Last Updated on January 23, 2017 by cassnetwork
We’ve invited Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchell to share updates from the city in a monthly column.
Dave Kitchell
In my own memory bank, I’ll never forget 2016 as the year the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, but I’ll also remember other things that happened in Logansport.
I will never forget the vision of those devoted dozens of young runners — many with their shirts off in 19-degree weather — who were Logansport’s own “chariots of fire,” paying tribute to an outstanding person named Jacob Graf. I’ll never forget the eyes of a Logansport teacher and her reaction when she learned she was the Indiana Teacher of the Year. I’ll never forget the commitment of young Logansport football players who defeated Peru to win the first Baldini Trophy game, and what that had to mean to former LHS Coach Don Baldini. I’ll never forget the eyes and faces of children who came to downtown Logansport when the Christmas Parade returned.
All these things say to me that we have a community that lives life to the fullest in a good way. We value our decency and simple things that mean a lot. We honor and respect those who are committed to our community and represent us, and when they depart us, we grieve, we believe in what they accomplished and what we can, and we move on.
This year, I can tell you I already will remember the collective vision of 15 Logansport church congregations coming together as one on New Year’s Day to worship together. They prayed for our future and our people and the magnificence of what can happen when people turn to one another to support them and uphold the common good. I can’t say that I would expect that to happen in many communities, but I can say I wasn’t surprised to see it happen here.
As we move forward into 2017, let’s move forward with many resolutions to make our community better – even if no one sees us do it.
We have so much to be thankful for in the year just passed.
Construction was up 37 percent. Logansport Memorial broke ground on a $7 million project. We have netted nine new businesses downtown. Our legacy employers from Small Parts, to Tinnerman-Palnut to Myers Spring invested in their future and expanded. Others such as Harris Glass and LMC Workholdings observed milestones.
Our brownfield and blight elimination programs were completed and we’re furthering them. We ended the year with a $2.2 million savings in our budget, or about 85 percent of what we planned to spend.
Let’s make this year even better, and keep believing in ourselves.
It’s an honor to serve the community. If you have any questions or concerns, call me at (574) 753-2551, e-mail me at dkitchell@cityoflogansport.org, or check out our revamped city Web site at cityoflogansport.org.