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 Post subject: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2010 4:40 pm 
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http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... 94cd9.html

This was my plan over 5 years ago! Well ok me and some of us on the Times Board. What a waste of money! $449,732 for what we already posted? Seems like we are due some of that money for having the idea first and getting it ripped off. ;)

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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:47 am 
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http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... f602c.html

City and airport authority considering management options

A new strategic business plan developed for Gary/Chicago International Airport recommends any effort to privatize the airport be deferred until its value can be built up enough to make it attractive to investors.

"If you look at the Gary airport, it is an airport that's losing money, and it takes outside money to support it," said Dan Muscatello, the Landrum & Brown managing partner who oversaw the plan's development. "It would be hard to put together an attractive deal."

The plan points out that privatization at this time could create a number of hurdles for the airport, including jeopardizing some federal grants it receives.

"Attracting investors for a facility without commercial traffic, confronted with substantial financial challenges, and hampered by a poor public image is at best unlikely," the plan states.

Privatizing the airport long has been talked about and promoted by both Gov. Mitch Daniels and more recently Gary Mayor Rudy Clay. It has become a hot-button issue in Gary politics, with some potential rivals to Clay weighing in against privatization.

Clay was out of town Thursday and did not attend the Build Indiana Summit where the strategic business plan was unveiled.

Muscatello said farming out management of airport operations to a private company remains an option for the airport.

Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority President Nate Williams confirmed the option of contracting out airport management is being examined.

"We are looking at that," Williams said. "As the mayor said a couple of days ago, everything is on the table."


You're kidding me right? The Gary airport is worth exactly $1. It was worth $1 yesterday and it will be worth $1 tomorrow. Why? See the above story. Nearly half a $mil just to figure out that United Airlines or any other major carrier isn't landing there short of an emergency. Look at all the money squandered there to date! And they wanted another $million or so to put in a customs office and the sole airline that needed it fizzled before it ever began service. No shock there!

So again I guess I gotta figure it out for them. They are looking at the issue completely backwards! It's not the dollar figure that you fix for the sale of the airport that's important. What is critical is the development plans for the airport and the surrounding properties and what developer will generate the most revenue, meaning it's not just a get rich scheme that a corrupt government can make a quick profit from and then abandon to dereliction status. For that reason this should be a RDA or even a state oversight matter, not merely to check the math of the deal but to be sure it's a solid growth plan for the whole Region!

The airport is losing money by the day so $1 is generous despite the opportunities for prosperity that have yet to manifest under city control. If cargo traffic spurs anywhere near the growth originally envisioned before a 2nd runway and new ATC equipment were added it will be a bargain just to give it away.

I'll take my $47,000 consulting fee now. Cash please! :mrgreen:

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If you voted for the Dems don't be surprised when things don't turn out quite as you were led to expect. Some might call it pure Marxism. But the problem with Obama economics is there's not enough money in the world to make it work.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 5:44 am 
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Oh come on!

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... 73666.html

Mayor: Gary airport name just fine

Leaders cautious on call for airport name change




Gary Mayor Rudy Clay opposes renaming the Gary/Chicago International Airport as recommended in a just-released airport business plan, saying the current name signifies the important partnership between the two cities.

"I don't understand why changing the name would do anything, anyway," Clay said. "It's the action you put behind the airport that will make it fly."

As early as this summer, the plan recommends starting a rebranding campaign, including a new name for the airport to reflect its "regional positioning." It doesn't give any suggestions but states an outside consultant could be hired to help with the process.

Other regional leaders were cautious about dropping the Gary name from the airport but said it may be time for a change to overcome any negative perceptions of the city and its airport.

Lake County Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Speros Batistatos said the renaming of the "Gary Air Show" to "Gary's South Shore Air Show" three years ago could serve as a starting point for any renaming bid.

"We never took Gary out of it, and I'm not sure you have to delete that," Batistatos said.

Officials said getting the runway extended and attracting air service to provide the airport with financial stability should be the first priority. But they agreed with the plan's recommendation a more concerted marketing campaign is needed.

Board member Ross Amundson, an appointee of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, said airlines that have flown at the airport have had respectable support from Northwest Indiana residents, so he is not sure how much negative perceptions of Gary have played into its lack of success in keeping them.

"If it is a major deterrent to the airport going forward, then maybe it has to be looked at," Amundson said.

