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[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=54065.42

Co. Committee To Look At Intermodal
Officials to start advisory task force to ensure ‘transparent’ process in development.

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

LA PORTE - An advisory task force is being created to help county officials evaluate prospective developers and sites for an intermodal freight terminal in La Porte County.

County Commission President Barbara Huston said in a press release Friday the commissioners are developing an "orderly and fair process" that would involve public input. The task force will have 15 to 20 members.

The convergence of rail lines, coupled with closeness to major interstate highways, has positioned La Porte County as a prime location for a facility that could create jobs and boost economic development. It would serve as a place where cargo is transferred between trucks and trains.

Two railroad companies are said to be eying locations here, but are saying little publicly about their plans. Some property owners have said they have been approached by a real estate company that has been buying options on farmland in southern La Porte County.

"We will put a very public, transparent process in place to evaluate developers and sites before we ever give approvals to anyone," Huston said.

Huston said the county has received multiple inquiries from real estate firms, venture capital groups, railroads and real estate investment trusts interested in prospective county locations. She said county attorney Shaw Friedman and county economic development coordinator Matt Reardon will coordinate contacts and issue a request of interest to identify serious proposals.

Her own preference is to use the Kingsbury Industrial Park as the site of the intermodal facility, but she and the other commissioners are open to all possibilities, she said.

[Southsider2k12]

Rog, I believe this is the article you are looking for? Let me know if it is not.

http://heraldargus.com/hanews/archives/ha/...y.php?id=384254

Intermodal questions
Comment on this story


I’m watching with interest discussions and debate relating to the proposed intermodal facilities being considered for the La Porte County. While I can’t say I am for or against the intermodal, I will confess I’ve been trained to be suspicious when things such as this are being proposed by public leaders without offering answers.

I’m of the belief that most local issues, while viewed locally in a vacuum, tend to be created outside of a vacuum under a watchful eye of a master agenda/plan. The local piece is usually only a small piece within a networked puzzle. I’m more interested in the master plan, as that is where we all end up in the end.

In addition, I’m not as concerned about jobs as I am about jobs that pay wages high enough to support a family. I’m not as concerned about offshoot businesses as I am good, wholesome, improve-the-community type offshoot businesses. I’m not concerned with competing with other counties, which is why people moved here and not to Gary. I surely don’t buy the tax argument; local and property tax in counties where economic development has occurred has also gone up. When taxes are involved, it’s safe to say spending rises to whatever level of taxation we have and government will always want to suck more blood from the turnip.

Don’t get me wrong; I relish change. Change can be a great tool to stimulate business and communities. I also understand some will resist any change regardless of whether it is good or not. But a dose of skepticism can be a good thing.

A very good dose of it here is probably required.

One might also question the ulterior motives behind the intermodal. After all, ulterior motives are held by all of us. Is the master plan ulterior motive taking our benefit into mind? Often things appear noble on the surface -- they offer jobs, expansion, infrastructure and the list of benefits goes on, only to find we sold our soul years later.

Lastly, one would do very well to question the business interest involved. This community has already lost many jobs to businesses that have moved production overseas. Of course, the business did benefit, as did the stockholders, Mexico and China. Where is the benefit in our community? Now these same businesses are coming back with an offer too good to be true. Too often, deals to good to be true are just that!

Often, to better understand your prospective opponent, one must attempt to think like the opponent or put yourself in their shoes. Let’s do that. Let’s pretend we’re Wal-Mart or another multinational corporation and we are in the business of making money for our owners. We’ve already outsourced most of our products to Third World countries, eliminating the family-supporting wages required here in America. Now we look at the last piece of the puzzle to create more profits for our owners. That would be transportation.

Hypothetically, why not have China build one of the largest ports in the world in Mexico, offload those Wal-Mart goods and avoid union and American wages? That was so good, let’s see if we can’t run a superhighway north out of Mexico up the center of the United States with branches running to all major cities. Then let’s get cheap-labor Mexican trucking companies to deliver these goods to massive shipping depots for local or regional redistribution. Lastly, get the U.S. president to allow these Mexican trucking companies to utilize this special American highway unfettered and without risk of being pulled over.

Now I’ve succeeded in lowering the one last major cost by effectively outsourcing transportation into the heartland of America, once again cutting out many American workers and their family-supporting wages.

Sound far-fetched? I wish it were! Every step I mentioned above has or is now occurring. I can’t help but ask, how does the intermodal fit into this? If it does, I’m vehemently against it; if not, maybe there is some justification for it. But I at least want to know the agenda, motives and answers before I support what I really know nothing about. If you can’t answer those questions, it’s nothing more than the blind leading the blind.

Go ahead and criticize my stance; I’m fine with that. I’ve seen too many Americans lose their jobs to great ideas. Economists (both government and private) claim imports into our country will increase from 100 percent to as high as 350 percent over the next 10-15 years. Doesn’t that beg the question: How many other industries will be outsourced to assure we grow imports by any of those amounts? I sense another column!

JOHN NEWBY is publisher of The La Porte County Herald-Argus. Contact him at jnewby@heraldargus.com.