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[Leigh Coburn]

I'm part of a group that's been meeting weekly for the past several years opposing the expansion of the 11th street South Shore route proposed by NICTD. We obtained over 1000 signatures from citizen agreeing with our position, and gave power point presentations to the Mayor, Council, and any Civic organization that would listen. We were very pleased when the NICTD Board of Directors took this option off the table at their last meeting and are considering the 5 possibilities proposed for the North End Route as well as the CSX Route which is also referred to as the South Route (just South of Al's on Franklin Street)
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To a person we were vehemently against the 11th street proposal and favor the North End. Within our group we have disagreement as to what North End proposal to back, but I'm sure whichever is chosen will get our blessing. We met with City Councilman Richard Murphy Tuesday in order to convey our pleasure and encourage him to seriously consider our recommendation to invite the NICTD Board to a meeting in Michigan City that will include a tour of the various options. It seems as if the NICTD Board and the operations personnel prefer the CSX Route and we need to insure they understand the positive economic impact that any of the Northern Routes would make in our City. Since many of the Board members live far outside our fair City there's a very good possibility they can't get a feel for the options by looking at engineering drawings. This tour will help them understand the potential of a great increase in ridership with the growth of Michigan City.