The Noblesville City Council Chambers were packed Thursday night, requiring much of the crowd into overflow rooms nearby with a video feed of the proceedings.  That’s how many people were on hand for the listening session about the proposal to transform the Nickel Plate Rail Line into a hiking and biking green-way trail.  But a good part of the audience clearly favored keeping the Nickel Plate a rail line for trains.

Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear opened the proceedings by assuring the crowd he is only doing what’s best for the people of his city.  “I will assure you that any and every decision I have ever made as the mayor (has) been for the benefit for all of Noblesville,” said Mayor Ditslear.  “I just want to make that point – I’ve been accused of other than that and that is not true.”

The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority is to receive requests for proposals for the Nickel Plate Rail Line, and Ditslear said he hopes the Indiana Transportation Museum, the past operator, submits a proposal, along with other interested parties.

Noblesville, Fishers and Hamilton County are partners in the proposed $9.3 million Nickel Plate Trail.

Noblesville Deputy Mayor Steve Cooke gave those assembled a brief presentation on the trail plans.

There were 17 speakers from the public in a segment that lasted just under an hour.  All but 2, maybe 3, were in favor of preserving the rail line, due to its historic value.  Many reminisced about the days of hearing the trains and how that brings back fond memories.  A number of those speaking have volunteered on the train operation, including the Fair Train.

Some argued that trails could exist along the line with the trains.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has said he does not believe there is enough room to accommodate such a plan.

One young man began crying while talking about the train, and received thunderous applause from the packed chambers.

Glen Schwartz, a member of the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority board, says the studies he has seen put the price tag to put the rails back in shape for the trains to once again use them, would be no higher than $3.7 million, which would take a 5-7 year period to complete.  He believes the Fair Train could run from Noblesville to the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis at a speed of 10 miles per hour, costing $55,000 to repair some rails and ties.  To get the rails in shape to travel 25 miles per hour, from Tipton to the State Fairgrounds, would cost $3.7 million, according to Schwartz.

There was no Fair Train in 2016 for the first time in many years after a track inspection found the rails to not be safe.

After the public comments, those in attendance were given the opportunity to talk one-on-one with officials from all the government agencies.

Now that the listening sessions are over, we will watch what the next steps will be in this process.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board enacted an administration recommendation to continue an Honors Biology program in the junior high schools, allowing those students to be transported to the high school laboratories for class.  The action also allows plans to move forward with enhancing 7th & 8th grade science classes to conform with the rigor of the new state standards.

The vote was 4-3.  Mike Bottorff, Sylvia Shepler and Amanda Shera cast the no votes.

As board comments became more critical of the proposal presented by school administrators, President Matt Burke urged his colleagues to support the measure.

“When we have a strong recommendation coming from our administrators, that have spent considerably more time than us evaluating this, and we call into question their judgment, we need to think about what message we are sending to our administrators,” Burke said.  “We have to decide, are we going to trust our administrators in some of these types of situations?”

In other school board items from Wednesday night:

–A series of resolutions passed unanimously clearing the way for the financing of renovations to the Cumberland Road Elementary School and the HSE Schools Administration Building.

–There will be a new alternative school for HSE students in the fall of 2017.  The school district will end the arrangement with a group in Noblesville.  Administrators are close to a decision on leasing space locally for the facility.  Alternative Schools are for students unable to function in a regular school setting.

–HSE will become a GoOPen District following the board action.  GoOpen is a national Department of Education effort to share educational materials.

–Minor changes to the student handbooks were approved by the board.  Those handbooks are now available online only.

–HSE Schools will be migrating Learning Management Systems from the Blackboard program to one called Canvas, after board approval of the contract.  Canvas has not yet agreed to all the contract language, but any changes would come before the board for a vote.

–The board honored Fishers High School students that competed at the state Science Olympiad competition on March 18 at Indiana University.

The state competition comes on heels of FHS winning the 2017 Regional Science Olympiad at Vincennes University last month. Students from 12 area school districts competed in 23 events in 12 hours that tested their acumen in earth science, physics, computer science, technology, biology and chemistry.

The regional results were:

• First Place – materials science, optics, wind power, and write it, do it.
• Second Place — ecology, hydrogeology, experimental design, and remote sensing.
• Third Place — anatomy & physiology, dynamic planet, invasive species, and microbe mission.
• Fourth Place:  hover craft, chemistry lab, robot arm and towers.

–Finally, this was the last school board meeting for  HSE Schools Community Relations Director Beverly Redmond.  She is leaving the school corporation and moving to Chicago. There will be a reception in her honor Thursday, March 30th at the HSE Schools Administration Building on Cumberland Road, 4-6pm.

(Editor’s Note:  a previous post said the reception would be held on Monday, March 27th….this is incorrect and the corrected information is provided above)

It was a packed crowd at Fishers City Hall Tuesday night for the listening session about the proposal to transform the Nickel Plate Line into a biking and hiking trail.  There were people in favor of the trail proposal, there was a large contingent on hand advocating continued train use of the line, and there were attendees just wanting to listen before taking a position.

‘I’ve got mixed feelings on this one,” local resident Christina Minear told me.  “That’s why I came tonight to find out and hear from both sides what’s going on.”

Fishers Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath opened the event, introducing people from the mayor’s office, police department, engineering and parks, all staffing tables to take comments and ask questions.

“We have a lot of public hearings in our community,” McGrath told the crowd.  “Sometimes, what that means, is the first ten people at the (microphone) are the ones to steal the show. Tonight, what we want to do is give each of you an opportunity to talk with all of us (with the city).”

