The Fishers Health Department has some good news for local residents  – the community risk rate has been lowered to the lowest level, green or Level 1.  That’s the word from the latest Health Department video from epidemiologist Joshua Robinson posted Tuesday.  This is the first time Fishers has been at the lowest risk level since the pandemic began.

Robinson cites consistent lower positivity rates and case incidence rates for the city over the past few weeks.

There is a 4-Level system to gauge the COVID community risk.  Fishers was at one time in the highest, Level 4, or red category.  The numbers of have going down and the city’s risk level has also been headed down (a good thing) for the past several months.

The high vaccination rate in Fishers has contributed to the better risk numbers, according to Robinson.  The city’s full vaccination rate is at least 66%.

The positive cases Fishers health officials are seeing tend to be in the 16-19 year age group, which has been eligible for the vaccine the shortest amount of time for any eligible vaccination grouping.  Robinson encourages everyone eligible, particularly in the younger age group, to get the vaccination.

I have had many questions posed to me about the trees cut around the Hamilton East Library in downtown Fishers.  I was aware of plans for improvements.

The library posted a statement on its Web site Tuesday, explaining the construction that is on the way.  Here is part of that post:

Renovation to redesign the north entrance to become our new 2-story main entrance is underway. Construction of the north and east parking lots is progressing to improve traffic flow, add parking spaces and integrate the south entrance with the Nickel Plate Trail. In the coming week, a construction barrier will go up in the study room area to fully close the construction zone.

The library Teen Zone is relocated.  Look for more changes in that area as construction continues.

For those using the Ignite Studio in the library’s lower level, the entrance most-used to access that space is closed.  Use the main entrance to access Ignite.

The fence around the east and north library parking lots is there to allow for the construction project to improve parking and traffic flow.

Government leaders like to speak about the state of their governments.  Governors make a State of The State Address.  Mayors give State of the City Addresses.  During Fishers time as a town, the town council president traditionally provided a State of the Town Address.

So it should not be a surprise that the county does the same.  Tuesday, Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger made his State of The County Address in his role as president of the commissioners.

He started out the speech talking about how great it was to see so many people he knew at the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce Luncheon held in the Embassy Suites Hotel.  During the pandemic, personal interactions have been rare.  He touted the vaccination rate in the county and the low COVID positive test rate.

The county provided about $1 million in grants to struggling local businesses during the pandemic, according to the commissioner.  He also pointed out that 442 people in Hamilton County have died from COVID.

Here is an item of interest to residents of Fishers – there are big plans to improve the intersection of 146th Street and Allisonville Road.  No decision has been made whether 146th Street will be constructed over or under Allisonville Road, but it will be one of those designs.  The county expects that project to begin in the spring of 2023 and end in the fall of 2024.

If Boone County cooperates, Dillinger envisions 146th Street as connecting Interstates 65 & 69.

A decent part of the address dealt with the State Road 37 project, a joint endeavor involving the county, the state of Indiana as well as the cities of Fishers and Noblesville.  146th Street remains a construction zone and is expected to be done by the spring of 2022.

He touted the completed 126th Street roundabout and State Road 37 underpass at that location as already easing traffic tie-ups on the highway.  131st Street and SR 37 intersection is under construction and that underpass and roundabout should be done before the end of the year.

Dillinger took some time to bring up:

–Plans for the new career achievement center

–The start of constructing a domestic violence shelter with the nonprofit group Prevail

–Touted the county’s AAA bond rating

–Talked about his role as the county appointee to the Indianapolis Airport Authority

–Cost savings gains from installation of solar panels

–The new parking garage coming to downtown Noblesville

and

–The Hamilton County Parks.

Most importantly, the speech and luncheon allowed people in the county to connect in person after the long pandemic lockdowns.

The City of Noblesville has just announced bonus payments to city employees – $2,000 each to police and firefighters and $1,000 each to other city workers.  It had been previously announced that those on the Hamilton County government payroll will receive $3,000 each.  This is all related to the extra work and stress created by the COVID pandemic and comes from the federal funds distributed to local governments dealing with the pandemic.

What about Fishers?  I posed that question to Mayor Scott Fadness in a podcast interview posted May 17th.  Last year, as the pandemic was very much with us, the mayor points out that city employees did receive a 3% pay raise.

