James Wensits, writing for the South Bend Tribune has an article entitled Central time push could be renewed. The back story is that, after the Southwestern Counties completed their request to get back on to Eastern time, the US Dept. of Transportation was a little sick of us, and they imposed a one year moratorium on further petitions if they were not filed before Sunday. St. Joseph County filed a request to extend the deadline which the USDOT is considering. I don’t think the USDOT had any idea about the potential for a renewed Central Time petition when they crafted the moratorium, and so it will be interesting to see how resolute the agency is on a moratorium as it effect St. Joseph County. To be clear, the law does not really put any significant restrictions on the Secretary of Transportation’s ability to put time zones wherever he or she wants whenever he or she wants. The time deadlines and convenience of commerce criteria are pretty much voluntary and a little arbitrary on the part of the USDOT.
The St. Joseph County commissioners are apparently reconsidering a petition to go to Central Time. As readers here will recall, the county petitioned for Central during the initial hearings after implementation of Daylight Saving Time. The USDOT gave the county preliminary approval only to withdraw it as Elkhart County raised a fuss over having the time line moved into its backyard and convincing Governor Daniels to break the law in order to oppose St. Joseph County’s request.
Of the three St. Joseph County commissioners, one strongly favors Central Time, one is on the fence – though leaning toward Central Time, and one is opposed. Central Time proponent, Steve Ross notes that the county’s future is tied to Chicago:
“The economic life and future of St. Joseph County is tied to the greater metropolitan area of Chicago,” Ross said Monday, arguing that there would be a long-term detrimental effect to remaining on Eastern time.
In the middle is Robert Kovach who says that he is personally in favor of Central Time and is “leaning toward” filing a petition that formally asks the DOT to move St. Joseph County into the central time zone. He wants local business leaders to make a case for the move so that he can support the petition.
County Commissioner Mark Dobson is opposed to Central Time and is grousing about partisanship in not being consulted with respect to the letter requesting the deadline extension. But, I can’t see any way he would have been persuaded to join in on the letter. From the initial round of debates, I seem to recall Dobson as loyal to the Governor and sympathetic to Elkhart County’s interests.
A renewed petition makes sense to me from an economic perspective. St. Joseph County would be much better served now and especially in the future by hitching its train (figuratively and literally) to Chicago. The Chicago metropolitan area has so much more to offer than Elkhart County or other counties to the east of St. Joseph.
Updated The South Bend Tribune story contains input from a few of the area businesses. Matt Edmonds, vice president of Tire Rack, sees Central Time as a great opportunity for local businesses, particularly those involved in distribution. Mark Lerman of Steel Warehouse sees being on Eastern Time as a detriment since his major suppliers and customers are on Central Time. Rob Bartels, owner of Martin’s Supermarkets seemed almost indignant about the prospects of discussing Central Time further, noting that it would cause difficulties for his business and employees to be on different time zones.
Having lived for six years one county to the west of St. Joe county, I agree with Doug. South Bend is the terminus on the South Shore commuter train line. I imagine the train ride home; leaving Chicago at 4 pm Chicago time must get most SB people home around 7:30 or so local time.
Also moving St. Joe county to central time would unite the New Prairie school district. One elementary school lies in central time; every other school is now in eastern. I remember the middle school and high school kids had to catch the bus at around 6 in the morning to be at school on time-insane!
Also if you look at a nighttime satellite map of the Region, greater Chicagoland extends to just beyond South Bend.
Of course I’m the same person who wants the majority of Indiana on central time.
You’re not the only one…
Put me in that group also.
Not Me!!!
South Bend/St. Joe County has absolutely no business being in Central Time.
Elkhart County, the adjacent counties in Michigan and all counties South are in the Eastern Time Zone. Only Laporte County (Which is in the Chicago media market) is in Central. Once again, it’s petty/partisian politics at it’s best (Probably pushed by good ol’ rug on the head Pat Bauer) I find it funny that the commissioners make the remark that the “economic life and future of South Bend is tied to Chicago” which is about 100 miles away….maybe that’s why the economy of St. Joe County is one of the worst (and historically has always been) in the state……..they are Chicago wannnabees!!
This has absolutely no chance of passing as this will split the South Bend/Elkhart media market into 2 time zones. This is an absolute waste of time!!
On behalf of Perry County, I would be glad to offer a time zone switch with St. Joe. It was noon-bright at 7 a.m. today, and pitch black shortly after 5 last night. At least we’re tied to the economic juggernaut that is Evansville.
11,952 St. Joseph residents commute to Elkhart County every day. 2,021 work in Michigan. 957 in LaPorte County. 556 others work out of state.
Should St. Joseph change the time zone for 1,500 people or keep it Eastern for 11,952?
