NICTD - West Lake Corridor (Hammond, East Chicago: leasing, homes, to live in)

[Northwest Indiana]

Lowell has pledged 15% of their CEDIT funds which amount to about $30,000 per year.

Crown Point has also pledged CEDIT funds...however, they are not sure of the amount yet.

[orkdork]

Originally Posted by svillechris

I believe last week Dyer pledged 15 percent of its income tax money, or $53,000. Unfortunately, I hate to say I was right about that town not pledging the full 34% despite the fact that Dyer might be the town that would benefit the most from the extension.

Why is Dyer not stepping up? svillechris, I must have missed your previous comment about this, but are they just cheap or do they have good reason?

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by orkdork

Why is Dyer not stepping up? svillechris, I must have missed your previous comment about this, but are they just cheap or do they have good reason?

I think it's just that there is a large amount of Dyer residents that are against it and more importantly, it sounds like more of them have made their voices heard to the Town Council. Large Tea Party contingent in Dyer from my experience that are very vocal. Don't ask me for their rationale though, as Dyer may be the town that would benefit the most from this extension. AND, it's not as though the Town Council is voting on whether to impose a new tax in order to fund it. The tax has already passed and it's not going to be reversed now, so you think any reasonable person would accept that fact and be in favor of something that has huge potential benefits to your town while paying a sliver of the overall cost.

[Northwest Indiana]

Cedar Lake has postponed their vote because one of the councilman were unable to attend the meeting.

Crown Point was tied 3-3. One of the 3 that voted against wanted to contribute only 5%, another only $20,000, and another couldn't get past the 30-year commitment. Mayor Uran ended up casting a vote that broke the tie and calls for a 10% commitment which amounts to about $68,000.

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

Cedar Lake has postponed their vote because one of the councilman were unable to attend the meeting.

Crown Point was tied 3-3. One of the 3 that voted against wanted to contribute only 5%, another only $20,000, and another couldn't get past the 30-year commitment. Mayor Uran ended up casting a vote that broke the tie and calls for a 10% commitment which amounts to about $68,000.

Regarding Crown Point's vote, I'm not surprised it's not the full 34% or anywhere close. I kind of see Crown Point as one of the towns that would be against it. I feel like generally it's the case that Schererville, Dyer, St. John, Munster, and Crown Point attract a similar type of home buyer. Wouldn't you have to think that the close train service to Chicago would make the Tri-Town area and/or Munster at least slightly more attractive than Crown Point, relative to their current desirability? I would think so. In other words, it's almost like Crown Point's competitors would be getting stronger while CP wouldn't see too much benefit from it because the closest station would still be 15-20 mins away from Crown Point. Just my take on it.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by svillechris

Regarding Crown Point's vote, I'm not surprised it's not the full 34% or anywhere close. I kind of see Crown Point as one of the towns that would be against it. I feel like generally it's the case that Schererville, Dyer, St. John, Munster, and Crown Point attract a similar type of home buyer. Wouldn't you have to think that the close train service to Chicago would make the Tri-Town area and/or Munster at least slightly more attractive than Crown Point, relative to their current desirability? I would think so. In other words, it's almost like Crown Point's competitors would be getting stronger while CP wouldn't see too much benefit from it because the closest station would still be 15-20 mins away from Crown Point. Just my take on it.

I definitely agree. I'm not surprised that they didn't contribute the full amount that was asked. In fact, I think that 10% is a reasonable contribution. IMO, the most surprising contributions were Dyer (mostly in regards to their hesitance) as well as Hobart and Merrillville (I wouldn't think they would have pledged as much as they have. I am also surprised that Lake Station contributed anything at all AND that contributed without hesitation. But given the recent news out of Lake Station, maybe it was stolen money that is being used to contribute lol.

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

I definitely agree. I'm not surprised that they didn't contribute the full amount that was asked. In fact, I think that 10% is a reasonable contribution. IMO, the most surprising contributions were Dyer (mostly in regards to their hesitance) as well as Hobart and Merrillville (I wouldn't think they would have pledged as much as they have. I am also surprised that Lake Station contributed anything at all AND that contributed without hesitation. But given the recent news out of Lake Station, maybe it was stolen money that is being used to contribute lol.

LOL!

Truthfully, we are both probably thinking about this waaaay to logically. I'll bet a good part of certain towns' decisions was politically motivated, either in favor of Pete Viscloskey or against. Towns that have Council members that are more "closely aligned" with Pete may have been more inclined to support a project he was spearheading. Scratching his back after he previously may have scratched theirs, or has promised to in the future.

[Northwest Indiana]

Cedar Lake OKs $15K for South Shore extension

[Northwest Indiana]

Lake officials contribute $2 million to South Shore expansion

[Northwest Indiana]

Here is an article that explains what is going on right now:

Hammond station crux issue in South Shore rail expansion

Here is a link to the project website: NICTD West Lake Corridor Project

Also, I attached the two maps from the NICTD website. The first one is the study map and the second one is the regional map.





My initial thoughts are that if Hammond gets the Downtown Station AND the "Gateway Station", then the current Hammond station should be abandoned because it may be just to expensive and redundant. Also, while I understand what the Hammond Mayor is stating in regards to individuals needed to travel from the west lake corridor to points east, I don't know if many people would approve of the additional costs associated with that.

Another thought is that I thought that the proposed Dyer station would be further south (closer to Rt. 30). On the proposed maps, it is basically on Main St on the border of Dyer and Munster. If this remains the case and Dyer has only that one station, then I know many residents who were counting on easy access from 30 may throw a fit [svillechris, what are your thoughts on that aspect, specifically since you would probably take the Dyer station?]. Of course, those two stations would be exceptionally great for Munster residents with the exception to the increased traffic (which would hopefully be solved by the Calumet/45th underpass project.

What is everyones thoughts on this?