The public took a couple of pretty good slaps in the face from local elected officials this week.

Both occurred on Tuesday night. One in Syracuse, one in Winona Lake.

First, Syracuse.

This issue hits close to home with me because I live near there and shop there and my kids go to school there.

Since 1992, the town has been talking about upgrading Ind. 13 - the main road through town. There is no question that improvements are warranted.

For those unfamiliar, two frontage roads run parallel to Ind. 13 through a retail area known as the "Village." The Village is separated from the downtown area by a residential area. The Village contains things like a grocery store, a hardware store, restaurants, video stores, haircut places, banks and miscellaneous other retailers.

There are several access points to the frontage roads on both sides of Ind. 13. All these intersections create a bit of a traffic problem and there have been several accidents - mostly fender-benders.

There is no question that traffic flow through the area could be better.

Enter the state of Indiana with federal money in tow.

It will pay up to 80 percent of the cost to upgrade the road. This will be a massive, two-year, five-lane project.

The plan is to incorporate both frontage roads and both lanes of Ind. 13 into one big highway.

When I first heard of the plan, I thought it was overkill. The more I learned about it, the more overkill it seemed. Most people agree that a three-lane Ind. 13 - one with a turn lane down the middle - and some additional signals and signs would be nice.

This would leave the homey little frontage roads and the green areas intact.

But a five-lane industrial corridor? Well, it just doesn't seem right for Syracuse.

But there's a hitch. Since the feds are doling out the money, they said it's five lanes or none. All or nothing.

Now the Syracuse Town Council must vote on the project - yea or nay.

So they have four public hearings in which members of the public can comment. The overwhelming public sentiment is that five lanes is about two too many.

Residents say it will destroy the character of their town and potentially run small businesses out of business during the two-year construction period.

Business owners in the Village are adamant. They flat out tell the council - "We don't want this project." I attended one of the hearings. During an hour and 40 minutes, only one comment was even remotely positive.

I understand from other sources the other hearings were much the same.

Comes now the time to vote. The council, despite the overwhelming disapproval of its constituents, approves the project.

I realize that funding still needs to be approved before the project will actually become reality. The council could vote no on the funding, effectively killing the project. But why fool around? Why not just do what your constituents want?

Then there's Winona Lake.

For the last two years Northern Lakes Skaters Association has worked to upgrade the quonset hut in Winona Lake Park for a skating rink.

They put a lot of time, effort and materials into it. They cleaned the place out, built a warming area on one end, put up boards all the way around the rink, put down a liner, etc. There were hockey games for kids and adults and time for family skating. The rink was rented by church groups.

It was a nice facility. It was not extravagant, but it had character and tons of sweat equity.

I know this because my son and I skated there.

Tuesday night, the Winona Lake Park Board voted to boot the skaters out of the quonset. Seems the town wants to use it for the police department.

The vote came despite the opposition of a couple dozen people from the community who attended the meeting. The only other people at the meeting were town council members who wanted to use the building for the police department.

The quonset hut sat idle for years, being used for boat storage during the winter months and falling into disrepair.

The work done by the skating group apparently made the building much more attractive to possible development. But it's hard for me to believe the hut is the best bet for a new police department.

They want to spend around $170,000 to remodel it. As I said, I have been inside that building. It has no heat and no water. The electrical is not great. The floor is not level. In fact, when flooding the floor to make the skating rink, the water was 8 or 10 inches deep in some areas and only a couple inches deep in others.

Not that the Winona Park Board or town council owes the skaters anything. They don't. But frankly, the best use for the building, besides storing boats to generate income, was an ice rink.

While the ice rink didn't make the park board any money, it did break even. And there were future plans for chilling equipment, which would extend ice time and allow for scheduled skating. These things probably would have made the rink profitable within a couple years.

That would have been a really nice addition to the community. Too bad it won't happen.

As for the Northern Lakes Skaters Association, they're looking at other options. Maybe an outdoor rink with some type of roof over it. They'll be looking for another location. But as it stands right now there won't be anywhere to skate next winter in Warsaw or Winona Lake - except maybe a shoveled frozen lake.

So for all those in Syracuse who didn't want a five-lane highway and all those in Winona Lake who did want a skating rink, one word comes to mind.

Elections. [[In-content Ad]]