The leaves are changing colors and there’s a crisp bite to the morning air. We all know what that means: It’s time to register for the 2011 Indiana Logistics Summit on October 12-13!

Okay, the changes in the weather and trees also mean that fall is upon us (which is probably what you thought I was getting at with that first sentence).

But how better to celebrate the fall season than by simultaneously celebrating the logistics, transportation and distribution industries during the two-day conference that features presentations by more than 20 industry experts, networking opportunities, booth displays, a reception at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, golf at the Brickyard Crossing, Speedway track tours and more.

This year’s summit also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – where the event will be held – as well as the 50th anniversary of the Ports of Indiana. Special events are planned to recognize both. The event is co-hosted by Ports of Indiana and Purdue University.

You’ve got to move fast to register for the conference. The full agenda and online registration is available at www.indianalogistics.com.

The term “donor” usually refers to a person who bestows something voluntarily – a vital organ to a person in need or blood to a blood bank; even someone offering money to an organization without expecting anything in return is considered a donor. 

But, Indiana’s title as a financial “donor state” in the federal transportation system has never been voluntary. (States that put more money into the federal transportation program than they receive out of it are considered donor states.) A total of 28 states have the moniker, and Indiana receives only 92 cents for every dollar given to the federal system.

To combat this inequity, Indiana Republican Dan Coats has joined with several other senators from around the nation in introducing the State Transportation Flexibility Act, legislation that would allow states to opt out of federal highway programs. The act gives states the flexibility to manage and spend the gas tax revenue collected inside each state on transportation projects without federal mandates or restrictions.

The federal gas tax is the biggest revenue generator for the federal highway trust fund. With more fuel efficient vehicles and people driving less on average, the gas tax has been pushed into a steady decline and the trust fund has been bailed out several times.

“For too long, Indiana has been a donor state and sent more gas tax dollars to Washington than it has received back,” Coats says in a press release. “This isn’t fair to Hoosier taxpayers, which is why I support the State Highway Flexibility Act. Hoosiers know our state’s transportation needs better than bureaucrats in Washington, and Indiana should be able to control its own resources.”

States that choose to opt out would have to continue to maintain the Interstate system in accordance with its current program, but all gas tax revenue gained inside its borders would be used at the state’s discretion on transportation projects without federal interference.

“Anytime you can eliminate a layer of federal bureaucracy from the state’s ability to govern, it is a good thing,” adds Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) in the release. “The states know their transportation needs better than Congress, so let’s put them in the driver’s seat to manage their own gas tax.”

In 2009, Alaska received $3.28 for every dollar it put into the federal fund, the District of Columbia received $5.04 for every dollar and Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont had returns of greater than 200% that same year.

For more information on the federal highway transportation fund and the challenges Indiana faces with the current transportation funding system, check out the story "Stuck in Neutral" in the May/June 2011 edition of BizVoice®. 

I’m doing some writing in a volunteer capacity for the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site here in Indy. For the upcoming September edition of its newsletter ("The Statesman"), I wrote an article about Union Station — which was built the same year Harrison was elected. I’m reposting the article here with permission (and please consider visiting or volunteering at the Harrison Home; it’s a wonderful standing tribute to a past president and Indiana resident):

The image and landscape of Indianapolis was changing in 1888. The population had boomed in the middle of the century, and its place in a nation still on the mend – just a quarter of a century after the Civil War – was evolving. The year saw many developments in the city, in fact. U.S. Senator Benjamin Harrison thwarted incumbent President Grover Cleveland’s bid for re-election. Indiana limestone and oak provided the foundation for Indiana’s new Statehouse – and at the heart of it all for residents and visitors alike was a new Union Station. While Harrison traveled out of the old Union Station en route to his posts during the Civil War, as well as his later duties in Washington, D.C., his grand departure to the White House was out of the new station in 1889.

To understand why the new station was necessary, one must turn back the clock even further to 1860. Just a decade after rail first came to Indianapolis, the city’s population had more than doubled in size to 18,611. This is not only when it became the state’s largest city, but when it became the state’s central hub (as Madison and New Albany had been the most critical conduits before that time due to their locations along the Ohio River). Soon, five railroad trunk lines and about 40 smaller operations were running trains through the Hoosier State. Though one of the first belt railroads in America was built for the Union Stockyards in 1877 (and the Indianapolis Union Railway Company leased it for the staggering duration of 999 years), owners of the five main lines knew a new building would soon be in order to accommodate the increased traffic.

