Hi, I'm Jeff Rea, your host for Economic Outlook.

And I want to welcome you to our show.

Thank you for joining us each week as we discuss the people, the companies and the projects driving the region's economic growth, we put the team back together after a short summer hiatus, and we stand ready to bring you more great programing in the season ahead.

Our hope is to take you to every corner of the region and give you an inside look at the major projects driving our economy.

This week, we're looking ahead at our new season and giving you a sneak peek at some of the things you should expect coming up on an economic outlook.

Welcome to a new season of economic Outlook.

If you're regular viewer, welcome back to your first time.

Thank you for tuning in.

We hope you make plans to join us each week as we dive deeper into the region's top stories related to the economy today, our hope is to pique your interest in the season ahead.

I've invited my co-host, George Lepeniotis, into the studio to join me for that preview.

Welcome, George.

Thank you, Jeff.

George Hey is glad to be back.

Good news.

The station has decided to give us one more chance.

Yeah, it was a tough negotiation over the summer, but hey, we're thrilled to have you back.

And George, you've done a terrific job and we've had a wonderful partnership in this endeavor.

And so we're kicking off a new season today.

We're just kind of giving a sneak peek.

I'd like to remind folks, though, and although they think they've gotten to know you, if there's some new ones watching today, TV's not your regular gig or my regular gig.

Talk to us a little bit about what your day job is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm a I'm a partner at the law firm of Kreig Devault.

We are an Indiana law firm, first and foremost based in Indianapolis, with offices here in Mishawaka and across the state.

My practice is mainly business practice.

It's a corporate practice, so I am plugged in through my clients as you are through the chamber, into projects, exciting projects, investments that are happening across the region.

And I think, you know that that lends itself to what we do here.

And I don't think either of us have any chance of becoming a full time TV personalities.

But it does help to understand the nature of a project and how it goes.

And so that's my practice.

I really do enjoy watching deals come together on behalf of the client and helping them navigate that process locally and regionally and even nationally.

Yeah, So, so tough for a second about just how you got involved in this in the first place.

So you're you're a busy attorney representing clients.

This takes a little bit of of your time but but you have been part of the PBS machine a team here for some time talked to us about how you got involved in the first Yeah.

You and I, I believe, started this very same year we took over the show from from Phil D'Amico and took it a slightly different direction with two two hosts, one out in the field and one here.

I had a chance meeting, a chance lunch with the then station producer, and he he thought that I had a voice that was good enough to overcome this face that he thought it would be a great fit.

And I was excited to do it, to be honest with you, I that was a time when television and news had really become shown.

It's maybe divisive side.

And I do believe that media has an important role, especially locally telling great stories, positive stories, fun stories.

And I think that's what we try to do.

I tell people before they go on camera in their interviews, and I'm sure you do the same.

I'm not there's not going to be any gotcha questions.

I'm not here to get ratings.

I'm just here to tell a great story about a local business person or project or government effort that's helping to grow our economy.

Yeah, so it's interesting to think a little bit about if you're watching a normal newscast, each stories 30 seconds, 60 seconds, maybe 2 minutes of it is really special.

But most of the time, not.

We have a chance each week for about 25 minutes to to tell a unique story about a business or a project or a program or something that's helping drive the regional economy.

So it gets me excited to do it.

We take a just a brief summer hiatus and then so it's exciting to be back right back at it.

Yeah.

So talk for a second just about PBS and because obviously PBS Michiana plays a really critical role here.

You've been a great supporter of that through your work here.

Talk about why that's so critical for not only do I support it through the effort, the labor contribution that I make to the station, but also my firm and my family, we support the station as as as we hope all of our viewers do.

I personally believe that a public broadcasting corporation, you know, a public broadcasting station like WNIT is truly a part of the community.

It gives people a voice without any commercial intent.

I believe what we do here is unbiased.

I've never felt that we pick stories or pick guests based on their political or other types of agendas.

Some of them have them.

Of course, we all have an agenda, but I think we've done a great job of doing that.

And I think kudos really belong to you because, you know, I think maybe our viewers don't realize, but there are producers behind the scene that make us look good.

But at the end of the day, you really are our fearless leader.

