Marshall County Economic Development is pleased to announce that in partnership with the North Central Indiana Small Business Development Center, free, confidential, one-on-one business assistance will be available at our Plymouth office on Miller Drive once a month beginning Wednesday, March 23rd.
Individual appointments to meet with Alan Steele, ISBDC Business Advisor, will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. This opportunity is open to entrepreneurs considering starting a business and those new to business ownership. But it is important to note the wealth of information and support services that SBDC can provide to ANYONE making critical decisions about how to improve their small business – particularly useful for existing strong Marshall County businesses facing new challenges brought by the digital-global-information age!
See the range of services provided below and at the SBDC website at http://www.southbendbcg.com/ for more information on how SBDC can help you succeed in taking your business to the next level.
I was amused when I saw that the Wisconsin State Senate Democrats were hiding in Illinois. Their new moniker as the FLEE Party was funny. Now I am ashamed to see that our Indiana State Representatives, including our local District 17 Representative, Nancy Dembowski, are doing the same. If you’re as embarrassed by her method of representing us as I am, please take the time to send her a note here: h17@in.gov
This is poor government, poor sportsmanship and just plain poor leadership. I received an email from the Indianapolis TEA Party that has a lot of interesting links if you want to follow up with them. You can see the email here. They are not only taking on the missing Democrats, but also the Governor and the Republican led Senate, asking for better leadership from our representative government. I don’t think this is an unreasonable request.
There is a billboard at the corner of S.R. 8 & S.R. 17 that I pass every day on the way to work. It has Nancy Dembowski’s smiling face telling me she’s my Representative. If that’s the case, why is she hiding in Illinois?
Last Week the Plymouth Industrial Development Corporation (PIDCO) held their annual meeting, the highlight of which was the presentation by Stu Summers on their Destination Downtown initiative to invigorate Plymouth’s Core. (They also discussed how horrible the existing PIDCO website is. Ugh!)
The main thing I took from the presentation was PIDCO’s desire to learn from other communities and capitalize on their successes. They spent time in Valporaiso and developed a non-competitive relationship where the two communities can share ideas and successes going forward. I hope they continue this spirit of cooperation and foster relationships with other nearby communities such as Warsaw and Rochester. This is similar to the initiatives taken by the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) in their efforts to form relationships with surrounding counties. “A rising tide lifts all boats” is an aphorism that can be applied to the economic successes of our towns, cities, counties and regions.
They also took the opportunity to honor Brent Martin who has often been the main impetus in bringing their projects to fruition. It is unclear who is in line to step up to this challenge on the new PIDCO board, but it is clear that they will have big shoes to fill.
Attendees at The Midas Center Reception (Left to Right: Bob Wagner, Brent Martin, Kevin Berger and Marcy EckoffWagner
Congratulations to Andrea Cook and The Midas Center on their move to their new location at 200 North Michigan Street in Plymouth. I attended their Reception on December 17th and it was interesting to see their progress and the various people, some of them old friends, that are involved and were there to help them.
I initially connected to Andrea through her position on the Culver Redevelopment Commission. She has become quite active in the Culver and Plymouth Communities through her business at The Midas Center as well as her two community promotion sites, iHEARTplymouth and iHEARTculver. I have consulted with Andrea and her husband Phil on the status of the historic building they have purchased and we are working with them on a restoration project at the site.
In the previous entry on Complete Streets, I was discussing development in Culver. Marshall County is in the process of constructing Pioneer Drive (Pine Road Extension, VanVactor Parkway or Holm Highway depending on what you hear) on the west side of Plymouth. Theo and I took a walk along it from Lincoln Highway to State Road 17 and back the other evening before the weather turned and before the asphalt was placed. It was a pretty night for it, though the buzzing, cracking and popping from the high voltage towers was a little disconcerting…
It appears that Marshall County may have missed several opportunities on this project for implementing some Complete Street ideas. (Disclaimer: I have not reviewed the final plans and I’m only going by my observations of the construction as it stands.) Since this road comes out in the middle of several subdivisions on the southwest side of Plymouth, there could have been better provisions made for cyclists and pedestrians. Instead it appears that the road has standard shoulders with large deep ditches on either side. I initially thought that it was probably too far out to really have too much pedestrian traffic, but when I actually walked it the other night, I was surprised to find that I wasn’t the only one out there walking. Since this road leads to the Lifeplex it would seem only natural that it should include some recreational/physical fitness provisions. While I doubt sidewalks would have been cost effective for the potential foot traffic, adding a wider shoulder on one side with bike/pedestrian accommodations could have made sense.
The intersection with State Road 17 appears to have some sight distance issues that will make it difficult for both motor vehicles and especially cyclists. Not to defend their flagrant disregard for road rules and etiquette; it’s pretty common to see bicycles ignore stop signs and lights at intersections. They seem to do this regardless of the safety hazards involved.
I was disappointed in the implementation of erosion control on this project. In many of the areas silt fence has been installed merely as window dressing running parallel to the slope rather than perpendicular to the slope where it would be effective. There were areas where silt fence was installed at the top of the slope rather than at the bottom and was/is having no effect at all on erosion control. Rip rap was missing from spillways and detention pond structures were left unprotected.
The deep ditches all along the road are disappointing on several levels. They limit the opportunities for landscaping and the option of making this road into a tree-lined parkway. They do little to slow stormwater runoff and the detention ponds appeared inadequate to account for the new impervious surface created by this road. Development expenses will be high since if the ditch dimensions are appropriate then equivalently large culverts will be needed at any driveway accesses. The ditches will also make it difficult to add lanes in the future if this road should need to be expanded to four lanes (as Oak Road was.). And finally, since this road is to act as a bypass, then any new drive connections should include accel/decel lanes, which will be difficult and expensive to construct – another thing that is not conducive to development.
Sycamore Road/Rose Road Bypass
There’s no doubt that I was a little jaded on this project from the beginning. I was involved with the Culver Chamber’s effort to spearhead a true Plymouth by-pass, from where S.R. 17 turns at West High, north to S.R. 30. My personal feeling is that this would have served as a more effective by-pass and would have furthered the interests of Culver and Ancilla College in the process. It would have allowed for an aerial railroad crossing due to the natural terrain; something lacking on Pioneer Drive. (Water under the bridge, since additional residential development has occurred making this bypass route more difficult than it would have been 10 years ago.) Pioneer Drive does not seem particularly effective as a by-pass or as a means of opening new land for development. It seems to have missed a lot of its potential.
Marshall County Economic Development is pleased to announce that in partnership with the North Central Indiana Small Business Development Center, free, confidential, one-on-one business assistance will be available at our Plymouth office on Miller Drive once a month beginning Wednesday, March 23rd.
