In the comments to the South Bend hearing post I put up earlier this morning, Paul O’Malley provided a summary of the South Bend hearings that, I think, does a much better job of describing the proceedings than the news reports I’ve seen so far (in the Indy Star and at WNDU.) The South Bend Tribune may have a decent story, but they don’t post their new content until 10:00 A.M. So, I wanted to move Paul’s commentary to the front page:
I attended the meeting last night (Monday 21 November) in South Bend. I see that the newsmedia is picking up on the “don’t divide the state or these counties” theme, effectively muting the point that was made last night, if too softly, that the state is divided and an important county pair (St. Joseph-La Porte) is divided.
Official Elkhart County though was certainly united. While once upon a time they publically ruled out opposing St. Joseph County on this issue, they showed up in force to pick at St. Joseph County’s arguments (which they did to some effect) while putting up little of their own other than our being on Central would be an inconvenience for Michigan. Of course, with the DOT saying that they will not move any county that has not petitioned, Elkhart County has the luxury of being on offense all the time.
La Porte County sent only one commissioner. I do not recall hearing from any Porter or Lake County officials. I really think that the NW part of the state is missing an opportunity here to solidify a NW political alliance which brings St. Joseph into their fold. I know folks in South Bend worked this angle, but it hasn’t paid fruit yet. My feeling is that La Porte County, which has no choice but to stay with Central for the well being of most of commuting residents, is being hurt economically by being the tail end of the Central time Zone. I would refer folks to a story that appeared in Site Selection magazine as a starting point for this:
http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2005/jul/p408/
A young man from Chesterton (Porter County) gave what I thought the most elegant plea for Central Time of the evening, (and here I summarize, I hope my memory does justice to this man’s efforts). The young man identified himself as a student at IUSB, and apologized for his disheveled appearance, noting that he had been up since 4:00 am CST to make it to class). He suggested that Elkhart County’s apparent prosperity was built on manufacturing payscales which would prove unsustainable in the long run in the face of foreign competition, just as has happened in NW Indiana. He stated that it was time to stop defending the status quo of Eastern Time and its manufacturing orientation and to turn to technology, which would be better served by opening our doors to Chicago and the west.
One of the Starke County Commissioners wins a point for the best timing of the night. He arrived late, after the other public officials had spoken. Given his chance at the podium, he apologized for his tardiness, but noted that he had had a meeting in Chicago which had run late and that, (gosh darn) “they’re on a different time than you”.
Update The South Bend Tribune now has its story on the hearings on its website, and it does a much better job than the other news sources I’ve read today.
One quote I found surprising:
Elkhart County Commissioner Terry Rodino explained that Elkhart County officials chose to go along with Eastern time and not petition the DOT for a switch to Central. “When we heard St. Joseph County was doing it, we were very surprised,†he said.
Surprised by St. Joseph County’s petition to Central Time? This is not something that should have caught Elkhart County by surprise:
So, to me, Elkhart Commissioner Rodino’s suprise is surpising.
Leave a Reply