Fishers City Councilwoman Cecilia Coble has been involved in Disability Awareness Month in the City of Fishers for many years. In 2021, this event, like many others, is adjusting for more virtual interactions.
Old National Bank is the sponsor of the month’s activities. According to a city new release, the month-long list of activities strives to bring awareness to what life is like for those with physical and intellectual disabilities through a series of special events and initiatives throughout the city.
“Building Our Inclusive Community” is this year’s theme.
“Since Fishers became a city, the Fishers Advisory Committee on Disability has strived to build a more inclusive community every year by working with the disability stakeholders and our community partners,” said Cecilia Coble, cochair of the Fishers Advisory Committee on Disability. “This March, our community will celebrate the achievements that
have been built in the last five years in the City of Fishers. This foundation will help us to continue to work together to build a place where individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities can live and thrive without limits.”
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness says he is proud of this annual celebration. “Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 over the past year, the Committee has continued to move this initiative forward—launching the Thrive Social Club to bring our residents
together during a difficult time and transitioning our March celebration to a virtual series so that our community can participate safely from home,” said the mayor.
Here are some of the events scheduled during March:
After a high school survey with a better than 71% response rate, the HSE School Board voted to allow high school students wanting in-person classes to be physically in the classroom 4 days a week. The board vote was 4-3.
Brad Boyer, Janet Pritchett, Sarah Donsbach, Suzanne Thomas voted yes. Michelle Fullhart, Julie Chambers, Sarah Parks-Reese all voted no.
Fridays have been designated as all-virtual days.
However, juniors and seniors not passing before will take the ISTEP test for two upcoming Fridays in the classroom.
Board President Janet Pritchett read a statement on race relations as the meeting began.
Janet Pritchett, President of the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board, read a statement at the Wednesday meeting about the recent controversy over a statement by Superintendent Allen Bourff to the staff about Black Lives Matter. Pritchett told LarryInFishers 5 board members signed-on to her statement. She would not specify which board members were on part of her statement. Board member Suzanne Thomas read her own separate statement during the meeting.
In her statement, board president Pritchett said the 5 board members are committed to uniting, not causing further division within the school district community.
“The letter issued by our administration Monday caused harm,” said Pritchett. “While we are deeply sorry, we know that our students, teachers, and community deserve more than an apology. We must commit work to repair relationships, restore trust, and prevent this hurt in the future.”
The message to teachers Monday from Superintendent Bourff said to treat Black Lives Matter as a political, rather than a social movement. After criticism from the community, Dr. Bourff later apologized and issued a new statement Tuesday.
Suzanne Thomas says she wanted to be on board with the other board members in the statement read by President Pritchett, and she values black lives, but has an issue with the Black Lives Matter organization.
“There is also an organization with the same three words (Black Lives Matter) that encourages negativity, ” Thomas said. “Because of this, I cannot support the statement that the board had made today.”
Jaimie Cairns, a founder of the HSEqual organization, tried to discuss the racial side of the virtual vs. in-person learning issue which was on the board agenda, because the board has a policy of only allowing public comment regarding items on the published board agenda. Race issues were discussed, but not listed on the agenda. The board stopped her during her comments when it appeared to deal more with racial issues than the school operation plans. Ms. Cairns shared her statement with LarryInFishers.
“While I know Dr. Bourff’s letter to the teachers from Monday isn’t on the agenda today, our students well being should be on the agenda every meeting,” Cairn’s statement says. “I implore you to ask why our superintendent sent out a letter ENTIRELY FOCUSED ON EQUITY without vetting it with our Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer.”
Cairns pointed out the disparities between in-person and virtual learning, saying students of color in the district are generally choosing virtual.
“By continuing to think of virtual students as an afterthought, we are harming our students of color,” according to Cairns. “I implore you to not only say BLACK LIVES MATTER but also to take action to show you mean it.”
Suzanne Thomas reads her own statement on Black Lives Matter
Hamilton County officials announced that they have been awarded a $10 million dollar Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury for COVID-19 assistance. Specifically, the funding will assist renter households unable to pay rent and/or utilities due to loss of income from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The County Commissioners selected the Hamilton County Trustee Association (HCTA) and Danielle Carey Tolan, Hamilton County Trustee Association President and Westfield Washington Township Trustee, to oversee and distribute the grant; however, the commissioners and trustees needed county council approval before moving forward.
Altman
Tolan
During the most recent county council meeting, Commissioner Christine Altman and Westfield Township Trustee Danielle Carey Tolan presented the details of the grant.
Councilman Brad Beaver expressed his concern to Tolan: “You realize the gravity of what you are doing here? You screw this up, we don’t get any more federal money. That is a big weight on your shoulders.”
Beaver cautioned Tolan by saying, “We get lots of federal money. If you interrupt the pipeline, we will be unhappy.”
Tolan responded to Beaver’s concerns by stating she already has an implementation team in place, in addition to an advisory team, and she has previous experience with federal grants.
Massillamany
Beaver
“The concern becomes the complexity of federal grant compliance, the reporting side, and how intricate and detailed that needs to be,” said County Council President Amy Massillamany. “If you are confident in your abilities, then we ultimately trust the decision.”
