Recently, PAPA learned that there were plans to tear down the old building on the northwest corner of Fairfield and Home Avenue, and build a new facility that would house young people who had been turned out of foster care due to aging out (as they call it). This would be apartments for those that qualify where these young people could live and at the same time, go to school to complete educations, get jobs, be taught to be reliable citizens and so forth. The building would also have rooms where neighborhood groups could meet, space for small shops of various kinds that some of the residents would operate and receive business experience.

We were asked to write a letter to the group of people planning on these things that would state that our neighborhoods approved this plan. The PAPA group voted to ask Donna Bolinger of SAFY to speak to us at the February meeting before voting. She has agreed to do that. In the meantime, board of zoning was approached to find out if requests for zoning changes had been brought to any of the offices there. The following is the answer we received:

No plans have been submitted to our office regarding this project; however
we are aware of the proposal. Donna Bolinger, State Director of SAFY, met
with the DAR Team (Direct Action Response) in October of 2010. This is a
group run of neighborhood leaders and city and county representatives lead
by Brent Wake. At that time Ms. Bolinger was proposing that the building
would be renovated to provide apartments for individuals aging out of the
foster care system. SAFY – Safe Alternatives for Family and Youth is an
advocacy group for foster children and their families. At the time we were
provided some handouts about SAFY, but more up to date information about
their group is available on their website www.safy.org .

As I’m sure you are well aware the building has a long history of failed
proposals for renovation and reuse. It presently has zoning to be used as an
office building or nursing home. The proposal Ms. Bolinger outlined involved
renovation of the entire structure into apartments on the upper floors and
SAFY offices with vocational and life skills training facilities on the
ground floor. There was also an idea that there may be some type of
commercial use on the first floor to provide employment for some of the
program participants. At that time it was estimated that this would be a 6
to 10 million dollar project and that funding would need to include Home
funds and Tax Credits. There would be 50 to 60 units to provide housing for
individuals age 18 to 30. They would be working and/or going to college.
There would likely be some teen moms and babies. SAFY has a strong
partnership with Park Center and would use some of their expertise in this
project. The site would be purchased from owner Vince Tippmann and had the
support of Maynard Scales of the Housing Authority.

That is about the limit of what we know at this point. Reuse as they
presented would need either Board of Zoning Appeals approval or Plan
Commission approval or potentially both prior to operating – both would
involve public hearings. I do know that the PAPA group has had more recent
contact with SAFY regarding this proposal. City Planner Bruce Johnson is the
best municipal contact and may have more current information than we do.
Please let Kim or I know if you have any further questions or if we can
provide any additional information or research.

At the last PAPA meeting, a special guest – Brent Wake, presented some important information that we’d like to pass along to our membership.

Click here to view the brochure that was presented at the meeting.

To 5^th District Presidents,

Attached is a report issued to each City Council person by the Fort Wayne Parks Department regarding Ash Tree Removal. You will see detail broken down by district as well as by quadrant.

I hope you find this informative.

Regards,
Tim Pape, City Councilman
District Five

Ash Tree Removal Report 2011 (PDF 2.4 MB)

Saturday, July 30th, 2011 @ 7:00 p.m.

Bring the whole family and enjoy the 1961 Disney film, The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills.  Hot dogs, s’mores, and drinks will be provided by the neighborhood association and there will be games before the film as well.  The location is 910 Kinnaird Avenue (the northwest corner of Kinnaird & Indiana).  Bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on. 

A good time will be had by all!

Some pictures from previous years:

Fort Wayne – Forty years ago, the 46807 ZIP code was, you could say, the place to live in Fort Wayne.

It’s where mayors, lawyers and doctors lived, and CEOs and newspaper owners called 46807 home as well. People built homes there whose value now approach $1 million, although they’re surrounded by more modest neighborhoods and small businesses.

It’s 2011, though, and some homes in the area are pushing 80 years old. It’s an old part of town, some would say, and some sections are tired.

A lot of people still love the area, though.

It still has its CEOs, doctors, mayors and lawyers, as well as a glut of artists and musicians and generally creative people. And then I live there too.

Not long ago a push, paid for by a grant from JPMorgan Chase, was begun to make the area more exciting.

In a way it sounds abstract. Organizers use terms like “appreciative inquiry.” They talk about interviewers and interviewees.

It’s really pretty simple, though. What does the area offer that its residents like? What does the area have that the community could make use of to make the area even better? What do residents want to see more of?

The movement, if you want to call it that, started with what was called a quality-of-life planning summit at the Philmore on Broadway…

To read the rest of the article, please click here, to continue on to journalgazette.net

Saturday, May 7, 2011 from 9 a.m. til 1 p.m.

Our annual fundraiser is underway, and we need your help.  Have plants, pots, garden books or gizmos related to gardening? We’ll take ‘em!

If you’d like to give plants from your garden, but can’t dig, let Al Donnelly know and he’ll make arrangements with you for some one to come dig up plants and/or pick up sale items!

Don’t dig up plants and toss them this spring, give them to us!

If you have items you would like to donate, please contact Al Donnelly at 744-3434.

Join Us for the Quality of Life Planning Summit!

If you live, work, play or have a genuine interest in 46807, please join other stakeholders in a day of planning concrete actions to make this great area of the City of Fort Wayne, even better!

April 30, 2011
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Southside High School
Lunch Provided

Quality of Life Planning Summit Flyer

April 27, 2011
7:00 p.m. at Eicher Commons
Taylor University Campus
827 W. Rudisill Blvd.

Candidates running for 5th District City Council representative in the May primary include:

Richard Cline (D)
Dennis Ferguson (D)
Maye Johnson (D)
Geoff Paddock (D)
Ben Hall (R)

After introductions we will pose submitted questions to each candidate allowing responses of one minute.