Dunes Blog

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I was dismayed last week to read in The Times that the City of  Valparaiso is going to start a free Movie on the Square program later in the summer. I love movies as much as the next guy but I think this is a horrible idea for one simple reason: the 49er Drive-in.

I love the 49er Drive-in. My wife and I have had many wonderful dates there and seen some fantastic movies. The 49er helped fill the first-run movie void when the Village Theater was torn down a couple years ago.

Why am I opposed to the Movies on the Square? Because the 49er Drive-in does not need more potential customers taken away from it. It simply cannot compete with free. The City of Valparaiso has no business playing movies to the public at no cost.

The 49er is a Valparaiso and Northwest Indiana institution. It is already facing stiff competition from the newly opened Cinemark 12 as well as the massive carbuncle that is the Portage 16 Imax.

Look at it this way, if you provide a family night out on the weekend, with a movie and fun atmosphere that doesn’t cost anything, that option will beat out the Drive-in which which will cost more than that free. You simply cannot compete with free.

Some may argue that the Movies on the Square won’t be competing with 49er because they won’t be showing first run movies. But look at it with the logic of a mother of a family of four who is on a budget. She will pick the free option. The 49er does not need more customers taken away from it.

There is also the nostalgia of going to the Drive-in that can’t be replicated anywhere. Drive-ins are a drying breed and we are very lucky to still have one in such fantastic condition as the 49er. Where else can you get two movies for the price of one and sit in the comfort of your car? Where else can you conceive a child and then take them to the same place several years later?

I understand that Valparaiso wants to bring more people downtown, I just implore them to do it another way so that we don’t lose the treasure that is the 49er Drive-in. We’ve already lost the Y&W Drive-in. I don’t want to see another go.

Check out the 49er Drive-in website to see what’s playing this week.

Just say no to Movies on the Square!

Another one bites the dust.

A couple of weeks the Union Tank Car company was in the news, they’re closing the plant in East Chicago and shifting production elsewhere. While this is a sad event for the employees, this is not a new type of event. It is indicative of the general decline of industry in Northwest Indiana over the past couple of decades.

Growing up here, I saw the steel industry collapse and come back to life several times. And this was in only the span of the last 15 years.

There will come a day when nothing is made here anymore.

I’m confident we are preparing for it well. Most people may not notice it, but NWI has many good institutions of higher learning. These relatively cheap school are churning out a well educated, young populace. And they’re finding that there are actually jobs for them in the area using their skills.

I think South Shore expansion will help negative affects of the decline of industry in The Region. Not only will it open NWI up to bring in employees from elsewhere, it will essentially make The Region more of a suburb to Chicago, and highly educated locals will be able to get quickly to jobs in Chicago, jobs that may not be readily available yet here.

What is happening in NWI is a microcosm of what is happening countrywide. No longer are we going to make things, simply consume them. Ideas and knowledge will be our biggest industry followed by a service industry to service the people in the knowledge economy. Northwest Indiana has a long a proud history of industrial power but I think it’s transitioning well into a new type of economy.

There will be people that suffer due to this shift. It will be very hard for some people to find new jobs and learn new skills after working in the same job for many years. That’s the nature of the capitalistic society we choose to live in. It’s called ‘creative destruction.’ You have to destroy to create. While the mills are destroying themselves, new industry will rise in it’s place. One day that too will collapse and be replaced by something else. On and on it goes.

One thing that young people are quickly learning as they enter the job force is that nothing is guaranteed. Your job is temporary, be it one year or five years. The best way to deal with this is to always be learning and always be looking for better opportunities. Never get complacent and expect a company to take care of you for the rest of your life. It’s just not like that anymore.

One thing is for sure, people will always be living in Northwest Indiana. And there will always be something for them to do. The trick is to make sure you’re doing what you WANT to do.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, folks. Things are really hectec on my end. My wife had some health problems recently and we’ve had to take care of that. I also recently started a new job and I’m in the process of moving to a new house in Valparaiso. So lots going on! Many updates are forthcoming, I have some great topics to blog about. Stay tuned!

What I said last week:

“I have to hand it to 1st Source Bank though, they seem to be on the ball. The absorption of FNBV accounts seems to have been planned out with military precision.”

I spoke too soon.

Friday, June 6th was just like any other day. I was breathing a sigh of relief when I woke up. It was payday, I now actually had some money.

I went to Dunkin Donuts and treated myself to breakfast. When they swiped my FNBV card, it would not go through, despite repeated attemps by the clueless cashier. I had to hand back my breakfast.

Once I pulled away I immediately got on the phone with the bank to see what the problem was. They had no idea, only that I wasn’t the only one calling. I called my wife and she had been having the same problem.

I got an especially frantic call during her lunch when her card would not go through after she had already eaten. FNBV eventually called back saying there was some problem with something, blah blah, it would be fixed at some point, nothing they could do. They assured me that the card should work at an ATM.

It was my last day at my job, so I left early. I was starving, hadn’t had anything to eat at all. I get surly when I’m hungry, traffic was not helping me keep a good mood. I stopped at several ATM’s and all of them told me that my FNBV card was invalid. I stopped at a Walgreens to get a snack, card denied. Once again had to hand back food.

Later that evening, I went to three seperate ATM’s including two FNBV ATM’s and I kept getting the same error message. It was too late to get to branch to make a withdrawl. My wife and I wanted dinner but couldn’t buy anything, we had no money, it was all in the damn bank.

The next morning, I went to a newly branded First Source ATM machine and of course, the card was invalid. Had to drive into Valpo, could not find an open branch. Most were closed because of the transfer while other brances I knew of had been closed in the restructuring. Thankfully, I found an open First Source bank and explained the situation. I withdrew every penny I could.

Then the next day when I tried to enroll in the new online banking service, it was all screwed up as well and I had to get on the phone with them to have everything straightened out.

Way to go guys. I’m not impressed at all. If I could find a new bank, I would.

Sigh.

Goodbye FNBV, you are certainly very missed right now. And you were very missed on Friday when I missed three whole meals.

First Source Bank, you owe me breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Did any of you have problems with the FNBV to First Source Transfer?