The city also provided a stipend for workers required to work at the job site during the early days of the pandemic.  These employees could not have adjustments made to their work schedules for schools not in session or other personal reasons.  Each of those workers were paid $500 per week extra by the city.

“My inclination, at this point, is that we would not be using (federal COVID) money for additional compensation, but we’re also going to take this slow,” Fadness said.

The mayor made those comments shortly after the city discovered it would receive just under $7 million in federal aid, not the $19 million originally projected.

“We’ve got some discretionary time here,” said the mayor during the podcast.  “The city is in a sound financial position, so there’s no immediate rush to go out and spend that money.”

The Spark Fishers Festival ended Saturday night with a 10pm fireworks display.  With the 4th of July coming Sunday, more Fishers fireworks are coming.  There will be three locations to view the displays, all at 10pm.

Holland Park will be the location to set the fireworks display closest to the Fishers city center.  The show can best be viewed some distance from Holland Park, such as near City Hall.

There will be another set of fireworks originating from the site of the new Geist Waterfront Park.

Finally, there will be fireworks launched from a barge on Geist Reservoir.  It should be noted there will be no celebration on the Fall Creek Road bridge this year.  In fact, the bridge will be closed to pedestrians during the fireworks.

Whenever there is a festival in Fishers, I try my best to walk around and take a few photos.  That wasn’t possible for the 2021 Spark Fishers Festival.

I had a volunteer duty to staff the public address station at Holland Drive and Ellipse Parkway, at the main entrance to Holland Park.  That was a good distance from the center of the festival at the Municipal Complex, so photos for this year were out for me.  I have included some photos from the city in this post.

Parades are unpredictable events.  There are always units out of order and a few that just don’t show up.  That complicates the work of a public address announcer.  The parade organizers were able to provide scripts for me the day before, giving me time to look them over.

Then there was the wind.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  There was no rain and the the temperatures were fairly comfortable for this time of year.  Kudos to the Fishers City staff that built the tent for my location, it was solid.  Not all the tents made it through that windy Saturday.

Allow me to thank my niece Jenna Petroff, a counselor at Fishers High School, and her husband Phil, a teacher at Sand Creek Elementary, for volunteering to help me out.  Without them, I would not know which unit was coming next and the wind would have swept away my written scripts.

Based on the crowd in and around Holland Drive & Ellipse Parkway, the 2021 parade was a hit.  My understanding was the rest of the parade route had lots of spectators and the festival near City Hall was busy as well.

Just another example of how people everywhere are anxious to celebrate after our lockdown in 2020.  When we were in the depths of the lockdown last year, I wrote that Fishers needed a big party once the pandemic was less of a threat.  We had that party Saturday.

As I was leaving the parade, I had a little girl come up to me, I would guess 4 or 5 years old.  She had some candy that had been handed out during the parade.  She gave me a piece of candy to thank me for the parade.

I accepted, knowing I symbolized the parade for her as the PA announcer.  I accepted not for myself, but on behalf of all the volunteers, paid professionals and sponsors that made the festival possible.

I haven’t had the heart to eat that candy yet.   Once I do, I will think about all the people in Fishers, coming together and making the Spark Fishers Festival possible.

As escapee from the Hamilton County corrections system was taken into custody by Indiana State Police Friday afternoon in Fort Wayne.  Rafael Rosa III, 27, from Noblesville, walked away from custody on June 18th, and has been on the run since.  Rosa was serving a sentence for burglary and theft convictions at the Hamilton County Corrections facility.

According to State Police, Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies worked with them to determine Fort Wayne was the most likely location to search for Rosa.  Once Rosa was found at a Fort Wayne motel, he fled, but troopers gave chase and apprehended him.

Rosa was transported to the Allen County jail, where he remains held pending transfer back to the Hamilton County jail.

With the Spark Fishers Festival upon us and the 4th of July just around the corner, many of us living in Fishers neighborhoods are seeing and hearing fireworks.  When and how you may legally use fireworks in the City of Fishers is codified in a city ordinance.

The Fishers Police Department is reminding local residents of the rules.  Officers encourage citizens to voluntarily comply with the ordinance, but if there are violations, police will enforce the ordinance language.

