Priorities for Chamber of Commerce in 2009 announced

One of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce’s top priorities is to support substantial funding for the Indiana Innovation Alliance.

The Alliance is a partnership between IU and Purdue University that will focus on bringing funding and strength to the state’s assets in biosciences and life sciences.
“What they’re trying to do is a $35 million ask of annual aid-based appropriation to launch this alliance,” said Christy Gillenwater, president and chief executive of the Chamber.

On Monday the Chamber announced its legislative priorities for 2009, selecting five out of 24 key issues on which to focus.

The Chamber’s second priority is to provide the necessary funding to expand Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington.

“Ivy Tech has grown just from 2007 to January 2008 about 14 percent, we understand,” Gillenwater said. “They are literally busting at the seams over there.”

Ivy Tech freshman Samantha Gigax said she knows the school already has an extension on Liberty Drive, but overcrowding on the main campus hasn’t bothered her.
“My classes are full, but I’m not uncomfortable,” she said. “It’s nice they’re going to expand, though.”

Expansion was a running theme in the Chamber’s priorities because they plan to improve the infrastructure of the 45/46 Bypass by expanding it.

“There is a project before INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) that’s about a $50 million expansion project of the Bypass,” Gillenwater said. “It would make it four lanes with turn lanes and basically run from Third Street to Kinser Pike.”

Gillenwater said the project plans are complete. It’s only a matter of moving forward with the necessary funding and carrying out the construction.

“I think it’s extremely necessary,” said Barbara Leininger, a Bloomington resident and frequent traveler on the Bypass. “It will help with what Bloomington considers rush-hour traffic move better.”

The Chamber would also like to follow the Kernan-Shepard Report recommendations on bipartisan government reform.

The fifth priority on the Chamber’s agenda is to find a way to stop constitutional amendment property tax caps. Currently, the property taxes are 1 percent on residences, 2 percent on farms and rental property and 3 percent on businesses.
“We’d like to see more equality in the property tax caps that have been presented,” Gillenwater said. “It could hurt businesses and property tax payers with the 1-2-3 system we have now. And we should not change the Constitution until we have better information on how the 1-2-3 really is indeed impacting our state.”

The Chamber will tend to all 24 legislative priorities for 2009 but will try to focus promptly on these five.

“This has been a great opportunity, and it’s the first legislative agenda that we have unveiled at this level,” Gillenwater said. “We look forward to partnering with other groups and moving this all forward.”