Taylor-Brown Real Estate Talks

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Did you know that an industy or company could develop a community or city?  In most of the Midwest this was a common practice, hence the development of the community of East Chicago, Indiana.

The city has a history of being described as the “Twin Cities”.  This description was due to the city being divided into as east and west sides by the citizens at the time of inception.  The east side was known as Indiana Harbor and the west side was known as Sunnyside.

East side was comprised of Inland Steel and several other industries, and the west side was comprised of 140th Street North, south of Columbus Drive, west of Alder Street, and east of Cline Avenue.

The city grew and it 1920 had a population of approximately 36,000.  It was in 1920, that the section of Sunnyside was developed as a new community in Indiana Harbor.    This new community was comprised of 100 duxplexes that still stand today.   The homes were owned and rented to Inland Steel employees.   The rent was reasonable, so there was always a waiting list.

As times and financing changed, so did the ownership of the development, in 1963 the Purdue Calumet Development Foundation took over operation of the development.  The Development decided to sale the duplexes in 1969 with Inland employees getting first choice on the purchase of the homes.

With the sale of most of the homes, there was a need to develop more homes in the area.  In 1970, 38 homes were built.  With another eight homes being added to Evergreen Estates in 1974.

With the growth of Inland Street, the company committed to renovating the 100 duplexes in 1971.  This renovation was named the largest renovation in Midwest history.  The homes received many upgrades at the time to include upgrades to the plumbing, electrical wiring, and heating.

In those days, the companies were involved in your life to make your life better on and off the job.  I think that we may be headed by to those times.  Remember history has a habit of repeating itself.

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The Indiana general assembly will be in session soon.  Governor Daniels is planning to outline several proposed reforms.  Will these reforms affect you? Let’s examine.

Below are the outline of the proposed reforms:

• Governor Daniels is proposing replacing the county commissioner with one county executive.
• Governor Daniels is proposing combining election cycles to reduce spending.
• Governor Daniels is proposing making several now elected positions appointed positions.  Those positions include the county assessor, surveyor, coroner, and treasurer.
• Governor Daniels is proposing reducing the health care department.
• Governor Daniels is proposing consolidating smaller school districts into larger ones.
• Governor Daniels is proposing consolidating the local library to a county library.

The proposals that Governor Daniels are outlining in this session of the Indiana General Assembly is according to a Ball State University study estimated to save the state $630 million dollars.  While I happy that the Governor is attempting to save the state money, I have to wonder if there safeguards in place for all the changes that he propose.

Let’s examine each proposal seperately. 

Proposed one has to do with the county commissioners being consolidated into one executive commissioners.  The concerned here is will there be equal representation for all cities and/or all citizens in the county.   Needless to say, there is no safeguard under this proposal for the equal representation of all areas of the county.  Will there be a vote or speaker for each city or town on all issues or will there be one person who decides what is good for the whole with out hearing the whole opinion?

Proposed two is about combining election cycles.  I think this is a good idea.

Proposal three is about appointing not electing certain position to include the county assessor, surveyor, coroner, and treasurer.  I feel this to is a good idea if the people who are appointed to these position are qualified for the position.  I do feel that if this is approved there needs to be an outline of the qualification of the person appointed to these positions. 

Proposal four is about the health care departments.  According to the proposal some areas have too many health care departments.    Once again, there is no safeguard in this proposal for transportation for the low income and elder to the facility that will remain open. 

Proposal five is about consolidating smaller school districts into larger ones.  There is no safeguard in this proposal for equal funding for all schools in the new combine districts.   

 Proposal six is about consolidating the local libraries into a county district library.  I think this would be a good idea if all libraries remain open and equal funding is available to all.

I am sure the officials have their collectively hands full, but it is definitely time to bring Indiana’s government from the Dark Ages.  It is time to reform.  It is time to make changes because the future of the state depends on it.

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