Commentary
Strange Use of Funds…
I don’t know about you, but I keep driving through Burr Oak and wondering when they are going to finish the project there. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s done! What a weird little project for INDOT to take on… They probably spent nearly as much on traffic control as they did for the actual work. (Along with all the signs on S.R. 17, there are orange warning signs on North Street and Center Street.)
Lurkers know, I have long predicted a renaissance in Burr Oak, starting with “If it ain’t Burr Oak, don’t fix it” back in 2014 and again in 2017, but I’m not sure what these little pieces of sidewalk really accomplish.
There are now ADA compliant sidewalk intersections with ramps, with ADA warning pads and ADA compliant widths choked down to meet existing non-compliant walks… where there are existing walks… In the case of the the walk shown to the right at the southwest corner of North Street and SR 17, neither sidewalk this improvement ties into goes anywhere beyond a couple of houses.
The improvement at the north west corner of Center Street and SR 17 is even more bizarre, as the walks in either direction are impassible and I assume, because there was no existing walk at the southwest corner of Center Street and SR 17, they didn’t do anything there. This makes the ADA warning pad shown to the right, point to… nothing… You’re back to walking on the highway.
I assume the new walks terminate on the west end where the Right of Way for SR 17 ends. I’m curious though, that if the State deemed it necessary to upgrade these sidewalks at these intersections, then why was this not a complete project, extending accessible sidewalks from the Burr Oak Whistle Stop on the south to Sunstar Hybrids (Osborn Seed) on the north? The same question applies to the east side of SR 17…
I don’t begrudge the citizens of Burr Oak the improvements. As I said, their time is coming. If the County sewer districts that are in the works materialize, that time maybe soon. I do question the use of these funds in this manner. As they are currently installed, if a follow up project materializes to continue the walks as contemplated above, these corners would need to be at least partially demolished and reworked. This is a mistake Culver has made in the past and one I’ve ranted about here…
9/11 Remembrance
Congress has designated Sept. 11 as a day of observance known, officially, as Patriot Day, the date most Americans know as 9/11. It’s been 22 years since that fateful attack on New York and Washington, DC.
There are those arguing that it should be a National Holiday. While I think there should be conversation about the event and that the lives lost surround it should be honored, I struggle to see how another day off does this. The number of my peers that actually use Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day to honor our lost troops is small, while those losses are great.
That said, I would like to take a moment to express my sorrow for my fellow Americans lost that day. Not just those that were initially lost in the tragedy, but the hundreds of fire fighters, ambulance personnel and police officers that lost their lives rushing to help.
Photographer, Frank Glick, at http://www.liketophoto.com
I would also like to thank all of the service men and women that have answered the call since this event. For the past two decades they have been fighting the evil around the world that would hope to do this again. By fighting them on foreign soil, they have served to protect their (our) homeland from these acts. May their efforts prevent this evil from reaching our shores again.
And finally, I would like to admonish those of our politicians that have forgotten this and would make us vulnerable again. 9/11 should never be a day of political speeches. That is absolutely the wrong message, here and abroad.
Another Dalmatian in Culver
New public art has appeared at the corner of Lake Shore Drive and Ohio Street in the form of a painted fire hydrant. It appeared without any fanfare that I saw, so I’m guessing this wasn’t an approved installation! Ha! While I am not a big fan of the other Dalmatians in Town, this one makes me smile every time I drive by it.
I’m sure there are those out there that consider this defacing public property. That’s probably part of the reason that this was done with no fanfare. I had a former client that was known for saying, “It’s quicker and easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”
Back in the day, my mother, Jackye Berger, was part of the Maxinkuckee Jr. Women’s Club (sic?) and as a bicentennial project, they painted many of the fire hydrants in Culver Red, White, and Blue with some of the more artistic members creating versions of Uncle Sam and Founding Fathers. I couldn’t find any original pictures from Culver’s past, but I found the FL version to the right, which is a pretty good representation. Obviously this was part of some national movement. Too bad it lost steam. It resulted in a lot of fire hydrants taking on patrons. Some were kept up for years, but I only know of one that still has the patriotic colors. With the exception of a few red & white ones downtown, the only one I know if that’s still Red, White and Blue is on the Millers Merry Manor property fronting on S.R. 10. (See below)
The Culver Crossroads Committee has an Arts Committee. They are promoting art installations and things such as the various murals going up around Culver. I wonder if this kind of blast from the past could be taken under their purview as public art…
If you know of more decorated hydrants, share them in the comments!
