IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

9 Pages V < 1 2 3 4 > »   
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> Intermodal facility being explored
JHeath
post Aug 27 2007, 03:01 PM
Post #21


Really Comfortable
*****

Group: Moderator
Posts: 2,315
Joined: 10-February 07
From: Michigan City
Member No.: 43



http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=61809.32

QUOTE
8/26/2007 11:00:00 AM

Fears Of Intermodal Center Overstated

An intermodal system has been a topic of interest in La Porte County for a number of years. Once again this has become headline news in both our local papers, which stimulates many opinions.

If in fact this project becomes a reality, do the positives outweigh the negatives?

Let's refresh our memories from approximately 18 years ago. Inland Steel's new In-Kote plant in New Carlisle was going to destroy the beautiful country atmosphere in that quiet little town. Skip forward now, after many years of operation, you can still drive through the downtown area and never realize a steel mill is within 100 miles. Contrary to the opposition, the plant has provided desperately needed jobs for that community, with minor scenic changes.

More recently, let us look toward Rensselaer, Ind. Another beautiful town with old fashioned flavor that nobody wanted to change. The installation of an ethanol plant met many of the same obstacles and oppositions. The end result, a new facility was built last year. When I drove through the town Tuesday, I came to the same realization - very little if any noticeable scenic changes, but the facility is providing good paying jobs and an additional tax base.

Any time there is change there is controversy. Currently, we are all awaiting our property tax surprise, with our town trying to borrow money to pay its bills. I strongly feel we must be realistic in our pursuit of this project. We don't even need to consider the construction jobs, the true results will be the thousands of good paying jobs with benefits that will be offered to our families to operate this facility.

James Stemmler
La Porte
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
mcstumper
post Aug 27 2007, 09:11 PM
Post #22


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 459
Joined: 4-April 07
Member No.: 182



"It was learned by many at Monday night's meeting, myself included, that the railroad will be expanding the number of lines on one section of track from two lines to eight lines. This rail goes right through the middle of the Union Mills community. Is it right, just for the sake of "jobs," to completely disrupt the lives of hundreds of people?"

Uh, Ken.. the CSX line runs along the north edge of Union Mills with no development on the north side of the line. If CSX added 6 additional tracks north of the mainline, who exactly would notice?

Go to maps.google.com, look at a hybrid map of Union Mills and tell me where I am wrong. Of course, Ken doesn't post here, so who exactly am I talking to....


Signature Bar
Put simply, mean reversion is a bitch. -Vitaliy Katsenelson
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Ang
post Aug 27 2007, 10:26 PM
Post #23


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 5,171
Joined: 11-December 06
From: Indiana
Member No.: 10



QUOTE(mcstumper @ Aug 27 2007, 09:11 PM) *

Of course, Ken doesn't post here, so who exactly am I talking to....


That's okay Stumper, the rest of us are listening..

biggrin.gif


Signature Bar
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind~Dr. Suess
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Aug 28 2007, 06:20 AM
Post #24


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



QUOTE(Ang @ Aug 27 2007, 11:26 PM) *

That's okay Stumper, the rest of us are listening..

biggrin.gif


And even if people are not posting, there are plenty of people reading here, for what its worth.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
JHeath
post Aug 28 2007, 01:32 PM
Post #25


Really Comfortable
*****

Group: Moderator
Posts: 2,315
Joined: 10-February 07
From: Michigan City
Member No.: 43



http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=42680.71

QUOTE

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Intermodal Concerns Remain

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

Tuesday, August 28, 2007


LA PORTE - Advocates of an intermodal facility are trying to ease the fears of southern La Porte County residents over the changes such a huge truck-train terminal would bring.

At the same time, they are emphasizing what they say will be good-paying jobs and more property taxes for the county.

La Porte County is considered a prime location for an intermodal facility because of the convergence of several rail lines and its proximity to major interstate highways, and a real estate investment trust has bought options on farmland around Union Mills.

Christopher Davey, a representative of Cressy & Everett Commercial Co. of Mishawaka, told county officials in June that the company has acquired enough options to buy land in the Union Mills area to proceed with an Intermodal project.

Because of a confidentiality agreement between the company and some county officials, the information didn't become public until last week when the confidentiality agreement was lifted.

Many of those who live nearby, however, are upset because the intermodal would change the quiet, rural landscape. Several hundred voiced their concerns at a meeting in Union Mills last week, and some officials are trying to allay those fears.

