Today is Constitution Day, also known as Citizenship Day. It was set for September 17th, the day the Constitutional Congress signed the Constitution in 1787. It’s interesting to contemplate the Constitution in the year of a Presidential Election. For such a simple document there seems to be a lot of “interpretation” going on.
Check out a previous post here from 2009 that includes links if you are interested in finding out more.
For those of you looking for the Firemen’s Memorial post I discussed at the Town Council this evening, I’ve conveniently linked it here.
For those of you that couldn’t make it to the meeting, I presented the Firemen’s Memorial to the Town Council this evening. The project is proposed for the northeast corner of the intersection of Slate Street and Lake Shore Drive. The lot is owned by the Town and is currently used as a parking lot for the firemen. The lot is zoned C-1. The basic conundrum was that Culver’s Zoning Ordinance doesn’t have a designation for Monuments or Memorials no matter what the zoning district.
I had discussed this with Russ Mason, Culver’s Building Commissioner, and we agreed that the best solution was to request the Town Council to accept the structure as a Municipal Sign. (The Town Council is exempt from ordinance requirements for their signs.) I presented it as such to the Council this evening. Russ was there to back me up. After a brief discussion, the Council agreed that this was an appropriate designation for a worthy project.
This knocks down another obstacle, so the project is moving forward. Now we’re just held up by the minor problem of fundraising…
This has been a Public Service Announcement… If I were a little more ambitious this evening, I would find a mpg of NBC’s “The More You Know” tag music to play in the background…
Tomorrow is Independence Day! Most of us around here will have to get our fireworks fix from the TV rather than in person. The county-wide burn ban has been extended to include fireworks. It appears that most of our region is under the same restrictions due to the drought.
It’s just not the same thing when you can’t smell the gunpowder and feel the boom in your chest. While it would be very cool to see the fireworks in Washington like in the picture to the right, nothing can really beat watching fireworks light up the sky over Lake Maxinkuckee. I think the water enhances the sound when you’re watching from a distance and often you get a double display as you see the bursts of color reflected on the water.
For many years we would make an annual pilgrimage of it and meet with friends and relatives at the lake to have a bon-fire and cookout as we waited for the show. Our nieces and nephews grew up anticipating the annual gathering. Unfortunately those days are gone.
July 4th, 2012 is falling in an election year. Once again we’re being told that this is the most important election ever! I’ve heard that a few too many times to put a lot of stock in it. Neither side’s dominance is likely to result in an Independence Day (the 1996 movie) destruction of the White House as depicted to the left. That doesn’t mean that the partisanship isn’t excessive in Washington right now. Whoever wins, even by a slim margin, will call it a mandate and think it gives them license to push the pendulum as far as possible in their direction.
I am currently reading a book about Benjamin Franklin. It’s been interesting reading about how one of our founding fathers struggled with the choice to fight for independence and the various minor grievances that were compounded to create the original decision. (I’ve always been partial to old Ben despite what he did to us with DST!) It’s enlightening to relate those historic events to current movements such as the TEA Party and MoveOn.org. To quote Dan Brown, “History is always written by the winners.” It will be interesting to see what comes of our current culture clashes.
Here’s another good quote I like from Winston Churchill, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Despite the terrible partisanship, we are still better off than North Korea, Iran or any of the other radical governments out there. Tomorrow is a good day to set aside the politics and think about the positive things about our nation. Take some time while enjoying the holiday cookout to think about how our country started and what we have. Fly a flag and give thanks to those that created our nation as well as those that are currently protecting our freedom here and overseas. Happy 4th of July!
Jennifer Laurent, Executive Director of Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), gave an update to the Culver Town Council last night. Aside from giving a report on some of the activities MCEDC is involved in throughout the County, she discussed some of the specifics for Culver. One these was her interactions with Elkay Wood Products, formerly Medallion Cabinetry. Jennifer facilitated a radio interview June 15th on WTCA with Rick Coffman, Operations Manager, to discuss what they do and what their plans for the future are. I think a key point here is that no one else in Culver is making these kind of contacts and making sure our largest industrial client is helped.
Jennifer also commended the Plan Commission and Redevelopment Commission for making the first steps towards a new Comprehensive Plan. (20/20 Vision for Culver!) She stressed some of the visioning needs that the plan should address along with the nuts & bolts infrastructure and land planning functions.
This is much like what I’ve been trying to promote with the various groups… We need to use the development of the new Comprehensive Plan as the catalyst for new ideas about Culver’s future. Communities are either growing or dying. Maintaining the Status Quo is impossible.
Jennifer is also working with Culver’s new Town Manager, Jeff Schoeff, to coordinate some training sessions for the Redevelopment Commission, Plan Commission and Town Council. One important topic will be TIF Districts. Others topics relating to finances and the various powers of these boards will be considered as well.
I hope the council members and those in the audience recognize the value Culver gets from leveraging their funds in with Marshall County and the other Marshall County communities. Budgets will no doubt be tight again this year, but without MCEDC, who would be doing these things for Culver? We have so many individuals with good intentions, but they can’t make up for someone with dedicated time and tenure based on performance.
Last night the Culver Redevelopment Commission met for their regular monthly meeting. Kathy Clark spoke to the group in support of some projects that had come before them. (Kathy was the chair of the Redevelopment Commission when it was first formed.)
She was there to help my cause of getting the Redevelopment Commission to fund the new Comprehensive Plan. She stated that the Comprehensive plan is an integral part of retaining and bringing new business to Culver by setting goals and planning on where development should occur. She cited examples of how the original Redevelopment Commission used the Comprehensive Plan to determine how to layout the TIF districts and where to spend the money that was provided by the TIF districts. She also gave her reasoning on where TIF money should be spent. The Commission was moved by her insights and has chosen to fund the Comprehensive Plan. They did put some caveats on the cost and they did ask for involvement in selecting the consultant, but overall it was a big step forward. Culver just may get 20/20 vision before 2020 arrives!
Bob Porter, Culver Utilities Superintendent, was there to request funding for a clock to be added to the Downtown Revitalization Project. The Commission agreed to fund this too, probably due to Kathy’s pep talk. Bob didn’t give a lot of details other than that it would be a four faced post clock which would be set in the Right-of-Way somewhere around the intersection of Main Street and Jefferson Street.
Tom Kearns and Mike Stallings were there from the Culver Tree Commission requesting funding for a tree project to improve School Street starting at the intersection with S.R. 10 and running south to Academy Road. (See sketch) Tom indicated that they had the support of all the property owners involved. He also stated that the tree selections were made with the power lines in mind as well as a goal of having color throughout the year. It was a good night to visit the Redevelopment Commission as they chose to fund this project as well!