But for your connections and we joke, but you know, you are one of Indiana's most influential people and that really makes the show great.

It's not only the local stories, it's that we can attract when when the governor's traveling through, we can talk with them, right?

Yeah.

You know, it's really exciting.

And I think even post-pandemic things have evolved a little bit.

We're able to reach people in different ways.

We're able to grab guests from farther away as we zoom them in or do different things, too.

So it has been it's been great.

You know, talk about George, know, we've sent you during your time as our co-host, really from, you know, north, south, east, west, cover the talk about the geography and particularly so just to help remind our viewers of what we're trying to tell stories from from where?

Well, and that's that's probably my biggest passion.

I grew up in southwest Michigan, but South Bend played a South Bend, Mishawaka.

To be fair, South Bend and Mishawaka played major roles in our lives.

If while the Orchards Mall in Benton Harbor was a wonderful place, it wasn't where we shopped.

It wasn't where we went to dinner.

Our Friday nights at the movies were out in Mishawaka, just like you.

And, you know, I think that that our community is a super regional community.

And so our our show mimics that which I love.

We go all the way.

I've been as far north as the north side of Benton Harbor, and I've been as far south as the south side of Plymouth, as far east as Warsaw and as far west as Laporte.

You know.

And I think that that is a while.

It's diverse communities.

It is one large Michiana community that contributes to our economy.

I one of my favorite shows was up north off the 31 bypass that that now has connected to 94.

But a couple of years ago we went up there and met with one of the economic development folks in Berrien County who tracked cell phone usage and try to understand the patterns that we move in and how that affects commerce.

And it was very interesting to see how these arteries really do connect the various communities inside of our viewing area.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting.

We were talking about regional cooperation and collaboration before.

It was cool and everybody is talking about it.

They've all been watching.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, we've gotten it down.

We have.

We do.

And I think our hope obviously working to bring stories from across the region.

Not everyone is going to feel applicable, but we hope that in each show there are some lessons that that apply.

So maybe if we're down in Culver doing a story, there's something that the folks in an Elkhart or Goshen or Mishawaka or Niles or Buchanan find valuable in the lessons that we've learned from what those other communities of interesting story about that.

I've referenced a couple of our episodes that we did down in Marshall County, where the county was actually spec building industrial facilities.

What a unique and tip of the spear type of solution to have that for that public private partnership.

The county didn't want to be a landlord.

It simply wanted to attract more business into its community.

And you know, I've recommended that to other municipal leaders to take a look at that episode and to see how successful Marshall County was in attracting businesses who were in where where their timing component was.

So key and vital to their next step move.

And that's what made the decision to go to Marshall County.

Right.

You know, it's interesting.

My my day job, I run the South Bend Regional Chamber.

I'm also the CEO at the Greater Niles Chamber.

So it's funny, we're having that exact conversation in Niles right now.

We just don't have the building inventory to attract the users.

And the more risk that we can take out of on the front end, the more likely we're going to be able to land prospects.

And that's back to what you were saying about our show.

Yeah, we really are an opportunity to showcase the best and brightest of our economy across the region, whether it be something major like that or a little donut shop in Laporte.

So George throughout the course of the year, we're going to we're going to go to those towns again.

We're going to find, you know, kind of those unique stories.

But but let's let's back up for just a quick second.

Take a higher level view.

As you mentioned in the outset, you're working with clients in really all kinds of industries.

You're also very knowledgeable about what's going on in around the country.

Now, let's talk about the economy as a whole, where we're at, you know, kind of what's going on with it right now.

You know, that's something we don't spend a lot of time on in the show is looking at those those national trends, although you do in the studio a little bit more.

It's hard for me.

WNIT hasn't bought a jet yet.

So but when they do, then I'll start doing some field shoots.

The word is not in this year's budget, but maybe, yeah, it's still on the wish list.

Probably maybe next year.

But you know, I think we are entering an uncertain time.

Hopefully inflation drops.

Hopefully the constrictions on the money supply in the money chain the Fed has instituted that those policies have taken their toll.

You know, you've heard the old adage that the Fed will continue making moves until something breaks.

