It is not often the Fishers Plan Commission unanimously votes to send an unfavorable recommendation to the City Council, but that is what happened Wednesday night.  The Bel Canto proposed apartment complex, consisting of 292 units, requires a rezoning and the Plan Commission members voted not to support that change.

The proposed site of the project is the southeast corner of East 136th Street and Cyntheanne Road.  The land where the development would be located is currently zoned as commercial, requiring a change in zoning to residential for the proposed apartment project to move forward.  That proposed change resulted in all 7 Plan Commission members present for the meeting unamimously sending the unfavorable recommendation..

Attorney Steve Hardin presented the case before the commission for the project and the developer also argued their case as well.  Five people spoke during the public hearing, four from neighboring Barrington Estates and one from Britton Falls, all opposing the rezone.  A petition was filed with the commission and many written comments were filed with the city planners, all in opposition of the zoning change.

Two members of the Fishers City Council, Pete Peterson and Selina Stoller, also serve as Plan Commission members.  Both supported the unfavorable recommendation for the zoning change, saying this is not the right location for such a development.

“I am a huge proponent of multi family projects,” said Plan Commission President Howard Stevenson.  “There is still a need for that here in the city of Fishers.  But I agree with (Peterson’s & Stoller’s) sentiments.”  He added that this proposal is not consistent with the Fishers comprehensive 2040 plan.

The request for rezoning the property now goes to the Fishers City Council for a vote.

It was 1968 when I began my radio broadcasting career.  I just changed records & tapes, along with running a control board and watching the transmitter readings, for a local radio station owned & operated by a man named Martin Williams.  I was 18 and Mr. Williams was in his 60s when I started work for him.

Think about this…Mr. Williams, as a young man in radio engineering school, met and spoke with Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless communications.  It is a reminder of how fast technology has advanced in last 120 years.

I later moved into radio announcing, graduating from a broadcasting trade school in 1969 and moved into disc-jockey work and sports.  In those early days, the station manager was crazy enough to assign me duties of hosting a talk show.  I had a quick and rude awakening.

All those talk show hosts I watched on TV and heard on the radio made it look and sound easy.  What I didn’t know was the immense preparation that goes into a successful talk radio program.

Learning the lessons of making mistakes, I found myself hosting an all-night radio talk show in the Indianapolis area from roughly 1975 through 1977.  Imagine four hours of talking on the phone with people 5 nights a week.  It was fun, but a lot of work for little pay.

I learned the power of talk shows on radio.  They were different in those days.  I respected my callers, even when I didn’t always agree with them.  The station manager encouraged me to be provocative and stimulate conversation.  Let’s just say I did that.

I had no staff, except for an intern from IUPUI for a few months and she was a big help.  But it was up to me to book any guests for the program.  I didn’t need a guest every night, but getting them to come in at 11pm was not an easy sell in many cases.

I got a taste of what it’s like to produce a radio talk show.  Most good ones have several guests every day with a staff of people supporting the host.

There is a lot of talk radio commercially today, most conservative, a little on the liberal side, but ideology drives most talk on the commercial band.  If you want intelligent, reliable radio talk shows, public broadcasting generally does an excellent job.

That’s why I was saddened to learn of the cancellation of “All In,” a daily afternoon talk show on WFYI radio in Indianapolis.  I read rumblings on social media but IndyStar reporter Clair Rafford’s story appeared in the print edition of the Star Wednesday confirming it and can be accessed at this link. (NOTE:  You may be limited in accessing Star stories online if you are not a subscriber.  Again, please subscribe to your local media!  Online subscriptions are not that expensive)

It appears this is a financial decision by the powers-that-be at WFYI radio.  Public broadcasting is financially supported by members from the community and foundation grants.  Public broadcasting does receive some taxpayer support nationally.

I listened often and could note the great staff work to get good guests, often several for each one-hour program.  Mariam Sobh does an excellent job as host of All In, but she is located on the south side of Chicago.  It got a bit awkward when local people pressed her to visit a location or event locally and she finally had to admit she was doing the program from Chicago.

It is sad that WFYI is losing a very good talk radio program due to a lack of financial support.  I truly believe that having a radio program that allows local people and national figures of importance to sit down and talk in an extended interview about issues important to local people has great value.

But I also understand how much work goes into this.  I try to produce a weekly local podcast featuring local people and it is a lot of work just doing that.

I hope all those people staffing “All In” land with good jobs as they move on in their careers.  They were part of something that impacted the local community and should be proud of what they accomplished as a team.  Let’s hope intelligent talk finds a local radio place in the  future.

