Tuesday, December 16, 2025
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COUNCILMAN’S CORNER

Tom Hayhurst 2 min read

Greetings! It’s great to see a few signs that the coldest days of winter may be over. When you get used to outside temperatures of 5-10 degrees, 25 or 35 degrees can feel like a heat wave. It seems to me that more Fort Wayne residents than ever have been getting out this winter to ice skate at Headwaters and other parks, to attend Komet games (Go Komets!) or other local sports and arts community events, etc. After the next month or so of “March Madness” basketball tournaments hopefully we’ll see some warm days and a few robins and spring flowers. I admit those images seem far off into the future!

Since I mentioned basketball this is a good time to give major congratulations to James Hardy, the excellent Elmhurst basketball star. Hardy now holds the record for the most points scored by a Fort Wayne boys basketball player! Kudos to James Hardy and best wishes for his future success as a college student and basketball star!

On March 1st the results of the comprehensive study of Fort Wayne’s park system will be presented to the public. The report hasn’t been released yet but I’ve heard about some aspects that seem to make good sense as well as others which are debatable. The goals of the study are very positive but some of the recommendations may be controversial. When you hear details of the report keep in mind this fact: the results of the park study provide information for consideration but are not official policy until accepted by the Park Board, and City Council and the Mayor, and the citizens of FortWayne.

I’ve received several calls from residents of Indian Village and nearby neighborhoods about Norfolk Southern’s rail construction work just west of Indian Village between Engle Road and Nuttman. I talked with a Norfolk Southern representative who tells me that the railroad is adding an additional rail line to make it possible for trains to move northeast and southwest without one train having to wait until another passes by. Hopefully the result will be shorter waits for drivers at railroad crossings!

I’m one of several members of a group appointed by the Mayor to review Emergency Medical Service operations in Fort Wayne. The goal is to make sure that the best possible service is delivered to Fort Wayne’s citizens at the lowest possible cost. Let me know your opinions about our local EMS. Do they respond quickly enough? Are you satisfied with the quality of service? What do you think about the policy of having only the users of the service pay the costs? Should some tax dollars be used to help finance EMS services since this would help lower “out of pocket” costs of those who have emergencies and have to be taken to the hospital? Let me know you thoughts!

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Good News! Those 3 energetic ladies—Beulah Stoker, Cheryl Connett, and Renee’ Haugh— and their volunteer team are working on an encore of the great August 30, 2003 Waynedale Community Picnic at Waynedale Park! Call Ms. Stoker at 747-6305 or give me a call if you’re interested in helping out with this excellent kid-oriented neighborhood celebration! In the meantime keep warm!

 

Tom Hayhurst
City Councilman, 4th District
tom.hayhurst@verizon.net
432-8418

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