Best Laid Plans… Culver Addition
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men… No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”
We were involved with finding a site for Culver Garden Court. It was challenging and we were pleased when Wade McGee stepped up to work with us. Those discussions began around 2010 with Culver Garden Court being completed in 2012. The picture to the right is from the “As-Built” survey of the Culver Garden Court property, dated 2-13-12.
One of the things included in the negotiation was a provision for ongoing and future access to the remainder of Mr. McGee’s property. The quality of PDFs 12 years ago wasn’t what it is now, so this may be a little hard to see. Squint and imagine… I’ll fill in the gaps.
From North to South, Culver Garden Court is across from Tampa Street, an improved alley and Batabano Street. Since we were carving out a new lot and creating a 2 lot subdivision, we set the north property line of Culver Garden Court in line with the centerline of Tampa Street. Then we provided a 50′ wide ingress/egress easement along the north property line. There were extensive discussions with the Plan Commission and Town Council about this. Even though this put the drive of Culver Garden Court off center from Tampa Street, it would be low traffic and not an issues. It was more important to give Mr. McGee the ability to line up with Tampa Street with any future development. The ingress/egress easement would effectively allow Right-of-Way for a future street extension. Until that time, we extended the Culver Garden Court drive to the west property line for Mr. McGee to use for property access.
Given the above, I was a bit surprised to see the plans for The Dunes showing “West Tampa Street” adjacent to the Culver Garden Court Drive. This seems to be the WORST of both worlds. Now we’ll have a misaligned Street right next to a driveway. On those odd occasions where someone is sitting at the West Tampa Street stop sign and someone is sitting waiting to come out of Culver Garden Court… who has the right of way? If they’re turning, they won’t be able to see the signal when it’s on the opposite side of the car. So many issues…
I am not looped in on these things. All I’ve seen is what’s presented in public meetings. The plan to the right is not the current plan, but the most recent plan I saw, presented at the Town Council meeting on August 22nd, still shows the misalignment of Tampa Street.
Culver Comprehensive Plan
As I’ve stated here before, I don’t particularly have any issues with this project; Towns are either growing or dying, so better to grow. But it is a bit frustrating when the planning of the past is ignored. I don’t fault the developer of The Dunes for this. This is clearly a Town of Culver issue. The extension of Tampa Street needs to be re-evaluated and correct alignment should be pursued. And as stated here, a fix for the South Main Street/Davis Street intersection should be considered. It’s particularly frustrating to be serving on the current comprehensive plan steering committee and see the previous comprehensive plan ignored. (Ignored may be a strong word, since as previously stated, I’m not looped in, but it seems that way.)
Plans are just plans. Plans can and often have to change. That doesn’t mean the time and effort put into past plans should be disregarded without proper consideration.
40 Years with ABC
October 2, 2023
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Politics
Community, Easterday Construction, government, Volunteering
This month marks 40 years since Easterday Construction Co., Inc. (ECC) joined Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). I’ve written about this before, and our continuation with ABC has been for the same reasons. In recent years, our chapter, ABC of Indiana, has become ABC of Indiana/Kentucky. Despite some continuing concerns, this has mostly been a good combination.
Our main reason for continuing with ABC is the the voice it has in the Statehouse. That’s not to say we don’t take advantage of other membership options. We currently have an employee in their NLRB approved Carpentry Apprenticeship program and we yearly document our safety through their STEP program. We have also participated in their Excellence in Construction program, winning awards for our work on the Charlie Creek Inn, Dr. James Ford Historic Home and the St. Mary of the Lake renovation. We have a representative on the Chapter Board.
While ECC hold memberships with several Chambers of Commerce, NFIB and other groups, ABC is the only business group that caters specifically to the Merit Shop construction industry. We’re proud to be ABC members and support their work while they support our work.
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