I like to look at numbers, not emotions. St. Joseph wants to be part of Chicagoland, but is more economically tied to Elkhart County. St. Joseph’s population grew less than 1% from 2000-2006. Elkhart County’s grew 8%. Elkhart’s where the growth is right now.
All stats from Stats Indiana
W3048,
Do you not remember that Marshall and Fulton County wanted to be in the Central timezone also?? Except back in 2005 there was not the opportunity to file a jiont petition. If that chance would have existed Elkhart County would have been out in the cold and soon followed suit and switched to central time. Look at thr west side of St. Joe County see the growth, see the school going up that will allow for a separate building for freshmen only. My wish to Elkhart County is for China to start making RV’s send them over here sell them at Wal-Mart then I can go to Elkhart and watch the grass grow in the parking lots. That is how badly I hate Eastern time, and I am not moving or giving up!!
I don’t think it’s accurate to regard commuters as the primary measurement of economic ties. Certainly it’s a factor, but there are other considerations. For example, how many products and services are sold and purchased between St. Joe and Chicagoland versus those between products between St. Joe and Elkhart/Michiana?
More importantly, perhaps, what’s the rate of growth in the ties because that will tell you more about where your future opportunities are coming from. Are economic ties growing faster with Central Time areas or are they growing faster with Elkhart/Michiana?
Larry:
You bring up some good points, but I will still maintain that this is a big waste of time for St. Joe County. The DOT is sick and tired of hearing from Indiana & becuase of the ripple impact that this would have on adjacent counties, (& not to mention the powers that be within this state – – specifically in Indianapolis that would oppose this) I really doubt that this is going to get very far.
Doug-point taken. I looked at the reverse commute-La Porte county to St. Joe-and the numbers do show that St. Joe county is more tied to Elkhart county in that respect also.
Still feel that most of the state has more of an economic tie to Chicago than New York.
You’re probably right about the State generally, but I think this is even more true with St. Joseph County. My sense is that it’s far more tied to Chicago than to Indianapolis. And among other things, being on the South Shore line, I think South Bend has the opportunity to tap into Chicago’s economic growth in a way that the rest of the state does not.
Much of the rest of the state is strongly linked to Indy and, whatever Indy wants, the rest of the state is going to do.
I’m not an expert on South Bend — is there another large metropolitan area besides Chicago to which South Bend has greater ties — Detroit?
No.
My family has ties to SB-both parents are from there originally; so SB has been a part of my whole life.
SB roots for the Chicago teams. Even my family that lives just across the Michigan border have stronger ties to the Bulls than to the Pistons. Metro-wise there are stronger ties to Chicago than to Indy.
“St. Joseph wants to be part of Chicagoland, but is more economically tied to Elkhart County. St. Joseph’s population grew less than 1% from 2000-2006. Elkhart County’s grew 8%. Elkhart’s where the growth is right now.”
I would have thought that distinctly different rates of growth was evidence that the two counties were economically disconnected rather than that they were connected.
Seriously, I don’t think anyone disputes that Elkhart County has been more prosperous for decades than has St. Joseph County. Perhaps this is a signal that St. Joseph County should stop trying to imitate, or latch on to, Elkhart County’s economic development, and come up with a plan of its own.
Elkhart County is almost unique in the Midwest in having been able to add substantial numbers of manufacturing jobs over the last three decades. I doubt it is the brilliance of its leadership (if so they have kept it up for an awfully long time), but just the plain good luck to have unusual labor resources. On the other hand, most old line manufacturing communities across the midwest have had to come up with solutions to disappearing manufacturing jobs, and most have failed. St. Joseph County hasn’t done terribly, though one might argue that being able to send some of its labor to Elkhart County masks some serious problems. But St. Joseph doesn’t look well positioned to compete for manufacturing plants against its Eastern Time Zone neighbors.
Perhaps St. Joseph County should look to emphasize its position to offer services, particularly in transportation, logistics and education, to 9 million plus people living just to its west in NW Indiana and the Chicago Metro area, which could be helped by moving into Chicago’s time zone.
Larry:
Isn’t most of the Growth in St. Joe county towards the North like in Granger and Clay Township? I’ve only visited the area a handfull of times so I didn’t know the Western part of St. Joe County had grown. What I saw of the West Side of South Bend looked pretty rough.
Isn’t the real issue for this area not the time zone it’s in but how reliant South Bend is on manufacturing? It seems to me that focusing on diversifying the economy is the key to improve the area’s economy. If you look at the unemployment rate of South Bend/St. Joe County, it almost always is above the State/National average and hasn’t it been that way for this area since Stuabaker left town? Seems to me this area (like a lot of Indiana) has tried hang on to manufacturing too long…….
