I think it is important to establish targets for this pillar. For example, what would a reasonable population growth for Jasper? Business & Industry growth? Housing growth? If we establish these it becomes easier to identify the tactics needed to accomplish the goal. Does small town feel limit the population growth but still allow for business and industry growth?

My input is that is a lot of positive direction within this pillar. Jasper has done a lot to add pedestrian and bike paths and working on traffic safety. The city needs to continue with that. I believe there are a lot of streets where improvements can be made for improved and safer traffic flow. We definitely do not need the Mid-States Corridor for these improvements, and the efforts should be focused on strengthening what we have without the financial burden the city could take on.

I feel that the proposed Mid-States Corridor would not be in the best interests of the community. I have paid lots of attention to this since the late 1980s and have done extensive research and commented on each of the separate studies and worked with the citizens groups opposing this over the years. In all that time, a need for a local highway, or even a bypass around Jasper and Huntingburg was never identified. I attended INDOT meetings in VIncennes and met with Heads of the Transportation department who could never produce any reason for it to be built. Much information about this is available at Newspapers.com Herald archives. The current Lochmueller studies have also produced no credible reason for this to be built. The one thing I can say, is that Jasper is still a great place to live, has more amenities than most towns–even larger ones– and has fewer problems than those who have major highways going through. It doesn’t take a study to identify these things. In addition, I just saw that INDOT will be financing much needed highway improvements in Huntingburg and in the county. These things can be justified, and its important to remember that roads require continuous maintenance. Local people have been saying for years that we need to fix the roads we have rather than simply build another. Many others in the past couple of years have [presented excellent reasons why we don’t need to trade our rural lands for a new interstate highway of even a bypass. Given the wildly unpredictable world in which we are living– environmentally, politically, as well as economically—it seems most unwise to base such an expenditure on a vague and undefined future for this region. Surely it is better to safeguard the many good things that have for generations made rural Southern Indiana truly prosperous.

Set a target for growth and let everyone know what it is. We should all be working together to achieve our Cities goals…not fighting it and arguing about it. If you are not moving foward, you are falling behind and if you go to fast, you fall.

Thank you for the opportunity for the community to provide feedback. I’d like to begin by expanding on macro trends that the consultants have identified as well as highlighting some that they haven’t. For context, my wife and I are middle aged with a young family and are in the 0-5 year resident cohort.

I’ll start with one of the biggest stories of the post pandemic era. Global fertility, previously on the decline, has crashed. This is measured using the total fertility rate, or the number of children per woman in her lifetime. A TFR of 2.1 is needed considered replacement level (replacing both the mother and father). Above this the population expands and become more youthful, below this the population shrinks and becomes older. Here are a just a few countries to highlight the trend of decreasing fertility. South Korea had a total fertility rate of 1.24 in 2015 and 0.80 in 2025. Russia had a total fertility rate of 1.76 in 2015 and 1.37 in 2025. Germany had a total fertility rate of 1.5 in 2015 and 1.3 in 2025. The story is the same in the global south. Argentina had a total fertility rate of 2.24 in 2015 and 1.13 in 2025. Colombia had a total fertility rate of 1.94 in 2015 and 1.28 in 2025. Globally, population growth has become zero-sum, where growth one place requires a decline elsewhere. This pattern is repeated within countries too. Japan is shrinking, but Tokyo is growing. The USA’s fertility is below replacement, but Phoenix, Austin, and Nashville (to name a few places) are growing.

If everyone is struggling with this issue, how is Jasper doing relative to its peers? In short, we’re contracting but doing very well relative to peers. Using data I’ve pulled from the Dubois county health department and the Indiana Department of Health, I’ve calculated Dubois County has an estimated TFR of 1.72 using 2024 data. We’re just about at the state average, which is strong nationally. Among adjacent counties Dubois county is second only behind Daviess county with an estimated TFR of 2.47, driven by its large Amish/Mennonite population.

When we discuss Pillar 2: City Growth, it must be approached in this context. Every town is competing for a decrease number of young, mobile Americans to continue to grow. Before we risk any changes, it would be important to identify and protect what has already made us successful here. Beyond that, however, this won’t be a long term successful policy. It’s too competitive for reasons that are outside of our control, like the climate that’s driving Sun Belt migration. We need to focus on policies that support family formation, children, and retain our youth in young adulthood. Not only is this this best long term strategy to grow our community, it also retains the character and virtues of the community that have made it successful.

Now I’d like to pivot to another related topic. What drives migration? For many, myself included, we have a picture of people moving for economic opportunity like in the ‘Grapes of Wrath’. However, modern research shows that young people move to desirable areas and employers and economic growth follow them. This analysis from the Kenan Institute of UNC supports this idea: “https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/kenan-insight/how-cities-get-top-talent-predictors-of-migration-in-the-us/”

How do we make our community desirable? When we read and interpret the comments from the community, it’s important to be aware that stated preferences, like bike paths or nightlife, don’t match migration patterns. People will say many things for many reasons. However, if you look at what people actually do, not what they say they do or want, you can see their revealed preference. The strongest revealed preference is affordability generally and housing affordability specifically. Freddie Mac’s research on homebuyer migration shows a population in pursuit of affordable housing. https://www.freddiemac.com/research/insight/20220622-pursuit-affordable-housing-migration-homebuyers-within

Jasper should create policy and direct investments into affordable housing to retain and attract the people necessary for community and economic growth. Policies that lower cost and friction, like the standardized building plans seen in South Bend, should be implemented to this end. https://southbendin.gov/bsb/preapprovedplans/