Joe Smith Assesses Progress on Gary Airport Project on Inside Indiana Business TV

Joe Smith of Faegre Baker Daniels appeared on Inside Indiana Business Television's August 18, 2013, episode of The INsiders to discuss logistics in Northwest Indiana.

"It seems as though in Lake County, they can't seem to get everyone centered around one particular goal," Smith told host Gerry Dick when asked about progress on the Gary airport project. "There's been talk for years and years about the third airport for Chicago. Obviously there have to be synergies between Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to have real serious talks around how we can work together to bring airport support to the city of Chicago via Gary. A lot of times what's happened is, the eye has gone off the ball as far as focusing on how do we get synergies in the whole county, the whole region, to say 'Gary is the place where we can put this little gem.'

Responding to Dick's question on whether the Gary mayor could pull off the project, Smith said, "I think she will eventually. Karen is Harvard-trained, born and raised in Gary, she was the state official of the whole state of Indiana, and now she's back home trying to bring back her city, and I think she has the tools to do it. Now we have to worry about city of Gary having the actual foundation to grow it. When you talk about logistics and the airport, everything centers around that corridor, including the Illiana Expressway, the ports and all these synergies that come to one single spot. They've got to pay attention to how to grow that, infuse monies, come to one common accord and get it done."