On Friday morning at ten o'clock there were two public meetings, a Tourism Commission meeting that was solely zoomed and a Jasper County Redevelopment Commission meeting that had both a physical and a zoom audience. I decided to try to attend both using my computer and an iPhone that does not have a sim card.
The start of the Redevelopment Commission was delayed as the meeting waited for a quorum. It has five members and needed three, which it got about ten minutes after the hour. So the Tourism meeting started first. It had two requests, one from DeMotte to help fund murals. That request for $20,000 was approved even though the plans are not close to being finalized. Tourism has the money in this year's budget and requests have been light this year. It is possible that something may get started in April or May. The other request was from Rensselaer Main Street for Christmas lights. Unfortunately I lost the feed as the discussion of this request started, so I am not sure what was requested or approved. Later there was an update on the Blacker Fields and I lost the feed again for most of that discussion.
Speaking of the Blacker Fields, a new trail-head structure was installed last week. Also the bathroom has been a new exterior.
New lights were installed last week along the trail that connects the Roth Field stands with the Blacker Fields.
The purpose of the Redevelopment Commission was to approve a declaratory resolution to set up a TIF district in the area that will be served by the extension of DeMotte sewer and water to I-65. This resolution is a first step and is required in the process of setting up the TIF district. As I understand it, it included an explanation of why the TIF district is needed but does not actually set up the district. The motion passed with four members voting for it. (Four eventually showed up in person, on speaker phone, or on Zoom.)
Last week I got a call from the State doing contact tracing for COVID. The call lasted about 45 minutes. I hope that the information that they are collecting is showing that for the vast majority of people who test positive, the disease is no big deal. It certainly was not for me. I have had colds that were more serious.
The business that will move into the Charlie Roberts' building will be doing auto repair.
I noticed a lot of equipment outside the bowling alley over the weekend. I do not know what the story is here.
The work on the windows for the Carnegie Center seems to be finished. The project restored the windows to what they were like when the building was constructed.
Many of the scarecrows on scarecrow trail have been removed. Over the weekend I finally got a picture of the Van Rensselaer School entry with good light. (Light is everything when trying to get good pictures.)
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ReplyDeleteIs the bowling alley being gutted for another purpose? It would appear that the equipment that you took a picture of are the back of the house equipment that operates the pin setter and ball return.