I think one argument that is being grossly overlooked by proponents lies in one word: UNITY. Northwest Indiana has been ignored and dismissed by the rest of the state since the very beginning, despite rivaling Indianapolis in population. Part of this disparity rests with the leveraging advantage many state capitol cities have in being closest to the flagpole, and as well because our state happens to have its largest city and state capitol in the same place.
However, I feel the much bigger disadvantage we have starts right here. Indianapolis continually laughs at the Region because in many ways we have brought in on ourselves. The communities in the Northwest corner of this State couldn't organize a one car funeral. Getting even the smallest thing done is like herding cats. We can't even get these petty, squabbling communities to agree on what will benefit the entire Region as a whole, including even their respective individual self-interests. These short-sighted leaders would fiercely debate even the merits of bringing sunshine and rainbows to the Region if one community was to receive an ounce more than the next. We're fighting over the scraps when we should be shouting with a single voice downstate.
One tragic factor in this is the irrational fear of what lies West of the Lake-Porter County line spreading this way, and the response being the resulting "fence-building" mentality (which I have commented on extensively in posts and comments here, and which have been grossly misinterpreted). Is there really a rational reason to fear collaboration with Lake County? (I believe they were even able to get their tax bills out before ours recently...)
In my opinion, the RDA is a head start toward a constructive Regional dialogue. It at least compels us by law to sit down together as a Region in the same room and work through the overarching issues. There may be other ways to accomplish this end, I don't know; I think, though, that it surely can't hurt this effort...
Thoughts?
