Artist’s rendering of The Yard residential building
The Fishers Plan Commission sent a unanimous favorable recommendation to the City Council, moving forward a residential component of The Yard culinary development, to be located near IKEA. Developer Thompson Thrift had requested a text amendment allowing 255 residential units be added to a mixed use structure in the project.
Attorney Steve Hardin, representing the developer, told commission members that construction on The Yard should begin in earnest during April of this year, with an opening of The Yard expected in 2019.
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Plan Commission members also gave a unanimous favorable recommendation to a $20 million senior housing project with 160 units. If all goes as scheduled, construction will begin in 2019, with 12-18 months needed to completion. The development is planned in Parkside, between 126th and 131st Streets, in what is now a wooded area near the Texas Roadhouse restaurant.
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39 acres of land located on the southeast corner of 113th Street & Florida Road received a unanimous favorable recommendation from the Plan Commission for a zoning change from residential to open space, but not before several objections were raised in the public hearing from residents in the Luxhaven neighborhood. Luxhaven has existed in that location since 1946 and many of the residents are concerned about the possibility of the city constructing a park on the 39 acres.
City Planning and Zoning Director Tony Bagato says the city has a long-term idea to put a park on that 39-acre tract, but has no immediate or current plans to do so.
Luxhaven residents also raised concerns about a pedestrian bridge that would bring foot traffic near their homes. Plan Commission President Warren Harling said the commission has no legal jurisdiction over bridges, but City Councilor Pete Peterson, also a Plan Commission member, made it clear he would not favor a pedestrian bridge near the Luxhaven homes.
Lindsey Erdody is leaving her beat covering the northern suburbs for the Indianapolis Business Journal. She will now be the IBJ reporter covering state-wide government and politics. Here is my podcast with Lindsey…
Hamilton Southeastern nearly came all the way back against Class 3A No. 2 New
Castle Tuesday before the Trojans closed out a 68-61 win over the visiting Royals.
New Castle led 30-19 at halftime and 49-34 after three quarters. Class 4A
No. 6 Southeastern made a push in the fourth period, scoring 27 points, but the Trojans were able to hang on for the win.
Aaron Etherington scored 19 points to lead the Royals, with Chaz Birchfield contributing 15 points and Chris Grubbs adding 11. Etherington pulled seven rebounds, while Birchfield and Mabor Majak each collected six. Grubbs had five rebounds. Nick Bowman handed out four assists.
Southeastern is 16-3 and hosts 4A No. 9 Carmel on Friday.
Fishers found itself on the wrong side of a fourth-quarter comeback on Tuesday, as Anderson stunned the Tigers 64-62 in an away game.
Fishers got out to a good start, leading 19-10 after the first period. The Tigers
were then up 38-27 at halftime and kept that advantage after three quarters, leading 51-
40. But the Indians overwhelmed Fishers in the fourth, outscoring the Tigers 24-11.
Four Fishers players reached double figures. Terry Hicks scored 17 points, including an 8-of-8 effort from the free throw line. Josiah Matthews added 12 points, with Jeremy Szilagyi throwing in four 3-pointers for 12 points. Willie Jackson scored 11 points.
The Tigers are now 8-9 and travel to Pendleton Heights on Friday.
A Fishers High School Diving Coach has been arrested on OWI charges, and has resigned his position with Fishers High School. WISH-TV broke this story in the late afternoon of February 6th.
It’s always a good idea to safely dispose of prescription drug that are unused and/or expired. The Indiana Attorney General’s Office will be offering a chance for Fishers residents to do just that on Wednesday, February 7th, The Reserve at Hamilton Trace (9974 Federalist Drive, Fishers). Follow the signs to “Independent Living.”
You can drop off the prescriptions from 10am to 2pm.
I normally write something about each year’s Super Bowl since starting this blog in 2012. I waited to write anything until now for a very important reason – I didn’t watch the game this year. I will not explain why in this space….if you see me around town, ask and I will tell you why.
But looking at the aftermath and some of the highlights, I have two major observations on the contest.