I hope we don't get there because breakage of the of our financial system has had dire consequences for families in years past.

As recently as 2010.

And that and that era of of of recession.

I think COVID brought us some uncertainty.

I think the influx of capital was interesting and had some effects on our economy.

But to be fair, even with inflation, I'm still seeing activity.

We are still seeing major investments by very large companies in and around the region.

We are seeing small businesses throughout the region continue their plans, their construction plans, their expansion plans, their new equipment plans, their new investment plans.

I believe unemployment remains rather low and we still continue to suffer.

We can't forget, you know, many of our shows have been devoted to a lack of workforce, and that still continues to plague our region and many other small, small economies across the country.

So while uncertain, I have a positive outlook on the next couple of years.

How about you?

Do you agree?

You know, I've been I've been really positive about it earlier in the year.

And as we're taping this today and in the studio, things have shifted just a little bit in recent weeks.

The the uncertainty over the UAW strike and how long something like that might last and its impact or potential impact on companies in our area who make parts for the automotive industry we historically have.

That's been one of our strongest industries.

So any slowdown in auto production will have a negative impact on our community.

I worry a little bit about things like that.

And generally, you know, we're we're still talking government shutdown and so there's a lot of uncertainty about that.

Hopefully that's resolved by the time people are watching this at home.

And so but a couple of those things have have you somewhat concerned.

But but like you said, overall, there's some significant things happening there that they're pretty exciting.

And and I'll just mention for a second, you know, we've been working on this GM, Samsung, SDI, Electric Vehicle Battery Project for quite some time, and that's a pretty exciting project for Area.

It's the largest single economic development project in Indiana's history.

No, no project is approach this in terms of the amount of overall capital investment.

It's a 20 plus month process to land a project like that.

We've been trying to sell the heck out of this region and help the company understand why an investment in our area makes sense.

We've you know, and whether it be because of of water or power or sewer utility pieces or because we have a great sales team, you know, kind of making the pitch or or we have the workforce that's going to build it.

You know, there's just a lot of factors that go into landing a project like that.

People are excited but skeptical at the same time.

Right?

They're there until they start seeing a bunch of dirt move.

I think that they'll still always be a little skepticism about it.

But I think we're very shortly, you'll see that start to change a little bit.

And I think that'll generate some excitement that'll have close to 2000 jobs associated with it, about 2000 people working there and building the plant.

And so, you know, it's interesting because back to this workforce piece, which I imagine we'll have to hit a little bit again this year.

And I and it's sort of not unique to now.

You know, it's funny, as I'm reading South Bend History, back in the early 1900s and early 1950, 1960s, I think is the work I was reading.

And and the manufacturers at the time were complaining about where they were going to find the work first.

And so it does kind of follow time.

But but but again, think about on the construction side, Notre Dame always has a bunch of construction happening.

Beacon's building a big project downtown South Bend.

Right now, General Motors has a big project, you know, with their construction.

So there's great demand for construction workers and and we hope great thought amongst new people entering the workforce about that as a potential career for them.

The construction trades are aging a little bit.

And so we've got to do things to get young people to understand what those opportunities look like.

And and I think these also present some good opportunities for people to come in to the area, too.

Right.

You know, we think of a the solution a workforce has to be several things, right.

It's got to be bringing new people into the area.

It's got to be people who are underemployed now, moving into new employment opportunities.

It's got to be people who are commuting, who don't want to commute as much.

There's going to be a lot of factors that way into that.

But but we should be really bullish on an economy.

We have some natural resources that are that are unique to our area.

And so when a GM, for example, looks at a at a project, they can't find that many sites that have the concentration of water and power like we have it.

And so so like you, I've been more excited about, you know, kind of what's going on for Verbio despite the the ethanol plant making some major investment down there.

We continue to see some spec building you know construction in and throughout the area Elkhart's got Amazon and others, you know kind of delayed a little bit but still going to be a major influence on what's happening in Elkhart economies.

And so I think throughout the region, there have been a number of great announcements about it.

And unemployment is you know, it's funny, like historically 5% was full employment and then, you know, then we were down it one and two, you know, that kind of stuff.

And now we're back up in the four or 5% range, which is a low, which is still really low.