“We are very proud and excited to have been awarded this grant,” Altman said. “Not only are renters who lost income due to COVID hurting, but our many landlords are struggling as a result. This grant will assist with lost income and provide the ability to keep renters housed in 2021.”
“One of the main functions of the Township is to provide financial assistance to our residents facing emergency situations,” Tolan said. “We are extremely grateful for this funding and providing much-needed COVID-19 relief to our residents in need. The grant does allow us to assist renters with past due rent/utility bills beginning in April 2020.”
Mayor Scott Fadness and the Board of Works and Safety acknowledged the lease for the mass vaccination site in Fishers Tuesday, which is allowed under emergency law provisions tied to the COVID pandemic.
Mayor Fadness says the site, located in a former Marsh grocery on 116th Street just east of Brooks School Road, has already administered 3,000 doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine.
“With this new facility, we should be able to scale up 1,600-2,000 people a day,” said Fadness. “Unfortunately, right now, from a vaccine capacity perspective, we’re only at about 1,000 a week.”
The lease on this building is for 6 months, with city holding an option to lease the space an additional 6 months. If the city wishes to lease beyond that time, City Attorney Greisl says city officials would need to have further conversations with the landlord.
Board of Works member Jason Meyer says the cost of the lease, at $5 per square foot, is very reasonable.
Greisl told the board the majority of the costs for the mass vaccination site will be reimbursable by the state and/or federal government.
Mayor Fadness voiced his concern about how long the vaccinations will last, and what the city may face if there is a need to vaccinate people once again into 2022.
Saying the HSE Schools have emphasized Black Lives Matter, Superintendent Allen Bourff issued a new message the the district’s faculty Tuesday.
“At Hamilton Southeastern Schools, we will not debate the humanity of any individual,” Dr. Bourff wrote.
He says the intention of his original message was to provide instructional guidance in discussing the Black Lives Matter movement in the classroom.
“I understand that the impact was hurtful, and for that I apologize” wrote the HSE Schools superintendent.
“That we have families that do not wish for us to have these discussions has been made clear,” according to Dr. Bourff’s latest message. “However, we are limiting our students if we do not provide them the tools to explore a social cause, research its origin and understand its significance.”
Racial Equity Community Network (RECN) and others in the community, were critical of Dr. Bourff’s original message to the faculty, which can be found at this link.
The entire message sent to HSE faculty members Tuesday can be found below.
A written message sent to Hamilton Southeastern School faculty by Superintendent Allen Bourff about Black Lives Matter (BLM) has created a social media response and a change.org petition campaign.
In his message to the teaching staff, Dr. Bourff writes, “I have heard from a number of parents who are concerned that we are advancing the cause of Black Lives Matter movement within the country.” Dr. Bourff goes on to indicate teaching staff should treat Black Lives Matter as a political, rather than social movement.
The superintendent then goes into detail as to how he recommends teachers deal with the Black Lives Matter movement in the classroom.
“My purpose in sending the above message is to prevent one more stressful issue from distracting you from your daily mission,” Bourff wrote. You can access the entire message at this link.
So far, the response to Dr. Bourff’s message does not appear to have had his intended impact of reducing stressful issues.
Several community organizations have been gathering a response to the message. A Change.org petition drive sending the message that Black Lives Matter is not political has already begun.
The Racial Equity Community Network (RECN) issued a statement critical of the superintendent’s message to the school staff.
“We are disheartened by the statement released by Hamilton Southeastern Schools’
administration that seems to discourage HSE teachers and employees from discussing
or supporting Black Lives Matter in the classroom,” the RECN statement says. “The Black Lives Matter movement is not an extremist political group, as many white residents asserted in recent complaints to the school board and administration. The BLM movement isn’t about politics; it’s about humanity. With their statement, the administration chose to uphold white supremacy in its attempt to mischaracterize an important social justice movement.”
The RECN message goes on to say the following:
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We believe that following the superintendent’s advice would steal the rights of students to learn about the Black Lives Matter social justice movement that began as a response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer in 2013. All human rights changes in the United States of America (including all the ones cited in the superintendent’s email) started from social movements that launched policy changes. The ‘politicization’ of the Black Lives Matter movement, therefore, is not about choosing political parties, but presents a teachable moment in history for all to learn how social justice movements enter the democratic process in order to help the United States form a more perfect union.
Ultimately, communications like this are an example of systemic racism.
Our city must reckon with the fact that it continues to prove to BIPOC ( black, Indigenous and people of color) residents that Fishers is not a safe place to be their authentic selves.
HSE Schools must reckon with the fact that missteps like these prove to potential diverse candidates that this district does not provide a safe place for employees to be their authentic selves.
Research shows that attracting and retaining a diverse staff is important for representation and meeting the needs of students.
We must do better.
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So, it appears there is a group of parents pushing school administrators to treat Black Lives Matter as a political movement, and another group arguing BLM is a social movement.
A school board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 10, at 7pm. It is not known whether Superintendent Bourff or the board will be addressing this issue during that session.