The intermodal would be similar to the CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Elwood, Ill. Ray Hamilton, La Porte County building commissioner and a member of the La Porte County Plan Commission, has toured the park and surrounding area twice. He said the nearby community of Elwood has benefited from CenterPoint.

"Elwood is a nice town and you can see the impact in paved streets, new firehouses and ball fields," Hamilton said. "The industrial park is in the mayor's backyard."

Rosalee Jacobs, clerk-treasurer of the town of Kingsford Heights, near the proposed site, said she had no opinion about intermodals before touring CenterPoint, but came away impressed by the cleanliness of the facility and the money it contributes to the town of Elwood.

"I can understand the property owners' point of view," Jacobs said. "But if there's not development in the county, our children and grandchildren will move away because they will not have job opportunities."

La Porte Mayor Leigh Morris has visited CenterPoint, too, and said the intermodal and manufacturing and processing facilities that follow represent a prime opportunity for similar benefits to La Porte County.

"The intermodal operation probably offers the greatest opportunity for new jobs that we've seen in the county ever," Morris said.

And John Regetz, head of the Michigan City Economic Development Corp., said such a facility is considered a boon to economic development for its ability to attract industrial users to accompanying industrial parks.

Based on the transformation of the Joliet Arsenal into the CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Elwood, a similar facility in La Porte County could create 8,700 permanent jobs paying average wages of $41,000 a year, Regetz said. The CenterPoint project is still under development on a 2,400-acre parcel, but eventually will contribute about $25 million in annual property taxes to Will County, he said.

Another intermodal facility is the AllPoints projects in Plainfield in central Indiana, a joint development of Browning-Duke begun last year. It will create an estimated 10,200 jobs and $746 million of new development and infrastructure improvements, he said.

"Many of our manufacturers tell us that it's very important to have good transportation and shipping systems for goods and components coming in to their manufacturing plants as well as for the final products they produce," Regetz said.

Matt Reardon, La Porte County economic development consultant, said it's never easy to consider changing property from one use to another, adding, "It's a difficult decision for elected officials to make."

Some residents believe a deal has already been struck.

Nothing could be further from the truth, said county Commissioner Bill Hager, D-Michigan City. He's been calling 21 people recommended to serve on a task force. Their charge is to fact-find and advise county officials about the pros and cons of an intermodal freight terminal. Hager said he expects the task force to be in place next week, and said it will not include public officials or government employees.

"We'll have factory owners, business people, farmers, a banker, a sheriff's detective, environmentalists, a couple of residents, an attorney and a tourism board member," Hager said.

Hager and commissioners Barbara Huston, D-LaPorte, and Mike Bohacek, D-Michiana Shores, said they are committed to using an open, public process to evaluate the impact of an intermodal facility on the county.



Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
JHeath
post Aug 29 2007, 10:04 AM
Post #26


Really Comfortable
*****

Group: Moderator
Posts: 2,315
Joined: 10-February 07
From: Michigan City
Member No.: 43



http://heraldargus.com/hanews/archives/ha/...y.php?id=384367

QUOTE
Posted Online: 8-29-2007
Intermodal confidential
Comment on this story

Donovan Estridge, 1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13865, destridge@heraldargus.com


Some officials signed confidentiality agreements on intermodal negotiations, others refused

LA PORTE COUNTY -- With the disclosure in June that real estate development firm Cressy & Everett had secured the necessary land to move forward with a rail intermodal facility near Union Mills, La Porte County Attorney Shaw Friedman last week requested that the firm release county officials from any previously signed confidentiality agreements.

In a letter addressed to Roy Roelke, vice president of municipal development for Mishawaka-based Cressy and Everett, Friedman requested that all confidentiality agreements signed by county officials be voided due to the decision by Chris Davey, the firm’s president, to go public with news of the land acquisitions in a story published in The La Porte County Herald-Argus in June.

“It is our belief that with Mr. Davey’s public statements, your firm has waived any reasonable expectation of privacy or confidentiality regarding the land options/siting process,” Friedman wrote.

Friedman told The Herald-Argus Tuesday that he sees the action to release county officials from agreements as consistent with the county’s desire for transparency in all intermodal discussions and negotiations.

“The public deserves the facts,” Friedman said. “I am pleased the county can be free to comment.”

Regardless of whether Cressy & Everett responds to the request, Friedman said he would advise county officials to disregard any previous agreements.

Contacted Tuesday by The Herald-Argus, Roelke said the firm had received Friedman’s request but did not wish to comment on it. He said the firm would make a statement in the near future.