Northwest Indiana Forum interim CEO Mark Maassel said he would like to see the history of the airport acknowledged in any rebranding effort, but that it probably should not be named for any limited geographic area if it's a truly regional airport.

"We want to credit our forebears with what has been done, but we also have to be mindful of moving forward," he said.


So pay even more money to consultants to think up a name? If you were to change the name, in deference to mayor Clay, you probably want to call it Chicago Regional airport because like it or not the world knows to steer clear of Gary, Indiana. Until that perception can be overcome attaching the name of Gary to anything is a losing proposition while using the name Chicago Regional will make people think it's part of Chicago proper which is more favorable.

At the very least Chicago/ NWI Regional or something similar would be more approbate. You see the point of the airport is to enrich the Region, not the City of Gary solely. By insisting on looking at the airport as a Gary city enterprise it remains underutilized and unappreciated. Businesses are not flocking to the door. But if the airport eventually becomes the engine to generate economic growth Gary will itself benefit the most. So do you want the money or the do you just want name of ill fame?

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If you voted for the Dems don't be surprised when things don't turn out quite as you were led to expect. Some might call it pure Marxism. But the problem with Obama economics is there's not enough money in the world to make it work.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 6:47 am 
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I like Chicago South Shore Airport. Whatever - just sell it for whatever you can get. Stop draining taxpayers' $$ - maybe Porter County won't fight the RTA so hard.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:43 am 
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Mirage I remember you posting about Ryan Air in another thread. This airport would be a gold mine for O'Leary.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 8:48 am 
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Like I said the airport is really only worth $1 but the problem is finding someone who can do more with it than demand more money to waste from the citizens. From that perspective $1 is a win, win.

Few have forgotten that Gary's 1 redeeming attraction was the free parking. So in a moment of greed they paid a bit of money to make it a pay lot and there hasn't been a commercial flight since. Typical of why the airport is a big financial failure. But I guess they make a few parking dollars off private pilots, though probably not enough to cover the cost of the equipment.

And last I heard Rudy still wants the South Shore re-routed to the airport terminal or else the terminal be relocated. Seems to me it would be cheaper to get a van and an on call driver until there's actually a realistic expectation of patronage.

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If you voted for the Dems don't be surprised when things don't turn out quite as you were led to expect. Some might call it pure Marxism. But the problem with Obama economics is there's not enough money in the world to make it work.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:01 am 
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Mirage wrote:
And last I heard Rudy still wants the South Shore re-routed to the airport terminal


Rudy's only good idea. Now if only they'd get the Gary name out of the airport people could bypass Gary all together.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:46 am 
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How is that a good idea? Spend a bunch more money for nothing? :roll:

Without a commercial flight nobody is gonna take the train to the airport anyway.

_________________
If you voted for the Dems don't be surprised when things don't turn out quite as you were led to expect. Some might call it pure Marxism. But the problem with Obama economics is there's not enough money in the world to make it work.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 9:56 am 
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Mirage wrote:
How is that a good idea?


You could leave the airport without ever stepping foot in or laying eyes on Gary.


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 Post subject: Re: I Want My Money!
PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2010 1:34 pm 
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Remember that shopping mall on 5th on the other side of the tracks? My family used to shop there until it became too unsafe back in the 70s. Near the end of the mall the city had a lot of cops patrolling that road back to to the Cline overpass. If the airport had a viable commercial airline and that mall was reborn and safe I might could see the logic in spending the money on the rail stop.

In the past I even suggested an overhead maglift train or something similar with then Federal experimental dollars (only talking a few miles) to hit the casino, the airport, the ball park, and the Genesis Center) if it was part of an economic revitalization plan. In hindsight all the promises of growth from the airport expansion failed to be seeded at all. So it's just as well.

---------------------------------

Just wanted to add in this link to the $7 mil jet center controversy.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... e82fa.html

So the airport is for sell but they want to spend more money to improve it? For what? :roll:

I am not speaking to the merits of the project itself but the odds are pretty good that this will result in another loss of money. And of course we know this loss is not coming out of airport profits, it's coming from YOUR POCKET. lol

_________________
If you voted for the Dems don't be surprised when things don't turn out quite as you were led to expect. Some might call it pure Marxism. But the problem with Obama economics is there's not enough money in the world to make it work.


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