Jocelyn Vare is one of two Democrats elected to the Fishers City Council in 2019. She has just completed her first year on the council, and we talked about her time so far serving on the council in this podcast, recorded February 8.
She discussed to some of the criticism leveled at her by the council leadership in her proposal for a new process to evaluate council appointments to boards and commissions. Responding to allegations she shared her proposal the day of the council meeting in January, Vare says she did not receive the list of appointments for the council vote until 24 hours prior to the meeting. She also did not receive other information requested about how many community members volunteered to serve on boards & commissions using the city Web site until just before the meeting.
Vare says she wants to be collaborative in fashioning a new council appointments process, but wants improvements to better reflect the diversity of the city.
She opposed the creation of the Fishers Health Department but did vote to fund it. When asked how she thinks the department is doing so far, she pointed out the lack of updates the council has received from the city administration. After the podcast was recorded, Councilwoman Vare messaged me to say there is a Health Department update on the agenda for the February City Council meeting.
She is not taking sides in the contested race for Hamilton County Democratic Chairman, but expects to support one of the candidates before the votes from the precinct chairs are counted.
My radio journalism career began in the early 1970s, so I have covered a large range of meetings and events during that time. A very common issue is any kind of affordable housing proposal.
I have seen many a resident objecting to such a plan look out over the governmental body conducting the public hearing and pointedly ask this question – “How would you feel if such a project was proposed in your own neighborhood?”
Well, I have such a proposal directly connected to the community in which I live. The purpose of this commentary is to explain how I feel about it and why I feel that way.
For those not familiar with the vagaries of local government, the nonprofit organization HAND, which works to provide housing for those unable to find housing affordable for them within their own communities, is proposing a housing project in a currently undeveloped area near 141st Street and Cumberland Road. The proposal includes 11 single family two-story cottage-style homes with car ports.
There will be guidelines tied to income and some other factors on who qualifies to rent these units but to be approved, but residents must have income.
The first step is to appear before the Fishers City Council for first reading, where it only takes one vote to send the proposal to the Fishers Plan Commission. This plan will require a rezoning of the area. With one vote, the project moved forward.
The plan commission is an advisory body. It holds a public hearing, takes an advisory vote, then sends the project back to the City Council for approval or denial.
That public hearing was held February 3rd. The advice from the Plan Commission was unfavorable by a vote of 8-1. There were a number of reasons given for that unfavorable vote. Let’s explore each one.
Some say the location is not good due to the density of the plans. I live in the adjacent neighborhood and our density is far greater than the Cumberland Cottages proposal.
Some argued HAND should find another location. There are not many locations available in Fishers and HAND has told me there are no location alternatives at this time.
Another reason dealt with traffic concerns. When the weather is warmer, I take a walk nearly every day in that area and cannot see any traffic problems of any significance that would be created by this HAND development.
The only Plan Commission member to vote against the unfavorable recommendation, Howard Stevenson, asked city staff what the city engineering department (the city traffic experts) had to say about this housing development. The engineers did raise some concerns (you could raise concerns about any development in Fishers these days) but in the end the engineering department did not object to this project.
Some point to two apartment projects in the works aimed at those needing affordable housing. This is true, but all the data I have seen in the many meetings I have attended the past few years show Fishers is still in much need of affordable housing. All these projects will help, but the need is so great we still have a long way to go.
HAND Executive Director Andrea Davis told the Plan Commission members that her organization has provided more than $38,000 in housing assistance to 59 residents, including 22 households, just since August of 2020. Davis also noted that over 3,200 students in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District qualify for the free or reduced price lunch program.
One argument put forward at the plan commission meeting was that home ownership should be promoted, not rentals. The families that would populate Cumberland Cottages would not be able to qualify for a home loan based on the information from HAND, but this program could put these families in a financial position to become homeowners in the future.
Another Plan Commission member was straightforward in his reason for voting the unfavorable recommendation – he had received about 50 letters in opposition and that was enough for him.
So, as someone living in the immediate area of this Cumberland Cottage, what are my views?
Let me say right now that what I am about to express is likely not the view of most of my neighbors or my Homeowners Association (HOA). I am speaking for myself and myself only.
I find no good reason to oppose this project. HAND has an outstanding track record of building good, quality properties, managing them well and doing the proper maintenance. The projects HAND has completed have stood the test of time and are a credit to the neighborhoods in which they exist.
After reviewing all the arguments, I cannot in good conscience favor denying 11 families a chance at living in a high-quality rental community. The range in rental costs for Cumberland Cottages will be $650-$1,150 per month, according to HAND.
There is one other aspect of this that I would hope all city council members would take into consideration. Denying a rezone for an affordable housing project, for what I can only conclude are no legitimate reasons, is not a good look for our city. Yes, we have other affordable housing plans in the works, but denying this one without a good, stated reason is not a decision that will message well outside the City of Fishers.
So, the Cumberland Crossing housing proposal is adjacent to my neighborhood. I would hope the city council goes against the advice of the Fishers Plan Commission and approves the HAND development. I believe that is the right thing to do.
The Golden Globe nominations have been announced. What’s the take from the writers on Grade A Movies? Join Adam Aasen, Alec Toombs & Larry Lannan and find out in this podcast.
