EDITORIAL: Porter County Visitors Bureau's message - Welcome to balkanization

Times of Northwest Indiana

It's no wonder Northwest Indiana gets a bad rap downstate. Too many times the unity that's needed to bring progress locally is ignored.

It's no wonder Northwest Indiana gets a bad rap downstate. Too many times the unity that's needed to bring progress locally is ignored.

Take, for instance, the Porter County Visitors Bureau. On Tuesday, the bureau's board voted to support an extension of the South Shore Railroad -- to a point.

That point is an extension to Valparaiso.

The proposed plan for extension of the rail line includes a spur along west Lake County, ending at Lowell, and a spur to Valparaiso. The board approved supporting the rail line to Valparaiso but not to Lowell.

It did so claiming the line to Lowell is in Lake County, not Porter County.

How very short-sighted. How very rude and ridiculous. The extension to Valparaiso will travel through central Lake County to reach Valparaiso.

The extension plan before the Indiana General Assembly couples the Lowell and Valparaiso projects. It makes no distinction based on county borders.

The fact the Porter County Visitors Bureau Board took such a stupid action should come as no surprise. This is the same group that has stood steadfast in the face of calls for active cooperation between the Lake and Porter bureaus to help promote the entire region.

This is the type of behavior that makes Northwest Indiana look bad. Perhaps the Porter County Visitors Bureau should reconsider its action and get fully on board in support of the South Shore extension project. To do less only proves it supports self-centered isolationism.