The man cited by many as the chief visionary for the new facility was James McCrea, president of the Indianapolis Union Railway Company (and later president of the Pennsylvania Railroad). In an 1886 article, The Indianapolis Journal credited McCrea’s persistence as being the driving force in the development of the new facility. Once legislative approval came in 1885 and the real estate was acquired, the wheels were in motion, so to speak, to erect the new station between Illinois and Meridian Streets – just north of where the existing facility stood.

The new station opened in September 1888. The Indianapolis Journal reported:

The station proper is 150 feet square, three stories high, with basement and attic rooms. The tower is 185 feet high, and besides this structure there are two baggage rooms, one at the west and the other at the east end of the train sheds. The baggage rooms are each 150 feet long by twenty-five feet wide.

The train sheds are 741 feet long by 200 feet wide, constructed of iron with a tin roof. The station proper rests on a granite foundation, the stone coming from Iron Mountain, Missouri. The walls above are constructed of pressed brick, with brown-stone trimmings, which were shipped from Pennsylvania… Under cover of the sheds are ten long tracks, 741 feet long, and two short tracks…

Furthermore, The Indianapolis Sentinel explained:

Ticket-agent [Daniel] Donough is much pleased with his quarters. “It is absolutely,” he says, “the finest ticket office in the United States.” Tom Taggart’s lunchrooms are open this morning, fully prepared for the multitude who are already coming for the fair. The rooms on the upper floors, with the exception of the telegraph room, are not ready for occupancy.”

While most publicity was positive, this admonishing note was published in the September 22 edition of The Indianapolis Journal, although it likely seems comical to today’s reader:

There is a good deal of complaint among the male population who are not admitted to the ladies’ [waiting] room in the new Union Station. This is a rule at all large railway stations in this country and will doubtless be enforced until men have better habits. There should be one room at a large railway station, in fact, at a small one as well, where a lady can move about without her skirts dragging in tobacco spit.

As it pertains to Harrison, the station played a major role in his campaign. Oddly enough, it wasn’t because he travelled a great deal – but because he opted not to. In choosing to run a locally-based – or “front porch” – campaign from his home in Indianapolis, reporters, delegates and celebrities instead came to the city to see him, thus bringing more traffic through Union Station. His exposure proved to be just enough as he lost the popular vote, but was victorious in the all-important Electoral College.

Though he triumphantly left the station en route to his new accommodations in the White House in 1889, he would soon make a very forlorn return to the facility, coming back for his wife Caroline’s funeral in October 1892. (She died in the White House following a yearlong battle with tuberculosis.) Her death occurred just two weeks before the 1892 election, which he lost to Cleveland.

For more on the history of Union Station, read Indianapolis Union Station: Trains, Travelers and Changing Times, by James R. Hetherington.

—————–

BONUS FUN FACT: An energetic, inquisitive 17-year-old Thomas Edison worked at the old Union Station as a Western Union telegraph operator for a few months in 1864.

Customer service in any field or job is one of the reasons companies either succeed or fail. Good customer service can help you soar, as people want to continue to work with you even when something doesn’t go quite as planned. Bad customer service can be detrimental. Especially in this day and age of "status updates" and "tweets" that can cause PR nightmares.

Here’s a story of a good experience in an industry riddled with a bad reputation.

We’ve all had the experience at the airport where the man or woman behind the counter could care less about whether or not you reach your destination. They just want you to move along and go on to the next person. This is typically my experience. And it wasn’t until recently that I’ve seen a glimmer of hope. Even if it was just one person at one company (Delta Air Lines) – sometimes that’s all it takes.

My wife and I were flying to New York (via LaGuardia) to see her family. We had our 9-month-old daughter with us and after lugging four suitcases, a car seat and a stroller through the parking lot and up to the counter, we were told our flight had been cancelled only minutes before. You can only imagine our frustration, to say it lightly.

We were sent to another line at the ticket counter, seething and wondering how and if we were going to get through this.

We stepped up to the counter and the woman who now had our Fourth of July plans in her hands smiled and said hello to us and our daughter. We hoped, "Somehow, there must be a way out of here!" She searched for what felt like about a half hour, finding flights going through Detroit and that was about it. But with a baby, layovers can be tricky, especially if you have precious few minutes to get to your connection. She could see we were not happy with that solution and continued to search.

