The brick streets are open

 Brick Streets

The barricades have been removed and the brick streets (parts of Van Rensselaer and Harrison) are now open to traffic.

On Saturday the still-barricaded Van Rensselaer Street hosted the annual Oktoberfest. I arrived early and enjoyed the German band.

The lead male singer even danced with one of the members of the audience.

I took a couple pictures of the finished bricks. On the left are new bricks that allow water to drain between the bricks and on the right are the old bricks that probably do not drain water well.

The Harrison/Van Rensselaer intersection has new bricks with a herringbone pattern in them. Driving on them is much smoother than driving on the old bricks.

As I said, I came early and there were not a lot of people. Around 5:30 some light rain started, probably an outer band from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The band decided that the rain was not compatible with their electric equipment and stopped playing. I hung around for a while and then decided to leave before most people usually arrive.

The Truth Bible Church, the new owners of what was the Ritz Theater building, was one of several food vendors.

The Brick Street Ice Cream shop was open for the night. I heard that they had a very busy weekend.

The rain stopped after 6:00 but it restarted again later in the evening.

The remnants of Helene gave us a windy day on Friday but almost no rain. The rain bands stopped just to the south of Jasper County, though Remington may have gotten some showers.

Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council meeting

On Monday the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council held a special meeting to meet with two representatives from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the administration of a grant of $157,945.77 that the Forestry Council had recently received.

The funding of the grant ultimately came from the Federal government. The Inflation Recovery Act allocated $1.5 billion to be used for trees, and Indiana's share of that  was $4 million. The Indiana DNR awarded 16 grants. The Rensselaer grant was awarded to the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council and it will be administered by the Jasper-Newton Foundation over the next three years. The grant will fund a database of trees on City property and right-of-ways, community outreach to encourage people to appreciate trees and plant them in their yards, and the planting of 50 trees on City right-of-ways. The grant proposal that was submitted requested support for 100 trees, but the DNR cut that to 50 so the other activities could be supported. Much of the hour-long discussion was about the details of grant administration.

Below the people attending the meeting pose in front of the tulip tree behind the Carnegie Center.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met on Monday evening to discuss a proposed residential housing development program. The plan includes a new TIF district that will have a small area from which taxes will be collected and a fairly large area on the east side of Rensselaer in which the revenues can be spent. The areas that will collect taxes from new development are two blocks north of Van Rensselaer School and a strip of land north of Elm Street and south of the Melt Blown company. Spending can be done for road improvements and sidewalks, utility improvements, parks, public safety, and education. No vote was taken. I believe the vote will be during the October 7 meeting. Then the matter will pass on to the City Council.

Odd & ends

From the legals in the September 26 issue of the Rensselaer Republican:

"Notice it is hereby given that the Remington Board of Zoning Appeals will conduct a public hearing  at the Remington Townhall,,,on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Timeon Carpenter wind Farm LLC's application for a Special Exception permit to build 12 wind turbines within the town of Remington's extraterritorial jurisdiction."

The notice goes on to note that this is part of a wind farm of 45 turbines, with the other 33 located in areas under the jurisdiction of the Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeal. The Remington Plan Commission had recommended establishing a wind-farm overlay and the Remington Council had passed it.

Meanwhile White County is considering battery storage to complement their wind turbines.

In downtown Rensselaer the building that houses Short Cuts is getting a facelift.

A&B Auto Care has been closed for several weeks and the building remains for sale.

Concrete for the final bit of sidewalk next to the old light plant was poured on Monday.

Scarecrow Trail

Scarecrows are beginning to appear in Milroy Park. The first put up was the Chief Buildings' scarecrow.

The Rensselaer Gas Utility has a scarecrow with a gas meter as its head.

The tin man is from Valley Oaks Health. The sign on the right says. "I shall take the heart. For Brains do not make 1 Happy and happiness is the Best Thing in the World. 

The Carnegie Players sort of advertise their winter play production.

It will be a musical called "Saving Christmas" written by local writer Peter Schulenburg. Auditions are on October 21 and 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 at Saint Augustine;s Church and performances will be December 12, 13, & 14. The Carnegie Players continue to do some very creative and unusual stuff.

I do not know if one can call the cheery Tri Kappa exhibit a scarecrow.

The Little-Cousin-Jasper display is very small and unusual.

Finally

My asters are now blooming, which is a bit depressing because they are among the very last flowers to bloom in the summer or early fall. The bees love them.

Still blooming is the plant shown below, which is a garden vegetable. I have appreciated it this year because it is one of the few plants that my resident bunnies and squirrels as well as the wandering deer have left alone. Do you recognize what it is?

It is abelmoschus esculentus. (Google that name to learn its common name.)