An employee of a Fishers Day Care facility has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to a 9-year prison term.  Television station WTHR has more details on the story at this link.

If you were driving along 126th Street between HSE High School and Thorpe Creek Elementary Thursday around 1pm, you may have seen some activity at a crosswalk. It was the ribbon cutting ceremony for a major trail connection now open along the Geist Greenway.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness.  “This is a really good stretch of trail.”

The Geist Greenway is open from 104th Street to Geist Park (10979 Florida Road) and from Geist Park to 126^th Street. Once completed, the 5-mile pedestrian path will stretch from 96^th Street to 131^st Street.  With the addition of this trail, Fishers’ trail system will total 131 miles.

Hamilton County is working to restore and relocate the historic Bell Ford Bridge—a covered bridge from Jackson County near Seymour, Indiana—to provide safe crossing over Fall Creek along the trail.

The Fishers Health Department has issued an advisory, saying Fall Creek, in the area of Geist Park, has E.coli, based on recent testing conducted by the department.  The full text of the advisory is below.  (Note:  Geist Park is a different facility than Geist Waterfront Park…Geist Park is a Hamilton County Park….Geist Waterfront is a Fishers City Park)

It was such a moving ceremony held in France for the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landing by Allied forces.  So many thoughts crossed my mind as I watched the event on television.

The long friendship between America and France came to mind.  Not that our two nations have not had our occasional differences, but our Revolutionary War with the British would never have been won without the help of the French.

When Jane & I watched the Statue of Liberty from a New  York tourist boat a few years ago, that was a gift to America from the people of France.  It was a special moment thinking about the many immigrants, including many of my own ancestors, gazing upon the Statue of Liberty as they first entered America decades aga.

I was also reminded how opposed Winston Churchill was to the D-Day invasion.  He realized the risks and the catastrophic consequences of an unsuccessful operation.  Dwight Eisenhower even drafted a statement in case D-Day failed, putting all the blame on himself.

Those servicemen knew the risks and knew the very good possibility they would not survive the storming of Omaha Beach and other places along the French coast, but they knew the stakes for the future of the world.  They were willing to make that sacrifice.

Each year we lose more World War II vets and lose the memories only they can share.  I would sincerely hope we never forget what Americans in the military services have sacrificed.

I appreciate how the City of Fishers, Mayor Scott Fadness and the Fishers Armed Services Commission have done such good work remembering our military veterans and supporting their families. It is one reason Fishers is a special place.

Thompspn Thrift has signed the first lease at The Union at Fishers District with Piedra, a Mexican restaurant owned and operated by Fishers-based Arechiga Restaurant Group.

Thompson thrift originally developed the Fishers District development near Ikea and is now developing the Union, near Interstate 69 and 116th Street.

“We are thrilled to welcome Piedra to The Union at Fishers District,” said Ryan Menard, vice president of development at Thompson Thrift, in a company news release. “Their commitment to culinary excellence and community engagement aligns perfectly with our vision for this vibrant mixed-use destination. This partnership represents a significant step in creating a unique and inviting gathering place for both residents and visitors.”

Piedra will offer what Thompson Thrift describes as upscale Mexican cuisine in an approximately 5,000-square-foot space with an outdoor patio area. The location is expected to open to the public in 2026. The Union location will be the second site for the latest concept, following the scheduled opening later this year of the first Piedra in Indianapolis’ Bottleworks District.

Piedra is the first signed lease at the project, with three other concepts currently at-lease, and several additional spaces being actively negotiated. The Union is expected to break-ground in the first quarter of 2025, with the first tenants expected to open in late 2026.

The City of Fishers had set a deadline for companies bidding on the city-wide trash collection contract to have their bids submitted by 10am Monday, June 3rd.  However, on Friday, May 31, city officials discovered an “administrative error” in the request for proposals.

With the discovery of the glitch, Fishers has extended that deadline for submitting bids to Monday, June 10, at 4pm.

City spokesperson Ashley Elrod tells LarryInFishers this delay will not impact the time line, which calls for a public hearing in July.  All this will do is shorten the time span for the city to review the bids and negotiate with bidders for a final bid offer.

The Town of Fishers went through the process of taking trash collection contract bids more than 10 years ago, but backed-off after public opposition.  With mostly 2 companies offering trash collection service in Fishers, Waste Management and Republic, costs have increased and the public mood appears to have changed.

City of Fishers employees have been scattered throughout the community during the construction of the new City Hall.  During the month of May, departments were slowly but surely moving into their new quarters at the new City Hall.

