Life in the Park is a Picnic.

Join your neighbors for the Kirkwood Park Fall Picnic! Meet new neighbors and visit with old friends as we enjoy dinner together in Lions Park. This year's Fall Picnic is Sunday, Sept. 27th at 5:30 p.m. in Lions Park Pavilion. The Board will provide the main dish and beverages. Each family attending should bring a side dish to share, along with their own plates and tableware.

In addition, the evening will feature an ice cream social. The ice cream and toppings will be provided thanks to our neighbor, Mary Ellen Kellogg. Mary Ellen recently won the Edy’s Slow-Churned Neighborhood Salute — a contest that celebrates great neighborhoods across America. Her winning essay from July 2009, which explains many of the reasons why we all love living in Kirkwood Park follows:

We live in an older neighborhood that represents all walks of life from seniors to babies. People watch out for others, helping when they can. It’s always great to be welcomed by our gorgeous big ol’ trees when driving in from work on the worst of days and then being able to walk our neighborhood and see old and new friends, sharing stories of the winter survival. What’s really neat is the fact that we have so many children coming back to live in Kirkwood Park once they’ve grown up because they like the addition so much. We knew when we moved in 17 years ago it was a great place to raise our boys — safe, friendly, fun, and a gorgeous environment. It’s not new, shiny, or the latest in fashion, but it fits like an old comfortable pair of jeans. Everyone tries the best they can to care for their place and help their neighbors as well! Everyone would love this opportunity you are offering. Thanks!

Make it a great day,

Mary Ellen Kellogg

Garage Sale update

The neighborhood garage sale will be held Saturday, September 19 from 8 am – 3 pm.

During this time, we encourage you to participate in our neighborhood-wide sale. Ads and signs will be placed to promote the event, and we encourage you to clean out the back of those closets and make a few extra dollars along side your neighbors.

Remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure!

2009 Kirkwood Park Garden Walk

Join your neighbors for an Ice Cream Social/Garden Walk on Sunday, June 28 at 6:30 p.m. The evening will begin with an Ice Cream Social at the home of Judy Wagoner.

Immediately after ice cream, the Garden Walk will begin. Some of the homes included on the tour include Kim and Patty Tisland, Phil and Joy Hudson, Tom and Jeane Wagner, Jerry and Diane Burch, Paul Sust and Heather Acero, Charlene and Bob Schrader, and Joni Weber. And if the weather’s not great, so what? Don’t let a little rain stop you from dropping by. Judy has offered her garage and summerhouse to use as back up.

If you’re interested in participating, please contact Judy at judithwagoner@hotmail.com.

What a great way to spend a summer evening!

Mark your calendars: Annual Meeting on April 16 at Concordia High School

It’s that time again. The Kirkwood Park Annual Meeting will be held in the cafeteria at Concordia High School on Thursday, April 16, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. Dinner will be provided.

Guest speakers will include: Our 2nd District City Councilperson, Karen Goldner; Mary Jane Slayton from City Utilities and Denise Porter-Ross from the Northeast Area Partnership.

At the meeting, we will be electing several new board members. If you don't receive the printed copy of the newsletter, download one from the link provided and bring your ballot with you to the meeting. If you won’t be able to attend, please submit the form in a sealed envelope to Board Secretary Laura Stronczek, at her home on 2609 Merivale Street, prior to the meeting.

In addition to the election, important updates will be presented and door prizes will be awarded. You won’t want to miss it!

Kirkwood Park invaded by Mad Ants

Have you ever considered how much we rely on our Public Service officials? The Mad Ants have, and so they are honoring them with a special Local Heroes Night.

On Friday, February 20, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants will be playing the visiting Dakota Wizards. After the game, teams from the Fort Wayne Police Department and Fort Wayne Fire Department will play in a championship basketball game.

Kirkwood Park has purchased 50 tickets to this Local Heroes Night and is making them available to residents on a first come, first served basis.

If you’re interested in attending, please contact board president, Joni Weber at jparweb@aol.com.