The Fishers Health Department had been providing weekly video updates on the COVID-19 situation locally, but has just gone to once-every-two-weeks for updates.  It has been two weeks since FHD has offered an update on COVID from Epidemiologist Josh Robinson.  Let’s just say this is the best COVID news Fishers has seen in quite some time.

“Since we had our last community update 2 weeks ago,  we’ve seen a continued decrease in the number of newly-reported COVID-19 here locally, regionally, state-wide and nation-wide, ” says Robinson in his latest video.  “We have also seen an improvement in the health care system capacity, in terms of an increase in ICU bed availability and a decrease in the occupation of hospital beds by those with COVID-19.”

Some numbers he shared tell the story best. FHD has seen a 97% reduction in weekly cases since the peak of the omicron wave.  The case incidence rate is down dramatically, from 42.7 to 13.4.  Only 56 positive tests have been tallied locally in the most recent reporting period.

The Centers for Disease Control issued new local guidance recently.  Robinson says the Fishers Board of Health will meet in March and discuss how to align metrics used by the Fishers Health Department with that new CDC guidance.

Below is the video from Josh Robinson, posted Tuesday afternoon.

Students at Fall Creek Junior High School displayed their art work at Fishers City Hall as part of Black History Month, and those students will be switching roles and teach others  about art as part of the new Community Canvas initiative.

Teacher Michelle Feeney will lead her FCJH students as they become teachers in this new painting program.

“As soon as I told the kids about it, they were so excited to participate,” Feeney said in a Fishers Arts Council news release. “They’ve been learning about Cubism and will be guiding guests on how to create their own painting to take home as well as contributing to the community artwork.”

If you are not familiar with cubism, it involves bringing different views of subjects together in the same painting, which results in works that appear abstract or fragmented.

The community artwork will focus on the Great Squirrel Stampede of 1822, where thousands of squirrels destroyed cornfields as they migrated West, against their natural path. The artwork will feature squirrels with Hamilton County landmarks in the Cubist style.

The community art project will take place on Friday, March 11 from 6-8 pm in the Art Gallery at City Hall, One Municipal Drive, Fishers. The gallery will also be open to enjoy the student’s artwork alongside Alcove featured artist, Judy Mintze. Live music and refreshments will be available; some artwork will be available for purchase. There is no fee to participate in the community art project or the personal paintings, and no registration is required.

Teachers at New Britton Elementary School opened up “teacher appreciation boxes” provided by TCC, the firm that operates the local Round Room office building.  The boxes contain coffee pods, hot cocoa mix and marshmallows, popcorn, granola bars, tissues, pens, sticky notes, dry erase markers, hand sanitizer and much more.

TCC selected 520 schools nation-wide and provided the appreciation boxes for the “Teachers Rock Supply Giveaway” to teachers in those buildings, including New Britton Elementary in Fishers, part of the Hamilton Southeastern Schools.

“With the amount of time and effort teachers put in to mold the futures of our children, it’s only fitting to show our support and gratitude towards them through this annual initiative,” said Scott Moorehead, CEO of Round Room, parent company of TCC, in a company news release. “The Teachers Rock Supply Giveaway has become one of our favorite events at TCC each year, and we’re proud to have given back to teachers nationwide for nine years running.”

Round Room, LLC operates 1,241 TCC and Wireless Zone stores across 43 states.  The local operation is at 10300 Kincaid Drive, the former Roche Diagnostics Building.

Fishers has a tradition of planning several events tied to Disability Awareness Month in March, with the Disability Advisory Committee leading the way.  Two key members of that committee are Cecilia Coble and Kelly Hartman.  You can look at all this is planned using this link.

Cecilia & Kelly joined me for a podcast about Disability Awareness Month in Fishers.

Fishers has been receiving lots of attention from local news outlets lately, including the Indianapolis Star and local television newsrooms, about who owns single-family rental homes in Fishers.  A housing study released in January contains a ton of data, but one fact uncovered is the extent of large investment firms buying homes in Fishers to become rental properties.

Take a quick look at what the study found:

Fishers City Council President Todd Zimmerman has written social media posts saying he favors action to stem the tide of investment companies buying-up Fishers single-family homes and converting them to rental properties.  Mayor Scott Fadness says having large investment firms buying-up single-family homes robs families of wealth accumulation over time by pushing many of them out of the local housing market.

