sparks wrote:
Neometric wrote:
Why, because the People of the first congressional district chose, and continue to choose, not to pursue a course of development that necessarily entails an increase in population growth & density? Maybe we, the People of the First Congressional District of Indiana, PREFER the wide open spaces and room to encroaching RE developments; rooms with a view, instead of encumbering local tax dollars to further support a government subsidized commuter train in the cause of gentrified suburbanization
Representative Visclosky has supported the South Shore expansion for the last twenty years and has been one of it's biggest advocates. Since the voters in the first district have voted to return Visclosky to Congress nine times over the last twenty years they must be pleased with his work. Don't you think it's kind of arrogant to claim your opinions represent the majority view?
What are you jabbering about?
SouthShore Expansion Timeline
From NWI Times Jan 18, 20141989: Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission releases study identifying extending the South Shore as the best means of expanding mass transit in the region.
1991: General Assembly passes bill allowing South Shore to operate new rail lines that span only one county.
1991: Amtrak commuter service from Valparaiso to Chicago ends.
1996: U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky secures $500,000 appropriation for study of Lowell-to-Chicago South Shore service, now called the West Lake Corridor.
1998: NICTD hosts public hearing on the West Lake Corridor project for Lowell South Shore extension, which has an estimated price tag of $150 million.
2004: Communities throughout Lake and Porter counties agree to help fund a $550,000 study of extending the South Shore to both Valparaiso and Lowell.
Sept. 2005: Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. presses for including a Hammond "Gateway" regional bus and commuter rail station in any South Shore expansion plans.
Nov. 2009: Voter referendums to create a Regional Transportation District that could have aided in extending the South Shore
are soundly defeated in Porter and St. Joseph Counties. The votes were called off in Lake and LaPorte counties.
July 2011: NICTD officials proposed building a first stage of the South Shore extension from Munster to Dyer.
Feb. 2013: Indiana General Assembly creates summer study committee to review membership and funding for the South Shore.
Sept. 2013: U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky calls on Indiana General Assembly to find a solution to funding the South Shore extension.