This statement was my own and it was based on research that I personally did at the end of 2015 - beginning of 2016 (so the numbers might be slightly different now). 

Via the internet, I pulled up the list of the "Light Rail systems" which were operating in the U.S.  Then I subtracted all the systems that were commuter rail, diesel trains or street cars to come up with LRT systems that match the DOLRT system.  Then I looked up the addresses for those 25 systems's ROMF.  The next step was to Google map the ROMF addresses with satellite overlay and then go to each city or town zoning map to research each property's zoning.  The final step was to use the satellite overlay to look at the surrounding properties within a four block to half mile radius from each ROMF's borders as I was looking for homes, apartments or any type of residences.

It took hours of research, but I just could not believe that there was a ROMF anywhere that would be placed in the midst of middle to upper income neighborhoods.  All except two were located in Industrial zoned or Warehouse districts with like buildings.

The one located in a business district Sat directly next to a parking deck and shopping mall and had a station for the Mall shoppers as well as the ROMF workers.  It also had a 150-300 foot forested hill separating the Rail Yard portion of the ROMF from the back of a middle income neighborhood.  The outermost street (a cul-de-sac of about 4 homes) of that neighborhood backed up to the forest at the top of that 150-300 foot hill.  So to the 4 outer most homes of that neighborhood the ROMF was down in a pit with a forested hill buffering and screening the light and sounds of the ROMF as well as the parking deck and mall.

The other ROMF property was located in the middle of the center of a city with a major interstate (4 lanes each direction) separating it from the athletic fields (football, soccer and baseball fields) of a university.  Warehouse and business districts with tall multistory buildings were located on the other sides of this ROMF.  The site was football shaped with the business districts at the points.

I presumed that if this information were brought to the attention of Durham City officials, they would demand that a more appropriate site be chosen or found for the ROMF.  I presumed that they wouldn't risk destroying the very neighborhoods that they had helped to create and drive tax paying citizens to escape to other counties.  However, I was wrong.

-Lisa (November 2018)