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Feb
3
GOP Supports South Shore Economic Stimulus Package
Filed Under South Shore Line, economy, transportation
Despite cries of “strange bedfellows” by a befuddled Gary Democrat, the bipartisan support of the South Shore extension should be considered the 2008 South Shore Economic Stimulus Package that eventually will have a greater impact on Northwest Indiana’s growth than giving out $600 checks during an election.
It might just be coincidence, but look where the trains in Illinois run and look at all of the wealth that surrounds them. I suspect that making it easier for highly paid Chicago executives to get to Valparaiso, Munster, and Lowell will prove very beneficial for the South Shore region once the trains are up and running.
Writes the Post Tribune’s John Byrne:
The bill posits using about $30 million in state sales tax revenue raised annually in Lake and Porter counties to pay off a $350 million bond to help pay to build South Shore lines south to Lowell and east to Valparaiso.
The Regional Development Authority would kick in another $150 million.
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, has pledged a $500 million federal match.
The package has picked up some legislative weight since Dobis and Visclosky pitched it to the House Ways and Means Committee Jan. 17.
One amendment — favored by House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend — would capture $6.5 million in sales taxes annually raised in LaPorte and St. Joseph counties to improve the existing South Shore line in Michigan City and South Bend.
- The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee will hear about a plan to use 12.5 percent of Lake and...
- Indiana Senate Tax Chairman Luke Kenley has derailed the South Shore expansion bill by sending it to a summer...
- The plan to extend the South Shore extension to Valparaiso and Lowell may be dead as a result of...
Midwest News Feed (IL, IN, MI, WI)
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[...] Opines Christopher Hedges: GOP Supports South Shore Economic Stimulus Package. [...]