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

Storm Stories...

MAYOR HENRY SEEKS STORIES FROM THE STORM
Mayor Looks for Heart Warming Stories of Those Who Went the Extra Mile to Help During the Ice Storm

Fort Wayne, Ind. – During the December ice storm that left thousands of Fort Wayne residents without power, some for many days, Mayor Tom Henry continued to ask citizens to check on their neighbors to help ensure no one was in danger.

During and the since the storm, Mayor Henry says he hears story after story of people who made big efforts to reach out to friends, family and even strangers. “People offered help and hope to individuals and families who were cold, tired, and hungry,” said Mayor Henry. “It’s these stories that make me proud to be part of this community.”

Saying he would like to acknowledge and possibly publicly recognize many of those who went to great lengths to help others, Mayor Henry asked citizens to send him a note on the City’s website to tell the stories they know, where warm hearted individuals made a difficult situation a little more bearable for others.

Submissions can be made until February 2 at www.cityoffortwayne.org/warmhearts. Mayor Henry would like to thank all of those who made such an effort and helped avoid a terrible storm becoming a tragedy.

Upcoming 2nd District Events

The holidays are over and we're now all working on a schedule again. In that spirit, here is the schedule for our 2nd District Community Meetings for 2009. Please join your neighbors for these meetings, to learn more about what is going on in our community and to have an opportunity to share your ideas and concerns.

All meetings are at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, February 18, Psi Ote Barn Lower Level (Northside Park, enter off Parnell and go just past the tennis courts)
Monday, April 27, River Lodge (Shoaff Park - enter the park and go straight back, past the golf course)
Wednesday, September 2, River Lodge
Monday, November 2, Psi Ote Barn Lower

The February 18 program will be a (short) State of the Second District speech, and then time for any questions, ideas or concerns you want to share.

The other programs are being finalized but I wanted to get the dates out. Stay tuned for more information.

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!

St. Joe River Drive closed on Tuesday 12/29

From The News-Sentinel, December 28, 2008 edition:

St. Joe River Drive will be closed to all traffic between Anthony Boulevard and Crescent Avenue, the city announced today.
The closure will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The closure will allow the Water Maintenance Department to make emergency repairs to the water main that is leaking on St. Joe River Drive.

The Water Maintenance Department will be responsible for placement and maintenance of all warning signs and barricades.

For further information or for problems that may develop contact the Traffic Engineering Department at 427-1172

Tree Clean-up Update from the City of Fort Wayne

CITY PRIORITIZING CLEARING LIMBS IN STREETS, HARDEST HIT NEIGHBORHOODS
Drop-off sites and roll-off containers available for residents

Fort Wayne, Ind. – The City of Fort Wayne has made clearing the remaining tree limbs from streets the first priority in the ongoing tree limb clean-up. The Parks and Recreation Department has three crews out currently cutting limbs and chipping branches that remain in the street.

Crews from Public Works and City Utilities are in each quadrant of the city, working to clear limbs from some of the hardest hit neighborhoods.

“The number of downed limbs and fallen tree branches is unprecedented in recent history,” said Mayor Tom Henry. “This clean-up isn’t going to happen in a week. We are working hard to pick up the branches, but it’s a labor-intensive process that takes time, probably a matter of months. Cooperation and patience from Fort Wayne residents is necessary as we work through the aftermath of this storm.”

Residents can place branches and limbs in the parkstrip or right of way –where they would place leaves for pick up – for City crews to pick up in the future or for more immediate removal, they can take them to the tree-branch drop-off sites or National Serv-All roll-off containers placed in some neighborhoods.

City residents can drop off tree limbs to:
• City Biosolids Facility Compost Site, 6210 Lake Ave., with hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday through Sunday. It will be closed Thursday. The fees for tree branch drop-off are being waived.
• Shoaff Park Christmas tree drop-off location by Conklin Pavilion during park hours
• Tillman Park by the ball fields during park hours
• Foster Park West at Winchester and Bluffton entrance during park hours
• Foellinger Theatre parking lot during park hours
• McMillen Park’s pool parking lot during park hours

The City has also placed National Serv-All roll-off containers at the following locations for branches:

Springbrook Road at the dead end by the park
Cranbrook Drive at the dead end
2814 Fleetwood
2400 block of Edsall
3400 block of Harvester
Heritage at Yorkshire
Jimru Street between Graham and Wayside
6100 block of Salge Drive
Concordia Gardens at the park off of Woodbrook
Congress Avenue, west of Willmette Avenue
4400 block of Marquette Ave.
Norma Court cul-de-sac
8700 block of Rummel Avenue
2400 block of Miner Street

The City is working on additional locations for branch containers and will release an updated list later this week. The roll-off containers are for brush and branches only, no other trash or debris, so the material can be chipped into mulch instead of going to the landfill.

“The City is offering a number of options for tree brush removal,” Henry said. “Some people may prefer to remove the branches themselves, or they can wait for us to get there. If able, you may also want to consider helping out an elderly or disabled neighbor who might have difficulty bringing the branches to the street.”

City ordinance prohibits burning the branches and debris.

The clean-up is ongoing following a harsh ice storm that hit Fort Wayne Dec. 19.