As posted on BlueIndiana.net by finfinito (my Friend)
MSNBC has been running a series of reports about the impact the recession is having on the city of Elkhart, IN. Elkhart has been hit particularly hard by the loss of jobs in the RV industry which had become the lifeblood of the local economy for decades. Now, with gas prices at record levels and fewer people investing in the gas guzzling RVs produced in Elkhart, the city has been struggling.
Jennifer Holderread is a resident of Elkhart who has been dismayed by how the city and its people are being portrayed on the Project Elkhart series on MSNBC. She contacted me on Facebook in an effort to get the word out about what is really going on in the city. The following story below the fold is the first of what I hope to be regular dispatches from the front lines of the recession in Indiana.
I'm going to be conducting an interview with Jennifer which I will post here on Tuesday. If anyone has any questions you would like me to ask her about Elkhart and the recession please leave them in comments here and I will include them in my interview.
by Jennifer Holderread
By now many people across the nation have heard of a small Midwestern town named Elkhart, Indiana. If you haven't, well let me tell ya a little story.
This is your average everyday modest Midwestern town. No, really. Not like the kind you see on TV. It is a town that has had its share of good and bad, beautiful and ugly. We are not without our projects or our high-rises. We have farm life and inner city life. We have a great theatre right down town.
There is an awesome children's center just around the corner form just about everyone. There are the best steak houses and coffee houses! And most of what I've described is locally owned and operated. Or at least it used to be.
See, all of these places I've told you about are either gone now or are going out of business shortly. This seemingly prosperous town is in danger of becoming nothing more than a media plaything. The people are leaving and the farms are drying up. The theatre is falling apart, and the restaurants aren't even grilling anymore.
This is my town! I don't want to leave. When I was growing up, sure, but who doesn't want to go somewhere more glamorous when you are a kid. But when you are put in a dangerous position you do what you must to protect yours, right?
Not any more I say. Elkhart has been put in the media spotlight recently. And it started out with good intentions. I will not name the media agency, because I do not work for them nor do I have their permission. Feel free to look it up online though, it is there.
Recently I viewed a post on the popular social networking site Facebook. This article is not intended to downplay anything you may have read on this site. The site is wonderful and is a great tool for many reasons.
What I saw was quite disturbing. It wasn't blood and guts...not people being murdered or robbed. It was of "responsible journalism". Elkhart Indiana is a town that has definitely been hit with more than its fair share of economic woes.
We were the RV capitol of the world. We thought we had something to be proud of. A title if you will. Turns out the ones working were the only ones that were proud.
I come from a line of RV workers. Most of them had no other option but to work in this field. Once you get sucked in to something that supports a lifestyle of comfort, it is extremely difficult to find the way out. Elkhart has long been the average Joe's town. Not to beat a dead horse. But it has. And the people who live here were happy to be content. Sure we all want the big house and the nice fast car and the vacations. But the majority of Elkhart has never and will never see those things. Most drive a used car and live (or at least used to) in small modest homes.
We have never been a boastful city. And now, we are all over the media. The last time we were in the media, it was because of Hurricane Katrina. Remember how the people of this area busted butt and got thousands of homes to displaced people in the south? Oh, and then got sued for it. The people who built those homes did not know that the material they were given could harm anyone. And would never put people in danger like that.
Well, it seems that all of that hard work blew up in our faces. And now it is my fear that this current media coverage will blow up in our faces as well if the people of this city do not take back the control of their own!
I was excited to hear that the media was coming to my town. I thought "Finally! Maybe people will realize we are a great place to live and start looking to us." They are looking to us. But not the way WE need them to be.
The story I saw was of a reporter who was supposedly in Elkhart at the time. I couldn't tell with the Seattle skyline behind him. He was telling the story of how we are a city on the comeback that our unemployjment rate just dropped under 18% and how happy the citizens are to be getting $4.4 mill for the resurfacing of the runways at an airport here.
I have had friends that have worked at this airport and it is a great place. But other than the air shows that they put on, I have never seen a plane land there. And who's getting the contract? Will it be any local company? Most likely not. They can't afford to even bid on the project I'll go ahead and bet. And if it does deserve the money, please just tell us why. What are the plans? Is there big business coming in via the private airport? You have got to make this public knowledge or the public will suspect the worst. We are not an ignorant town. We can handle the truth!
This story just out and out, well outraged me. So I decided to use the social network that so many people find useless, and tell the real story. Below you will find some comments and emails that I received posted directly form people who do live or have lived in Elkhart!
This is OurSide! The real story of Elkhart!
"Elkhart needs direction, not a temporary band aid." Elkhart Resident...
