There goes my new year’s resolution. It is tough being humble when you are right. Just about everything I have discussed pertaining to economic and public policy in NWI has come to pass. Sadly when I am right it has generally shown how imbecilic our political, economic, and educational leadership is, meaning we as citizens get the short end of the stick. So citizens of NWI it is time to listen to what I say or we will all end up like the Gary airport: Hooters up. As we now see, the crime in Gary is not any better only worse; there are actually less people now.
People of NWI, understand you are being led by incompetants with no exception. The list of idiots are unlimited and are now being led by the delegation called the legislators from NWI.
In my last column of 2005, I concurred with the development of the Marquette Plan but with the addition of developing an upscale boardwalk development with restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, and public performance amphitheaters. To plan and develop this would cost millions of dollars but would radically change the culture and life style of NWI, which will attract the kind of people advanced businesses are looking for and bring those companies here.
All of the other proposals in front of the RDA are junk, like the Gary Airport. All the remaining money needs to be utilized on other things for development to occur. And there is absolutely no reason for LaPort County to enter the RDA.
The first program is rebuilding the housing stock of Lake County, especially the northern part. The only way this can occur is if a central authority buys the old building and partners with developers to refurbish the old building in the older cities on the Lake. People who are attracted to cities are looking for old house and building that have been refurbished. Pastrick demolished the best asset of East Chicago the old bank building. People with money and talent are looking for cities with character and that is what that building would provide for East Chicago. Now the only solution for housing is to start at the Illinois State Line and start refurbishing the houses until you get to Miller.
That is what is occurring on the south side of Chicago. If you want to attract professional people with assets and employment, this is what you will have to do. It must start tomorrow if not sooner. If you wait, the worthwhile old buildings will be gone like the bank building.
If you follow the program above, the parents themselves of the K-12 classes will get rid of the administrative deadwood currently dragging down Hammond, East Chicago, and Gary. But the RDA should put aside $5 million as direct bonuses for classroom teachers only, no one in any administrative capacity, for improvements in their particular classroom. No excuses accepted, improve or no bonus. If you won’t spend that kind of money for bonuses then you are not serious about education.
To further improve the cultural and lifestyle attractiveness of NWI, the RDA should in 2006 commit the $25 million Indiana University needs to build a new clinical trial facility at IUN. When this was offered to Gary they were to busy flying paper Hooter planes out of their window offices to notice its value. After this the RDA needs to invest in a medical school and a law school in the Region, which is what Terre Haute is developing why not NWI.
To complete the transformation of NWI, the RDA needs to develop the Borman Expressway Technology corridor running from Purdue University Calumet to IUN. Forget Merrillville that is a worthless failure, which is the inside joke on the campuses. In Merrilville you have a "fake" icubator to misuse federal funds (hint: look at who the "incubators" are) and a so called learning center that no one wants to use. The proof of that is in the pudding as they say: no increase in students. But a real technology corridor from PUC to IUN and eventually including PNC is real economic development.
If you make the right new year’s resolution, this is not impossible to achieve.
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