Several officeholders at all levels of government had been approached over the past two years by Cressy & Everett to enter into confidentiality agreements, and several signed.

Now that county officials have effectively been released from those agreements, the possibility exists that details of any closed-door meetings held with Cressy & Everett officials over the past two years will now be disclosed.

What information that exposes, however, could be less than tantalizing. La Porte County Commissioner Bill Hager said the confidentiality agreements officials were asked to enter into with Cressy & Everett involved only the disclosure of land-acquisition details. To his knowledge, he said, the firm never disclosed to public officials who they were working on behalf of.

“We initially entered into agreements where we couldn’t disclose what company we were talking to,” he said.

Other officials confirmed Hager’s statements.

‘A necessary step’

Although confidentiality agreements are often considered a necessary part of the development process, the agreements have from the outset raised suspicions among many county residents that intermodal dealings have been going on behind their backs.

However, Michigan City Mayor Chuck Oberlie, who signed a confidentiality agreement regarding intermodal talks, told The Herald-Argus Tuesday that in the absence of such agreements negotiations often die.

“It’s just a necessary step that is often done,” he said. “A lot of times they approach you during the exploratory phase before a corporation has met with their board of directors.”

La Porte County Council President Jerry Cooley, who also signed a confidentiality agreement, explained that the agreements promote necessary trust between developers and county officials, and also give officials insight into the development process that often can’t be gained otherwise.

“They are putting a little trust in you,” he told The Herald-Argus last week.

However, he said, if entering into an agreement “would be a detriment to the county, we as elected officials aren’t stupid, we want to see what it is before we agree or disagree.”

Cooley said confidentiality agreements were integral to the county’s efforts to persuade Vanair Manufacturing to relocate from New Buffalo to La Porte County. In the case of intermodal discussions, Cooley said he entered into an agreement because he heard about land being acquired and wanted to know more.

It was “strictly informational,” he said.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Roger Kaputnik
post Aug 30 2007, 07:46 AM
Post #27


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Members
Posts: 3,237
Joined: 8-December 06
From: MC
Member No.: 3



Two things:

How can public servants sign confidentiality agreements to keep information from the public?

Admin, if you can get the editorial by the H-A pubisher regarding the Intermodal, please post it. His e-ddress is jnewby@heraldargus.com. You may invite him to join the forum.


Signature Bar
The difference between genius and stupidity is that there are limits to genius. Albert Einstein
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Aug 30 2007, 08:06 AM
Post #28


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



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

QUOTE
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.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Ang
post Aug 30 2007, 11:58 AM
Post #29


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 5,171
Joined: 11-December 06
From: Indiana
Member No.: 10



Nice Soundoff letter in the ND site SS'der


Signature Bar
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind~Dr. Suess
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Aug 30 2007, 12:05 PM
Post #30


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



I do like discussions with people I do not agree with. It makes me really understand, at a fundemental level, the concepts I am dealing with. What bothers me is when people use strawman arguements, and those couple of posts were really devoid of factual basis. I couldn't resist refuting some of the more trojan horse points.

BTW, thanks for the compliment smile.gif
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
mcstumper
post Aug 30 2007, 03:45 PM
Post #31


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 459
Joined: 4-April 07
Member No.: 182



QUOTE(southsider2k7 @ Aug 30 2007, 09:06 AM) *

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


Wow... wacky stuff. First off, as I have said before, labor competes with labor while businesses compete for labor. Regardless of how you slice it, the addition of 6000 jobs in LaPorte County would decrease the amount of competition among labor and increase the amount of competition between businesses resulting in higher wages among the general populace. This makes this guy's jobs vs. jobs paying living wages argument downright silly.

Then he starts with the conspiracy theories. "Aack!", as Bill the Cat would say. I won't support 6000 jobs because it may be part of a scheme by the Illuminati and Dick Cheney to crush the proletariat.
That's what I got out of it, anyway.

Those words of Gov. Daniels keep ringing in my ears.



Signature Bar
Put simply, mean reversion is a bitch. -Vitaliy Katsenelson
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Roger Kaputnik
post Aug 31 2007, 06:52 AM
Post #32


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Members
Posts: 3,237
Joined: 8-December 06
From: MC
Member No.: 3



"I was Bush's bitch and that's what I can offer Indiana: I know how to screw anyone!"


Yeah, ringing in mine, too.


