DOUG ROSS: Reaching across state line to offer help

When I drove across the state line Thursday, no border guards greeted me. The road didn't change colors, the landscape was unchanged, and the people spoke the same languages. The state line was physically invisible.

Neither Lynwood nor Lansing nor Munster is the Emerald City. I don't think we're in Oz, Toto.

That's a very welcome development.

Also welcome are the increasing efforts to reach across the state line in cooperative efforts.

Governors State University is among these groups. The university's Board of Trustees is eliminating the out-of-state tuition multiplier for Indiana students.

"Students should have choices," GSU President Elaine Maimon told The Times editorial board this week. "They have good choices in Northwest Indiana, but now they can look across this thin border and particularly at Governors State."

GSU has been working with Ivy Tech, in particular, to help students in career and technical programs further their education at GSU and receive bachelor's degrees.

Maimon and the GSU board deserve credit for their efforts to erase that artificial boundary between the two states.

Likewise, the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association is carefully watching what goes on in Northwest Indiana. Economic development on either side of the state line helps communities and residents throughout the area.

Workers ignore political boundaries when seeking jobs. Nearly one-third of Porter County's labor force commutes to jobs outside the county.

Statistics for Northwest Indiana's labor force, based on 2007 income tax returns, shed additional light on this.

Porter County sends 7,200 workers -- 6.7 percent of its labor force -- into Illinois for gainful employment. Lake County sends 13,848 workers -- 14.8 percent of its labor force -- across the state line.

Each county receives workers from Illinois in return, although it's a smaller number.

Plop a large employer offering good wages anywhere in the South Suburbs or Northwest Indiana, and potential workers will eagerly go there. That's the value of working together on economic development issues.

The Metropolitan Planning Council also deserves credit for reaching across the state line to help Northwest Indiana communities and organizations meet their challenges. For instance, the MPC's Kristi DeLaurentiis has spent countless hours working in cooperation with The Times, Ivy Tech and others on a regional approach to boosting Gary's future development.

I'll continue driving across the state line on a regular basis. I'm glad so many others are reaching across that line, too, to help others.

Editorial Page Editor Doug Ross can be reached at (219) 548-4360 or (219) 933-3357 or Doug.Ross@nwi.com. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.