We had the official Ground Breaking for the LaPaz Garden Court yesterday, Thursday, October 29, 2009. An article and some pictures are in the Pilot News here. There were about 25 or 30 in attendance, representing various entities that support the project. This was about 10 days after we began the actual earthwork on the site. Today’s unfit weather has slowed us down, otherwise we would have been cutting in the footings today.
This is a bit of a misnomer since we literally broke ground last Monday, October 19th, but this Thursday, October 29th at 2:00 PM will be the Official Ground Breaking. We will break out the gold shovels and make sure everyone gets their picture taken. Reverend Liechty, President of Garden Court, Inc., will make a short speech. Often local government officials will attend. Congressman Donnelly has been invited as well since this project is funded by a Federal Grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The site is at 110 Cale Street. It is behind the Community Church of God which fronts on Hwy 31, just south of downtown LaPaz.
We are pushing hard on this one as we would like to see it under roof before the weather turns. That may be difficult with the late start, but the schedule calls for footings to be installed by the first of next week.
We are still working towards a Garden Court in Culver next year and there is talk of another in Plymouth as well. We look forward to these additional opportunities to assist Garden Court, Inc. in the community service they provide.
Since I was a teenager, possibly even younger since I was in Cub Scouts, I have carried a pocket knife. Something unthinkable for kids today. Did you see the recent story about the
Eagle Scout that was kicked out of school for having a pocket knife (Weapon! Zero Tolerance you know!) at school? In a box… In a locked car… In the parking lot… If you want to read the AP story, it is here. But this is to be a “Tip” not a “Rant” and once again, I’ve digressed.
Anyway, my knife is one of the small multi-purpose ones. It’s so dull it can hardly be called a knife, but it is ocassionally useful on site visits and around the house. I know better than to take it to the airport, but in the rush of getting ready last week, I transferred it from pants pocket to pants pocket as I always do when dressing and didn’t give it a second thought. That is until I was emptying my pockets in the security line at the airport.
This was at South Bend Airport and fortunately I was early for my flight. There was no one else in the line with me and the TSA personnel were sympathetic, but said there was nothing they could do. They suggested I take it out and put it in my checked bag… I wasn’t checking a bag. They suggested that I take it out to my car… I was dropped off at the airport, i.e. no car. They suggested I call someone… It had been 20 minutes since I was dropped off and there was no one close I could call.
As I’m standing there in my stocking feet, my computer, computer case, shoes and coat already down the conveyor belt, a possible solution came to me. I retrieved all my things and got out of line. (Fortunately there was only one person behind me and he seemed to be more amused than upset.) I went back out of the security check area and went over to the car rental counters. I picked the one with no one waiting, Hertz, and asked the attendant, “Do you have a Lost & Found box?” 
She was very helpful and said yes as she started to walk and get it when I explained, “I didn’t lose anything. (yet) I want to put something in it!” I explained that even if I ended up not being able to claim it from their lost & found, there was at least a chance that I could get it back. With TSA, it was going to be a 100% certainty that it was gone. She was extremely nice, let me put a note on it and put in in the lost & found for me. On my return trip, I retrieved it.
Okay, this may not be a great tip and it may have limited applications, but I thought it was worth passing along. It would never work in one of the larger airports at the point that I discovered my error, but it worked for me this time!
Yesterday was a long day, but a good day. I went to Indianapolis for the closing on the Lapaz Garden Court. This project is a 14 unit assisted living facility in Lapaz, IN. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This will be the 6th Garden Court facility built by Easterday Construction Co., Inc. We’re pleased to have the opportunity to work with Garden Court, Inc. once again.
The closings are interesting as there is a flurry of HUD personnel in and out making sure that their different criteria are met. As always, paperwork is a big part of any government project. Fortunately the Garden Court team (Hughes & Associates, Real Estate Management and B.A. Martin Architects) has been through this multiple times in the past. I think the HUD personnel appreciate what they do and try to make things as painless as possible. This closing went smoothly and only took a little more than two hours, but in the past we have been phoning, faxing, emailing and otherwise chasing the necessary paperwork. It seems there is always one more thing required.
Thanks to the work of Garden Court and the HUD, Lapaz will have a new Garden Court facility ready to occupy by this time next year.
