Is Elwood Going to Change?? THE CITIZENS OF ELWOOD NEED TO HELP!

Very well spoken, I actually posted a comment much like this one!

I think it would help our little city if we could start a neighborhood watch program i have been researching this and we need to try something even if it fails,at least we tried!but we will need the support of our pd without it,it won't work i will be attending a city meeting to try to put this in effect if anyone would like to help me see this threw just post a comment on here and i will respond!thank for you're support!
titled citizens on patrol C.O.P.

Here are some things I always wondered about.. now a few years ago it was decided we needed a new city building,fire station, and police dept. We did need them. around the same time we were told the schools needed updated.They did need it.Now I always thought we should have built one new grade school out next to the high school and middle school Then they would be all centralizd as for bussing kindergarden brothers and sister could ride with thier family and not be seperated etc. Maintenance mowing things of that sort all together. Then Edgewood or Oakland either one could of been used as city offices. Aiso it would have given us a gym to be used for public meetings ect. Was there a need to relocate the water office? Could the old libary been used for the police dept? or the gas office? Then build a new firehouse no way around that, add a police station if we had to. O ne of those schools would have made a geat community center.Maybe we could of afforded a park downtown or biking hikingtrails. Also I always imagined a miniture train station used as a community imformation center and the trail traveling up and down the old train track right of way. the path was there all ready.Then work on another from the park to the golf course.I would think we could of got grants.all that would look attractive to outside business leaders. maybe I'm just stupid I don't know seems to me we wasted a lot of money we could of used more wisely. who knows just daydreaming

Now thats the way to start a discussion, youn can tell that you are very open minded and ready to help this city in the only way we can COMING TOGETHER.

Thank You and Godbless

Elwoodite #6

That all sounds great, but exactly like you said, we can daydream about these things all day but we cannot get this stuff requested if we do not all pull together and go to the city councel meetings and put it out there. Then who's to say if any of our requests will even be put into concideration...Your suggested thoughts were by no means stupid, they sound wonderful and it would be great to be able to suggest to the city councel of these suggestions. But, like I said, we all have to pull together as a community, all negativity aside, and do something about this town ourselves as a community. Very good comment and great suggestions! Maybe you should consider attending the meetings and see what they are about, you never know unless you try! Thank you for your feedback!

Your ideas are good, however, wanted to let you know. I am pretty sure the money used for the school has nothing to do with anyting in the city budget, that is all from the government and grants and has not play in the buget, but to tell le you in on a little tid bit of info I heard on that subject...this is a "rumor" heard from some pretty realiable school staff resources, the subcontractor on the remodeling of those schools was able to earn more money in his pocket by keeping the Elementary Schools separate, rather than building one new one, bigger paycheck for him to remodel two...that subcontractor, was reportedly your ECHS Superintendent! Everyone else, would have LOVED to have had all the schools located out by the High School, centralized location, makes total sense, it is not rocket science! And you are dead on when say the other school could have been used for several different things! We could come up with a million things to use it for.

The Water Department, well, that is the wealthiest department around. Their money is totally separate from the City Budget, they are on their own and doing just fine, the city actually has borrowed money from them quite often to pay employee paychecks, get out of debt on some things here and there etc.

Don't ever call yourself stupid...the only stupid idea, is the idea that was not spoken!

sad thing is I tried to talk to every one incharge, they all laughed.Why we can't do that hiking trails parks walking paths?All they wanted to do was spend to keep up with Carmel.You know the only man that actually agreed and thought that we could acomplish all of it was JIM KNOOP god rest his soul we lost someone special when he passed.There were to many chiefs with there hands in the pie.Thats what I meant when I brought up the water co.it was fine where it was They needed it to move to pay for the pipedream of Mr Mezger god bless him also, I mean no disrespect to anyone but everyone wanted bigger better when we could of spent more wisely and the whole city would of looked great for someone looking to invest .and i might be wrong but was it smart to sell the only building worth a hoot to a non profit group like the hosp? does the city recieve any tax rev. from them? like a business would be paying. i thought at one time danny wanted to move uptown and couldn't as in updegraff's furn.?To me it was all set up and we blew it.

I always thought as far as the schools go I would hope it would of saved us money over the long haul like bussing maintenance fuel lots of things and that would of been passed on down to us. Then which ever school bldg they did not want could of ben sold to the town on the cheep as to once again save us tax $ The water co. would have kept making money where it was which in turn could of been passed on down to guese who ...the tax payersmaybe with all the saving going on the new fire dept. and police dept. would not have cost us so much.Then there would be money left for a park, bike paths,I just think those kind of things people are looking for when they are going to relocate maybe some volenteer work for the mini train station community imfo center or be able to keep the pool open .a nice infrastucture that big business looks for in a town before they build. There were so many possibilities and no one listened some of the same people are still in charge, now i will be harrassed.what we need is more ideas and thinking outside the box