Sewer Update

The Sewer Reconstruction project is part of a $240 million dollar Citywide project that will be spread out over the next 18 years. There will be many of these same projects taking place all over the City of Fort Wayne during the summer. There will be no special assessment to Kirkwood Park or any of its residents for this project.

Our contractor is Geiger Excavating. Ray Wigfield is the Construction Manager, Ron Sheppard is the Program Manager. The project began on Thursday, February 5, 2008, and should be wrapped up by the end of August, by Labor Day weekend. Once this project is completed, this will wrap up the entire sewer reconstruction for Kirkwood Park.

The construction will start at the Springfield at Crescent Ave. extrance, going east to Kirkwood Drive, north on Kirkwood Drive to the end, and curving around to go over to Merivale, where one block (from Kirkland Ave. to to Rolston St.) is slated for the sewer construction.

All of Kirkwood Drive and the one block portion of Merivale will have all new concrete. However, concrete will NOT be poured until the weather breaks — in the interim, there will be stone/gravel placed for residents to travel on. The contractor does not anticipate any construction or concrete pouring to go any further than the right of way or driveway approach of affected each residents property.

Once the concrete is poured, affected residents will not have access to their driveways for one (1) full week. Residents will then be directed to street parking nearby their homes.

If the need arose for any type of utility shut-off, affected residents would be notified 24 hours in advance.

Kirkwood Circle will have portions of cement replaced — this is due to extra CEDIT funding coming available to us via our 2nd Disctrict Councilperson, Karen Goldner. This repair should take place something during the construction project.
This project will serve ALL of us and will only bring better property values to our neighborhood.

Construction Contacts are:
Ray Wigfield,
Construction Manager
Phone: (260) 427-2704
FAX: (260) 427-6234
E-MAIL: ray.wigfield@
ci.ft-wayne.in.us

Ron Sheppard,
Program Manager
Phone: (260) 427-2705
FAX: (260) 427-6234
E-MAIL: ron.sheppard@
ci.ft-wayne.in.us

It's Dues time again...

Once again, it's that time of year — your Kirkwood Park Association, Inc. annual dues are currently due.

In accordance with the By-Laws of the Kirkwood Park Association, Inc., each homeowner must pay their mandatory association dues of $30.00 to the Board Treasurer by January 31st of each calendar year.

Forms will be distributed the week of Jan. 5. Please complete and mail with your check in the amount of $30.00, made payable to Kirkwood Park Association, no later than January 31, 2009. Send to P.O. Box 5354, Fort Wayne, IN 46895. If you misplace your form, a pdf is available in the links section of this blog, or by clicking here.

Thank you for your anticipated prompt response. Your cancelled check with serve as receipt of payment.

Happy New Year to all of our residents — stay warm and healthy during this winter!

Let your voice be heard.

Confused about where to vote?

This election day, November 4, all Kirkwood Park residents vote at the Abundant Life Tabernacle, 3301 East Coliseum Boulevard.

Directions from Kirkwood Park:
East on Coliseum Blvd. to Hobson Rd. Turn left on Hobson and then turn right into old Charkey’s entrance. Follow road to Abundant Life Tabernacle parking lot.

The polls will be open from 6:00 am- 6:00 pm. Voter turnout is expected to be very high, so be sure to arrive early. Or, avoid election day crowds by voting early. Early voting is available at the City-County Building in downtown Fort Wayne. The hours are Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm; Saturday, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm; and Monday, 8:00 am - 12:00 noon. Photo ID required.

The Fall Picnic is this weekend!

Just a reminder that the Fall Picnic is set for this Sunday, September 14 at Lions Park Pavilion. At 3:30 p.m. guest speaker Kiera Blackton from Waste Management will educate us in the process of recycling. At 5:00 p.m. the potluck dinner will commence. Coffee and soda will be provided. Bring a dish and join the fun!

Back by popular demand.

Many folks suggested that we bring back a favorite event for our residents, and so, an old staple is returning. The Fall Picnic is set for Sunday, September 14 at 3:30 p.m. In addition to the pot luck dinner, guest speaker Kiera Blackton will educate us in the process of recycling (including what items actually CAN BE recycled). Further details to come.

