The Ames City Council is looking into complaints by residents who live near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

The residents complain of excessive noise from the horns of locomotives that pass several times a day.

The residents say they have a hard time sleeping at night and the trains are affecting their quality of life.

The council is looking into alternative ways to warn oncoming motorists that a train is in the vicinity. The systems the council is looking at could cost $30,000 per intersection.

Should the city of Ames be forced to pay out money to change something residents knew about when they moved into their homes?

Absolutely not. These residents should have known there was the possibility of noisy train whistles near their residences when they moved in.

My mother moved into a house west of Ogden. The house is only a couple hundred yards south of the railroad line that runs through Ames. All that stands between the noise of the train and her house is a cornfield.

She knew there would be a lot of noise from those trains when she moved in, and she doesn’t expect assistance from anyone, especially Boone County or UP railroad.

There is a reason for these horns to be noisy. They warn motorists a train is approaching.

The average 100-car train weighs hundreds of thousands of pounds and travels 60 to 70 miles-per-hour. Obviously those at crossings need to be warned.

To spend $30,000 per crossing for an automated system is ridiculous. If people are annoyed by these trains, I have one suggestion: buy some earplugs.

This is only another example of the selfish nature of many homeowners. Residents don’t want anything they deem intrusive in their neighborhood, yet they would rather have those intrusions in someone else’s part of town.

Another example is the proposed mosque in Ames. Residents in that area want to block the construction of a mosque since they say it will lower some of their property values.

Obviously, a mosque (which is no different than a church) will not detract from the value of a neighborhood. The prejudicial and racist complaints of these residents are well masked by their financial concerns.

The concept of “not in my neighborhood” is really getting old. This concept even worse when people move into an area where property values are already low.

An example is people who live near fraternities. People will move into a house near a fraternity and pay thousands less than a similar house in a different neighborhood.

They then expect the residents of the greek house to “keep it down” on Friday and Saturday nights.

They forget they paid significantly less for their house and now it’s time to put up with the impairment. It’s ridiculous, and the same thing happens with people who live near other so-called “annoyances.”

Home buyers and renters should make themselves aware of the situation they are getting into.

Check the neighborhood. Talk to the local zoning board to see what the zoning laws in their area are. Look for any possible properties that could someday devalue their own.

It’s the responsibility of the potential homeowner to check for themselves. When they move into a house or apartment, they are acknowledging the existence of other properties in the neighborhood and how they affect property values in the area.

The fact remains that no matter where you live there will almost always be some little annoyance you will have to put up with. I say deal with it!

For those who are annoyed by the noise and bustle of the city, I have one suggestion: move out to the country where it is nice and quiet.

Maybe that’s not such a good idea since you’ll probably be annoyed by the smell of the farms, too.

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Robert Zeis is a senior in finance from Des Moines.