The magic date for downtown Fishers is June 1st…that is the projected date when all the renovation work on the Fishers Downtown Amphitheater is supposed to be completed.

As of April 16th, you can begin to see progress being made, despite the unseasonably cold weather this spring.

The upgrades include a larger and more functional amphitheater stage, the addition of The Cube is a meeting room with additional rest room facilities and a sloped green area, which will allow better viewing further back from the stage.

In May of 2016, the Fishers City Council approved plans for a Starbucks Coffee Shop near 116th Street and Olio Road – now the shop is under construction and set to open in August.

Stephen Zinkan, of Zinkan & Barker Development, tells LarryInFishers in an e-mail message that the Starbucks is under construction at the site and is scheduled to be open for business on August 8th.

The Fishers City Council wanted assurances that the traffic signal just west of Olio Road on 116th Street was installed before approval of the plans.  That traffic light has been in operation for a while.

The Fishers Redevelopment Commission passed a resolution Monday evening,  funding additions to The Yard complex that add $6 million to the project’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) debt.  The commission held its second public hearing, with no members of the public offering to speak on either occasion.

The original TIF debt to construct just the culinary center, which has already been enacted, is $9.2 million, according to the city’s bond attorney Rick Hall.  The $6 million in additional TIF debt will be used to finance a parking garage, which will be needed with the addition of multi-family housing s part of the plan, Hall told LarryInFishers.

The financing plan approved by the Redevelopment Commission must still go through more approvals before the decision on the additional TIF debt is  final.

Joe Weingarten is someone publicly active in the Fishers and Geist area.  He was involved in the effort to fight annexation of Geist by the then-Fishers Town Council.  He was a major figure in the City Yes movement that successfully advocated for a Fishers city government with a strong mayor’s office.  Now, Joe serves as Chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.

But Joe is being recognized for something apart from all those activities.  He is set to receive the National Alumnus of the Year Award from the Boy Scouts of America at a national meeting in Dallas during May.

He started his Boy Scout career while growing up in New York City, within the borough of Manhattan.

“The troop was kind of different from most in New York City in that we were a camping troop,” Joe says. “Every month we went up into the Catskills or Adirondacks, except for once a year when we had to go to a Boy Scout camp.”

Joe Weingarten is the 8th person to receive this honor.

John Tuohy of the Indianapolis Star wrote a story posted to IndyStar.com April 13th about early voting.  If you haven’t read it, it is worth your time.

We in Hamilton County have a very good situation because we have three early voting centers in the county plus the courthouse in downtown Noblesville. There is one early voting location  here in Fishers.  But compare our situation with that of Marion County, which has three-times the population compared to Hamilton.

Indianapolis has one early voting location, at the City-County Building downtown.  That’s it.  Why is that the case?

Tuohy reports it is all set by state law.  Each county has an election board, and all members, composed of Democrats and Republicans, must unanimously agree to establish satellite voting centers.  In Hamilton County, Democrats and Republicans agree on establishing voting centers outside downtown Noblesville.  In Marion County, the Republican Party is vetoing the extra voting sites.

There is a pending law suit challenging the state law requiring a unanimous county election board vote to establish satellite voting centers.  Common Cause of Indiana and the Indianapolis office of the NAACP are plaintiffs in the legal action.

State lawmakers could fix this quickly if they have the desire to do so.  I do not believe either party should have veto power over establishing more voting sites in any county.  If you believe in democracy, it is hard to understand why anyone would support the status quo.

It is just sad that a lawsuit is required in order to get consideration of early voting sites because our state lawmakers have failed to fix a broken system.  State legislators have a special session coming up.  They could act if they choose.  Sadly, they likely will not.

I realize this subject is not one normally discussed on this blog, but I am taking a point of personal privilege to write about a man named Art Bell, who died late last week at the age of 72.  Why write about Art Bell, a man I never met?  Allow me to explain.