Former Fishers Town council member Mike Colby was not happy with the format of the listening session.

“The way these things are setup now, you’re going up and asking questions about the trail,” Colby told me. “My question is, can we keep the rail and eliminate the trail, or in some cases they want to do both.  But it’s not setup that way.  The basic question of how many people support the trail and how many people support the rail hasn’t even been addressed.  There wasn’t an opportunity to even get up and ask that question.”

Colby also asked why Mayor Fadness was not in attendance for the listening session.

Fishers City Spokesperson Ashley Elrod says the mayor had a conflict.  He attended the Advancing Indiana Municipalities dinner Tuesday night.  Mayor Fadness leads the legislative committee for that group.

Joe Eaton, a Fishers resident since 1990, liked the way the session was organized.

“It’s a great turnout tonight, I think it’s a great format that people are getting the opportunity to ask individual questions,” said Eaton.  “Being a resident of Fishers since 1990, I think the trail is a phenomenal opportunity, great amenity to enhance the community in a way that we really haven’t had.”

The City of Noblesville will host a listening session Thursday night, March 23rd, 6-8pm, at their city hall.

Fishers, Noblesville and Hamilton County announced February 28th a proposal to convert the 9.2 mile Nickel Plate Rail Line to a biking and hiking trail, much like the Monon.  The project would cost about $9 million.  The idea has drawn praise from those wanting to expand such trails, but there has been vehement opposition from those wanting the line to remain a train rail line.

Fishers Police Chief Mitch Thompson had two big jobs at the March 20th Fishers City Council Session – he swore-in two new officers and honored another for his length of service.  But there was a family connection to those two events.

Andy Deitz was given a 25-year service award by Chief Thompson.  The family connection is that one of the newly-sworn officers is Andy’s nephew, Adam Dietz.

Also sworn-in as a new officer at the City Council ceremony was Corey Miller.

Wendy Hunter, representing Portillo’s before the Fishers City Council, was asked when residents can expect the Chicago-based eatery to open.  If you approve this rezoning, Hunter said, she will announce the opening date in a week and a half (from March 20th).

After hearing that, council members quickly acted to approve the rezoning of the property the restaurant plans to use in constructing their new building, to be located on the southeast corner of Interstate-69 and 116th Street.

Council members all said their constituents have been more excited about the possibility of Portillo’s coming to Fishers than most any other city project.  Based on the council’s Monday night action, those constituents will soon know when Portillo’s will be open in Fishers.

The Hamilton County Humane Society took a major step toward moving their operation from Noblesville to Fishers Monday night when the Fishers City Council unanimously approved a rezoning of the property at 106th Street and Hague Road.  That is the location the society is eyeing as its new animal shelter.

City Hall was packed, mostly with supporters of the Humane Society.  There were people living in the area of the proposed location both for and against the shelter.  The neighbors voicing concern were mostly pushing not to totally oppose the idea, but wanted better sound barriers between the Humane Society complex and their homes.

Area resident Paul Melillo presented a petition with 42 signatures, all but four calling for the enhanced sound barrier wall.  The remaining four opposed the project altogether.

But, the room was packed mostly with supporters of the Humane Society move to Fishers. They got their way with the action by city council members to approve the zoning change, which paves the way for the Humane Society to begin the planning and approval process for their renovation of what is now a church building.

Some new names and some familiar ones are part of the 2017 Fishers Summer Concert Series announced Monday.

The group Smash Mouth will appear at the downtown Amphitheater at 9pm Friday, June 9th.  John Waite comes to town Friday, June 16th, also at 9pm.  Another big name, Loverboy comes to the stage Friday, July 7th for another 9pm gig.

Other familiar names such as Jennie DeVoe, The Woomblies and Dave and Rae are on this year’s schedule.   The Blues Fest will once again be a two-day affair, September 1st & 2nd.

Below is the full list of summer conerts:

The debate has just begun on the future of the Nickel Plate Line.

Here’s my commentary posted on Indiana Forefront, at this link. 

It doesn’t seem that long ago when my wife Jane and I went to Deer Creek Music Center (before the days of big money naming deals…it’s called Klipsch now).  Chuck Berry wowed the crowd playing all his greatest music.  Chuck Berry never had his own band.  He would just tell the venue to find a group of musicians that knew his music.  It always worked.  Many big names would work for little money just to play with Chuck  Berry.

Elvis Presley is often called the King of Rock & Roll, and Elvis was one of the greatest, no doubt.  But if you ask people in the know about the history of music, they will tell you the real King of Rock & Roll was, and always will be, Chuck Berry.

Why is Chuck Berry not commonly known as the King of Rock & Roll?  To understand the answer to that question, you need to remember the time in American history when Berry became popular.

It was the 1950s and race relations in America were not good.  Rock and Roll was, at that time, considered a controversial form of music, a challenge to the establishment.  For an African-American man doing Rock & Roll, and gaining a young fan base, Chuck Berry never got credit for what he accomplished in changing the landscape of American music.

Elvis always got the credit for being the King, but Berry is the man who earned the title.  American racism at the time prevented him for getting the credit he deserved.

Chuck Berry himself always called Elvis the greatest ever.

Chuck Berry died on March 18th at the age of 90.  He will be remembered for giving us his music, and that music will entertain people for a long time to come.  That will be his legacy.  His songs will live on for people like me, and for those not even born yet.

You will be missed, Chuck Berry.

Larry sits down with Fishers City Attorney Chris Greisl and talks about a number of subjects, including how the city uses outside counsel, legal issues on the Nickel Plate Rail Line and Indiana’s Public Access Laws.