As a reminder, here is the Fishers City Fireworks Ordinance, as provided by Fishers Police:

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Continue reading Reminder of the Fishers fireworks ordinance →

This week’s road construction update includes what you need to know about Spark Fishers traffic along with the latest on State Road 37 and the 116th Nickel Plate tunnell

Here is the latest, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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STATE ROAD 37 AND 146TH STREET
All left-turn lanes are currently restricted on SR 37 and on 146th Street with traffic moved to the interior lanes. Thru traffic and right turns on SR 37 and 146th Street will remain open. Drivers are encouraged to seek alternate routes for all left turn access. View an alternate route map here. 

STATE ROAD 37 AND 131ST / 135TH STREETS
The westside of 131st Street at SR 37 is currently closed as work progresses on the interchange. SR 37 will remain open both north and southbound. SR 37 southbound left and right turns onto 131st Street will be restricted. Westbound left turns onto SR 37 will also be restricted on 131st Street. View the detour map here.

The Northbound SR 37 right turn lane onto 135th Street is currently closed from 131st Street to approximately halfway to 135th Street for Phase 1 construction. This portion of the dedicated turn lane will not reopen to regular capacity until the interchange is complete.

Please drive with caution through this area. To learn more about the State Road 37 Improvement Project and sign up to receive text updates, visit 37Thrives.com.

The City of Fishers started construction on the Nickel Plate Trail pedestrian tunnel beneath 116th Street on Tuesday, June 1. The closure is anticipated to last 60 days. During the construction, 116th Street will be closed from east of Municipal Drive to west of Maple Street. All local business and public parking access will remain open.

106th Street will serve as the detour route, with the detour beginning at Hague Road for eastbound thru traffic and Lantern Road for the westbound thru traffic.

Portions of the Nickel Plate Trail are now open, including the paved portion from 131st Street to North Street, and from South Street to 106th Street. The 116^th Street tunnel will complete the trail connection through downtown Fishers, joining South Street and North Street, and establishing a full connection from 131^st Street to 106^th Street. While the tunnel is under construction, a pedestrian detour route will provide access through downtown between the north and south sections of the trail. View the pedestrian detour map here.

To learn more about the project, view construction images and project renderings, and find detour maps, visit https://www.playfishers.com/284/Nickel-Plate-Trail

The Spark! Fishers celebration concludes tomorrow, June 26 with street festival, parade, and fireworks show in Fishers’ downtown Nickel Plate District. 116th Street will be closed beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday between Fishers Center Drive and west of Maple Street. Road closures will be in effect all day on East Municipal Drive and around Central Green. The west side of Municipal Drive will remain open from Fishers Center Drive to Lantern Road.

Parking restrictions are currently in effect on surface lots and street parking around the Municipal Complex. Garages will remain open until 3 p.m. on Saturday. At that time, the Switch and Depot Garages will be restricted for residents or those with a valid Spark! Fishers parking pass. ADA parking is available in the Police Department Garage. Attendees are encouraged to park at the Forum Credit Union Event Center (11313 USA Parkway) and take the free event shuttle.

For more details, visit https://sparkfishers.com/road-closures/

Indianapolis DPW currently has Admirals Pointe Drive closed through midsummer 2021 to replace the timber bridge over Geist and the north fork of Dry Branch. The detour will consist of Old Stone Dr. East to Carroll Rd. / 700 W., South to E. 79th St., West to Oaklandon Rd.

ADA ramp and curb reconstruction has started as part of the 2021 Resurfacing Project. After ADA ramp and curb reconstruction is completed, those areas will be restored with topsoil and seed. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to water the seed for the seed to germinate. Prior to road resurfacing, residents will be notified via street signage for street parking restrictions.

The evening featured overcast skies and comfortable summer temperatures.  That was a perfect combination for the Thursday evening Spark Fishers Car & Art Show.  The size of the crowd is just another example of how eager locals are to get outside and be with other people as the pandemic lowers its threat.

Artists were everywhere, selling their artwork.  Then there were the cars, lots of classic vehicles al along the green area south of City Hall on Municipal Drive.  There were Corvettes, Camaros, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and a Model A.

If the weather holds out, look for a record crowd Saturday for the Spark Fishers Festival, parade and fireworks.

Here are just a few of the photos from the art and the cars:

Continue reading Cars & Art – Spark Fishers combination →