What is in the future of NWI? (Gary, Merrillville: renting, custom home)

[jvr789]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

I'll respond to my last comment on here with some updates to what I had stated needs to change.



I have included updates above. The only other thing I would add is the school finances. While there have definitely been issues and another referendum will occur, the school is still top performing and has the highest ranking high schools in the region and the elementary and middle schools are high performing as well. Munster residents do back the schools very much so for the future, I am not too concerned (unless for some reason the referendum did not pass). With that being said, the funding issue really needs to be corrected downstate. The local issue (former school board) has been addressed with a new board.

Any updates on other area municipalities would be great to see!

Yes, well I have to hand it to you. Many of the items you outlined in 2010 have been worked on by the town of Munster!

I agree, the school funding issue for Munster should be a priority to push for the town in the future. You can have better public transit access and better retail but if the schools start to slip, Munster will lose appeal. The schools in Munster are still are very strong but we need the referendum to pass. I hope that even if residents no longer have children in school they will understand how important it is to pass referendums to supplement the relatively small amount of state funding places like Munster get.

I think the state should provide more EQUAL funding to all school districts and overall increase education funding. The goal of public education shouldn't be to get all students to have the same test results. The goal should be to make sure each student has an opportunity to take advantage of their unique talents and skills. Gary currently gets 40% more than Munster per kid from the state. I'm not sure how that is really fair or makes sense. It sort of seems to encourage a race to the bottom. I just don't think it is fair to deprive one child of adequate funding in order to give another child much more because they get a free lunch. I hope the state continues to address this issue or it could be drain on attracting mid- and upper-class folks to Indiana (which in turn will be a detriment to the overall economy).

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by jvr789

Yes, well I have to hand it to you. Many of the items you outlined in 2010 have been worked on by the town of Munster!

I agree, the school funding issue for Munster should be a priority to push for the town in the future. You can have better public transit access and better retail but if the schools start to slip, Munster will lose appeal. The schools in Munster are still are very strong but we need the referendum to pass. I hope that even if residents no longer have children in school they will understand how important it is to pass referendums to supplement the relatively small amount of state funding places like Munster get.

I think the state should provide more EQUAL funding to all school districts and overall increase education funding. The goal of public education shouldn't be to get all students to have the same test results. The goal should be to make sure each student has an opportunity to take advantage of their unique talents and skills. Gary currently gets 40% more than Munster per kid from the state. I'm not sure how that is really fair or makes sense. It sort of seems to encourage a race to the bottom. I just don't think it is fair to deprive one child of adequate funding in order to give another child much more because they get a free lunch. I hope the state continues to address this issue or it could be drain on attracting mid- and upper-class folks to Indiana (which in turn will be a detriment to the overall economy).

Preach! Those who've been reading these boards long enough know how much the school funding equation from the state grinds my gears. The state should financially support every student in Indiana the same way, your zip code should not matter. Investing more money in poorly performing districts and less in better performing districts is an awful investment decsion and use of taxpayer funds. The worst districts aren't performing any better since 2012 when this funding formula started giving them more money on a per-student basis. Meanwhile, the best performing students are performing just as well if not better despite more limited funding. It's common sense.

[WildWestDude]

Some government information on below link for projects such as the Gary airport, West Lake Rail Corridor, new convention center for NWI e.t.c. I wonder what would be good location for that convention center, I assume the closer to Illinois and the Borman Expressway the better.

RDA: Home

[valpofan11]

Big things I'll be looking for:
1. More rail/bus transit around the region, as well as transit oriented development around those areas.
2. Possible crime increases in Merrillville, Portage, and even Griffith, Highland, Munster, and Hobart.
3. New decent paying jobs in higher tech, eco friendly industries.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by valpofan11

Big things I'll be looking for:
1. More rail/bus transit around the region, as well as transit oriented development around those areas.
2. Possible crime increases in Merrillville, Portage, and even Griffith, Highland, Munster, and Hobart.
3. New decent paying jobs in higher tech, eco friendly industries.