I recorded a podcast with Mark Williams & Michelle O’Hollaren of the Indy Arts Center.  The Center will be providing art classes on the first floor of the complex.  The first floor also contains an auditorium that will seat about 300 people.  Mark & Michelle gave me a tour of the auditorium and arts center.  I fully expect a great deal of activity in those spaces once all is in full gear, with arts classes and performances in the auditorium.  The auditorium will also be utilized for Fishers government meetings, including the City Council.

Mark Willams is particularly excited about the space set aside for the arts and a number of classes are planned.  I am no art expert, but it is clear seasoned artists and beginners will all enjoy this space.

When I moved to Fishers in 1991, the Town Hall was just finishing construction.  It became City hall in 2015.  However, there were structural issues with that building that had it sinking into the underlying water table.  It was costing the city a lot of money just to keep old City Hall upright, to the point of making it more costs effective to demolish the old building and construct the new City Hall, with an Arts Center included.

The mayor and his staff invited me to walk with them one last time around the old City Hall just before demolition began.  There were a few tears shed among the mayor’s staff on that day with so many memories attached to that building.  The mayor admitted he had many memories of old City Hall going back to the days he was an intern for the Town of Fishers.  As one would expect, the may chose to look forward to moving on to new City Hall.

I have watched plenty of comments on new City Hall’ architecture, some complimentary, some not so complimentary, at least as to the look of the building from the outside.  I am no architectural expert and will stay out of that discussion.

Allow me to say the office part of the structure is impressive because of the immense amount of natural light one experiences when inside City Hall.  Natural light is a precious commodity in any work place, and Fishers new City Hall/Arts complex has plenty of that.

The city will be holding an open house soon for our new Municipal Center.  I would recommend you come and see what your tax dollars have built.

I watched the HSE and Fishers High Schools graduation ceremonies on the live YouTube stream Saturday.  Memories were made for so many families in and around Fishers June 1st.  It is notable that this will be the final local graduation ceremony to be held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum.  Beginning in 2025, graduations will be at the now-under-construction Fishers Events Center.  Also, the first graduations at the new Fishers Events Center will be a few days later on the calendar of 2025, June 7th.

I must admit, I did not watch every single graduate have their diplomas handed to them.  I wonder how the respective principals and Superintendent Mapes were able to shake all those hands in one day?

I remember my twin daughters graduation day from Fishers High School about 12 years ago.  It is a special and somewhat emotional experience to watch your child move from one part of life into another.

I believe it was the valedictorian for HSE High School that put it this way….up to now, you can talk about HSE is where you go…after today, HSE is a place you went.

I graduated from Arlington High School in 1969.  It is now a middle school, but many alumni of that school have fond memories of our days there, and I am one of those people.

What I recall of my graduation day was a memory of my World History teacher, Mr. Ben Fort.  He assured us he would be at our graduation ceremony and would shake our hands.  I wondered whether he meant that.  He did.

Ben Fort had a big smile on his face as he shook the hand of each graduate.

Congratulations to each graduate at HSE and Fishers High Schools.  You should be proud and your families should be proud as well.  Time to move on to the next phase of life.

Fishers HS grads take their turn

If you live in the area of 141st Street and Promise Road, you have likely seen the signs that this intersection, which has been a 4-way stop, will be closed to construct a roundabout.  This is a City of Noblesville project, because it is on their southern border with Fishers.  Fishers neighborhoods in that area will be impacted.  This is expected to take several weeks to complete.

Also, June 5th is the date to begin construction of the roundabout at 141st Street at State Road 37.  More details below.

This is a very long list of road construction projects this week.  Here is the full listing, as provided by the City of Fishers:

Continue reading Latest on Fishers area road construction for the week of Monday, June 3 →

I had a political science professor in college, and this was the mid-1970s, that had very specific views.  Sometimes I agreed with him, sometimes I did not.  What he always succeeded in doing was forcing one to challenge long-held views.

One assertion he often made was comparing how the United States elects a president to how the United Kingdom elects a prime minister through their parliamentary system.  It is well understood that our systems of democracy are quite different, but he always argued the Brits do it better than us.

The length of a presidential campaign in America is long, very long.  Sometimes the positioning of candidates for president of the United States begins when the last election ends.  There are straw polls, all kinds of gatherings, the endless primary elections, then the political parties have their conventions, nominating their respective presidential candidates.  Labor Day normally denotes the start of the presidential campaign.

How is it done in Britain?  There is a deadline for an election to be held, but normally the prime minister calls the election before that date.  The UK parliamentary election campaign has  begun in 2024.  It will last for 5 weeks, with the election to be held July 4.  I find it interesting that the balloting will happen on a day not necessarily a date to remember in Britain, July 4th, the day commemorating the American Declaration of Independence from King George.

My professor always thought a brief, lively election campaign of 5 weeks in Britain is much better than the long, drawn-out campaigns for American president.

My former professor may have a point.