Is Allen County Indiana the real All-America city?
Posted by John B. Kalb - 8/7/09 @ 1:05 am - Filed Under Uncategorized
The persons from our area who went to Florida last June to “sell” Fort Wayne to the judges of the All- America City did not appear to be from our city, but were from our county.
First, the two young ladies who are students at Woodlan High School (which is not located in Fort Wayne) presented the “Engaging Our Youth” portion of the presentation. The program they talked about is a program of the Allen County Superior Court, started by Judge Charles Pratt some 10 years ago. The program began the first annual ”Allen County United Youth Summit” in March of 2007. So it appears that this heralded program was begun by and is run by the Allen County government - not the City of Fort Wayne.
The second part of the presentation was on the “Open Arms” programs helping immigrant refugees move to the USA, specifically to Allen County, Indiana and then helping them get settled in our area. The organizations that have been working with these people can be linked to the area by their names: Fort Wayne Community Schools, East Allen County Schools, Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement, Fort Wayne/ Allen County Department of Health, Matthew 25, United Way of Allen County, African Immigrant Social and Economic Development Agency, Crime Victim Care of Allen County, and the Refugee Resource Center. None of these groups can be traced to Fort Wayne City Government for it’s establishment (except maybe FWCS) or it’s ongoing support. But yet, our present elected officials sure are proud to point out how they are responsible for the sucesses.
The last area is the “trailblazing”. From what has been shared by the delegates, Oprah Winfrey, who is not a citizen of Fort Wayne probably contributed the “starter” for this part of the presentation. The Aboite area of our county has not been the most encouraging group of Fort Wayne citizens due to their being recently annexed into the city. The Aboite New Trails, Inc. was founded prior to this annexing and the Northwest Allen Trails, Inc. unit lies mainly ourside the city limits to our northeast. The New Haven/Adams Township Parks and Recreation who have been involved also are not located in Fort Wayne. The City of Fort Wayne did match contributions on a dollar for dollar match, which amounted to around $620,000 of the $1,200,000 being spent on the Toepath Trail portion of the planned trails (which I believe is almost all within the city limits).
The All-America City 2009 Committee Members included 16 out of 31 who work for the city of Fort Wayne. The steering committee of 7 persons was represented by 6 of them working for the City of Fort Wayne. The sponsors included Fort Wayne International Airport (another Allen County governmental entity), and believe-it-or-not, Hoosier Park Racing-Casino in Anderson, Indiana some 85 miles from Fort Wayne(maybe our mayor’s “Someday to Own a Casino in Fort Wayne” group?) The 30 delegates who went to Tampa to make the presentation was also overloaded with City of Fort Wayne workers (and our mayor and his wife made the trip also).
I realize that as a citizen of Fort Wayne, I am also a citizen of Allen County. But, citizens and organizations in Allen County are not all in the city limits. So who was honored with the award? It sure wasn’t Allen County - but shouldn’t it have been?
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4 Responses to “Is Allen County Indiana the real All-America city?”
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The All America “City” award honors communities, including counties. Here’s from their webpage:
About the All-America City Award
All-America City Award is America’s original and most prestigious community recognition award. Since 1949, the Award has honored communities of all sizes (cities, towns, counties, neighborhoods and regions) where community members, government, businesses and nonprofit organizations work together to address critical local issues. More than 500 communities have earned this distinguished title and many have earned it more than once.
If your community works collaboratively to overcome local challenges, it could become an All-America City. The application process alone represents a valuable opportunity to evaluate the way your community manages opportunities and challenges, which can make your community stronger. Communities that earn the All-America City title realize numerous benefits, including:
* Local, state, and national recognition
* Greater civic pride and greater civic collaboration
* Economic stimulus
I’m just having a hard time trying to figure out why this is a big deal. How much did it cost us to put this together,present and make a presentation in florida and now painting the logo on streets. I’m just tired of all forms of government blowing money on something that isn’t needed. Are we better off being called an all american city? I doubt it.
Don’t complain too loud. If they feel like the public is not supporting this, they’ll just hire an out of town consultant (with your money) who will be told to put together a presentation explaning how this is going to make tourism in Fort Wayne skyrocket - or some other such nonsense.
Tell them how you feel..
Just peel-out when your vehicle is sitting on one of those $300 paintings of “All-American City” on the street. I’d say 10 or so cars do it and they’ll look like chit.