If there is a consensus that something needs to be done, the next question is – what should be done and what can be done under the law?  In a brief conversation after a recent Board of Works meeting, Mayor Fadness told me he has been conducting meetings with his staff and the city attorney, exploring options possible under Indiana law.

The mayor indicated to me that it may take a change in state law.  Remember, cities are subdivisions of the state, so Indiana state lawmakers have the final say, along with the governor, on what laws are and are not enacted or even allowed by local governments.

Indiana has a national reputation of favoring landlords over tenants.  The Indianapolis Star and other local news outlets have reported extensively on this issue.  Convincing the General Assembly to enact a law limiting rental properties will be a heavy lift.

Expect some reaction from Mayor Fadness and the Fishers City Council in response to data revealed in the housing study.  Let’s see exactly what is proposed  to deal with this single-family rental home ownership question.

It has been a long time since I studied International Politics as a college course, the mid-1970s to be more precise.  I had the same professor for Political Theory and International Relations.  He was a very good prof and I learned a lot in his classes.

One important concept embedded in me by those classes had to do with how one deals with an adversary.  To start, you must understand the other side.  What are their interests and what do they want?

Looking at today’s Russia, and the history of Russia that goes back hundreds of years, Russia feels surrounded.  The Russians were double-crossed by the Nazis in World War II and have had this paranoia about being attacked again.

It appears Russian autocratic leader Vladimir Putin is using that feeling of paranoia to invade Ukraine with the goal of occupying and ruling that democratic nation.  Ukraine became independent following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  Ukraine was a part of Soviet Russia until the Soviet empire ended.

I recall an interesting television interview between an American journalist and an editor of a major newspaper in Ukraine a few weeks ago.  The Ukraine journalist said if you took a poll in his country before 2014, residents would have said they felt closer to Russia than the West.  After Russia’s occupation of Crimea, public opinion has shifted, the newspaper editor in Ukraine said.

So, Putin is partly responsible for the people of Ukraine moving away from Russia in general.  But a major reason Russia is making this radical move is tied to fears about Russia’s own security.

Public opinion in Ukraine favors membership in NATO.  Ukraine is not yet eligible for NATO membership and would not likely have that opportunity for several years.  But the mere possibility of that happening, and the general public support in Ukraine to join NATO, has triggered alarm bells for Putin and his small circle of advisors.

I am making no excuses for Putin and what he has done, but the West does need to find a way to deal with Russia’s security concerns.  But, Putin will soon see his concerns will not be addressed by an invasion of a European country for the first time since World War II.

The people of Ukraine have shown amazing grit and courage.  They face one of the largest, best-equipped armies in the world.  Yet, it is clear that most Ukrainians do not want to be ruled by Vladimir Putin.  They are willing to fight a much superior military power in order to prevent that.

We do not fully understand why Russia chose this invasion of Ukraine.  But the world needs to send a clear message to Vladimir Putin that invading a free, democratic nation will not achieve his goal of  Russian security.

The book “Let’s talk About It” has been moved from the teen section of the Hamilton East Library to the general nonfiction book collection.  The library board voted unanimously to reorganize the Teen Zone book collection.

At the February 4th board meeting, library staff was directed to review the “Let’s Talk About It” book due to its sexual content.  Library Director Edra Waterman recommended that the reorganization of the Teen Zone be conducted in response.  “Let’s Talk About It’ has been moved out of the Teen Zone to the general nonfiction book shelves.

13 people spoke at the Thursday afternoon board session, most wanting “Let’s Talk About It” to be moved out of the Teen Zone, with three saying the book should remain in the Teen Zone.

Waterman said the Teen Zone reorganization project will require  her librarian staff to review 12, 600 book titles by the end of June this year.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and his appointees on the Board of Public Works and Safety continue to deny Verizon 5G towers, using criteria established by state law and city policies, where the towers obstruct views from homes in that neighborhood.

One tower in Sunblest Farms drew 4 speakers from the neighborhood in opposition to the tower, including an attorney representing the Home Owners Association (HOA).  An attorney from Verizon spoke, explaining why the tower could not be moved for technical reasons.

“I don’t view (the Sunblest Farms 5G tower) as an appropriate location for a 5G cell tower,” said Fadness.  “It’s smack-dab in the middle of what I can see as, at least four homes, that would be looking directly at that the tower.”

The board denied the request for the one Sunblest Farms tower up for consideration at the Thursday morning meeting.  The board went on the approve several towers in the Sunblest neighborhood while denying two additional 5G towers.