We don't always play nice w/ each other |
Or
all those “Illinoyed” billboards that Indiana used as part of a state campaign
to try to encourage businesses to relocate to the Hoosier state.
IT
WORKED IN terms of drawing some small companies across the border – to parts
where they’d still be close to Illinois and the Chicago metro area, which was
the source of their real business.
But
it never managed to draw anything huge away from Illinois – after all, no
matter what the lower tax rates would be, you’d still be in Indiana. “You get
what you pay for” is the rule that ought to apply here.
The
point of this recollection is that it’s not new for the Midwestern states bound
together by their proximity to Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes to see
each other as rivals.
So
perhaps it shouldn’t be odd to learn that the Whole Foods chain of high-scale
supermarkets is making a move of its distribution center that provides goods to
their Chicago-area stores.
THAT
DISTRIBUTION CENTER had been located in Munster, Ind. – a municipality located
right on the Illinois/Indiana border across from suburban Lansing.
EMANUEL: A late Valentine's Day gift? |
It’s
now moving to the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago proper – a site that offers
one major asset that Munster could never have competed with. The Pullman
neighborhood is right on the Bishop Ford Freeway, which leads into the Dan Ryan
Expressway.
In
fact, the site of the new center to open in 2018 will be right on the freeway.
It will be easy for Whole Foods trucks to hop right onto the highway, then go
anywhere in the Chicago metro area to make deliveries of goods to be sold in
their supermarkets. As opposed to now, where those trucks have to fight their
way through the traffic mess that often is the Borman Expressway (we really do need the Illiana to be built) before they can get
into Chicago.
There
may have been some sort of tax break that Munster could have offered through the
fact that Indiana does hit its businesses with lesser rates. But they also can’t
offer the amenities that a Chicago or Illinois can. You pay more, but you also
get more.
Strengthening Midwest presence with Chicago |
I’LL
ADMIT IT probably was a bit cold for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to be seen snickering
and to refer to the move as a “late Valentine’s Day (gift) to Indiana,” but it
certainly wasn’t any more colder than the trash talk that the surrounding
states usually spew – often by trying to portray Chicago as some sort of
hellhole that draws everything down.
Which,
to me, often sounds like the petty whining of places that realize they can
never match Chicago’s many amenities.
Now
I don’t mean this as an Indiana-bashing session. Heck, I do work for one of the
daily newspapers in Northwest Indiana and often spend time in Gary itself.
Which for the record is a place that has so much potential, but can’t seem to
get itself together for so many reasons – many of which are beyond its control.
There
are times when I think Lake County and the surrounding areas of Northwest
Indiana ought to just de-annex from the land of Hoosiers and become a part of
Illinois. Maybe our people could make Gary succeed – rather than the Indiana
officials who, at times, seem obsessed with the idea of holding that city down.
Could we do better with it? |
BUT
IT’S NOT likely there will be any shift any time soon of the Illinois/Indiana border
from its current location between Chicago and Hammond to some place east of
Valparaiso.
But
our state may have accomplished something greater for the public image. For it
seems the advertising professional who created that “Illinoyed” campaign for
Indiana state government now works for Illinois.
Crain’s
Chicago Business reported the newly-created Illinois Business and Development
Corp. hired Kelly Nicholl – who as it turns out never gave up her condominium
in downtown Chicago, even while working out of Indianapolis.
Illinoyed no more? |
Perhaps
even she couldn’t bear the thought of being too close to the rest of Indiana,
which will now be the target of Illinois’ attacks!
-30-
EDITORS NOTE: For those of you who'd like to read the Hoosier perspective, WBEZ-FM's Northwest Indiana correspondent provides a comprehensive report.
EDITORS NOTE: For those of you who'd like to read the Hoosier perspective, WBEZ-FM's Northwest Indiana correspondent provides a comprehensive report.
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