Minutes later she exclaimed, "Got it!" My ears perked up as she told us that there was a flight going to New York (JFK). That’s what we wanted to hear; we were back on track. She also informed us that we would be upgraded to first class, free of charge – indicating they may not be happy with her for doing so. Could it be? Could this woman really have been so nice and helpful to find a solution for us and our daughter that would be in our best interest and not the airlines? It could and she did.

I’m sure my smiling daughter (mixed with our comment about how she wouldn’t get to see her grandma) helped a bit, but it gives me hope that there are good people out there committed to doing the right thing for customers.

When I say I’m going to provide you some St. Lawrence Seaway shipping statistics, the reason is more than the alluring alliteration. Our friends in Northwest Indiana are well aware of the Great Lakes shipping connections to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the tremendous economic impact of those important waterways.

Wheat and wind turbines are leading the way. Check out the news courtesy of Marine Delivers:

The latest statistics from the St. Lawrence Seaway show that grain shipments are up more than 20 percent as the marine highway benefits from international demand for American and Canadian wheat.
 
Year-to-date grain shipments from March 22 to June 30 totaled 2.6 million metric tons, compared to 2.1 million metric tons during the same period last year. While Canadian grain shipments were up three percent for the period to 1.9 million metric tons, the surge was predominantly fueled by a 127 percent increase in U.S. shipments of 400,000 metric tons heading through the Seaway to overseas markets.
 
Rebecca McGill, director of trade development for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, noted that the 2011 navigation season continues to reflect respectable gains in general cargo and agriculture products.

There is one market, however, that is booming – the transportation of wind turbine components. Year-to-date general cargo shipments, which includes wind turbines, has increased by 404 percent. McGill said: “Shippers carrying wind component cargoes continue to send vessels into Great Lakes ports. These oversized pieces move economically by water to ports where rail or, more commonly, trucks move them to site destinations."

Rankings, no matter the category, are subjective at best. When the topic is "green cities," you can add an exclamation point to the subjectivity.

An entity called the U.S. and Canada Green City Index, in a survey commissioned by the Seimens Corporation, evaluated 27 cities on 31 indicators. There’s no need to be upset about where Indianapolis or any other Hoosier cities ranked because they didn’t even make the list of cities being evaluated.

A few of the results:

The indicators ranged from water and energy consumption and conservation to public use of land, public transportation quality and efficiency, and even how “walkable” the city is to determine the ranking.

Although some cities were expected to top the Green list, there were some surprises, according to the researchers. For instance, the five Greenest cities in North America were the following:

1. San Francisco
2. Vancouver
3. New York City
4. Seattle
5. Denver

Some people may be surprised that New York City is listed as one of the top five Greenest cities. But New York has excellent public transportation, is considered very walkable with new “pedestrian zones,” has an efficient land-use program, and is economically strong compared to many other North American cities.

The five least Green cities in North America were:

1. Detroit
2. St. Louis
3. Cleveland
4. Phoenix
5. Pittsburg 

Some of the least Green cities are former U.S. manufacturing centers that have been on the decline for years. In many cases, the recession has amplified their decline.

“It is interesting to note that while the United States does not have a federal climate policy and no federal carbon standards, most of the Greenest cities in the index have established carbon reduction targets,” adds Stephen Ashkin, CEO of Sustainable Dashboard Tools, LLC.  
 
Overall Rankings, Greenest to Least Green:
1. San Francisco
2. Vancouver
3. New York
4. Seattle
5. Denver
6. Boston
7. Los Angeles
8. Washington, DC
9. Toronto
10. Minneapolis
11. Chicago
12. Ottawa
13. Philadelphia
14. Calgary
15. Sacramento
16. Houston
17. Dallas
18. Orlando
19. Montreal
20. Charlotte
21. Atlanta
22. Miami
23. Pittsburg, PA
24. Phoenix
25. Cleveland
26. St. Louis
27. Detroit 

Our friends at Inside INdiana Business recently spoke with Gary Mayor Rudy Clay about the status of the Gary/Chicago Airport, which is undertaking some improvements. Here is audio of the conversation, in which Clay explains the positive working relationship the city has with Chicago officials.

Clay says the goal of the rennovation at Gary/Chicago International Airport is not to compete with Chicago’s two airports, but to work along side of them. Clay says those airports have heavy traffic and need more gates to handle the load. The $153 million project includes a major runway expansion and new railroad bridges, routes and demolition lines. Groundbreaking comes this afternoon.