Also, the Board would like to thank the Frater family for hosting the Park's 4th of July celebration. It was a beautiful day with lots of great food and conversation. Events like these are a wonderful way to get to become better acquainted with your neighbors — even ones that you've lived next to for years. Make sure to put the Fall Picnic on your calendar and join us for the festivities.

Barricades for Fireworks

The Board is working with the FWPD and utilizing orange barricades in an effort to redirect traffic away from the north entrance of Kirkwood Park. Barricades will be placed at the north entrance, at Crescent Avenue and at the small island on Kirkwood Drive and Merivale Street, effectively closing Kirkwood Drive, north of the island, to all vehicles. Traffic will be redirected east to Kirkland Ave. or Merivale, or south on Kirkwood Drive. Please advise any visitors, and enjoy your holiday weekend!

4th of July Festivities

The Frater family have graciously offered to host a pot luck celebration on the 4th of July. The festivities will begin at 6:00 p.m., and those who plan to attend are asked to please bring a covered dish to share and chairs for each attendee. The Board will provide hot dogs, condiments and tableware. Contact President Joni Weber with questions.

City Utilities update

Here is the letter we all should have received from City Utilities, concerning new storm sewers. Please plan on attending the public meeting to discuss the details on Wednesday, June 4 at Forest Park United Methodist Church. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

Fort Wayne City Utilities
Planning and Design Services
One E. Main Street, Room 480
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802
May 8, 2008

Dear Kirkwood Park Area Resident:

Fort Wayne City Utilities is beginning design for the construction of new storm sewers in your neighborhood to help reduce the discharge of combined sewage into the St. Joseph River. This letter is your invitation to attend a public meeting to discuss the proposed projects. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 4 beginning at 7:00 PM at the Forest Park United Methodist Church at 2100 Kentucky Avenue.

Most of Kirkwood Park is served by combined sewers. These are sewers that carry sanitary sewage to the Water Pollution Control Plant (sewage treatment plant) in dry weather. However, when it rains or snow melts, these sewers carry a combination of sanitary sewage and storm water runoff. Many times the sewage treatment plant cannot treat all of the “wet weather” flow, so sewage is released to the St. Joe River.

As part of the City’s agreement with the Federal government to reduce the amount of sewage going to our rivers every year, we have agreed to build new storm sewers in many neighborhoods – especially those in the St. Joe River basin. Your neighborhood is one where new storm sewers are proposed on several streets to collect stormwater that goes into street inlets. The majority of the work will take place in public rights-of-way. No work on private property is anticipated, and the projects WILL NOT include any private plumbing modifications.

Please join City Utilities for this important meeting. Information that you may have about street drainage concerns or other issues in your neighborhood is vital to the success of this project, and we hope that you will attend the meeting to share information with us. The meeting will consist of a short presentation about the proposed storm sewer construction. Then staff members from the city will be available to discuss any concerns you may have about the project.

We hope to see you at:
Forest Park United Methodist Church
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 7:00 PM

Questions about the meeting may be directed to Wendy Reust in Planning and Design Services at 427-1367.

Sincerely,

Mary Jane Slaton, Program Manager

Shideler update

Many have wondered how the Shideler family is doing. Dean, Ellie and Pug have relocated to a home here in Kirkwood Park, and continue on in the process of cleaning up the debris left by the fire. It is a very difficult and exhausting process for them and there is still much to be done.

Dean and Ellie would like to thank the residents of Kirkwood Park and the Kirkwood Park Association for the help and support they've received. They don't know what they would have done without it.

IPFW Student Housing Incident

For those of you that may have been concerned about the incident at IPFW's Student Housing on Friday. I received this e-mail notification from the Vice Chancellor:

April 19, 2008 - 9:00pm

The Fort Wayne City Police have notified us that Tina Morris, the individual earlier identified as a "person of interest", has been charged with murder and auto theft in connection with the death of Liette Nicole Martinez in the IPFW Student Housing on Friday April 18. The police have assured us that this crime was an isolated incident and have suggested that we can return to our normal levels of vigilance as we go about our daily business on campus.

Walter J. Branson
Vice Chancellor for Financial Affairs

Clean up, America!

