COUNCILMAN’S CORNER
Recently there’s been quite a bit of controversy regarding the route of the Three Rivers Festival Parade. After the parade route was changed over 500 residents of the West Central Neighborhood Association signed a petition asking the TRF Board to resume routing the festival parade down W. Wayne Street through the West Central area. Unfortunately, after some consideration, the festival board declined the request. Some might think that this issue isn’t important unless you happen to be a resident of the West Central neighborhood. From my viewpoint the parade route controversy was important to the citizens of the 4th District and to all citizens of Fort Wayne for 2 reasons. First, in this era of Community Oriented Government, the voice of every one of our 250+ neighborhood associations including the West Central neighborhood MUST be heard and respected when any decisions are made regarding important community matters. There’s another point as well: whether it’s an elected body such as the City Council or School Board or an appointed board such as the Three Rivers Festival Board, Civic Theater Board, Arts United Board, Airport Authority, Heart Association, or philanthropic foundation, citizen input must be sought and valued if all of these bodies expect any real support in the community. There’s another angle as well—concerned citizens often have great ideas regarding how to solve any challenging problem—we just need to listen to what they have to say!
Recently a City Council Flood Committee began to meet monthly with the goal of coordinating the efforts of the many local, state, and federal departments and agencies in the flood prevention and flood response effort. Yours truly as well as Council members John Shoaff, Tim Pape, and Tom Didier are members of this group. The recent State and Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to buy out flood damaged homes are a major step forward—thanks to all involved for making those grants a reality. Improved monitoring devices are also now in place along our rivers that will give earlier warning of rising flood waters and make an earlier response possible. I’ll keep you informed regarding developments in this area.
The county, state, and federal elections are only 4 months away! My suggestion: pick your favorite candidate and volunteer to make some telephone calls or stuff some envelopes on his or her behalf. Then make sure you and everyone you know is registered to vote!
Regardless of the comments in my 1st paragraph, the organizers of the Three Rivers Festival have done a great job during the last 36 years of the festival. There are many fine events for both kids and adults. Be sure to attend a few events and don’t forget to have at least one “elephant ear”!
Tom Hayhurst
City Councilman
4th District
432-8418
tom.hayhurst@verizon.net
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