Monthly Archives: December 2021

Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone in Fishers for tree-planting ceremony

LarryInFishers.com
The tree planting ceremony at Rotary Park.  Mayor Aki-Sawyerr is wearing the red coat (photos provided by the City of Fishers)

Mayor Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown, Sierra Leone, visited Fishers Thursday morning for a ceremonial tree-planting ceremony.  She was in town for a Rotary Club event, The WaterIsLife Ball, as the guest of honor.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness joined the ceremony, along with representatives of the local Rotary Club, at Fishers Rotary Park, on the southwest corner of 116th Street and Lantern Road, for the ceremonial planting of the tree.

Mayor Aki Sawyerr is a member of the 2021 class of TIME100 Next, which highlights 100 emerging world leaders who are shaping the future.

HSE Board moves to an elementary boundary decision December 8

LarryInFishers.com
Color code legend: Purple – Deer Creek: Red -Harrison Parkway: Green – Sand Creek: Gold – Thorpe Creek: Beige – Southeastern

After sifting through a public meeting and over 70 responses from the residents, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board is attempting to narrow down the options for adjusting elementary school boundaries in the area of the under-construction Deer Creek Elementary School.  At a Wednesday evening work session, board members discussed the two options before them and how they could be tweaked before a final vote on December 8.

The Option D was formulated in response to the many suggestions submitted by the public and people connected to HSE Schools.  It does move more students in more school buildings.  It also puts Deer Creek Elementary at 88% of capacity, higher than school officials wanted.

Scenario C is simpler, taking some students from Southeastern Elementary, already overcrowded, and sending those students to Deer Creek.  This plan also gets Deer Creek to 80% capacity, where school officials wanted the student population to be, allowing for expected future growth.

During the nearly 90-minute work session, there were many suggestions to fine-tune the final boundary adjustment formula and how changes would impact certain neighborhoods.

So, the scenarios (provided on this blog post) could be adjusted before the final vote by the board December 8.

Administrators recommended to the board an exemption from moving from one school to another for incoming 4th-graders, but there would be no transportation provided.  Also, another recommendation would allow any family that opted to attend a different
school to assist with overcrowding can stay at their current school, but no transportation would be provided in this case.

This plan would take Southeastern Elementary students and send them to Deer Creek

Podcast: Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness

LarryInFishers.com

Mayor Scott Fadness sat down with Larry December 1st and discussed a number of issues, including:

–The new autonomous vehicle program for the Nickel Plate Arts District

–Status of the new City Hall, Arts Center and Recreation Center

–What is happening locally and state-wide with COVID

–The city’s recent success in luring foreign life science companies

–Downtown development and impact on the local schools

–The controversies and legal issues in the placement of 5G towers

–The legacy of long-time public servant David George, who recently resigned his seat on the City Council

–The mayor’s greatest accomplishments in his nearly 7 years serving in the office.

Here is the podcast link:

Autonomous Nickel Plate District vehicle shuttle service in Fishers starts December 20

LarryInFishers.com

In February of this year, there was an announcement of pilot programs for autonomous vehicle shuttle services, including one in Fishers.  An announcement Wednesday morning says that shuttle service will begin in Fishers starting December 20, serving the Nickel Plate Arts District.

Below is the text of the news release making this announcement:

 

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The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF), Energy Systems Network (ESN), the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), and the City of Fishers have joined with May Mobility, a leader in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and shuttle operations, to inaugurate a free, public autonomous shuttle service on December 20, 2021 to serve the area surrounding the Nickel Plate Cultural District in Fishers, Ind. The AV shuttle service is part of the Together in Motion Indiana initiative announced earlier this year by TMF and ESN that previously provided a similar autonomous shuttle service in downtown Indianapolis for six months.
May Mobility will manage a fleet of autonomous, shared vehicles that will operate along a three-mile fixed-route loop with nine designated stops to service the live, work, and play districts of downtown Fishers. The hop-on, hop-off service connects the residential area at Pullman Pointe and South Pointe Village apartments to the commercial district along Commercial Drive and Fishers Corner Boulevard, Municipal Drive and 116th Street, including a stop along the new Nickel Plate Trail. Each route stop is identifiable by a sign with route information and a QR code with more information about May Mobility’s technology.
“With the launch in Fishers, we’ll be adding a new public transportation service in a community that primarily relies on personal vehicle ownership,” said Edwin Olson, CEO of May Mobility. “This is an amazing opportunity to partner with Fishers to challenge the status quo of transit and engage a wider audience in the future of transportation.”
“With our commitment to innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship, it was a natural fit for Fishers to serve as the first suburban site for May Mobility’s autonomous vehicle fleet,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. “Our Nickel Plate Cultural District is the perfect test site for this technology as our partners identify the nuances of a suburban environment for autonomous technology.”
In support of a low carbon future, the free service will feature five hybrid Lexus RX 450h vehicles and one wheelchair-accessible Polaris GEM fully electric vehicle and is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with shuttles arriving every 10 to 15 minutes on a rotating loop. Riders can see live updates of the shuttle’s locations on the Together in Motion Indiana website.
“The Nickel Plate Cultural District in Fishers represents an ideal location to deploy an autonomous shuttle service through May Mobility,” said Ryan Klem, director of programs for the Toyota Mobility Foundation. “We are excited to learn how the community utilizes the service as this experience will go far in providing valuable insights that will inform the future of mobility in cities all across the US and further propel Toyota’s mission of Mobility for All.”
Aiming to foster innovation through industry partnerships and propel research and development in advanced mobility technologies in Indiana, Together in Motion Indiana supports the deployments of various mobility solutions that are developed with local community input. With this human-centered approach, the initiative aims to better serve the transportation needs of the local communities, to understand the changing ecosystems surrounding these needs, to potentially expand such initiatives into other communities, and to establish networks for the sharing and leveraging of key learnings.

“Indiana continues to be a place for advancing autonomous transportation solutions and partnering with the City of Fishers as our next city to deploy the May Mobility autonomous shuttle service is a perfect fit,” said Paul Mitchell, president and CEO, Energy Systems Network. “Public-private partnerships like this one only strengthen the goal of providing mobility options for all residents.”

May Mobility established its regional office in Fishers, Ind. in early 2021. Fishers will be its ninth shuttle deployment since the company began operations. May Mobility recently completed shuttle operations in Indianapolis, Ind., providing Hoosiers with more than 3,400 rides to school and work from June to November 2021. May Mobility conducts shuttle services in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Arlington, Texas; Hiroshima, Japan; and Ann Arbor, Mich. as well.
“Indiana is excited to continue the deep partnership with May Mobility and the Toyota Mobility Foundation to bring the future of mobility to another community in Indiana,” said David Roberts, EVP of entrepreneurship and innovation, Indiana Economic Development Corporation. “This service is an important component to the vibrant ecosystem of innovation, when combined with the autonomous on-highway work being supported by INDOT and the milestone event of the Indy Autonomous Challenge.”