Whistle-blowing has taken on new significance for residents in the Marina District. As Downtown housing has increased, so has nearby late-night freight train traffic — and its accompanying sleep-shattering, high-pitched, wailing whistle. This month should signal relief. The city's newly adopted whistle ordinance goes in effect.

Those who live in the many Downtown apartments, lofts and single-room occupancy hotels had accepted and adjusted to whistles of the Coaster and Trolley, both established before most of the housing. But the nightly freight trains, operating after the midnight trolley curfew, were an unwelcome surprise. One train per night two years ago became nine each night a year later, and soon will be as many as 15. Because crossings are close together, the train's warning whistle can become nearly nonstop from Front Street to Eighth Avenue.

Increasingly sleepy residents found complaints to the railroad and city, county, state and federal officials for the most part fell upon whistle-deaf ears.

Enter Wayne Metlitz from the 28th floor of the Harbor Club, who says, "I can see several of the crossings from my window, and I can see if the whistle is excessive or if there's a car in the way." Usually he found it excessive, which was borne out by researching railroad crossing accidents at those sites. In 27 years, no one had been killed or injured at night at a railroad crossing south of Broadway.

"There were some accidents," Metlitz says, but those were long ago, before crossing gates were installed.

Soft-spoken but determined, Metlitz engineered a plan of action with the city and Centre City Development Corp. They hoped for a "gentlemen's agreement," Metlitz says, with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, and it seemed everyone was willing. But the whistles continued and the railroad countered complaints with tales of homeless people sleeping on the tracks and other reasons necessitating the whistle.

Metlitz made tape recordings of the train sounds. He oversaw the making of a 10-minute video showing trains clogging the crossings, sometimes stretching to two or more of the crossings for as long as an hour and showing pedestrians crawling between railroad cars to cross during long delays. He cites an incident when a person going between railroad cars broke an ankle. The train was so long and blocked so many crossings that an emergency vehicle had to go all the way to Crosby Street to cross the tracks.

Co-owner and lead developer for Byte Productions software company, Metlitz used the telephone and e-mail in a planned campaign to mobilize the Downtown Residents' Group and other interested parties. His dedication to the problem impressed Nancy Caine, a four-year resident of The Brickyard and a regular letter-writer addressing the issue.

"He got city officials talking to railroad people, he did studies on the history of the intersections over the years," Caine says. He contacted residents and organized them to attend meetings of the PUC, City Council and pertinent committees, so they would arrive together and be identified by a red carnation each wore.

He worked with the Downtown Partnership, arranged train rides to show the problem from another perspective and to get people talking to one another. He also helped organize a railroad-sponsored "Operation Lifesaver," a community awareness festival to promote railroad safety last September in a neighborhood park. "We didn’t want anyone to get squished," he says.

The efforts paid off, and San Diego adopted an ordinance covering whistle blowing. Under the new law, using the whistle between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Hawthorn Boulevard to Eighth Street will be prohibited unless the engineer deems it necessary to protect life and property.

Efforts paid off in other ways, too, when Metlitz in February received CCDC's Director's Award for his contribution and commitment toward the advancement of Downtown redevelopment by bringing about the Operation Lifesaver festival. "This event," says CCDC Board Vice Chairman George Lattimer, "along with his successful efforts to get a whistle ordinance passed in Downtown, has helped raise awareness ... about the potential dangers of trains."

Praise also came from City Councilman Byron Wear, in whose district the whistles are heard. "He dedicated countless hours to educating the public on the need for a whistle ordinance Downtown, organized a group of residents and worked with my office and city staff toward solutions — quite an accomplishment."

Absence of the whistle at crossings doesn’t pose great danger during late-night hours. The train also is equipped with a bell that the engineer can continue to use, along with the bells automatically triggered by crossing gates. And, of course, when danger is imminent, the engineer can still use the whistle.

"You can’t take away the engineer's right to use the whistle," Metlitz says, "but there's no law that he has to use it, either."

— Sandy Pasqua