Posts Tagged “Fort Wayne City Council”

There was little of significance on the agenda last night at council, so little in fact that members wondered why President Marty Bender had even bothered to hold the meeting. You see, there seems to be a cycle to the business of council not unlike various rhythms of life and, in council’s case, they peak during the budget season when there is a parade of paper and people to the table.

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By Jim Sack

Council was awash with stories last night.

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By Jim Sack

Fort Wayne will miss Greg Purcell. He is a capable administrator, a relatively skilled politician and a nice guy, really.

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If anyone outside of Fort Wayne is following the story on Tom Henry and the Fort Wayne folly called Renaissance Square, they must be getting a chuckle as Henry whips out his mojo.

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By Jim Sack

Last night’s council meeting was so boring that a council member resorted to text messages to keep reporters awake.

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By Jim Sack

It was like watching a fine fencing match. First Smith and Brown meet, then Pape and Harper squared off.

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By Jim Sack

Well, John Crawford. He offered his support to me when I fought the changes to Calhoun Street, so our last contact was as allies. I also was a strong supporter of a downtown ballpark, so he voted as I probably would have, and I loath smoking, so I have only a few qualms about his effort to force health on us. Additionally, the chats I had with him during his tenure on council informed me that he was very astute, well educated, deeply caring about Fort Wayne and tough.

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By Jim Sack

It was a fresh start last night, all smiles, laughter, joking. City council had not been in session for three weeks and members greeted each other as old friends, almost like a class reunion.

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By Jim Sack

The Skybridge and the Embassy. I am still not happy with the arrangement the city has with the new downtown hotel people concerning our access to the sky bridge. “Due to security concerns” the hotel will only make it accessible to we unwashed masses on those rare occasions when the Embassy is hosting an event. Since we paid for the damn bridge we should be able to use it during some sort of regular hours, say 6am to 10pm. Park in the garage near the Marriott and walk from there to the Grand Wayne Parking Garage. Why not? You paid for it and during heavy rain or snowfall it could be a life-saver.

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It was almost a jolly city council meeting last night. Even as the troopers were just beginning to trooped in you could see mostly smiles and friendly gestures. Tom Didier, always a happy guy, was the norm rather than the exception last night; the atmosphere during most of the rest of the year as was exemplified during the budget hearings when low grade snarls emanated from around the table. The meeting last night proceeded that way from front to back, only a couple of times did it seem that Liz Brown might go after someone at the table. (To be clear, Harper and Shoaff hardly ever are draw in to the snarling; Shoaff is a very gentile and collegial council member, Harper is highly conscious of the need for polite decorum and fully observes it.)

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It was quite a show at council last night as some 65 residents of the near east side, neighbors to the recycling transfer site, vented their anger. And, they were angry.

The roar started almost as soon as Council President Tom Smith opened the mic last night to citizen comment. One after another minister and a few private citizens parade to the mic to chastise council members for approving the placement of a transfer site in their neighborhood, on the site of the old Pontiac Street Fruehauf/Fort Wayne Foundry campus. Only problem was that council had not approved it. That, however didn’t seem to matter. Nor did civility.

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