Signature Bar
The difference between genius and stupidity is that there are limits to genius. Albert Einstein
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Aug 31 2007, 07:08 AM
Post #33


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



QUOTE(mcstumper @ Aug 30 2007, 04:45 PM) *

Wow... wacky stuff. First off, as I have said before, labor competes with labor while businesses compete for labor. Regardless of how you slice it, the addition of 6000 jobs in LaPorte County would decrease the amount of competition among labor and increase the amount of competition between businesses resulting in higher wages among the general populace. This makes this guy's jobs vs. jobs paying living wages argument downright silly.

Then he starts with the conspiracy theories. "Aack!", as Bill the Cat would say. I won't support 6000 jobs because it may be part of a scheme by the Illuminati and Dick Cheney to crush the proletariat.
That's what I got out of it, anyway.

Those words of Gov. Daniels keep ringing in my ears.


This is pretty much how I see it as well. I even got an email from the guy on the ND soundoff page who was posting much the same type of stuff, and the email consisted of strawman arguements and crazy conspiracy, which when you took it apart, made no sense at all.

I even checked the county statistics and there are only 3000 people listed as "unemployed" in LaPorte Co. In other words we would actually need to import people, which means more tax base and increasing property values. This is a win-win situation if you ask me.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
mcstumper
post Aug 31 2007, 10:47 AM
Post #34


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 459
Joined: 4-April 07
Member No.: 182



QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Aug 31 2007, 07:52 AM) *

"I was Bush's bitch and that's what I can offer Indiana: I know how to screw anyone!"
Yeah, ringing in mine, too.

Uuuuhhhhh. No. The other thing.


Signature Bar
Put simply, mean reversion is a bitch. -Vitaliy Katsenelson
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Sep 4 2007, 07:32 AM
Post #35


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



http://www.wndu.com/news/headlines/9537132.html

QUOTE
County intermodal rail yard

Former South Bend Mayor and Indiana Governor Joe Kernan will serve as a consultant for a proposed intermodal rail yard in Laporte County.

An intermodal yard is an area where multiple types of transportation meet. With respect to Laporte County, semi-trailer filled trains would stop and be emptied and sent across the region.

It's not the first time Kernan has pushed for an intermodal project.

When Kernan was South Bend's mayor he and former Congressman Tim Roemer appeared before a US House subcommittee about a project for South Bend.

Although that intermodal project did not involve transferring freight, it involved the transfer of people.

Kernan and Roemer sought millions of dollars to build a combined Amtrak and Transpo facility, however, funding eventually came through for the Transpo portion of the project.

The Laporte County project has been talked about for years and Kernan is working with Cressy and Everett, which has options to buy land in union mills.

Supporters have said it could bring thousands of jobs to the area.

“In addition to that transfer of freight, you develop warehouses, distribution centers, processing and manufacturing centers,” said Laporte Mayor Leigh Morris.

Moreover, supporters said property taxes from all of those businesses could lower taxes for the rest of the county.


User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Sep 4 2007, 01:11 PM
Post #36


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



http://heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=384461

QUOTE
The intermodal project has hit the papers again, and it has stimulated many opinions. I truly feel this opportunity must be pursued.

It is a shame that a community that was interviewed in the “All-America City” competition is trying to secure a loan to pay its bills.

I have visited Elwood, Ill., to personally evaluate this intermodal system. The operations are clean, non-disruptive and efficient. For a town that has a major rail system operating 150 feet from our emergency-room door, the intermodal wouldn’t even be recognized.

Every politician I have listened to promises good-paying jobs with benefits as part of their agenda. Where have they gone? This community desperately needs additional tax bases, along with good jobs. The intermodal would provide both.

I have lived in our community for 35 years; I have seen many changes, and in my opinion this is without question the opportunity of a lifetime for La Porte. If the property owners are receptive and compensated satisfactorily, there should be no question. If you are deeply concerned about this project, please take a ride to Elwood yourself. It is a nice weekend drive and will surprise your curiosity.

JAMES STEMMLER

La Porte
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Roger Kaputnik
post Sep 4 2007, 01:26 PM
Post #37


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Members
Posts: 3,237
Joined: 8-December 06
From: MC
Member No.: 3



La Porte Co seems like an ideal location. I have not really followed this, and it seems like the only people really opposed are the ones whose farms neighbor the farms that would be sold! Can this issue re the intermodal be crystallized for the readers?


Signature Bar
The difference between genius and stupidity is that there are limits to genius. Albert Einstein
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Southsider2k12
post Sep 5 2007, 11:36 AM
Post #38


Spends WAY too much time at CBTL
******

Group: Admin
Posts: 16,409
Joined: 8-December 06
From: Michigan City, IN
Member No.: 2



http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=48991.88

QUOTE
Intermodal Group OK'd
21-member task force includes ‘diverse’ crew.

