A military jet at the Gary Chicago Airport during last year’s Gary Airshow.

I’m going to have to agree with Gary Mayor Rudy Clay that the Gary Chicago Airport should have a rail link from the South Shore line.

O’Hare and Midway airports are served by passenger rail service.

Linking the Gary Chicago airport to the South Shore increases its competitiveness by allowing passengers from Illinois and Indiana to travel to the airport without driving.  There will be pressure to build a rail spur to the airport, so we might as well do it now, rather than waiting later when construction and land acquisition costs are greater.

Technorati Tags: Gary Chicago Airport, Gary Indiana, Metra, Rudy Clay, South Shore

The Post-Tribune reports in a breaking news story that Gary Mayor Rudy Clay’s son — Rudy Clay, Jr. — was awarded a $25,000 six-month contract to videotape and photograph events in the city of Gary that weren’t already “covered by the existing employees who film public meetings for the government access channel.”

The contract that begin in July 2007 was approved December 26, according to the newspaper.

Writes reporter Andy Grimm:

Mayor Rudy Clay’s son received nearly $25,000 this year to take photographs and videotape city events in 2007.

Rudy Clay Jr. was given a no-bid, six-month contract for the work that started in July, but city officials did not formally approve it until a Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Wednesday.

“I was just looking through the minutes and saw that the contract hadn’t been approved in July,” said Public Works Department Director Rinzer Williams III.

“We had several contracts in the process of being approved at that time, and this one just slipped through the cracks.”

The contract extended from July 1 to Dec. 31, and is capped at $25,000, Williams said.

Clay’s bills have been approved by Mayor Clay’s secretary and deducted from the mayor’s professional services budget, the same one that funds consultants, attorneys and accountants hired by the mayor.

It’s just more of the same and a reason why Lake County’s taxes are such a sore issue with taxpayers.

Our local governments are never going to cut back — especially since it appears that the Lake County income tax is going to be approved.

Technorati Tags: city contracts, Gary, Rudy Clay

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