St. Joseph County is investing in infrastructure to balance local amenities with economic and tourism drivers.
Byers Softball Complex is cited as a successful example, serving locals while attracting thousands of visitors.
Jeff Jarnecke advocates for continued investment in venues that serve both residents and tourists to build on recent success.
Many of my articles over the last two years have discussed the positive momentum and success that St. Joseph County is realizing. Smart investments have been made in our infrastructure, but there is a delicate balance while investing those dollars.
The “balance” I reference is between a local amenity and an economic/tourism driver. When optimized, a facility can be both, but that is indeed a challenge. When leaning one direction or the other, an expensive paradigm exists along with likely a failure to deliver results.
For example, Byers Softball Complex has long served as a local treasure, but more recently, thanks to the leadership and commitment of John Walczewski, Byers Complex director, the facility generates around 6,000 to 8,000 hotel room nights depending on the year and welcomes thousands of out-of-town visitors to South Bend. You can watch our neighbors swing for the fences Sunday night through Wednesday night and then see license plates from all over the Midwest from Thursday to Sunday.
Because of John’s leadership and a facility of reasonable size, we have found balance between our local enjoyment and economic activity. I suspect that
St. Joseph County amenities and tourism balance