Stan Maddux
For The News-Dispatch

LA PORTE - A 21-member citizen task force has been created to help oversee the siting of a potential intermodal facility in La Porte County.

The La Porte County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the names Tuesday night.

"The goal was to design a process that is as open and fair and inclusive a process as possible," La Porte County Attorney Shaw Friedman said Tuesday.

Commission President Barb Huston said the list needed paring down from a tremendous number of applicants, who could be called upon to serve in the event of a future opening.

"It drew an overwhelming response," she said.

Applications were submitted to each of the county's commissioners, who contacted certain individuals during the selection process to gauge their interest

in serving.

Task-force members include area farmers and members from the United Steelworkers Union and other labor organizations, along with local industry such as NIPSCO, Tonn & Blank in Michigan

City and New York Blower in La Porte.

Purdue University-North Central, La Porte Hospital and the La Porte County Convention & Visitors Bureau also have members on the group, which could meet for the first time next week.

"It's a good cross section and should be very helpful as we move forward," Friedman said. "The commissioners worked hard during the last couple of weeks for a diverse group."

According to a University of Illinois study, Friedman said task forces are a key ingredient to finding sites for intermodal facilities like the one in Joliet, Ill., which has been visited by some local officials.

Task-force members sit down with railroads and real-estate developers to consider positives and negatives of each prospective site before agreeing on a location, he said.

Friedman also expects the task force to view the projected job creation from a railyard and other economic-development benefits, along with potential drawbacks on the environment, noise, traffic and other quality-of-life concerns.

Jody Warner, a resident of the KOP Circle, a subdivision inside the former Kingsbury Ordinance Plant, said Tuesday she's looking forward to participating in discussions.

"It's definitely got my interest at this stage of the game," said Warner, who attended a community intermodal meeting last week she said "opened (her) eyes.

"I think I'm getting a good insight into what the county's going through. There's so much unknown right now, though. I don't really have an opinion formed yet."

Despite agreements to acquire several thousand acres of land, Friedman said no formal proposals for an facility have yet surfaced.

"Even the proposal that is pending in Union Mills doesn't have a railroad attached to it," he said. "It's a real-estate development firm that has some property under option."

"It's like a three legged stool. You got to have the real-estate development folks. You got to have a railroad that's certainly committed to it and you got to have public support of it.

"That's what it's going to take if ultimately the project is going to come together," Friedman said.

Intermodal Advisory Task Force

• David Christian, president of AMPCOR, La Porte, and Indiana Manufacturers' Association chairman.

• Hugh Glasgow, Union Mills farmer.

• Don Babcock, NIPSCO economic development director.

• Marie Gilliland, La Porte Hospital.

• Henry Lampe, SouthShore Freight chief executive director.

• Gary Husky, Building Trades unions.

• Sharron Jenkins, Purdue University-North Central professor.

• David Decker, La Porte County Convention & Visitors Bureau vice-chairman.

• Bill Turner, Teamsters Local 135 representative.

• Ken Purze, Michiana Shores, businessman.

• Al Walus, Michigan City Sanitary District director.

• Gerry Jones, Stepping Stone shelter director.

• Ruth Minich, Kingsbury, former La Porte Community Schools board member.

• Jodi Warner, KOP Circle resident.

• Pat Cicero, La Porte County Sheriff's Department detective.

• Joe Coar, Tonn & Blank Construction.

• Doug Biege, La Porte, attorney.

• Scott Hamilton, New York Blower production manager.

• Robert Boklund, environmentalist and former La Porte County Health Department administrator.

• Marie Schwieter, El Puente Community Center executive director.

• David Chlebek, United Steelworkers.


Reporter Jason Miller and News Editor Scott M. Lawson contributed to this report.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Max Main
post Sep 7 2007, 08:08 AM
Post #39


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 389
Joined: 7-March 07
Member No.: 90



Isn't Scott Hamilton the skater?

A smattering of regular folks, but topheavy with local bigs.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
JHeath
post Sep 7 2007, 08:11 AM
Post #40


Really Comfortable
*****

Group: Moderator
Posts: 2,315
Joined: 10-February 07
From: Michigan City
Member No.: 43



QUOTE(Max Main @ Sep 7 2007, 09:08 AM) *

Isn't Scott Hamilton the skater?

laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post

9 Pages V < 1 2 3 4 > » 
Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 



Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 08:19 AM

Skin Designed By: neo at www.neonetweb.com