Marshall County
Blast from the Past! – Jack Jordan
Every once in a while when I’m searching for something in the ECC blog, something from the past catches my eye. I ran across a post I made when Jack Jordan was running against Jackie Walorski for the 2nd District congressional seat. I made a salient observation in that post… “He (Jack) has the basic Republican positions, but with a strong “anti-politician” message. One of his issues is term limits and he has promised no more than three terms. I wish I could believe in that… I want to believe in that… It seems though, that those that run for political office quickly become politicians. The number of incumbent politicians that believe in term limits is significantly less than those using that platform plank in their first run for office.”
The above commitment referenced serving the 2nd District in Congress, which are two year terms. State Representatives run for 2 year terms too. Jack is in his 4th term and it looks like he’ll be running for a 5th term.
MCEDC Annual Report
Great to see that Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) is back on track with Annual Reports. (And not just because of my teeny-tiny picture on the cover! Ha!) Riverside Commons actually has two references in the report, though not by name.
The lack of an Annual Report was one of the major issues in my last couple of years on the board. It got contentious with that director fabricating a false schedule for producing a report that never happened. Then it was apparently just completely disregarded by the next director. I’m glad to see that the new leadership under Greg Hildebrand includes living up to commitments, the Annual Report being one of these.
I don’t know how Greg is doing on the State and National levels, but on the local level, it’s been refreshing to have a MCEDC President that is not constantly burning bridges, MIA or joked about due to the inability to contact them or find them in the office. He also doesn’t take his title too seriously. IYKYK This will go a long way to improving MCEDC’s image and returning it to the mission it had when it was founded.
I hope we will be seeing quarterly newsletters again too. The organization has to be seen and seen as productive in order to continue to move the county forward. Even at its low points, I felt it was positive for Marshall County to have MCEDC. Good luck to Greg as he strives to make it an organization of which we can be proud once again.
Electronic Sign Update
Well, following up on my previous sign posts (Pun Intended), there was some improvement around graduation with some good info on schools and congratulatory posts, but that ended rather quickly. We’re back to Date & Time, Affirmations and the Farmer’s Market.
I didn’t see anything about LaPaz’s Sesquicentennial celebration last weekend. There’s been nothing about the Mayor’s Months of Music kicking off at River Park Square in Plymouth. I know there are a lot of other things going on throughout the County we could share.
Locally we have a concert at the park on Saturday. The Park has a movie night on June 23rd. We have calls for Miss Maxinkuckee entrants. The library has programs almost weekly. It’s never too soon to start promoting Lakefest coming up July 14th. There is no reason to ever see the Date & Time on that sign! Ha!
Kids Rule
It often comes up that Marshall County is disadvantaged by not having public transportation. This is one of many “Save the Planet” initiatives and often called out as a CC problem. But I can’t help but wonder how effective it would be when we don’t use the one that’s already in place? I’m talking about School Buses…
I’m not picking on the current generation in school (except for Greta), because this has been an issue for decades. The number of kids on the buses continues to dwindle as the parking lots at schools continue to grow. There’s some justification in the older kids that have extra curriculars and maybe after school jobs, but it doesn’t negate the fact that we have a working public transit system that is largely being abandoned.
To some extent, this appears to be a trained response. Schools are forced to accommodate the “car line” phenomenon, where increasingly, kids at younger ages are dropped off and picked up by a parent. Despite new accommodations, there are still traffic jams around schools in the mornings and late afternoons as parents line up to pick up their kids. Watching from the outside, I don’t see many cases of carpooling in these lines either.
I know a few school administrators that would probably shoot me for pushing more bus use, since they are constantly looking for drivers, but allowing for the personnel problem, the rest of the system is already in place and budgeted. Are there options for creative scheduling to at least accommodate the extracurricular things? Would promoting school bus use for students help stem the tide of personal vehicle use? Could school buses be repurposed during non-school delivery times to serve as public transportation, saving the creation of new infrastructure?
Honestly, I’m not sure how viable public transportation is for rural areas; school buses or otherwise. Even at the size of Plymouth (10,000), I’m not sure there’s sufficient mass to justify the cost, let alone for all of Marshall County. But my point is, if we’re not weaning the next generation off individual car transportation, then it’s not going to matter. If we continue to cater to them, acting as personal chauffeurs for 5-year-olds, and making personal car ownership a right of passage at 16, then the trend won’t be broken. Kids Rule…
++++++++++++++++
For more of my thoughts on school buses, try Commuting Observations.
Strange Use of Funds…
September 18, 2023
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Marshall County
Burr Oak, Community, government
I don’t know about you, but I keep driving through Burr Oak and wondering when they are going to finish the project there. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s done! What a weird little project for INDOT to take on… They probably spent nearly as much on traffic control as they did for the actual work. (Along with all the signs on S.R. 17, there are orange warning signs on North Street and Center Street.)
Lurkers know, I have long predicted a renaissance in Burr Oak, starting with “If it ain’t Burr Oak, don’t fix it” back in 2014 and again in 2017, but I’m not sure what these little pieces of sidewalk really accomplish.
There are now ADA compliant sidewalk intersections with ramps, with ADA warning pads and ADA compliant widths choked down to meet existing non-compliant walks… where there are existing walks… In the case of the the walk shown to the right at the southwest corner of North Street and SR 17, neither sidewalk this improvement ties into goes anywhere beyond a couple of houses.
The improvement at the north west corner of Center Street and SR 17 is even more bizarre, as the walks in either direction are impassible and I assume, because there was no existing walk at the southwest corner of Center Street and SR 17, they didn’t do anything there. This makes the ADA warning pad shown to the right, point to… nothing… You’re back to walking on the highway.
I assume the new walks terminate on the west end where the Right of Way for SR 17 ends. I’m curious though, that if the State deemed it necessary to upgrade these sidewalks at these intersections, then why was this not a complete project, extending accessible sidewalks from the Burr Oak Whistle Stop on the south to Sunstar Hybrids (Osborn Seed) on the north? The same question applies to the east side of SR 17…
I don’t begrudge the citizens of Burr Oak the improvements. As I said, their time is coming. If the County sewer districts that are in the works materialize, that time maybe soon. I do question the use of these funds in this manner. As they are currently installed, if a follow up project materializes to continue the walks as contemplated above, these corners would need to be at least partially demolished and reworked. This is a mistake Culver has made in the past and one I’ve ranted about here…
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