The people in control of the coin in Porter County got elected as "the disciples of NO" -- NO dump, NO Illiana Expressway, NO South Shore, NO Buses, NO RDA, NO C.R. 100 South improvement, NO kill at the animal shelter, NO to new schools.
But the reality is, while they say no, they never actually solve any problems.
They never did address the growing need for cost-effective solid waste disposal in the county.
They can't get tax bills out on time. (They can't even figure out if it's the assessment, the elected officials, the software, or something else.) They can't resolve the ambulance service issue.
They can't figure out what to do with the hospital sale proceeds. They can't figure out what to do with the $14.5 million in Major Moves money.
They can't figure out how to really attack the growing drug problem in our county. (They still won't admit that "Pathways" ended up being an expensive path to nowhere. All they do is add programs that disguise the problem or fool people into believing we're somehow mitigating the growth of the problem -- which we clearly are not).
They can't figure out how to use the third pod in our county jail. They can't figure out how/where to store our election equipment, avoiding the need to reprogram the units each time an election is held. (Harper, Whitten and company cannot and will not do business with Worstell, so the obvious, most cost-effective solution to the county's growing "space" problem will not be embraced -- buy the building across the street from the county administration building.
They can't figure out what to do with the growing number of animals resulting from their "no kill" policy. (Just because it's no longer on the front page of the newspaper does not mean the problem doesn't persist and isn't growing.) They can't manage to repair County Line Road in south Porter County-- and that's not the only county road being neglected. They have NO solution for 100 South, which will become a nightmare when the new I-65 interchange is completed.
While they distract the taxpayers with their RDA stage shows, real problems continue to grow. Their solution seems to be to hire a lawyer or consultant they can blame when things go wrong because they ran off all the Republicans. These folks have had six years of absolute control of county government to fix all those problems the Republicans created and left to them. When exactly do we begin to hold them accountable?
All the consultants, the lawyers, the software and the interest paid on borrowing is adding up to some serious money -- which will need to be paid back through tax increases. Whether it comes out of proceeds, principal, earned interest or the taxpayer's wallet, it's still increased spending, which translates into increased taxation. I wonder how their "disciples of no" are going to rationalize that?
The party of NO is paralyzed by their own politics. They've created an environment where nothing can be done that requires someone to say yes. It oppresses new ideas and stifles forward thinking and innovation. It's entirely and completely reactive, requiring a crisis to act. But of course it is. Manipulators love crisis; it's where they do their best work.
Bob Wichlinski, Director of the Commercial Systems Group at 21st Century Systems, is a former Porter Township trustee. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.
