EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Lenny Glavan's tattoo shop sits across the street from railroad tracks that bring barreling trains through his town. He opened it more than a year after a derailment pushed the small community into the national spotlight.

As a village council member, Glavan thought his business should be in the neighborhood he represents — and in the community he has worked to help rebuild since the disaster forced thousands from their homes and raised lasting health concerns.

"It's not my town, it's my home," Glavan, a lifelong resident of East Palestine, said while tattooing a person in his shop last week. "It's my whole life."

Glavan, who moved his family away for six months after the derailment, is part of a group of residents now pushing the village forward three years after the Feb. 3, 2023, crash in which part of a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed. A fire burned for days and 2,000 people were evacuated.

Fearing a catastrophic explosion, Norfolk Southern officials ordered a controlled detonation of five railcars, a decision that a federal investigation later deemed unnecessary.

For the village of 4,700 people, the derailment upended daily life.

Rebuilding an ongoing process

While life has largely returned to normal — people shopped for salt at a local hardware store last week after a snowstorm as trains rumbled past, while others met for morning coffee at McDonald's — reminders of the disaster linger.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office sits along the village's main drag. Many residents also remain hesitant to speak publicly about the derailment after stark divisions emerged in the community over health concerns and disagreements surrounding a financial settlement.

Still, East Palestine is rebuilding.

The village celebrated its 150th anniversary in July. New businesses are opening. Officials are considering a new commerce park and the village has been restoring a historic train depot that could be home to a commercial tenant.

For many who chose to stay, the recovery has fostered a renewed sense of pride.

"We're just looking to the future and definitely think East Palestine's going to come back better than it was," said Travis Smith, whose wife owns Kat's Krystals, a crystal shop and vendor mart.

Antonio Diaz-Guy, the village manager for 10 months, said East Palestine's problems predate the derailment.

The village "declined the same as any other Rust Belt city has for 30 to 50 years," he said, and its residents, like the world, saw disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of that, the derailment "could have been like a nail in the coffin . . . that one shock that just made the system worse," he said.

Instead, East Palestine remains a community made up of "good people and good property," he said. "Theoretically, it should be able to make that turn."

Health concerns linger

After the derailment, some businesses closed, including companies near the crash site that made specialized ceramic fiber insulation products for steel mills, the Associated Press reported.

To help strengthen the economy, village officials are working to attract investments by marketing an already existing community reinvestment tax abatement program, creating tax incentives to spur industries to move into the area, and undertaking utility and infrastructure projects.

They're also focusing on improving communication and transparency with village residents — something Diaz-Guy hopes will help rebuild trust lost after the derailment.

In addition to lost trust, some residents also remain concerned about possible health hazards that might develop in the aftermath of the derailment.

According to the Norfolk Southern website "Making it Right," dedicated to the East Palestine incident, restoration of the soil, waterways and groundwater is complete. Now, periodic sampling and monitoring will continue in area waterways for 10 years. A $15 million fund was established for continued monitoring of the groundwater for 10 years.

Still, conversations across social media and throughout the community are filled with concern about lingering health impacts. Other people say they are ready to move on.

Further division emerged over a $600 million payout to settle a class-action lawsuit as a result of the derailment. The agreement allows anyone who lived, worked or owned a business within 20 miles of the derailment to be eligible for direct payments. Those within 10 miles could receive additional compensation for any experienced health effects.

For some, the settlement didn't seem like real accountability from Norfolk Southern.

Vicki Hoffman, who lives half a mile from the crash site, said she received $7,000 from the settlement — money that hasn't made a dent in rising medical bills.

Three weeks after the derailment, Hoffman was hospitalized for four days with pneumonia. She currently has a brain lesion, and recently had to get an MRI scan that cost $10,000.

Others remain frustrated with the settlement as officials ask for more paperwork to process their settlement payments, said Chaney Nezbeth, CEO of The Way Station, a faith-based nonprofit that, according to its website, serves as a resource for emergency assistance, nutrition, clothing, household items, job training and emotional support.

"Some residents were getting approved for some reimbursements, other residents were getting denied for the exact same type of claim," Nezbeth said. "It just was so much trauma."

Hoffman, along with her husband, temporarily moved from East Palestine in 2023 after purchasing a 32-foot trailer to live in, but they moved back in November 2023 to the home that's been in her husband's family for 100 years. Now, she's withdrawn from the community.

"We've lived here for 46 years," Hoffman said. "Now it doesn't mean anything. Now it's just a house. It's just four walls and a roof."

Hoffman wants to move from East Palestine, but the family does not currently have money to do so. For now, it's just taking it day-by-day.

Despite withdrawing from the community, Hoffman wishes luck to those trying to move the village on from the derailment and hopes they're successful.

But Hoffman is "done. I'm out."

Moving forward

At The Way Station — which distributed 3,000 pieces of clothing to families in the first four days after the derailment and also provided hygiene products, diapers and cleaning supplies — Nezbeth said the focus now needs to be on helping those who stayed.

"We didn't close up shop and create a ghost town," Nezbeth said. "We are still East Palestine strong."

That can be seen at Kat's Krystals, a small business vendor in the heart of East Palestine that recently expanded into a bigger space. The store opened in 2023, after the derailment.

Smith said East Palestine is resilient.

"We were kind of stuck in old ways," Smith said. "Now getting some new leadership and stuff, it kind of gave us a positive attitude with wanting to grow, wanting to help the town come back bigger and better."

Smith noted that his family, including his 18-year-old son, received settlement money, which is now in savings.

Next door at the 1820 House Candle Company, Melissa Smith said that in the year following the derailment some people were afraid to come to town.

"People were hurting before this happened," said Smith, whose family owns a farm in East Palestine. The derailment was "a double whammy. That really hurt the community."

Three years later, she said, the village is "getting back on track."

Smith has received a partial settlement payment, which is also in savings.

Glavan, who owns the tattoo parlor Hammer N Ink — a nod to his father's former construction company that built nearly 50 homes across East Palestine — moved his wife and three daughters 30 minutes away to Salem, Ohio, in the weeks after the derailment.

But the family wanted better for the home they left behind.

After the dust settled in the months following the crash, Glavan and his wife — high school sweethearts — moved their family back.

He ran for village council, securing a seat two years ago, and he has emerged as a leader trying to move East Palestine past the derailment. His goals on council are to bolster transparency, improve leadership and lead by example.

Glavan said the village's story has shifted from survival to growth.

"We're taking the obstacles and the opportunities that we've had from the disaster," Glavan said, "and trying to make it best for the community moving forward."

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