Portage Mayor Austin Bonta, ever fond of analogies, said Wednesday he’s in his sophomore year in office.
Bonta, in his State of the City speech Wednesday before the Portage Economic Development Corp., said his first year was devoted to making changes in real time. This year is more of a planning year.
It’s also a learning year, both for him and for residents.
Bonta, calling himself “a big government nerd,” began as a special education teacher in 2018-19, teaching reading to students with a reading level that ranged from first grade to fifth grade, all in a single class. He settled on a third-grade-level book about a gorilla in a shopping mall that realizes it doesn’t belong there, he said.
Now he’s teaching government lessons to residents, and not just those in Portage.
He’ll get a call about a pothole on a street he’s never heard of. That’s because it’s in Ogden Dunes or South Haven. He’ll point the caller in the right direction so their issue can be addressed by the appropriate local government.
Portage Mayor Austin Bonta speaks to local officials during his State of the City address at Woodland Park on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
Bonta writes long social media posts explaining to people how issues like zoning work, so he can let his inner government nerd self educate others about how local government works and how they can get involved.
Next year, they’ll have plenty of opportunity to get involved as the city begins work on the comprehensive plan he campaigned hard for.
But he’s learning from others, too.
Earlier this year, someone stole a traffic sign that read, “Deaf child in area.”
“What a terrible thing to do,” he thought.
“We make our signs in-house, so we had a new sign up there lickety-split,” Bonta said.
Portage Township Schools Superintendent Amanda Alaniz, on right, listens as Portage Mayor Austin Bonta recognizes her during the State of the City address at Woodland Park on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
The police solved this case, tracking down the thief who lives in Ohio and sending him a letter asking him to return the sign.
Guess what? The man who stole the sign was the deaf child for whom that sign was originally posted. “Man, that’s a twist I did not see coming,” Bonta said.
He asked second-graders whether the man should be allowed to keep the sign. And he learned there should be a record of when signs like that are put up so they can be taken down when they’re no longer needed.
Bonta also learned the city’s fire department was only taking in 21% of the money it should be receiving for ambulance runs. That’s since improved dramatically.
When receiving applications for the park superintendent job – spoiler alert: Kelly Smith was hired – he saw some of the resumes indicated marina experience. “Turns out a park department can own a marina,” he said.
Portage is in the process of bringing the city’s marina under the parks department umbrella. That will make operations more efficient and bring in added revenue for the parks, he said.
Porter County voters long ago rejected the casino that could have been built in Portage, so the city’s Port Authority doesn’t have the same authority as the ones in Hammond, East Chicago, Gary and Michigan City, he noted.
Bonta is also shifting toward a public works system, bringing together the streets, sanitation and utilities department. That will create a public works department that is more efficient and flexible with staffing, resources and equipment – and have multiple funding sources, he said.
On the city’s north side, the Redevelopment Commission is building a bridge – literally – to transit-oriented development near the Portage/Ogden Dunes South Shore Line station.
“We’re working full speed ahead on building a bridge over Burns Waterway,” he said. That will facilitate vehicular traffic as well as bike and pedestrian use.
Portage Fire Chief Chris Crail listens as Portage Mayor Austin Bonta speaks during the State of the City address at Woodland Park on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
The road will be renamed Hillcrest Road, part of the Hillcrest community to be built there.
“Our Redevelopment Commission spent a lot of time to essentially put together all the different pieces of land north of Burns Waterway and south of U.S. 12,” Bonta said.
The RDC has been busy on the city’s downtown plan, too.
“We had a downtown; it’s just that the city knocked down half of it,” he said, referring to the east side of Portage Mall.
Now the city is trying to buy parking lots in front of the remaining side of the strip mall to transform the parking lot into a street. An alley will be behind the buildings.
“It’s not going to be a sore thumb; it’s going to be a crown jewel,” Bonta said.
That will go a long way toward the dreams of a walkable downtown that’s conducive to business and more events, he said.
The city is investing in paying attention to underground infrastructure, too.
Raising utility rates “was not the most fun thing to deal with at the beginning of the year,” Bonta said, but necessary to secure financing for massive repairs to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, sewer lines and lift stations. Among the construction projects is a new interceptor line for the north side. Think of it as a large artery for sewage.
Portage Mayor Austin Bonta speaks during his State of the City address at Woodland Park on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
The work is necessary for the state’s 24th-largest city to cope with growing pains.
“It’s not from what’s coming; it’s from what came in the last 20 years,” he said.
Just this month, the city finished the process of creating residential tax increment financing districts for five new subdivisions to get money for public safety needs, as well as infrastructure there.
Portage Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Andy Maletta said Bonta has been instrumental in the “Portage energy” he has been talking about. “I think this energy was always there, but I think it was hidden under a rock,” he said. It needed a spark, and “we went out and got a flamethrower” with Bonta as mayor, he said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
