Across the Mayor's Desk

Article is from the November issue of the WRite Stuff

Let’s start this month with discussing our recent State Community Crossings road grant.  The City was recently awarded a grant of $1 million to reconstruct 119th Street and to install new sidewalks along the stretch.  At this time, the boundaries of the project are from Schrage Avenue to Atchison Avenue.  The project will also include new streetscape amenities like benches, flowerpots, signage, tree grating, etc.  The $1 million grant will be matched with nearly a million dollars of local money taking the overall project to just short of $2 million.  This project will be extremely complicated for several reasons.  One being that we are on a tight timeline to maintain compliance with the grant guidelines.  Also, maintaining access to every business on the street during construction will be challenging.  The good news is at the end of the day, this project will significantly enhance the business district, improve sidewalk safety and it won’t need to be redone for another 25+ years.  Stay tuned for greater detail on the scope and timing of the project.

Now I’m sure everyone knows all about “Murphy’s Law.”  If you don’t, here’s an explanation. Murphy's Law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."  So I wanted everyone to understand this before making the following statements!  The City of Whiting has now officially complied with all the requirements needed to establish our ‘Quiet Zone’ or whistle ban area.  Unless Murphy himself stops in town to wreak havoc on the plan, on November 26th at 12:01 a.m., the horns will be finally silenced!  This has been an extraordinary process that I could write a book about, but it appears to be finally coming to an end.  I’ll personally believe it when I hear it and I may even camp out at 12:01 that night to witness it for myself.  Please remember that this status is contingent on everyone playing by the rules and a railroad engineer still has the right to supersede the ban by sounding the horns whenever he/she feels a danger exists.  We have also been told that it will take a few months for the railroads to become 100% compliant, so they are asking for our patience.  Maintaining the long-term zone status is also contingent on the number of future accidents at these crossings.  I have instructed our Police Department to maintain a ‘zero tolerance’ policy toward any driver bypassing an active crossing gate.  I will hopefully be drinking a glass of champagne on November 26th in celebration and please don’t call me to complain that you can’t sleep because it’s too quiet!

I’ll close with two quick topics that are worth mentioning.  First, the City has recently settled a longstanding lawsuit involving the construction of the lakefront revetment (shoreline rock).  Our contention was that it was improperly designed and the City should be compensated for the additional work that we performed to strengthen the original installation.  While we have agreed to not release the specifics of the settlement, we have received a significant sum that will allow us to fully repair the existing revetment and make other needed improvements at the Lakefront.  The second topic involves the processing of future ordinance violations.  With the City Court ceasing operations at the end of the year, a new system to administer City Ordinance violations is being put in place.  The Board of Public Works will now act as the hearing board for such violations.  We will provide more detailed information in next month’s WRite Stuff to be sure everyone is aware of the changes. 

Till next month…Mayor Joe

Mayor Joe can be reached via email at jstahura@whitingindiana.com

Mayor Joe Stahura
City of Whiting

Community Center Historic Tours A Success

The Whiting Family YMCA was pleased with the Saturday, September 28, turnout for tours of its home, the historic Whiting Community Center. Those who participated paid twenty dollars each for the opportunity for a guided tour of the 96-year-old building. All proceeds from the day went to the Whiting YMCA Financial Assistance Program. Last year, that program spent more than $76,000 to make sure that everyone in the community could participate in the Y’s programs and memberships regardless of their ability to pay.

Saturday’s tours started in the Community Room, off the main lobby. Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society Vice-President Frank Vargo gave a brief history of Whiting and told the story of how the Community Center came to be. From there, participants were divided into four groups and taken to different parts of the building.

They were taken to the ground floor, where Historical Society President Al Koch told them stories, based on personal experience, of his time as a pinsetter in the days when the Community Center bowling alley had the pins manually re-set. He also showed them the tunnels beneath the Community Center.

Dave Dabertin led the tour of the 800-seat auditorium, where plays, concerts, and Standard Oil stockholder meetings once took place. Mark Harbin led tours of the gymnasium and told stories of a rich history there, which included basketball legend John Wooden and baseball great Lou Boudreau. Historical Society Secretary John Hmurovic led tours of the Memorial Room, dedicated to the service of those who served in World War One. He also took visitors to the rarely seen apartment at the top of the Community Center, which was the home of past superintendents of the building.

There was also an Historic Flea Market held at the Community Center at the same time. Visitors got the chance to buy old Whiting street signs, pieces of the Community Center’s wooden bowling lanes, the original “WP” posts that once lined the road through Whiting Park, bricks from city streets, and more. Proceeds from the sale went to a fund for a future Whiting Historical Museum.