Tag:Culver
Electronic Sign Update
Well, following up on my previous sign posts (Pun Intended), there was some improvement around graduation with some good info on schools and congratulatory posts, but that ended rather quickly. We’re back to Date & Time, Affirmations and the Farmer’s Market.
I didn’t see anything about LaPaz’s Sesquicentennial celebration last weekend. There’s been nothing about the Mayor’s Months of Music kicking off at River Park Square in Plymouth. I know there are a lot of other things going on throughout the County we could share.
Locally we have a concert at the park on Saturday. The Park has a movie night on June 23rd. We have calls for Miss Maxinkuckee entrants. The library has programs almost weekly. It’s never too soon to start promoting Lakefest coming up July 14th. There is no reason to ever see the Date & Time on that sign! Ha!
Crosswalks
At the Culver Town Council meeting this Tuesday, Don Fox made a presentation on Make My Move. It’s an interesting pilot program to encourage full-time remote workers to relocate to Indiana. Culver is a participant in the pilot program and already has someone interested.
Later, under public input, Don again spoke. He first commended the Council for their wisdom for installing the crosswalk markers in the middle of Lake Shore Drive at the Beach Lodge, Osborn’s Mini Mart and The Lakehouse Grille. He then requested they consider adding these at State Street, Washington Street and Madison Street.
It was quickly pointed out that the crossing at State Street was included in the original sign placement, but it quickly became apparent that it interfered with the ingress/egress of fire trucks at the fire station. Someone in the audience extrapolated this to be a problem if a sign was installed at the Madison Street crossing due to the narrowing of the street in this area created with the landscape/traffic islands. This also devolved into a conversation about whether this would require a sign ordinance reference or if it was exempt since it was State Law. At that point it was tabled until the next meeting.
Culver’s traffic is not unique, but it is often comprised of a mix of locals that know the area and visitors, both motorists and pedestrians, that are not as familiar with the area. One suggestion I would put forward in lieu of the center-of-the-road signs is to use Shark Teeth as an added reminder. (See left) They serve two purposes: 1) Providing a visual cue that there is a crosswalk and 2) Providing a visual cue for where to stop when there is a pedestrian in the intersection.
Nothing is free, so even though it’s just paint, there would be some cost for installation and maintenance. These will not work for snow covered roads, but at that point, you can’t see the crosswalk either! Also, the Town only has the the yellow center-of-the-road signs up Spring through Fall, since they would be destroyed by snow plows in the winter. To the best of my knowledge, Shark Teeth have not been used within the Town of Culver, but they were installed by INDOT on S.R. 10 at the crossings to the Academies sports fields. Unfortunately those are currently an example of what they look like when they aren’t maintained…
The ones in the picture above are from Plymouth, IN and I believe they are on one of their Safe Routes to School. I will say that when I first ran across them, I slowed to try and figure out what they were, but had to look it up later to actually know. I’ve also been behind people in Culver that have seen the little yield sign on the center-of-the-road signs and stopped… even though there were no pedestrians anywhere near the crosswalk… Education is an important component of any plan. But just some slowing and extra attention is the point, isn’t it?
I’m sure there will be other ideas, but this seems to be an economical and efficient solution.
Parry…
Well, I guess the 404 neighbors parried. (Previous Post: En Garde!) Where I thought we had an understanding; apparently not. At the 1/17/23 Plan Commission meeting, I asked for the fence to be brought into compliance. That was written into the lot combination agreement.
From my initial request that the fence be brought into compliance, I backed off and agreed to an intermediate solution. After a meeting at the site with the fence owner & Town Manager, I drew up what was discussed/what I expected, sent it to the Town Manager, and she shared it with the Plan Commission and the 404 fence owners. All appeared right with the world, until the work was completed differently than agreed.
So, Counter Parry… Back to the Plan Commission… I gave the Plan Commission an update. There position was to go back to the original agreement in their minutes and require the fence to be brought into compliance 8/31/23. So, I guess we wait until the end of the Summer to see what the next steps are. I’m guessing this won’t be resolved until at least this Fall…
It sucks to argue with the neighbors. It never ends with positive results. Unfortunately, sometimes, you have to take the extra steps to get what’s right. I follow the rules and expect others to do likewise.
Electronic Sign Update
At the Culver Town Council meeting Tuesday, the Council voted to allow the High School administration to have access to the electronic sign. The school will be required to follow the Town’s policy on what can be posted, but this should take this off the Clerk’s plate and allow better allocation of this resource, i.e. fewer instances of just Time/Temperature postings.
I think this is a good first step. Adding school functions here is a better allocation of the resource, but if that’s all that’s done, it is still going to be underutilized. As discussed in a previous post, we’re missing the cross-county advertising potential, a Stellar Region goal, as well as missing the visitor events. Hopefully the school will step up and post those events too.
Barring that, I think it would make sense to give Amber Cowell, Executive Director of the Culver Visitor Center, one of these access keys. I would trust her implicitly, but for those who wouldn’t, she is a Town employee, subject to the associated controls that go along with that. I am confident that Amber would make sure all the Culver events were listed. (It would be a literal part of her job.) I am also confident she would take the initiative to get us listed on the surrounding community signs as was the original goal. I truly believe that if we start that kind of networking, it will quickly become a two-way street and the cross-advertising goal will be reached.
Culver’s Electronic Sign Spoke to Me!
July 3, 2023
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Culver, Humor, Stellar
Community, Culver, government, Rants, Volunteering
On my way into the office this morning I noticed the cute little Lakefest signs along School Street. Of course, I wondered if Lakefest was on the electronic sign, since all I had seen on my way past it was the day and date. (See right)
So I looped back to see what was on the sign:
So, I was a bit upset that the biggest event on the Culver Calendar is this month and it’s not on the sign, but then wait… “Don’t Give Up”!? Was the sign speaking to me? Ha!
For my lurkers, I’ve been harping on the sign not living up to it’s charter, let alone it’s potential for months now. I’m more tactful in public as I don’t want to offend those in charge, but I still think it would be great to see Lakefest on the Culver Sign and repeated on the other Stellar signs in Argos, Bourbon, Bremen, Lapaz and Plymouth.
So, with the encouragement of the sign itself, I decided to put out another post, encouraging the Town to make better use of this asset. Lakefest is a Culver event that should be drawing visitors from around the County, so it really should be on all the signs this month.
To some extent I understand this responsibility should fall on the Visit Marshall County, but unless the communities step up, it won’t happen. If each took responsibility to spread their respective events, this would (well should) take hold. Lets make it happen, people! Do it for the Sign!
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