Hi neighbors!
It’s another grand day in the West Central Neighborhood.
This year has just flown by and it’s hard to believe I’m writing to you all with the Holiday Season right upon us. Where does the time go?? Because another year just passed at our last Membership Meeting we held our annual elections for the officers. I’m pleased to say this year’s slate passed on a unanimous vote of the members, so your officers for 2024 will be:
- Anita Kuker, Membership Chair (brand new to the position; welcome aboard!)
- George Taylor, Treasurer (incumbent)
- Bethany Pruitt, Secretary (incumbent)
- Kelly Benton, Vice President (incumbent)
- Joel Sauer, President (incumbent)
Coming off the board in 2024 is Terry Taylor who served as our Membership Chair this past year. Please join me in a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to Terry for her volunteer efforts. Terry has done – and will continue to do – great things for the neighborhood and has been an instrumental part of our leadership team. We’ll miss her at the board meetings, but know she’ll remain as active as always. If you see Terry on her front porch or around the neighborhood, please offer your appreciation. The WCNA runs entirely on generous volunteers giving their time for free.
It’s been great to see the chatter on our Facebook group, Beyond Porch Parties, regarding historic preservation. Even though not everyone is feeling all “sunshine and puppy dogs,” the number of posts and comments means we care and are engaged. I’m confident that will turn into more effective efforts, something your board is absolutely committed to.
Speaking of historic preservation, there will be a public HPC meeting at Citizen’s Square this coming Monday, November 27th at 5:30 pm. It’s held in the Omni Room on the lower level. On the agenda is a West Central property located at 801 West Berry Street (the old funeral home) regarding replacement windows. All these official meetings are public and are neighbors are welcome.
At our last membership meeting, we had two visitors from the Fort Wayne Police Department, including Officer Steve Haffner and our neighborhood police liaison, Trevan Brown. They provided details on the rash of auto thefts in the area, which are almost entirely Kias and Hyundais because of inherent security flaws. Many of the perpetrators are minors – with one as young as 11 years old! – so there is no way to hold them.
The officers noted that our best defense is to take steps to protect your vehicles. If you own a Hyundai or Kia, try parking it in a way that it’s blocked in by other cars, or by structures, or use an anti-theft device like a steering wheel lock or the vintage Club. Also, never keep valuables in our cars that might tempt a thief.
Regarding noise, this is a common complaint across the city so is not just impacting West Central. Obviously, with two of the busiest thoroughfares (Washington and Jefferson) running right through the neighborhood, we get more than our fair share. Deputy Chief Hafner stated bluntly that noise complaints are a Level 5 priority, the lowest for the police, so will likely lead nowhere. He said it’s not that officers don’t care, they just have so many other things to deal with. Plus, by the time they do respond, the noisy vehicle is likely miles away.
We were also told that Fort Wayne has become somewhat of a mecca for the homeless population, in part because the city has so many great programs to help feed and shelter this group. They also pointed out that there is no law against panhandling in Fort Wayne and these citizens have the same rights as anyone else. The vast majority are very unassertive in their efforts, but if you find yourself being aggressively pursued, Officer Hafner suggests looking them straight in the eye and telling them you have nothing to give them.
We also had a visit from Shelby Nichter of the Allen County Department of Environmental Management. She was a wealth of information on recycling efforts in the county, not just the stuff we get picked up in our curbside bins, but for hazardous materials as well. We’ll be posting a lot of these resources on our website to make it easy for our neighbors to find and be informed. The more we know, the higher the percentage that is diverted from landfills and actually gets recycled.
That’s enough for this month. Since this will be my last letter of the year (did I just hear “yippee”??) I’ll wish you all an amazing Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Hope you get some great family and friend time.
See you on the front porch!
Joel Sauer