsewhere? Regarding that future loop exit road, it looks like it might displace the nice picnic tables site under the huge old tree and will the tree be removed when the exit road is installed in the future. Based on the wear patterns on the ground it appears that site gets a lot of use at present. It's somewhat close to the parking lot which is a convenient location for people carrying food from their car. And speaking of that future loop exit road I wonder if the exit road require filling the huge wetland basin with fill dirt, or if instead the road will have a short life due to water and possibly being the main drainage route for the basins.

I do think a synergistic community site based around a shared central hub is a good vision and there are many elements of the new Synagogue design shown that I like a lot and which I hope to address in a subsequent letter. The only thing is its size is too small for our group, it is clear the seating will be crowded and that much ongoing configuration work involving moving chairs and tables and classes back and forth will need to be done on an almost constant basis. Shrinking the facility further to save on costs is not a reasonable plan in my view, not is cutting material quality since we are already making it out of cheap materials in particular cement blocks and mortar board.

Sincerely,

Me