By Patrick Guinane, Times of Northwest Indiana
patrick.guinane@nwi.com
INDIANAPOLIS | What do South Shore commuter rail expansion and regional bus service have to do with building a teaching hospital and land-based casino in southern Gary?
At the Statehouse -- everything.
Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, proposed an amendment Thursday to regional transportation legislation that would allow Majestic Star Casino owner Don Barden to move one of his two lakefront casinos in Gary to a new location near the intersection of the Borman Expressway and Interstate 65.
Any increase in wagering and admission taxes generated by the new casino, which could be land-based, would be put toward building a teaching and trauma center hospital in Gary, extending South Shore lines to Lowell and Valparaiso and redeveloping the Lake Michigan shoreline.
"We have severe (economic) problems in Northwest Indiana, but specifically in Gary," Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, told members of a House-Senate conference committee. "If Gary dies, so does Lake County. And if Lake County dies, so does Indiana. ... "We are trying to help ourselves with this legislation."
The casino move, floated with just four session days left until legislators adjourn for the year, would create uncertainty surrounding Gary's remaining Buffington Harbor casino. Fort Wayne officials previously have expressed interest in obtaining one of the Gary casino licenses.
Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, questioned why anyone would go to Gary's lakefront riverboat if there were a shiny new casino closer to major interstates. Van Haaften, the House point-person on gaming issues, said the state probably should take more time to study the impact of such a move, particularly the allowance of another land-based casino.
On the underlying transit legislation Dobis also proposed a some significant changes Thursday.
The measure, House Bill 1607, currently calls for a four-county authority -- with the power to impose local income taxes of up to 0.25 percent, to manage bus and commuter rail service in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties.
Dobis' new plan only would include LaPorte and St. Joseph counties in the rail portion of the legislation, leaving their current bus system alone.
Dobis wants a cumulative November 2010 referendum in the four counties to decide whether the transit authority is created. The legislation currently calls for four separate May 2010 referenda to decide if any of four counties want to join.
And the mayors of the two largest cities in each county would sit on the transit authority's nine-member board under Dobis' plan. The current legislation would have one county council member and one commissioner from each county serve on the board, along with a tie-breaking chairman appointed by the governor.