"Well, Elkhart, no one's going to come and save us. Guess we'll have to do that ourselves (as always)." Elkhart Resident...
"You have GOT to be friggin kidding Me???!!! Medicaid medical insurance for LOW income people????? My family is a NO income family right now with the exceptions of unemployment and what little child support my wife gets. We are IN THE MIDDLE of the poverty category and I CANT GET MEDICAL INSURANCE!!!!!!! So where IS this money that is SUPPOSED to be going to fund my medical issues that I have been DENIED!?!?!" Elkhart Resident...
Oh yeah I forgot to mention, the story I saw about Elkhart also spoke of how the city is putting a greatest chunk of money into the Medicaid system. But our hospital staff just took a 4 - 6 and 8% pay cut across the board to help pay for unpaid claims and people who don't even qaulify for help because they haven't quite lost everything yet. As explained by the gentleman above.
"Cargo Trailers, Horse Trailers, Mobile Homes, Mobile Construction Offices, Truck Caps, Truck Campers, Class A, B, C RVs, Towable RVs, Ultra Lite RVs, Commercail Buses, Commercial Trucks (Panel Vans).....(the media) is missing the big picture entirely for the sake of expediency. ALL manufacturing in and around Elkhart is way down as well as the vast number of suppliers that are essential and number even higher than the manufacturers. The people in the networks cable and otherwise view the Midwest as fly-over country at best and cannot be trusted to view their stories with our best interests at heart...only their own." Elkhart Resident...
"Ooops, maybe now they will stop with our golden runways and all! :)" ME...
"The Elkhart Airport is not busy and re-paving won't change that. The idea that infrastructure re-investment will spawn growth is a patently false one. It's only a band-aid that will yield minimal, short term results and beholden the airport even more to the Federal Government. As for increasing Medicaid...who do the smart a**es think pays to support it now? Wake Up!" Elkhart Resident...
"4.2 MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE AIRPORT???? This is an outrage! That whole airport isn't worth 4.2 mil....it's not even for commercial jets. Only private airplanes and lessons. This is insane...what a waste!" Elkhart Resident...
"Also, it is Indiana that proudly proclaims on its new license plates "in God we trust", not "in Government we trust"."
Elkhart Resident...
"I am sick and tired of hearing all the explanations of how to bring back the RV industry. The RV industry is GONE people . This is REALITY. It will NEVER flourish as it once did...NEVER. Elkhart and its surrounding towns NEED to find another avenue to establish . There are WAY too many people whining, and flapping their jaws about RVs and the RV businesses and NO ONE is working towards ANOTHER solution. Elkhart (and the midwest as a whole) needs to reinvent themselves with a new approach,industry,and train of thought. QUIT GIVING US THE BAND AID TO TRY AND COVER THE DEAD BODY!!!!!!!!!!! It's time to move on, and up. " Elkhart Resident...
But it was our only option for a long time. People tried to tell the city before.
"A 1978 study by three Elkhart high school seniors--Matthew Rueff and Doug Cogan of Central, and Melinda Carper of Memorial--said Elkhart was becoming too dependent on the RV industry (Truth, March 7, 1978, p1).
The Elkhart Truth and the Chamber of Commerce essentially dismissed the study, saying that Elkhart's economy was diversified (Truth, March 13, 1978, p4). At the time, Miles/Bayer was still going strong here, so the editorial had some credibility at the time. Thirty-one years later, it appears the students were right." Elkhart Resident...
"I lived in Elkhart, Indiana, for 15 years. I just moved away last summer. I returned last weekend to visit friends. From the news reports I expected to return to a town where half the business sat empty and children stood begging on the streets. However, Elkhart looks pretty much the same today as it did one year ago before I moved. I understand that many factories have closed outside the city limits and that many people are facing very difficult times, but I do think the picture that has been painted of Elkhart is far from accurate and is excessively gloomy. The people in Elkhart that I spoke with verified that things are challenging but they are viewing it as a positive. They feel that it is forcing people to run their business "lean and mean" in order to survive. They said you can't coast along and expect to survive. You have to be scrappy and creative. Those aren't necessarily bad things. " Former Elkhart Resident...
Wow! Scrappy and creative are too perfectly descriptive words to fit the bill. If nothing else, Elkhart IS creative. And we have some of the scrappiest folks you will ever meet her. We are willing to do the job asked of us. All we need is the opportunity. Not the bailout, not the handout.
We need to be recognized for what we all are here. Hard working people who have helped, quite literally, to build this country. It is not my intention to harm anyone with what I am writing about. Hence, no names. It is ONLY my intention, to bring to attention, our ambitions....
Thank you to all of the current and past residents who helped me put this together. We will make it happen!