I worked at radio stations in the mid 1970s while attending college.  I happen to be working at one station that was 24-hours-a-day, which didn’t happen all the time in those days.  The owner was petrified that someone would file a competing application and take his station away during license renewal.  So, the station staged an overnight talk show five nights a week, ostensibly to discuss public affairs…that meant newsy-type issues and such.

But you can’t easily fill 4-5 hours a night with serious stuff. You need to have some fun, especially at those hours of the late night and early morning.  You had to talk about strange subjects.

While working away during my college days, the station manager, a great guy and former Green Berets, asked me to take over the overnight talk show.  I thought about it.  It fit my class schedule and guaranteed me more hours than I was getting at the time.

So, in the mid-1970s, I spent two years staying up all night and talking about serious, and some not so serious, issues.

I had serious guests to talk about the economy, foreign affairs and politics.  But most of the 4-5 hours featured me answering the phone and talking about whatever that caller wanted to talk about.  and that could be anything.

I had some fun guests.  I had people claiming to be psychics, I had self-proclaimed “experts” on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and lots of other goofy subjects.  I remember one guest claimed there were thousands of aliens among us that look and talk just like humans, poised to take over the world.  I cut that interview short.

I mention all this because the late Art Bell was a syndicated overnight “talk jock” that only talked about the fun stuff.  Conspiracy theories were high on his list and his callers talked about plenty of them.

Art Bell lived in the small town of Pahrump, Nevada, not far from Las Vegas.  He lived in a remote home with satellite communications allowing him to produce the program from his home.  It’s a great gig if you can get it.

Art Bell was the darling of insomniacs and all-night over-the-road truck drivers.  He had a huge fan base for a show on at such odd hours.

I guess I am just a little jealous of Art Bell.  He lived the dream for a long time.  He started in radio broadcasting in 1945, syndicated his talk show in 1988 and retired for good in 2007.  He enjoyed plenty of good years having fun with his audience.

I only had two short years to enjoy the all-night talk show genre as host at the local level, but I had to be serious enough of the time to calm down the radio station ownership about anyone successfully challenging their license to broadcast.   Art Bell had fun ever single night.

I hope Art Bell is remembered as someone that knew how to entertain his audience, one of the real characters of radio.  My sympathies go to his surviving family members.

Adam & I review two films this week – Chappaquiddick & A Quiet Place.  Our guests this week are Ann Hoehn and Cindy Ritter, talking about the Class Film Club movie screenings held once a month at the Hamilton North Library branch in Cicero.

There are two candidates for Hamilton County Commissioner in this 2018 primary election.  I had the opportunity to speak with both candidates in podcast interviews .  Both podcasts are featured here.

Hamilton County Reporter

Phil Schmidt has been named as the new head boys soccer coach at Fishers High
School.

Schmidt comes to Fishers after a successful twelve year run as the head boys
soccer coach at Avon High School. Schmidt compiled a record of 181-40-31 at Avon
along with four Hoosier Crossroads Conference championships, nine sectional
championships, five regional championships, two final fours and a state
runner-up finish in 2013. Prior to Avon, Schmidt was the head boys soccer coach at
Lutheran High School where he led the program for five seasons and compiled a
record of 40-38-8 along with sectional and regional titles in 1999. Schmidt also teaches
Business Education courses at Fishers High School.

“I am very excited to begin working with our players and to grow this program
into one our school and community will be proud of,” said Schmidt. “My vision
for the program is clear, we want to have a winning record every season,
compete for HCC championships and work towards the goal of regular long runs in
the state tournament. We will compete to be one of the top teams in the state year in
and year out. We will achieve those goals with great teamwork, a common mindset
and a winning culture. This will lead to sustained success and the development of a
tradition of excellence.”

“We are ecstatic to bring Coach Schmidt aboard as an educator and coach for Fishers
High School,” said Fishers athletic director Rob Seymour. “Coach Schmidt has proven
himself as a quality teacher and coach and we look forward to him guiding our Boys
Soccer program and adding value to our entire Athletic Department.”