Confetti

 On Friday Appleseed Childhood Education had a celebration to announce that renovation work had begun on the building that will house its classrooms. The announcement was accompanied with confetti bombs.

Before the confetti, the people attending were invited to explore the building, which was previously used for administrative offices. Construction, or rather demolition, began about two weeks ago. The existing walls and carpet were removed. leaving electrical conduit dangling from the ceiling.

To get the center licensed, many regulations have to be followed. There are rules for how much space must be available for each student. The space that they will have in this building will limit enrollment to 73 children. The space shown below will be divided into four classrooms and each will need an exit to the outside (a fire escape), so the walls will have to be breached.

Before going outside for the confetti celebration, Adam Alson addressed the assembled people. Here he is introducing the five members of the board. He also introduced the people and groups that helped get this project started. There were many. 

The director of the hospital, Carlos Vasquez,  recounted how he had determined that the hospital could move the remaining offices to the main building after Franciscan had taken over the hospital. He contacted Mrs Hooker at the Jasper-Newton Foundation and told her that the space might be available. She connected him to Appleseed. There was then a long delay as Mr Vasquez sought to get Franciscan corporate on board with the plan.

The people then moved outside for a live Facebook stream that culminated in the confetti explosion.

Below is the floor plan for the remodeled building. It will be fun to see what the inside looks like when the remodeling is finished.

Before people dispersed, they posed for a final picture by the sign lisitng groups working on the remodel.

Below is a closer look at the sign. Right Steps of Lafayette will run the center. Zager Architecture designed the new layout. Tonn and Blank is the contractor for the remodel.

Opening of the facility is expected in early 2023. You can find updates at Appleseed's website.

City projects

A few days ago cement trucks were at the construction site of the new lift station delivering concrete.

The workers are still digging and installing pipes to the south. They have some impressive piles of dirt.

The crew removing equipment from the power plant is dismantling the large Fairbanks-Morse engine.  They have moved sand into the building to allow equipment to get close. I asked if they could not use the overhead crane to move it and they said it was too big. It seems a bit strange that two smaller and older Fairbanks-Morse engines were sold, but this one was not. Perhaps the cost of taking it apart and putting it back together were higher than the value of the engine.

Enjoy Labor Day.

(Some of the corn in the fields looks almost ready to harvest. This past week I saw one corn field that was partially harvested.)