First, I am very happy for the pro football fans in Philadelphia. They are avid fanatics (after all, the work “fan” is short for fanatic). They can be very tough on the home team if performance is below par, but they love their football and want to win.
The Eagles have never won in NFL championship until 2018, when they were victorious over the New England Patriots. I spent two weeks one May in downtown Philadelphia working on a special project while a federal civil servant and grew to love Philly, its people and most of all its sports fans.
Second, the league continues to make a mockery of its concussion protocol. The video clips clearly show a player concussed, sent to the sidelines, only to return to the game and go down again. The NFL is not looking good on this front. This concussion issue is one of many that results in the falling NFL fan interest, especially among younger sports fans. This league has the financial resources to get this done right. Concussion protocols need to be corrected and fixed now.
One last thought – the TV ratings services estimate the audience for the Super Bowl this year at just over 103 million . That seems like an astounding number, and it is. It will likely be the largest TV audience this year for one program. However, it’s also the smallest Super Bowl audience in nine years. The audience is huge, but the numbers are on a downward trajectory the last few years. The NFL has something to worry about long-term.
If you live within the city limits of Fishers, I have a question for you. Do you love Fishers? I’m not asking if you think living in Fishers is fine, okay or just all right. I am asking, do you love Fishers?
If the answer is yes, and you can write a short essay about why you love Fishers, you may win a family four-pack of tickets to Conner Prairie. All you need to do is submit the essay explaining why you love Fishers so much, as part of the city’s Love Fishers initiative.
The deadline is February 28th, so don’t wait too long. Gather your thoughts about your love for Fishers and submit the essay before the deadline.
In this day and age, what would an essay initiative be without a hashtag? This one is simple, #LoveFishers
In addition, you can qualify a second time by sharing a photo taken around Fishers with the hashtag #LoveFishers on social media.
(L-R) Conner Prairie’s Normal Burns, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, HSE Supt. Allen Bourff retired HSE SPORTS Executive Director Lynda Carlino, at a podcast I recorded as the announcement of the new festival was made
The announcement was made official in early November, but there were strong indications earlier in 2017 that the Fishers Freedom Festival was not likely to continue as it had since 1989. Here is a brief look at what happened and what may be coming this summer.
The Fishers Freedom Festival has been run by a separate nonprofit organization since its inception in 1989. The festival always relied on local government support, in the form of both cash and in-kind (police, fire, parks, public works, etc.). In recent years, the festival organization received roughly $85,000 a year in direct cash from the city and about $45,000 annually for in-kind support.
In a podcast interview with me recorded November 9th, City Councilman Brad DeReamer said he was the one questioning the amount of support the city was providing the nonprofit Freedom Festival group. It was DeReamer’s idea, he told me, to form a nonprofit committee within the city council to look at all nonprofit organizations seeking city support.
The council committee considered all requests, including one from the Fishers Freedom Festival Board, and in late August announced its decision to no longer fund the Freedom Festival.
The Freedom Festival Board took a few weeks to ponder whether it could support a 2018 festival without city support. In early November, the board announced the nonprofit would not be able to stage a 2018 festival without the city’s cash & in-kind support.
The city had said as early as late August that if the Freedom Festival organization chose not to continue, the city would pick up the slack. That commitment was reinforced last November, but how the city would go about organizing the summer festival was still an open question.
We now know more about that. Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, along with Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath, decided to bring in a wide group of people for ideas on the new festival. The event has a new name – “Spark!Fishers.”
The planning for this year’s summer festival consists of seven separate committees and over 80 people. We know a few details. There will be a Friday night concert at the newly-remodeled Amphitheater in the Nickel Plate District featuring an act with a national reputation. There will be a parade, fireworks and a street fair. The celebration will happen on a Friday and Saturday, as opposed to the Saturday-Sunday festival schedule in years past.
There are four honorary co-chairs for Spark!Fishers, containing a list of the movers & shakers for the city. They are: Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, Conner Prairie CEO Norman Burns, HSE Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff and recently-retired HSE SPORTS Executive Director Lynda Carlino.