And it's it's a little like I'll call RV production a little bit.

Right.

You know, and we talked about this last year as we were talking the RV industry that like they were bracing for a big difference in terms of the number of Rvs that were that were produced.

But it still was going to be one of their five most productive years in our history.

Right.

So but we had got and it has turned out to be that it is.

And so that's so so at the same time, you know, people are worried and they always say, you know, the RV industry is the barometer that tells the whole economy.

And there are, I think there's concerns over there.

But ultimately, we're I think our talks with the folks in the RV industry have been really positive about what this means.

And there's a little bit of the post-pandemic leveling out that happens there.

And so so our hope is that we get out and tell some of those stories again and the chance for our viewers in particular to listen to more in-depth conversation.

You know, the local news does a great job of reporting it, but there's only so much you can report in a in a small window.

We've got that bigger window that we can.

Well, and that's right.

And I think what we bring is a little bit more insight into something that you might see every day.

We've seen we've gone and visited the, you know, the industrial sites off the bypass all by Cleveland Avenue, where a lot of our viewers have driven by those every day and wondered what's in there, Who's doing that Right, Why is that there?

And so it's kind of neat to bring some color, not just a snapshot or not just a problematic type of reporting where, like you said, it's 20, 20 seconds on an issue we're allowed when we have the luxury of the time to be able to devote to it.

You did mention something, though, that I wanted to follow up with a question for you.

You know, you you you called yourself a salesman for our area.

And, you know, that's such a great description of you.

But for our viewers who maybe you know, everyone who watches the show knows your history, You were mayor of Mishawaka.

You're now president of the Regional Chamber of Commerce, but you're also one of the lead economic development folks in our area With all of those things and that leadership role that you've taken, what do you feel it is about our region that makes it so attractive to business?

Because you really are starting to see almost a landslide of business being attracted to an otherwise small corner of the of the country right.

You know, in addition to the dynamic sales team, I would say, no, I'm just joking.

I'd say geography is a big piece of this.

And in in in when we think about it, geography historically was one of the drivers.

And and although that hasn't changed over time we we went through a periods of time where we didn't have the growth and I think it's taken us a little bit longer to adapt to what other communities were doing.

So Indiana, for example, now has created the best tax and business climate just about in the US, and that helps.

And so we were jealous here that the projects were happening all around Indiana and not up in this this part of the town.

And some of it was just some needed change in strategy, if you will.

I think there was some there was hope, you know that.

Well, I think, George, if you're interested, we could get that farmer to sell or I think if you're interested, we could probably get the county the council to zone it or or something like that.

We've been really strategic and intentional about a few of those opportunities.

And and I think that's that's taken the risk out of it for some developers.

And I think that's helped a lot.

I also think that the communities have recognized that they need to play some role in incentivizing some of these things happen that sometimes the numbers just don't work very well unless it's kind of this public private partnership.

So just for example, yesterday, or actually I know that when people are watching this, but earlier I was out at the mill where they just broke ground on phase two.

And you've been out to the middle of your project, and mill phase two has now kicked off.

And this is a unique public private partnership where the city's a heavy investor in some public parking associated with it.

The mill is going to invest $67 million in this project.

This was a $47 million project for the same size building and facility just a couple of years ago.

So just to give you a feel for what's happening on the cost standpoint, so the financial model has changed and so we've needed the community to sort of figure out a model that makes this work.

And the end result is when this is done.

Mishawaka is going to 500 residential units within a block of each other.

So this dense population that now is supporting everything else that goes downtown with it, that that is a native Mishawaka and somebody who worked over there for a lot of years.

We we would we love that idea of getting a lot of people down there and we're finally getting them down there.

But when you first started down there, it really couldn't have.

I mean, the vision may have been there, but the reality was very different.

Yeah, And some of that really does play into what we've done episodes on before, and that's a focus by our state and local leaders on quality of place, right?

Yeah, Yeah.

And I think that's a great example.

You know, so right now, you know, we've talked a lot about ready regional cities, some of those in last couple of years or so, ready phase two is out right now.

The community will be make an application for those funds will be a chance to catalyze some other quality of place improvements.