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I live in a small town close to a major metropolitan area and so far, we have not experienced anything close to what is being reported in Elkhart . . . however, we have the same "phoney" work projects. Our roads are currently being repaved (again) and some roads are being repaved in the same places they were being repaved two years ago . . . and we have lots of signage now, stop signs, road signs, highway signs which is strange considering that the entire town consists of six "major" roads, and by "major" I mean two lane roads that occassionally branch out into three lanes to allow motorist to safely turn against traffic . . .really, how does anyone get lost and thus need a "sign" in a town with six roads . . .
Meanwhile our cities plumbing systems are decades out of date and many small businesses are leaving the area . . . probably because the damn roads that border their store front are blocked with bull dozers and earth movers, but I mean whatever, at least people are "working."
It's the same everywhere, charity. The money here where i live is all on roads and created zero jobs [don't quote me, spammers]
They're redoing the same roads they redo again and again, but they carry a lot of traffic, and every winter, they get pretty torn up from the climate and plowing.
Annoying orange barrels everywhere.
We did however replace two or three bridges, and one new one, where it was even needed, though an exit would have been nice. At least we won't suffer a bridge collapse. That would be horrible.
Yeah, if you ran the world it would be different. What are you gonna do?
Sounds like Coshocton, Ohio. Much of our major industry is no longer. Our roads are being resurfaced behind signs you wouldn't believe. I think Ohio has a sweetheart deal with some sign maker. Our airport is being extended after having had a major extension in the last few years. Our local armory is a brand new facility that stands empty most of the time. We can no longer support the air shows we had for a few years. We are the residue of an agricultural society that still functions but with far fewer members. Government subsidies have given farming a special role. Our communications infrastructure is stuck in the 1960's. If you follow the signs our major contribution to the nation is providing new recruits for the armed services. Our governor wants to gamble. He is a jack leg preacher by the way. Our politicians are too busy, Bob Ney led the way. Our media are stuck in the 1940's. We have a newspaper in name only. A radio station for an alarm clock and to pacify the cows. Makes them milk easier.
I live in the city of Elkhart, City with a heart.. I loved this city at one time, but now I don't know the good guy from the bad guy. They treat hard working tax paying citizens like a criminal when they have you in their crosshairs. I have taken pictures of the River Walk and had them posted as a result of entering them in a city scape contest. I have sold and listed many homes & met many families through my years of service through Real-Estate, Elkhart General Hospital, Bashor Children's Home & many mfg. jobs when I was employed as a steel fabricator, certified welder. I have always done the right thing & cared about my neighbors. I always had respect for authority and thought that I was safe. I don't feel like running long distances through the parks like I did for two years. I don't feel like going to the River Walk & relaxing like I once did. I don't feel like managing any consignment store or Real Estate office or assisting a Broker in a capacity to stimulate anything downtown or locally. No, I don't feel safe here anymore & as a result of that I am moving. I have no desire to stimulate this cities econmy now or in the future through my service or by the sweat of my brow. I am forever changed by what I have been through & treated like & as a result I don't belong in the place I was born- Elkhart General Hospital, Elkhart IN - and I am looking for a new home for my daughter & me to call home, a safe place.. - out of Elkhart. Forclosure is just one loss I have suffered in the last year - 16 yrs. raised an awesome family on E. Jackson, wonderful schools & great memories & wonderful neighbors.. great career, job's friends - I miss that & now things will never be that simple again because I was the citizen that embraced & loved this city & now I don't. The truth about this city horrifies me & it would anyone that thought some things just could never happen, well that is not true in this city without a heart.
My town has been very fortunate the past couple of years and we have no where near the problems of other small communities . . . we are not part of the "rust belt" and one of our "six" roads dead ends in a corn field which has houses an international insurance conglomerate . . . so we've been fortunate
But the issue with the roads and the signs isn't so much that we are "creating" jobs . . . it's that we are creating jobs that are pointless and will CEASE to exist once the funding is removed . . .
So I'm thinking if we had taken that 12 million or so and actually funded it via grants for small to medium start ups . . . you know, tapped into the talent of the surrounding college system (truly, the best universities in the world), given twelve smarty pants kids a million a piece to "do" something we would be so much better off in the long run . ..
I agree about the RV industry. Goshen is continuing to zone land for these plants hoping they'll come back and even creating a new road for the semi traffic they believe will return to the south side of town. The current RV plant buildings sit almost completely empty. The huge grass lots that once were packed with RV's now only hold one or two. The area needs to make it easier for start up small companies, not trying to bring back companies that are pretty much gone already or huge companies from overseas that will build here and then later move out because USA wages are generally higher.