4/17/05: Alan Resetar: NIRPC finding
I caught a tiny article in the Post-Tribune last week.  Post Tribune (14 Mar 2005) notes NIRPC's Transportation Policy Committee delayed action on five Porter County projects "including an interchange on IN 49 at CR 400N, slated for 2008, and extension of Vale Park Rd in Valparaiso in 2010....  Transportation planner Belinda Petroskey noted that the Vale Park project was the only one on Northwest Indiana to receive unfavorable comments at the recent series of NIRPC public open houses around the region." 
If someone can contact NIRPC for the official press release and other details, we can formulate a strategy to keep the pressure up and also use this information in letters to the editor.  Keep up the great work.  Sincerely,  Alan Resetar

4/14/05: Dorothy: Draining Silver Lake?
I stopped at the end of Kraus Drive today and the water looks as if it has receded about 20 feet recently.  I talked with the owner of the house on the lake and he said that within the past 2 weeks it has gone down a lot.  He couldn’t figure it out.   Dorothy    
4/13/05: I had a call today from an interested citizen.  She lives in the apartments behind K mart and said her creek flooded 4 or 5 times last week and there was no rain.  She also noticed that the level of Silver Lake seems to be lower.  Do you all think they are lowering the level to make the wetland area look dry?  We need to get out there and see if the level really does look lower.   Dorothy

Road project debate rages in Valparaiso: April 26, 05, By Jim Stinson / Post-Tribune staff writer

Valparaiso may be seeing a new fee for garbage collection that will fund road maintenance, but it was one road in particular that brought citizens out to complain.  Before Mayor Jon Costas pitched his ordinance to raise a $9 garbage fee — $6 for senior citizens making less than $14,355 — Dorothy Graden of Friends of Silver Lake showed up to give a presentation on the Vale Park Road extension  And present she did, with placards and timelines of city meetings going back to 2002.

Graden tore into the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission, saying they were disregarding a third-party finding on long-term water-table monitoring. Graden and her group oppose the extension of Vale Park Road from Valparaiso Street to Campbell Street, and claim it could damage the lake and its adjacent wetlands, and cause flooding.  Graden, a resident who lives near the southern edge of Silver Lake, said the city has claimed no ecosystem analysis is needed of the coming road project. And she said the Redevelopment Commission, a mayoral department, is not accountable.  Her presentation brought sustained applause from about 20 audience members at City Hall.

Costas said the road is needed as the state plans a diamond interchange at 400N and Indiana 49.  “It’s not just any road,” said Costas.  And Costas said the land being used is no longer in the hands of the private sector, which could have developed the land for commercial use. Instead, it was purchased by the Redevelopment Commission with its special tax increment financing money.  “If we put in the road, (the wetlands) will be protected,” said Costas.

City Councilman John Bowker, a Redevelopment Commission member, could barely contain his frustration at the charge of non-accountability. He listed all commission meetings since the June hearing on the road, and noted there has been little input from Friends of Silver Lake.  “You haven’t participated in the process,” said Bowker. “If you have issues with the Redevelopment Commission, come to the Redevelopment Commission meetings.”  Bowker said the commission has taken advice, and will add more wetlands and trees. Bowker said the original wetlands affected were as large as 1.5 acres, but now constitute 0.007 acres — the length of the council’s meeting area, he said, gesturing to the desk space.

The meeting grew tense when Graden, during Redevelopment Commission director Stu Summers’ explanation of the project, held up a placard while she sat in the front row.  “That’s annoying,” Summers said.  Graden lowered the placard after Costas made a request.  Costas eventually moved on to the first reading of his garbage fee ordinance, which would institute the city’s first-ever garbage fee. Garbage collection is funded with property taxes, and Costas said Valparaiso is one of the few Indiana cities that doesn’t charge a fee while providing the trash service.
Costas told the council that the $9 monthly fee would raise $800,000 annually. The ordinance would devote all of those funds to annual road repair and resurfacing.  The council was still hearing the issue at press time.  Contact Jim Stinson at 477-6017 or jstinson@post-trib.com