And you've been out to Howard Park and Beutter Park and and down to the Goshen Theater, down to the REES theater and different different places that they really highlight some of those quality of place pieces that we have our visit our viewers go and visit.

And so so I think there's a great chance to double down on on that strategy a little bit.

You know, it's interesting, as I was reminiscing down at the mill, you know, we put the Riverwalk in first and and people started coming down there and a lot of people started to come down there and everybody thought, this is a pretty cool little place.

And before you know it, development is following and such.

And so it's it's funny.

I'm now the old guy at these at these events reminiscing about well let me tell you about 20 years ago and we were trying to do this but but it really is neat to see the, you know, kind of the evolution and and I think just the the vision or the entrepreneurial spirit, it takes, you know, like I think of as we sat here last year with the REES theater, you know, folks are saying, gosh, what a an amazing community volunteer for Goshen Theater.

I mean, all of these things don't happen without some people doing some heavy lifting along the way.

The community put some dollars in finding private sector efforts and in some cases, the state to fit in.

So we have a chance to really highlight a few of those things in the coming year as we you know, you know, I always think as I'm scheduling these, sometimes I'm like, I don't want to do the same project over and over again.

However, there's some great updates that we think, you know, should and so I'll just use an example like we sent you out on the train several times.

I usually only bought you a one way ticket.

I'm not sure how you ever always got back, but anyway, now I'm just.

Okay.

That's that explains a lot.

Yeah, right.

I was wondering why Michigan City.

That's right.

I know.

But that project is going to evolve this year, and it's in some pretty important information for our viewers that we need to let you know about.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're always excited to get out there and, you know, the public, private sector, those public private partnerships or even those public, private, larger projects, you know, we talk about let's take downtown Mishawaka because, you know, it's so well, if not for your investment, Mayor Wood's vision, all of those investments in that region, starting by just simple things like cleaning up an industrial industrial site and cleaning up an environmental problem and then committing to that and then committing to redefining what that neighborhood was going to be and maybe not making the same mistakes twice.

Yeah.

And so what you see is you see downtown Mishawaka as a beautiful place to be something that 30 years ago you didn't think of.

Right.

So we're always looking for those stories, whether it be it's easy to be beautiful in Saint Joe, Michigan, right on the bluff.

But we're starting to see smaller communities take that lead, whether it be you know, we talked about the more the REES Theater probably one of my favorite episodes but even smaller things that make our places great places to live and thus great places to do business.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting to just to think about even our viewers, you know, you and I and our day jobs get introduced or exposed to a lot of different projects.

But but we love the input from our viewers to write it there.

If we're missing a story or a place or whatever or unique something happened in community throughout the year, people reach out to me and say, Hey, have you been here?

You've been there and we love we've got one coming up this year.

I think we're doing the Niles YMCA.

Yeah, that was a direct viewer kind of response, like, Hey, you guys should come down here to see what's going on.

So hopefully we'll get there and working up at Niles now that's that's like this unique gathering place that is just bursting at the scene.

It is.

It is.

But, but but beyond your traditional thinking of a place to swim or play basketball or whatever, it's it's day care.

It's helping with the workforce.

It's a lot of different things.

And so for us to get up and tell that or to get into some of these companies, I think of like Edgewater Automation and a few of those where we said, Man, look at that pretty cool high tech stuff that's happening in our region.

It's it's pretty good.

George, last 30 seconds, any final words for our viewers here?

Already done.

Yeah, we're already done.

Sorry.

I was really enjoying air conditioning.

I know that comfortable environment.

Next thing I know, you're going to send me out into the dark cold streets.

Yeah.

No, you know, Jeff, I'm excited to do it again.

I'm happy to be working with you.

I think we're going to tell some great stories, see some awesome people, and hopefully we put together a season that matches what we've done in the past.

That's great.

George, great to have you here.

Thanks, Jeff.

That's it for our show today.

On behalf of the entire team here at PBS Michiana WNIT, thank you for watching or listening to our podcast to watch this episode again and again for our past episodes, you can find economic outlook at wnit.org or find our podcast on most major podcast platforms.

Also encourage you to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

I'm Jeff Rea.

I'll see you next time This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.