Happy New Year Neighbors!
It’s another grand day in the ol’ West End Neighborhood.
This is my first President’s letter of 2026, so hoping for all our neighbors that the new year is off to a great start. Can you believe that the Indiana University football team – the program with the most division one losses in history – is the National Champion?? So crazy.
As luck would have it, the title game was the same night as our January membership meeting, which was also one of the coldest days of the year. Despite these competing challenges, we had a great turnout for the meeting and lots of great discussion. Thanks to all of you who chose to join us.
Just a new year reminder that these letters aren’t intended to be a recap of the monthly meetings. We have minutes for that purpose. It usually takes us a month or so to get them published, but they’ll always be available on through our website. Instead, I take the opportunity to amplify a few things that we, as a the board, feel are important, or things that weren’t covered in the meeting.
SWAP Meeting
Each month one of your board members attends the Southwest Area Partnership (SWAP) meeting. This is where city officials can come to just four monthly meetings (the four quadrants) to cover all 435 associations in the City of Fort Wayne. What we heard this month is that, despite significant cuts in funding to the City by the State (from the new property tax reduction), city leaders continue to invest in our infrastructure. The police department now has a budget for 510 officers, including a growing traffic division. In 2025 the newly reconstituted traffic department made 8,200 stops/citations. Our fire department is up to 350 personnel.
For those curious about the City’s wellbeing, Mayor Sharon Tucker will be giving her “State of the City” address at the Grand Wayne Center on February 11th at 12 noon. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to come early as they are expecting a full house with overflow through video feeds in adjacent rooms.
Connected Neighborhoods Grant
The public input phase of our Connected Neighborhoods $1 million grant award is now complete. The overwhelming priority from our 5-neighborhood residents is safety, not just from a crime perspective, but including road, bike and walker safety. Slowing traffic, particularly around schools, was another often cited priority, as was safety in our parks. So as this process moves forward, investments will be identified that help promote safety across all these domains, including strategies like additional lights around schools and parks, curb bump-outs and other “traffic calming” installations, and clearly identified crosswalks at important pedestrian crossings.
Much more to come as this all unfolds. We’ll provide an update at each of our monthly membership meetings to plan to attend.
Event Schedule
Our 2026 schedule of WCNA events is now official! You can find it here on the website. Our next big event is the “Member Mixer”, back by popular demand. This year the Mixer will be held on Monday, February 23rd starting at 5 pm. Check Facebook “Beyond Porch Parties” for the announcement on the location soon.
Allen County Casino
As many of you have probably read, Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. and Mayor Sharon Tucker have both come out publicly supporting the relocation of a casino to the Fort Wayne area. Estimates suggest it could be an investment on the order of $500 million, reported to be entirely from private (not public) sources. One idea thrown out there was to locate it in the east campus of Electric Works – so right in the West Central Neighborhood. As of now, the WCNA is not taking a position to allow time for the board and neighbors to educate themselves on this critical issue. To this end, the board has created a curated resource page with information both for and against this project on our website. You can find it by clicking here. If you come across materials you think would be helpful to all of us, please send them to info@westcentralneighborhood.org and we’ll consider adding them.
It’s been cold and very snowy lately, so please stay safe. A reminder to property owners in West Central the City of Fort Wayne has a snow removal ordinance (§ 99.047) that requires clear sidewalks by 9 am the day following snowfall. Let’s keep our sidewalks safe for the many pedestrians in our neighborhood! Thanks in advance for your efforts.
While it may seem crazy, spring isn’t that far away now! We’ll see you on the front porch in no time!
Joel Sauer, President
(260) 433-3672
2026 Board Officers
- Membership: Anita Kuker membership@westcentralneighborhood.org
- President: Joel Sauer president@westcentralneighborhood.org
- Secretary: Bethany Pruitt secretary@westcentralneighborhood.org
- Treasurer: Chris Todd treasurer@westcentralneighborhood.org
- Vice President: Kelly Benton VP@westcentralneighborhood.org