The Great America Clean up is Sat., May 17, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., to clean up public areas of Fort Wayne. At our last board meeting several persons expressed interest in cleaning the perimeter of Kirkwood on Crescent & Coliseum. The City will provide garbage bags, gloves, gloves, T-shirts & flower seeds. The post-cleanup party is at Freiman Square from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There might be a conflict of interest for some of you if you are having a garage sale that day.

Please respond ASAP to Joni Weber with your shirt size & the number from your family participating. There are male & female work gloves and small, medium, large, & extra large shirts.

Please invite your neighbors that do not have Email.

Spring must be here — it's garage sale time.

The annual Kirkwood Park Association Garage Sale date is set for Saturday, May 17, 2008, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Want to have a great sale? Gather a few of your immediate neighbors and plan a block-type sale. If  you know a neighbor who only has a few items, invite them to join you. The more the merrier! It'll be a great way to clear your homes of unwanted items.

Overwhelming support.

The Shidelers are in their new home and are going about the business of rebuilding their lives. Thanks go out to the many, many people who have donated their goods, services, time, talents and financial aid.

It's difficult to imagine what this must feel like to the Shidelers — to come to grips with the fact that everything they've worked for — every piece of furniture, every scrapbook, every piece of art, a favorite shirt or pair of pants — all of it is gone. It's quite a bit to absorb, I'm sure.

That is why we've removed our call for donated items. At the moment, their basic needs have been met. They have a home, a bed, food, and the love and support of their friends and neighbors. We need to let them settle in a bit and determine what it is that they still need. We may repost the items at some future time.

They will, however, still need financial support. They will be faced with the expense of demolishing their home and the clean up, which will be very expensive. That's why we're continuing to encourage you to donate to the "Shideler Family Benefit Fund." Contributions can be made through any branch of First Source Bank. The Fort Wayne offices are listed in the side bar. If you are from out of the area, feel free to mail your contribution to any branch. Gift cards to stores such as Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target and Kroger are always welcome, as well as gasoline cards.

Contact me at bheironimus@verizon.net if you have any questions, and on behalf of Dean and Ellie and the Kirkwood Park Neighborhood Association, I thank you.

Grrr-ateful.

It may have been dreary out today, but the sun was shining on a certain Boston Terrier. Pug made it through the weekend and has been discharged. He is now happily at home with the Shidelers. Many thanks to Dr. Daniel Rodgers, DVM at the Aboite Animal Hospital. Without his perseverance and faithfulness, Pug would have been another loss the Shidelers would have had to bear.

The list of items in the side bar has grown, but many important items have also been donated. Thanks to all who have helped. I'd like to remind everyone that it's not too late to contribute to the "Shideler Family Benefit Fund." Contributions may be made through any branch of First Source Bank. Their Fort Wayne offices are listed in the side bar under the list of items needed. If you are from out of the area, feel free to mail your contribution to any branch.

Living next door to the Shideler's, I see the charred remains of their life's work every day, and am awed by how quickly things can change. The only certainty in life seems to be that nothing is to be taken for granted. I am blessed to live among such caring people as the residents of Kirkwood Park.

If you have questions, comments, concerns, e-mail them to me at bheironimus@verizon.net

A friend in need.

On Tuesday, March 11, the home of Dean and Eleanor Shideler was destroyed by a fire. It was Laura Stronczek who noticed the smoke and alerted the fire department, and Ben Franke who pulled them through a window to safety. We owe them a debt of gratitude.

Thank goodness the Shidelers survived — It’s truly a miracle. But Dean, Ellie and their little Boston Terrier, Pug, have a long way to go. Almost everything they own was lost to the fire.

There are many ways in which to help them. There has been a fund established in the name of “The Shideler Family Benefit Fund.” Contributions may be through any branch of First Source Bank. See the side bar for First Source Bank Locations in Fort Wayne.

They have a place to stay and will need furnishings and other household goods. A bed has graciously been donated by Klopfenstein Furniture as well as two cell phones by Centennial Wireless. The contribution of gift cards to stores such as Wal-Mart and Meijer is encouraged. See the lists on this page for items they need and contact us at bheironimus@verizon.net if you can help.