Our town

I never, ever thought I would see this. It's the actual concluding paragraph from an actual editorial on the actual Journal Gazette editorial page:

It's often said that party labels don't matter as much at the local level, and generally that's true; there's no Pepublican or Democratic way to fill a pothole. But sometimes it does matter -- even at the local level, Democrats probably have a tendency to favor "fixing" things, and Republicans are likely to look more skeptically at change.

They never learn, do they?

Westfield » For three months, no new development will occur in the city's downtown, pending the outcome of a long-awaited presentation set for next week.

[. . .]

Well, duh:

City leaders are set to unveil their plans for improving parking downtown.

Officials are under the gun to get plans in motion since they're anticipating traffic to increase downtown when Harrison Square and the new Parkview Field open next year.

A consulting group developed recommendations based on a study of current on-street and private parking situations in the downtown area.

Those proposed pay raises for county workers have been put on hold:

County Council voted Tuesday to have its Human Resources department further study proposed pay increases for officials and employees after it was decided not enough comparison data from other Indiana counties was collected. Also, the council agreed to send e-mails to county officials, asking them if they want to receive their proposed pay increases for 2009.

A lot of people feel like the members of the power structure in Fort Wayne and Allen County do just whatever they want to regardless of what the taxpayers think, and Harrison Square is frequently cited as the prime example. And many suspect that pertinent facts and figures aren't always shared with us. But it could be worse -- we could be treated the way Carmel's mayor treats his citizens:

The Thanksgiving good:

More than 200 volunteers showed up at the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission on Thanksgiving Day.

[. . .]

The volunteer coordinator with the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission said that there was a huge increase in the number of people coming out to help this year, and a lot of those were families volunteering together.

And the bad:

Happy 25th anniversary to Crime Stoppers:

A quarter century of answering the phone has netted more than 29,000 crime tips, helping lead to more than 8,000 arrests.

Those tips were a factor in more than 9,000 solved crimes, including 68 homicides.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could stay home for the first few snows until all the idiots completed their winter-driving remedial education?

The Indiana State Police suggest drivers look in the mirror before pointing a finger at Mother Nature for weather-related traffic accidents.