Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority spans cities to build region

BY KEITH BENMAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
kbenman@nwitimes.com

The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority faces its share of challenges, but mayors credit the three-year-old organization with creating a new way of doing business.

"First of all, the great thing about the RDA is it creates a centerpiece for debate on regional issues," said Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas.

Before the RDA, the region lacked organizations capable of building regional consensus, Costas said. The RDA is starting to do that, much as the Metropolitan Planning Council and other organizations do for Chicagoland, he said.

Valparaiso is receiving $1.86 million of RDA money through the Regional Bus Authority to fund its new express bus service to Chicago.

In Portage, the Lakefront and Riverwalk Site at the National Lakeshore is being funded with $10 million from the RDA.

"Just because there are differences of opinion, they (the RDA) still get things done and work cooperatively," said Portage Mayor Olga Velasquez.

The cost of the lakefront project grew from an initial request of $4.6 million to a request for $6.38 million. When bids for the project came in higher than that, the city then came back with a request for $2.86 million more.

In 2006, the RDA granted the project an initial $823,000 for planning.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said Hammond plans to request RDA money for a project at Wolf Lake that will be "in line" with the Marquette Plan for lakefront development.

Even though the city has not received any direct funding yet from the RDA, McDermott said the city fully supports RDA funding for projects -- such as the Gary/Chicago International Airport expansion -- that will benefit the entire region.

In February, the administration of East Chicago Mayor George Pabey questioned whether RDA funding for the South Shore extension would doom its lakefront project.

A $3.9 million RDA grant the next month for start-up work on creating a gateway from the Indiana Harbor neighborhood to the lakefront has offered the city assurance it won't be forgotten.

"Realistically, if the RDA was not there, we would have a pathway to get this project done," said John Artis, executive director for the city's redevelopment department. "But it would take an extra long period of time to get it done without the RDA."