By Katie Rogers and Josh Weinhold, Truth Staff
krogers@etruth.com and jweinhold@etruth.com
Community leaders and Joe Six-Packs alike have had time to digest an Oct. 11 New York Times article that gave the country a snapshot introduction to the city of Elkhart.
Recent data for the area make for a provocative story, mainly because numbers are impartial indicators -- a 9.3 percent unemployment rate, as cited by Times reporter Jennifer Steinhauer, could stand stark on its own.
But with the country's newspaper of record bestowing the distinction of "white-hot center of the meltdown of the American economy" upon Elkhart, local officials are wondering if numbers are spinproof.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Sept. 31 that the Elkhart-Goshen area posted the sharpest jump in unemployment out of 369 U.S. metropolitan areas (the release reported 4.5 percent, but the Times cited 4.8).
This information may be the basis for Steinhauer's Midwestern pit stop on her "Road to November" election series, guessed Grant Black, director of the Indiana University South Bend's Bureau of Business and Economic Research.
Black also pointed out that, while Steinhauer used the Bureau's 9.3 percent July unemployment rate for Elkhart County in last week's article, the August figure of 8.9 percent has been available since mid-September.
"Obviously they make things sound really bad," Black said of the article, "but they are bad."
With Indiana's unemployment rate at 6.2 percent, the state is in better shape than its neighbors. Michigan and Ohio, both casualties of a faltering auto industry, are experiencing unemployment rates of 8.7 and 7.2 percent respectively. But Elkhart possesses ingredients for a perfect storm -- an undiversified work force devoting nearly 50 percent of itself to manufacturing.
Black said Elkhart County ranks first in manufacturing job losses in the state, according to the Indiana Business Research Center. About 3,500 jobs filled in manufacturing in the county last year are non-existent today, with 2,300 of those belonging to the transportation sector. And the number of families needing food stamps jumped 1,672 households in Elkhart over the past year, placing Elkhart second in the state to Indianapolis in the number of people needing this form of assistance.
Elkhart County Council President John Letherman stops short of saying Elkhart deserved the "white-hot center" distinction.
"Calling this the epicenter of the meltdown is a bit much," Letherman said. "We generally lead into a recession, and we lead out."
The reliance on manufacturing, along with a gasoline and credit crunch, means fewer orders for manufactured housing and recreational vehicles are placed, admits Letherman. But he can list other years the local economy experienced crises -- "'73,'74,'80,'91," for example -- and notes things here tend to pick up "two, three months before the national economy will pick up."
In the meantime, Letherman and others say they are working to make things better for displaced workers and the community.
More than $10 million in state and federal grant money may allow these workers to access higher education, and that might be one solution. Retargeting the way the local economy does business might be another, suggests Dorinda Heiden-Guss, president of the Economic Development Corp. of Elkhart County.
Heiden-Guss is frustrated by The Times' instance of "spin that incorrectly reflects a situation," and pointed out Steinhauer interviewed no business or community leaders.
"A number of people have united in force that's not depicted in the article to help each other," Heiden-Guss said.
She pointed out a work force assistance resource page on the EDC's Web site in September garnered more than 11,429 visits in four days.
The key to getting out of this situation, besides waiting for the economy to cycle back, could be equal exchanges between the manufacturer and the worker, Heiden-Guss suggested. But more than that, she added, higher education must be in the mix.
"We need to employ more lean manufacturing techniques," Heiden-Guss said, "and the work force needs to be skilled, qualified and able to be employable to such industries. It's a full circle."
To entice businesses here will be an uphill effort, Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore said. Tax abatements are usually at the top of a company's wish list when talks of a move to Elkhart occur, but taxes on a whole can only be cut so far. Abatements, in turn, will have to become the extreme, not the norm.
"It's awfully tough to give away taxes while you're having taxes from property owners being greatly reduced," Moore said. "We believe fully in the reduction of property taxes, but the point I'm making is we have to live with the tax reduction, but it's hard to give away taxes."
Moore also helped debunk factual errors in the Times article. He questioned the Times' report of declining city services -- trash pickup fees increased, but so did the number of city workers, he said -- and said the author's lead sentence references an old city ordinance limiting residents to one garage sale per month.
Of the national focus on Elkhart, Moore admits "there was something a little bit unique" about the city that might've drawn the Times our way.
But he's not positive the snapshot of his city was clear.
"No one likes to have their city or area portrayed in that manner," he said. "We're concerned about economic development and attracting people. We work on that; that's a constant effort."