When I interviewed Fishers Freedom Festival Board President Don Dragoo the day after the board announced it would not stage a 2018 Freedom Festival, he wished the city well in continuing the traditions set by the Freedom Festival, but questioned whether the city would be making a good financial deal.
“I get a little confused by the fact that this is probably going to cost the city more money to continue than what they would have donated to us for putting it on with our volunteers,” Dragoo told me on November 9th.
That is something we obviously do not know at this point. However, I am told that the seven committees of the 2018 Spark!Fishers Festival are working on commercial sponsorship and their goal is to minimize any costs to the city. Whether that goal is achieved will not be known until we are much closer to the time of the festival itself.
I have written many times of my fondness for the Fishers Freedom Festival and its history. I moved to Fishers with my wife Jane in 1991, so I was here for the third festival and have visited nearly every one since. I have vivid memories of taking my young daughters (now adults) to the festival each year. Our first home was in the Sunblest neighborhood and the festival was a nice walk from our house.
I understand the need for preserving the past, but it is also valuable to move with the times and change things up a bit. I am looking forward to the Spark!Fishers 2018 summer festival June 29th and 30th. I won’t make the festivities June 29th, I will be walking one of my daughters down the aisle on her wedding day, but I just might see you Saturday, June 29th.
Let’s thank the Fishers Freedom Festival for a job well done for more than 28 years. At the same time, let’s wish the city well with its Spark!Fishers Festival this year.
I am told that many of our Reporter readers are interested in local politics. We are now entering a new election season with the primary only a little over three months away. The Republican primary is of great importance in Hamilton County because our 50 local elective officeholders are usually chosen in the primary. Democrats rarely are successful in the November general election.
The last Democrat to win a countywide election was Charles W. Ardery who was elected 60 years ago as judge of the Hamilton Circuit Court. Charlie is now 87 and a resident of the Robin Run Village, a retirement community in northwest Indianapolis.
He was elected in 1958 at the age of 35 in a stunning upset over the GOP candidate Warren Day. Charlie was a popular member of the local Jaycees, a prominent organization at the time. He also worked hard, really hard, to win election, getting some Republicans to jump the fence, and had the good fortune of running in a year when there was a nationwide trend favoring Democrats.
The judge served one six-year term and did not seek re-election. He moved to Indianapolis where he practiced law for many years. Charlie had grown up in a rural area near Westfield learning an appreciation for the law and politics from his mother, Phoebe Jane Ardery, a lawyer and red-hot Democrat herself.
While speaking of strong Democrats, current County Chairman Joe Weingarten is among those who are considering changing the name of the party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. It seems some in the party feel that in our age of political correctness the Democrats should not have their traditional political gala named for slave owners as were both Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.
Actually, former President Jefferson is considered to have been a Democratic Republican in the days before parties were operating under their current names. By President Jackson’s time in the 1820s-30s the name became simply Democrat. Jackson took a hit just last year when federal officials decided to take his portrait off the $20 bill sometime in the near future because of some of his actions against American Indians as well as his record as a slave owner.
Meanwhile, Republicans are planning their annual gala, the Lincoln Day Dinner, which will be held this year in a new location at the 502 East banquet center in Carmel. They are planning on having the five candidates for U.S. Senate as honored guests at the March 22 event. One of the five will be chosen in the May 8 primary to challenge incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly in November.
The county GOP has also moved their headquarters from Fishers to Westfield where they have more office and meeting space as they prepare for the 2018 election cycle. They plan to gear up for a tough general election campaign as Hamilton County is seen as an increasingly important player statewide.
Also, county election officials are planning to continue to have early voting centers which presumably help encourage greater voter participation. The voting centers were well received in the 2016 election when locations were established at the Carmel Library and Fishers City Hall. This year there is consideration of another site in Westfield.
Hours and exact locations will be announced later. The general idea is to give voters an opportunity to cast their ballot during evening hours and weekends at locations closer to the homes of many citizens. Early voting will also continue to be offered at the Government and Judicial Center in Noblesville.