I would say as far as looking for "possible crime increases", that should cover all of NWI. More notorious incidents have been occurring in places like Dyer, St. John, and Valpo than ever before. Mostly domestic issues/very personal issues as far as the more violent crimes go but also a lot more robberies all over the region.

[Ned B]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

I would say as far as looking for "possible crime increases", that should cover all of NWI. More notorious incidents have been occurring in places like Dyer, St. John, and Valpo than ever before. Mostly domestic issues/very personal issues as far as the more violent crimes go but also a lot more robberies all over the region.

But I wonder if this is perception and new reporting versus actual statistics?

If I look at the crime statistics for Dyer here on City Data. The number of murders and rapes stays fairly constant between 2001 and 2015 at next to none. In 2001 there were 50 burglaries, in 2015 there were 19. In 2001 there were 235 thefts, in 2015 there were 160. In 2001 there were 33 auto thefts, in 2015 there were 5.

Valparaiso has had a similar decrease in crime across the board, and there isn't enough information shown for St. John. Granted this doesn't show 2016 data where much of the Chicago area saw an uptick in crime, but the general trend has been toward safer cities rather than the opposite. Heck, even Hammond and Gary have seen a steady decline in crime between 2001 and 2015.

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by valpofan11

Big things I'll be looking for:
1. More rail/bus transit around the region, as well as transit oriented development around those areas.
2. Possible crime increases in Merrillville, Portage, and even Griffith, Highland, Munster, and Hobart.
3. New decent paying jobs in higher tech, eco friendly industries.

It's too bad the bus service isn't better in NWI, and not at least on the level of Pace in suburban Chicago. There are limited bus systems, but only in East Chicago, Gary(and it does serve a few nearby areas too, like Merrillville and parts of Hammond), Valparaiso, and Michigan City.

Would be nice if the bus service was a little more comprehensive and interconnected with each other, but I know since I don't live in NWI, that I don't have a vote whether that ever happens. For example when I looked at the bus systems in Gary(which also serves Merrillville) and Valparaiso, there was no bus(even as little as an express US 30 bus, that went straight from Valpo to the Southlake area) for those in Valparaiso who want to shop in the area around Southlake Mall. It was too bad that Hammond's city bus system was discontinued in June 2012, IIRC the month it stopped running.

[NorthernLands]

Originally Posted by valpofan11

Big things I'll be looking for:
1. More rail/bus transit around the region, as well as transit oriented development around those areas.
2. Possible crime increases in Merrillville, Portage, and even Griffith, Highland, Munster, and Hobart.
3. New decent paying jobs in higher tech, eco friendly industries.

as far as the new rail increasing crime that should not be that noticeable and any positives should outweigh any negatives

[Northwest Indiana]

Well, the referenda results are pretty much how I thought they would turn out. Munster overwhelmingly passed the referenda, East Chicago overwhelmingly lost their referendum. The exception is that I really though the one for Lake Station would have lost.

Munster, Lake Station pass referendum; East Chicago's fails

[Northwest Indiana]

I am not one to boast and brag about folks leaving Chicago for the burbs only because ideally, I would like ALL places to thrive. But this is an interesting article. The Parks family is moving from the Bronzeville neighborhood (where they were renting after selling their home in the South Shore neighborhood) to a new home they are building in St. John. So when we talk about "What is in the future of NWI?" I do see growth from people from all walks of life but mostly the middle class. This also highlights why great schools, accessibility to jobs, and safe surroundings are essential to a thriving area. Sure, the family could have stayed in Illinois and moved to a host of other communities and found the same thing, but they would have paid way more to do so. I really do hope that they see the happiness they are looking for and that they are welcomed to their new community with no issues. Unfortunately, we know that in many cases, people trade one issue for another when they move. But I truly wish them the best.

South Shore, once thriving, struggles amid economic erosion and crime