Morton J. Marcus, an economist, writer, and speaker formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University
We don't have to be obsessed with property taxes. There are other issues and other priorities for our state. All is not dreadful despite the clamor of some disaffected taxpayers.
For example, LaPorte has two operating barbershops on the same street downtown. This warms the heart. Equally positive is finding an excellent housing stock in LaPorte with many beautiful homes repainted in a joyous, imaginative fashion.
Can you believe that the McDonalds in Winamac opens at 4:30 a.m. and keeps its drive-thru open 24 hours a day? That alone suggests a level of activity not found in many larger communities. Yet I'm willing to bet that two-thirds of the General Assembly can not find Winamac on a map of the state.
Have you been to Madison on the Ohio River recently? Downtown is much more impressive than I remember from years ago. The riverfront has been upgraded with a fine promenade. The downtown retail stores appear to be kept better. And there is a vitality to be found there that most places focused on nostalgia rarely convey.
Speaking of nostalgia, let's talk about the French Lick area. The great hotel in West Baden Springs has been restored to glory. It is beyond magnificent although rooms are out of the budget range for ninety-five percent of Hoosiers. Nonetheless you can step inside and discover elegance as it was a hundred years ago.
Likewise, the huge French Lick Hotel has also gone through a total remodeling. The rooms are exceptionally spacious and well-appointed. They are far beyond the bland hostelries of other vacation areas. However, take your walking shoes. This is still the same structure as before. Those very long corridors remain. Hence you have the opportunity to do your morning exercises just getting to breakfast. But the breakfast buffet is so generous that you will appreciate the long walk back to your room.
I can not comment on the casino at French Lick. I imagine it is like all the other Indiana casinos that do not interest me, but I have been known to be wrong.
More interesting, and to my mind more important to the state, is the proposal to build a modern airport and business center in Madison County, off I-69, not far from Anderson and Pendleton. This development has great potential to relieve future congestion at Indianapolis and to satisfy the growing demand for air service among Hamilton County's progressive businesses.
The main beneficiaries will be the people of Madison County, with additional benefits extending in all directions. As Metropolitan Airport on the Hamilton-Marion County line is phased out, the rapidly growing northeast section of the Indianapolis-Carmel metro area will require more places for use by air travelers.
Increasingly business sees the advantages of being located near airports. Plus, the new small jets now flying make less noise than older piston engines and do not disturb residential areas.
The objections to the new Anderson airport are similar to the problems in LaPorte (where we started this tour). There is an opportunity to build an intermodal transfer point for rail and truck traffic on 3,000 acres in LaPorte County. As in the Anderson area, farmers and other residents of the LaPorte area are concerned about the intrusion new activities will bring to their environment. Their interests deserve consideration. Unfortunately, we have no satisfactory way to settle the disputes that arise in these cases.
Yet it does seem that BP and the State have found a way to maintain the environmental conditions of Lake Michigan without stopping a major investment by the giant oil company. Perhaps we can apply that experience elsewhere.