By Andrea Holecek – Times Correspondent | Posted: Sunday, February 14, 2010 12:00 am Building the Illiana Expressway would bring an economic boom to the southern parts of Indiana’s Lake and Illinois’ Will counties as well as relieve congestion on the Borman Expressway, according to regional business leaders and community development groups.”You’ll see it bring a wave of opportunities for the residents and the businesses,” said Ed Dernulc, executive director of the combined Crown Point and Merrillville Chambers of Commerce.Economic development would center at the proposed road’s interchanges as at does at the interchanges along Interstate 65, he said. Plus, the highway would combat overcrowding of the Borman, which will soon be overused again, and its traffic will be too much for the county to handle, Dernulc said.Both Rick Klein, government affairs vice chairman for the Chicago Southland Chamber, and Ed Paesel, executive director of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, said the proposed expressway would keep and expand the many logistics businesses in the region. Read the rest of this entry »

In spite of the challenging economic times, 2009 closed as a watershed year for the Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation, reflecting a 50 percent increase in investments.More than 250 private and public sector professionals attended CSEDC’s January 22nd quarterly economic development forum in South Holland, Illinois.  Local economic development programs were presented and regional capital improvement project progress updated.With the adoption of the Chicago Southland Vision 2020 for Sustainable Development initiative, CSEDC has become recognized as a “go-to” organization in the region.  Vision 2020, however, underwrites the corporation’s goal to promote cooperation and advocacy through Southland organization cooperation and involvement. Please email Reggie at reggie.greenwood@ssmma.org to discuss the ideas of Vision 2020 and please consider to make an investment in CSEDC in 2010.

SOUTH HOLLAND | When Illinois Department of Transportation official Susan Shea has dreams, they include shovels hitting dirt to begin construction of a long-proposed Chicago-area airport near Peotone.  In those dreams, the calendar reads 2013.  The director of aeronautics for the Illinois Department of Transportation on Thursday told a gathering of south suburban municipal, business and education officials that she would like to see construction begin on a new airport north of Peotone within three years. ”I want a groundbreaking within three years just like you want it,” Shea told civic leaders who gathered at the South Holland Community Center, 501 E. 170th St., to hear an update on several regional construction projects. Read the rest of this entry »