02/20/2009 - Portage mayor delivers optimistic message (Times of Northwest Indiana)

Portage mayor delivers optimistic message

BY JEFF BURTON
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PORTAGE | Speaking to members of the Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce at Woodland Park's Oakwood Grand Hall on Thursday afternoon, Mayor Olga Velazquez said the past months have been filled with tough decisions in tough times.

Delivering her State of the City address, Velazquez said the record-setting floods and abundance of snow emergencies have put a strain on the city's finances, but with improved training, city employees are better prepared for emergency situations.

"Our employees were ready and responded to the tasks in the safest and most effective manner possible," she said.

Velazquez said, despite the economic downturn, there are commercial and industrial expansion projects still moving forward. She said space at AmeriPlex at the Port continues to be leased out to industry and the former Holiday Inn on the corner of U.S. 20 and Indiana 249 is undergoing extensive renovation, a project that garnered applause from the crowd. She said that developers representing an office superstore are in talks to locate in the city and a downtown educational complex is still a priority.

"I will not give up on that project," Velazquez said.

There are also ideas being floated around to help build a better sense of community, Velazquez said, including a new Portage Perch Festival and having the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra perform at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk site of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

"Our location is our greatest asset," she said. "There is a lot of good news out there. Yes, there are difficult times ahead and they are not unique. We will weather this economic crisis because we are a strong community."

Velazquez said she's looking forward to the possibility of bringing stimulus dollars back to the city to do some necessary infrastructure improvements

"We are going to make sure we are bringing those dollars to our community," she said. "Some of the first projects that can go are the paving projects."

Velazquez said the city has plans to pave some of its heavily travelled arterial streets, like Hamstrom Road and portions of Central Avenue and the federal dollars could both speed up those projects and free up dollars in the city's budget for other uses.