More airport doublespeak

Wow. Two opinion pieces in todays' Times about the "Murder Capital" Airport. The first, by the current airport director is full of doublespeak. Read it for yourself at the Times website.
First he says

The airport is primarily promoting passenger traffic over cargo operations for several reasons. When the Federal Aviation Administration approved the letter of intent which granted $58 million for the airport expansion, it was based on relieving passenger congestion in the Chicago area.

If the airport changed the focus of the original intent of the letter of intent money, there is the potential risk of losing that funding. The information that helped to convince the FAA to provide funding was based on the high passenger numbers supplied by the previous carriers.

So, the $58 million is based on "high passenger numbers?" Wow, every passenger line that has come to Gary in the last ten years has failed, even with "high passenger numbers." Tell us another fairy tale. He is also concerned that they will lose the $58 million if they change focus. Big deal, this boondoggle was predicated on relieving passenger congestion; but guess what? With one airline failure at Midway, and a major merger at O'hare, passenger congestion has just relieved itself without wasting my money.

He then goes on to say:

Another aspect to cargo operations is the ability to access the airport from different directions in inclement weather and strong wind conditions. The airport has only one direction that an aircraft can land in inclement weather

Umm, lets' see. One East/West runway and one North/South runway. With all the millions that have been wasted over the years why hasn't the advanced equipment allowing inclement weather landings been added to the North/South runway as well?
But wait, there's more, and this is the funniest part:

The previous airlines proved a market existed and that passengers would use the airport, although the airlines went out of business

Lets see, my econimics teachers would disagree, as would the investors in the failed airlines. If the market was there every airline that entered the market would not have failed.

In my mind the runway expansion is a red herring. The current East/West runway compares very favorably to the length of the runways at Midway. The longest runway at Midway is 6522' while the runway at Gary is 7003'.
Mr. Curry has his golden parachute, he should be encouraged to use it and let somebody that actually believes the airport can be successful, without spending millions more of our money, take over.

An economic dirty word

When I was in high school, way back in the last century, my football coach (among others) used to tell us that we had potential. Unfortunately for me they considered potential a dirty word because it implies a lack of effort and will.
The same word applies to the Gary airport. It has the potential to be an economic powerhouse for the entire region, not just Gary. But what will it take to make the airport live up to its’ potential?
First we have to stop the insanity. If you repeat the same actions and expect a different result, that is a form of insanity. Now apply it to the airport. They have repeatedly courted under-capitalized start up passenger airlines that don’t go anywhere people want to, given them buckets full of (our) cash, and then are surprised when the airline fails after a couple of months.
Second, we need to change the definition of success. The airport could be a successful general aviation (GA) and cargo airport, but because the majority of people paying the bills (you and I) don’t understand general aviation or cargo operations, the inmates running the asylum won’t try for that success. Why is there more air traffic at Lansing Municipal than at Gary Regional? Because Lansing is very friendly to the general aviation sector, is Gary? Or is Gary more concerned about luring another lowest common denominator passenger outfit? As a cargo terminal the airport, along with the regions rail and highway network, could very well be a vital part of the regions future, but they have to eliminate that dirty word from their lexicon and start doing, instead of making excuses.
Thirdly the attitude of the management needs to be changed. The current head of the airport is on record saying that airports aren’t supposed to make money. That is true, but they aren’t supposed to be money pits either.
Finally, a real marketing strategy is needed. I have a friend who is in marketing and he tells me that “brand image” is very important for any business whether it is “Snuggle” fabric softener or the “Gary” airport. I’ve said it before; the traveling public will not willingly go to anything with the taint of Gary, Indiana. Change the name of the airport already.

Preventing railroad deaths

I was reading the NWI Times when I came across a story about two people being killed at a rail crossing after trying to beat an Amtrak train. The saddest thing is that every single highway-rail accident is avoidable. All of them. Trains do not chase cars down the street or suddenly change lanes in front of you, it’s very easy to tell where they will be, just look for the tracks.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration there have been 16 highway-rail incidents so far through January in Indiana (compared to 22 for Jan. of 2007) resulting in 2 deaths and 13 injuries (2007 had 4 injuries and 1 death).
We live in an area with many congested railroad crossings. No matter how much we complain it is still a fact of life that to which we need to adjust. I have a friend that told me “I live five minutes from work, but have to leave thirty minutes early.” He plans for the trains so that he is not rushed and tempted to do dumb things.
We need to remember that, according to Operation Lifesaver, a freight train doing 55 mph, and an eight car passenger train doing 80 mph both take over a mile to stop.
We really need to think about what we have to do to stay on time when running errands, please take into account the fact that you will probably be stopped by a train.
There are steps communities can take to make crossings safer. Working with railroads some crossings can be closed, others crossings can have “barrier systems” installed that prevent vehicles from going around the gates. Extreme cases may be able to have overpasses or underpasses built to eliminate the crossing; this is being done in East Chicago and planned for in Munster.
It is up to us to be safe around the tracks and to teach our children to do the same. Although I know budgets are strained, we should speak to our elected officials to encourage them to increase awareness and to improve the crossings.
And please teach your children to stay off the tracks. Don’t play on them; don’t use them as walking trails. A train that is not accelerating or decelerating can be remarkable quiet, and with many people having music players with ear buds, or cell phones glued to the side of their head, they may never hear the train that kills them. Again, education is the key to keeping our kids safe, and enforcement is a tool that local police can use to raise awareness. Maybe if Johnny is brought home by the police with a trespassing ticket and has to go see Judge Harkin, mom or dad will apply some education of their own.
If nothing else, have mercy on the guy that has to wash the blood and gore off of the locomotive and check the undercarriage for body parts, stay off the tracks.

Property tax crises; we're not alone.

As some of you may know I am a member of the American Legion. In this month’s American Legion Magazine there is an article titled “The Property Tax Rebellion.” I thought that it was quite interesting for a couple of different reasons.
First, it let me know that we are not alone in dealing with the property tax issue. Quite often we are working in an information vacuum when it comes to Northwest Indiana. But other states are having the same troubles as Indiana.
Second, it discusses something that the local politicos and their cheerleaders ignore or only pay lip service to; imposed “property tax relief without spending discipline is just a shell game.” It sounds obvious, but like anything obvious in the region, it cannot be discussed dispassionately. Think about it like a math problem: 1(property tax) plus 1(other revenue) equals 2, simple right? But if gov’t wants to spend 4 and 1(property tax) is a fixed number then 1(other revenue) must be raised to make up the difference. Or, as was done recently, costs are shifted to other entities which increase fees. Was the property tax reduced? Yes. But were gov’t costs reduced? Absolutely not.
What about the assessment process? The article again makes what should be an obvious point, “The assessment process makes its own unpredictable contribution to Americas’ property-tax dilemma…Because assessors are empowered to determine home value, the process is always subjective and can raise privacy issues.” Think about it, the process is subjective, meaning it’s an opinion that can take time and money to correct when wrong.
The article also brings up something I never thought of, “An often overlooked disadvantage of shifting away from the property tax is a possible loss of federal tax deductions.” Why? “Because, in addition to permitting property-tax deductions, the federal 1040 form permits one other state-tax deduction: income taxes paid or sales taxes paid, but not both.” Now, I haven’t done the math, but property-tax relief can end up costing you more in federal taxes!
The article concludes with what is obvious to anyone outside of government, “The best way to bring about substantial tax relief is to reduce government spending.”
It’s so easy a child could understand it, and a necessary step to move Hammond forward.