This has been a very active news cycle the past few days, so here are some notes of interest as we enter yet another work week:
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The recent announcement that mask wearing is no longer recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for those fully vaccinated has been cheered by most people. There are a few exceptions, but this is still good news. Businesses are making their own decisions about whether to continue masks be worn and we should see more and more establishments easing those restrictions. However, be aware that people in Indiana are still testing positive and dying from COVID….not as many as before, but it is still happening here.
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The Fishers City Council will likely have a recommendation for one or more community center(s) after the team headed by Councilman Todd Zimmerman reviewed survey results from local citizens about what they want from such a proposed operation. More details on what may be proposed and how it can be financed should be coming in a matter of weeks.
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If you have tried to traverse commercial areas in many parts of the city, you have likely found streets in serious disrepair. It is the result of constant property ownership turnover in these areas. These streets are private and not in the city’s inventory. How to get these streets repaired or resurfaced, and which party is legally required to pay for it, has turned out to be a thorny legal issue with no easy answers. The mayor’s office is studying options and may come to the city council for recommended action in the coming months.
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It is sad to see a public building such as City Hall be in such a bad physical shape, but that is the picture painted by Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren before the city council work session Thursday. The structure, first opened as the Fishers Town Hall in 1992, is literally sinking according to an independent engineering report completed just 3 weeks ago. It appears the building will need so much work, that will cost millions more dollars, that a new City Hall may be needed. Mayor Scott Fadness suggested at the council retreat that the community center proposal could have more than one location and the arts component could be a part of any new City Hall complex. The mayor promised to begin work with his staff and consultants with a recommendation for the council members, perhaps in September of this year.
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While in college during the 1970s, I had the opportunity to have professors and fellow students that had lived in the Middle East. I knew people that had lived in the nation of Lebanon on the Arab side and those that had lived in Israel. The latest violence in that part of the world in recent days saddens me greatly, because it is the civilian populations in all parts of the region that will suffer the most. If you think you have this all figured out and know which side is right or wrong, think again. All impacted have a compelling story to tell, some going back decades, some going back centuries. We need smart diplomats and leaders of nations in the area to take the action needed to stop this carnage. Also, the bombing of a building in Gaza housing the Associated Press bureau (AP is one of the largest new operations in the world) and other news organizations is troubling for a world in need of straight information about what is going on there. The head of AP wants an independent investigation of why Israel chose to bomb that structure. I agree.
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I just posted a podcast interview with an old friend and nationally-known technology journalist Scott M Fulton, III. We talked about 5G, but the most compelling conversation we had centered on data centers. Scott revealed that the only reason many of us could work from home and have virtual school classes is due to the disaster planning on the part of the largest data centers in the nation. According to Scott, those data centers increased their efficiency during the pandemic by 66%. That is an unbelievable number. If those data centers had not been able to increase efficiency to that level, working from home and educating from home would not have been possible. Let’s tip our hats to the tech people!
You can listen to the entire podcast with Scott M Fulton, III (50 minutes in length) at this link.