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Feb
13
South Shore Extension Dead?
Filed Under South Shore Line
The plan to extend the South Shore extension to Valparaiso and Lowell may be dead as a result of downstate opposition and demands from region players wanting a piece of the action for their cities.
Reports Patrick Guinane in the Northwest Indiana Times:
The odds weren’t great to start. Senate Tax Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, began the more than two-hour hearing by restating his opposition to the plan to divert $350 million in state sales tax money toward the $1 billion plan to extend South Shore lines to Lowell and Valparaiso.
Kenley said he hopes to “do something” with the legislation next week. But that something could mean inserting a regional tax hike, which Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, said would sound the death knell for the funding bill.
“We’re at a point where I believe we need to take action now,” Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, told Kenley and the rest of the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. “My fear is that (the South Shore extension) will never be built.”
Later testimony abetted that fear. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay and Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, continued to press for a $130 million rail link to Gary/Chicago International Airport. The plea for that costly add-on led to testy exchanges with Sen. Frank Mrvan, a Hammond Democrat who serves on the tax panel.
East Chicago lobbyist John Aguilera joined Clay in expressing concern the massive rail expansion would sap funding for other projects overseen by the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. East Chicago wants the RDA to help bankroll the city’s $270 million shoreline redevelopment plan.
Comments
4 Responses to “South Shore Extension Dead?”
Chris,
Here’s my take. Central Indiana is pretty doggone sick of Northwest Indiana. Northwest Indiana is totally messed up with overspending by governments and lack of infrastructure planning due to balkanization.
A few leaders, namely those aligned with Mayor Costas in Valparaiso, have stepped to the fore to provide some regional leadership, something sorely needed for decades. But alas Lake County wants nothing of it. Lake County like their wars and their overspending, they surely don’t want to change.
In 2008 we have an opportunity to level the property tax field so homeowners can live and exist, this will require massive cuts in government spending especially in northern Lake County. We also have the opportunity to further connect our economy to Chicago by starting the construction of the South Shore extensions.
In the middle of these two wonderful opportunities, who arises to throw the region back to the ground? Gary and Hammond and E. Chicago and Whiting. Places that for the most part are embarassments to the rest of us. Places that suck up millions and perhaps billions of dollars each year and accomplish almost nothing.
Sure their schools are a wreck, they are spending twice as much as anyone else and getting little or no result. Sure crime is a problem, but adding police officers won’t solve it, adding jobs will. Sure economic development is key, both lakeshore and transportation, but throwing milions at special interest projects isn’t the answer.
We formed the RDA to make regional decisions, now Gary and Hammond and E. Chicago and Whiting want to play the “poor me” northern Lake County card and upset the chances for our entire region. Shame on them. Are there any regional leaders north of U.S. 30 in Lake County?
Oh we have naysayers here in Porter County too, check out Bob and Dan by Bob Wichlinski (http://reasonbellpundit.blogspot.com/2008/02/bob-and-dan-block-another-area-project.html) to see their antics, ridiculous at best. They aren’t quite the same as the leaders in Lake County, our guys are just naysayers and NIMBY’s. They don’t want Lake County to move here.
Hi Steve,
Fixing the area by improving things would mean a loss of power for some, therefore the resistance to any change for the better.
Bob and Dan have to watch out because people from Lake County are already moving to Porter County. Keeping the roads narrow won’t stop people from wanting to move from their crumbling cities to Portage, Valparaiso, and Chesterton. If they want to keep the status quo, they’d do better to encourage Lake County to improve economically so that people would think twice before moving away from an area with a booming economy, plenty of jobs, a strong educational system, and peaceful communities.
Wrapping a fence around Chicago or Lake County or even the United States won’t stop people from moving toward economic opportunity. The key is revitalization of impoverished areas.
Did you see Bob Wichlinski’s article today in the Post, another terrific ridicule of the “I want to keep everything like it is … forever” position.
I’ll try to get the link later today, the Post puts up their opinion pieces a little slow.
Hi Steve,
I haven’t had a chance to dig into the paper yet. I’m going to have to check it out.
I remember Bloomington being like that — people would protest things because they were afraid change would ruin their way of life. Of course, there’s no stopping change — it seems like things end up happening whether you want them to or not (or your city dies economically and everyone moves away — which is a change in itself).