I’m in the Chicago area right now, where Central Standard Time is the rule. It sucks. Dusk at 5:15! It’s positively depressing.
If talking about time relative to business, be sure to compile a list of the cities in the two zones (Eastern and Central). If there is any doubt as to why most of the state should be in Eastern, you really haven’t considered the enormous population imbalance between the two.
No doubt that NW Ind should be on the same time as Chicago. As for the rest of the state? Forget it.
W/3048,
Let’s separate the areas here. Clay township is huge and German township is where most of the “new” growth of St. Joe County is taking place and German township is mostly west/central. Leave the west side of South Bend out of the discussion for now,as that area enters in as part of the problem later.
Now back to western St.Joe County where the potential for “explosive” population growth exists. This is the area that is served by New Prairie Schools, the ONLY ISTEP exemplary school corp in the County, untill recently ,but it gets hard to show 3% AYP when you are start at 77-80%(whole different story there though). Point is NPUSC is currently adding a 900-1000 student middle school that the current enrollment simply does not support. My source for that is a friend who has a seat on Mitch’s school building tax board. The proposal passed 4/3. So one could argue either way, but currently the middle school has 450 students as a 7/8 building. Next year that same building will be used by only the freshman class of 225. Somebody is planning on someone moving ther are hrere is my thought school choice where Clay/ Gereman township residents will excersise the “choice” to live in an area close to the city(South Bend) yet escape the problem children of the west side. Now if I am correct I really doubt these people will”put up with” two clocks in their houses for long.(NPUSC operates on Central time being currently equally split St. Joe/LaPorte Counties. I really do not see any chance of that changing (time wise) as NPUSC includes part of the city limits of LaPorte. Also LaPorte County is definitely tied to Chicago and along with Porter County is poised for increased future job growth, unlike Elkhart County. Simply put Elkhart is holding on to the past St. Joe is lookinb to the future.
Mike: The answer is year-round Daylight Savings time.
I see it bright and shiny outside as I go into work. I, like most people, spend that daylight inside, working. Shortly before work ends, the sun goes down. But at least the kiddies are safe for those 15 minutes they’re waiting for the bus–although in my neighborhood they’re waiting in their parents’ idling cars or in their houses and just have to somehow manage to walk a few steps out to the bus. And then it’s always a surprise to see how many of those kids who we worry about in the morning, are out and about in the evening, in the dark.
Larry,
I lived in the New Prairie school district. Only Rolling Prairie elementary was on central time (the one school in La Porte county). The rest of the district was on EST. (From the end of October until beginning of April La Porte county families needed to follow two different clocks in their houses). Has that changed now that all of Indiana changes time?
Rev. AJB,
I live in the New Prairie school district and ALL schools officially observe central time.As every school except Olive Elementary is in LaPorte County (central time).Prior to DST St. Joseph County families had to follow two clocks half of the time, now it is all of the time. That is why in New Carlisle you have people talking about school time/town time. Olive elementary in New Carlisle has its clocks set on central go acrooss the street to Olive Township library and the clocks say eastern time. Case in point, my daughter’s “new” best friend and her family just moved into the area and were not totally used to this fact so she arrived an hour late for my daughter’s birthday party. Kind of tough for a couple of nine yearolds to have to handle.
Larry,
We didn’t have kids at the time, so I didn’t remember which time they were on. However it does seem to me that school does start at 7 somethingish central time to make it so the eastern time kids aren’t in school until 4:30 pm. Maybe that is where I got the idea that NP schools ran on eastern time.
The whole country is laughing about a state that doesn’t know what time it is from one county to another. Why don’t they get one time for the state, and to HELL with the rest of the country and their opinions.
Hey T, which time zone would you want the year round DST to be in? In my opinion it would be Central because it would be just like it was before April 2006 and that would be the best solution.
For the people who say it is depressing to have sunset at 1715h, I do understand your point but, it is equally depressing to have it dark towards 0800h. It is nice to wake up to the sun at the horizon level.
With the DOT rejecting an extension for St. Joseph County, the best thing for the county to do would be NOT to observe DST in March.
The DOT could not stop them because DST observance is a state matter and I do not see the state government stopping that.
Just to note, St. Joseph County wasn’t asking for an extension to file a petition, there is absolutely nothing that prevents them from doing that at any time. The issue was that the DOT said it simply would not act on (or in their words “consider”) any petitions for a period of one year running from 4 November 2007 until 4 November 2008. St. Joseph County was asking that this temporary rule not be applied to them since the motivation for the rule seemed to be that so many counties had asked for one thing, gotten it, and then turned around and asked for the opposite.