Hope for the Fort?

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Permalink Reply by Chris Tomlinson on April 30, 2008 at 11:51am

I think Fort Wayne's biggest problem is that it's more of a "hub" city than a "stay here and visit" city. Meaning, we're right between several major metropolis's and it's a good spot to store your goods, travel through, get a bit to eat and leave and that's about it. However an advantage for Fort Wayne is that it's surrounded by many many communities that need to or are willing to commute for a larger variety of products than what may be offered in the smaller towns such as Huntington, Columbia City, Decatur or even parts of Ohio.

I don't actually live in Ft. Wayne, but considering I live in one of the communities that makes it easy to commute to Ft. Wayne, I still feel a bit of a connection. That and the fact that I worked for the city for almost 10 years. I know more about the behind the scenes action in that city than most people do because it never makes the headlines of the paper or television newscasts.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Dager on May 11, 2008 at 11:11pm

There is always hope! But I think we must concentrate on who we are and move in that direction. Trying to emulate others gets us little in recognition and notoriety.

Since we are centrally located to many major cities than we should act upon it. Build our infrastructure to be the best departure point for all the major cities around us. The ability to be in Indy, Chicago, Detroit, Dayton, etc at a drop of a hat may be intriguing. If we built a center for a hi-speed train to each of these points and people could actually commute in an hour to each, well you paint the picture.

Sound outrageous? Try filling a downtown ballpark! Actually, I hope I eat my words.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Johnson on May 12, 2008 at 9:16am

I appreciate your thoughts, Joe, and your honesty about the ball park. I do think that there's hope for our city. I've lived in Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Spokane, Washington. All great cities. I think Fort Wayne is a great place, too.

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Permalink Reply by Kristina Frazier-Henry on May 12, 2008 at 11:38pm

Oh man. You touched a nerve about 120 miles away ;).

Seriously. Here's my scoop. And I do apologize for the rant that is about to happen. And I hope no one takes it too personally as I am just yelling at the screen and not real people ;).

I was born and raised (for the most part) in Fort Wayne. My family too. I absolutely have total love for Fort Wayne. Big time love. Fort Wayne to me - was always the SMALL big city. You just know everyone. You know families. You can't spit in any direction without seeing a church (this I love - the architecture of the fort).

I had to move to Indy for my master's degree (this was in 1992). Once I completed that, the jobs in Fort Wayne, were few and far between. I had to stay here. Would I love to come back? Absolutely. Mostly because I am very sad over some "things" that have occurred. And I'm stupid enough to think that if I moved back, I could do something something about it (insert big sigh here).

Somewhere in the mid to late 90's, the city lost its identity. It tried to be Indianapolis Jr. Heck, maybe someone thought it could outpace the metro area.

Ian - gone. Replaced by Jon Boscia who has practically turn Lincoln into a shadow of its fomer self. Glad he's gone. Hope the door hit him hard on the way out. Hope it left a mark that makes him hurt when he sits.

The small businesses - aka family/locally owner restaurants and retail places which tightly bound together that community spirit- poof - they disappeared right and left. Why? Why? There's no better place than Fort Wayne - or it used to be the case - to run a small business. You knew you had community support.

Chains everywhere. Restaurants. Banks. Retail.

No Scott's (well name only - but for how long?). No Rogers.

Demolished Holiday I & 2. That was a crime. Someone will figure that out in about five more years.

Southtown Mall? Absolutely NO excuse for what happened to it. NONE. Zip ZERO.

And FWCS - I practically want to cry when I've seen what has become of it. I attended Indian Village Elementary School and since this last superintendent has come into the district, its scores have slid down dramatically. For five years. Before that, the school was getting awards. Accolades. This school, which was the foundation of learning for me, is now a ghost. But I wish I could say that this was the exception. Take a look at the report on FWCS for this past year. Almost all of the schools have major issues. It's one step away from being IPS. Or maybe two. I haven't measured lately.

This makes me angry and sad.

So - is there hope for Fort Wayne - I think there is. But the community has got to be serious about it. They need to jump in and save the place like it is drowning. They need to be focused on the basics - educating the kids of the Fort (and if FWCS can't do it - issue vouchers - let parents choose. Last time I checked - the area catholic schools were 1/3 of the cost of FWCS AND their results were over the top - something we would all be proud of).

Discourage chains. Encourage the new generation of entreprenuers. The new Hall's, Papa Suzetti's, Wooden Nickels.....

Stop with the Walmarts.

Take care of the drug problem that is specifically an issue in the the 46806 area.

Start empowering the people who have a passion for the city.

Ending rant here :)

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Permalink Reply by Jim Johnson on May 13, 2008 at 3:56pm

Great passion there! Thanks for sharing. I think you've hit the nail on the head. Maybe you should run for mayor the next go-round...

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Permalink Reply by Kristina Frazier-Henry on May 15, 2008 at 11:44pm

I like being an everyday change agent with no other special title :).

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Crawford on July 21, 2008 at 8:39pm

I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico because as a person with an art degree no one, not even McDonald's, would hire me and I needed to eat. I just came back to be closer to my son. I love him so much but I am already planning to go back to New Mexico so I can start eating every day. Fort Wayne is dying because the narrow minded fools who run this place have forced out every educated person who dared show his/her head here.

The problems with the schools come from poverty. Poor kids from poor families do poorly in school. Those Catholic schools don't cost 1/3 what FWCS do. FWCS is FREE to any student, no matter how poor his parents are. Catholic schools charge tuition, and it is not cheap. My son goes to a magnet school and is getting a far better education than I got in FWCS 20 yrs ago. The local schools do well when you get the extremely poor kids out, as magnet schools do. You can't expect the schools to solve social problems that they didn't create.

The 46806 area code is the poorest ghetto area in the city. People sell drugs there because it is the only way to earn a living. You can't do that with the $7 an hour jobs that this community offers. Education won't solve that. Most of the people I know with university degrees make less than $8 an hour, if they even have a job at all. I applied for more than 800 jobs in the years after I graduated from IPFW in 1999 and got ONE interview. ONE! I wasn't hired. That was right before I went to Santa Fe. I have applied for a number of jobs since coming back to Fort Wayne and haven't gotten a single call back. My best friend has a BA in Philosophy from Purdue and has applied for 200 jobs since graduating almost 2 years ago. Hasn't gotten a single interview. He's even tried, out of desperation, applying for the crappy restaurant jobs he had when he was younger. He's an experienced cook, yet no one will consider him. The managers he's gotten to talk to him say they're overstaffed as it is.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Surface on July 1, 2008 at 11:57am

Kristina is right except two chains we really need in Fort Wayne is the Waffle House and White Castle. We recently went to Florida and I think every city in America except Ft. Wayne has a Waffle House! As a Komet's Fan I think Ft. Wayne has some great sports. Unfortunately baseball (except the kid's type) doesn't seem to be one of them as evidenced by the empty stadium 90% of the time. So guess where we spend our money? And pity the new downtown hotel that counts on people coming to the Wizard's games for it's revenue.

Aside from that, Fort Wayne is a great town and I'm proud to be a resident!

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