Thinking outside the box wondered about trying to sell a group like simon mall inc. into taking our entire downtown district and developeing it into a retro small town U.S.A. mall, like the new Hamilton town center mall at exit 10 on I69. Theres a group wanting to build another of those type just up the road from Claypool courts in Carmel on hwy 31 at 161st in Westfield.AS we know hwy 31 is to be turned into a limited excess freeway in the next 9 years,displacing 25 businesses alone at the intersection of 31 and 32.and many more small manufacturing sites up down along 31.should our Economic Director be selling our town here on it's advantages like centraly located on hwy 28 halfway between I69 and I65 with plenty oy workforce redilly available.. to these small manufacturers You just never know .Stanger things have happened. I'm just saying there will be lots and lots of retail and light manufacturing looking to relocate. Which I'm sure he is well aware of and probably all ready on it He works hard and loves his hometown. I can just see Fox news headline Town sells entire downtown to nations largest mall developer? ha ha just daydreaming again surely foolish of me.

10 years from now we will be close to I69,I31,I65 also hwy 37 will have been rebuilt and hwy 28 will be in great shape also. Maybe all is not lost. Now is the time for our City to come up with a plan for the future and start marketing it. For once our leaders need to come together with one common goal. and that is to save this city.Folks retail resterants are not the answer,Manufacturing jobs should be priority one then the retail will follow. Why would Walmart come here when there are no jobs here and no one has any money to spend, not enough any way. This ton needs to build a tax revenue base. Taking the Leeson building off and making it non-profit was so stupid.That is one of the things that killed downtown in my view.IF I am wrong please correct me.my imfo could be flawed and I hope it is.I have lots of idea's I'm sure some are good and some are bad, at least I have idea's ,thats more than I've heard from those who are in charge al I see is NO COMMENT or out sick or DID NOT RETURN OUR ATTEMPTS ON THE PHONE, get real make some decisions.And no I won't go to council meetings for I do not want to be targeted by the police in case they get thier feelings hurt. Been there done that. They are part of the problem not the solution, They have run rough-shod over our young and old alike and look where we are now!I am sorry but CEO's of companies do not want harrassed over petty stuff. they will not move here or subject thier managment to it when they can easily go down the road, There is hope if we get our heads out of our arrrsss's

The leeson building was privately owned. It was sold to the higest bidder, in this case the hospital. The city has no control over private real estate sales. About the police targeting people, young or old. They target law violators young or old. They are part of the solution not part of the problem. If you don't want law enforcement I feel sorry for you. Or perhaps you only want certain laws enforced against certain people. Perhaps you could post a list of what laws you want enforcen and against who you want them enforced.

First and foremost, this city needs to be cleaned up. If I was looking to set up a new business, I wouldn't want it in Elwood. There are way too many houses that need to be condemned or tore down, yards that need manicured, too many empty bldgs downtown, etc. In my opinion, the town needs some serious help before a new business is going to open in our town. Plus there is NO MONEY to put back into Elwood. Sorry guys, I just down have any faith and I have lived here my whole life. I wish there was something that could be done. I just don't see it happening. I'm ready to get out~embarrasing!!

What are you waiting for go ahead and move out of town. But my guess is you havnt even saved enough money for a down payment or a security deposit on an apartment!

My god! Who are you to even "Assume" that she does not have the money for a down payment or security deposit. Get over yourself, there are many other factors that come into play regarding the choice to stick around, #1 being "FAMILY", people don't like to move away from their family so they deal with! What she states is true, wake up and see the light! I work in Hamilton County and the comments made regarding Elwood are pretty harsh, I work with people from Carmel, Tipton, Anderson, Sheridan, Lebanon, Greenwood, Indy, Noblesville and several more... Elwood has always had a bad reputation for one reason or another, Yes, on some things I defend our city and the people that live here to my coworkers, however there are alot of things I can't go back at them on because they are sadly right! Elwood is a poverty stricken city & you would be surprised at how many people outside of Elwood have that impression and worse. I am to the point when people ask me where I am from, I simply say 50 miles north of here and don't give a specific name because I am so sick of hearing about it and sometimes it is embarrasing!

Another thing, all the bashing of our officers that is going on in the other forum...listen to the things you are saying! Stop and think about it, they are doing their jobs! No, the ones defending them are not "officers hiding under screen names" I have no family on that department anymore, but I still defend them! If you feel you were wrongly accused, do something, go above them to the State Police or County officials and file a report to have it looked into. They have made a quite a few good busts over the years. And yes, sometimes they do make mistakes, there is not a single person on here who has not made a mistake at their job! But, they don't kill people, they don't make people kill themselves, and they don't just arrest you for Shits and Giggles! The arrest reports are public knowledge and when something is printed wrong in the report in the paper, 9 times out of 10 you see a correction the next night! When something like what just happened comes along, the state investigates, as they are doing now, and once again the state finds they were "doing their job". I have been around at the bars, community events, etc. and majority of the time when I hear people bashing them, that person has either been arrested for something they did and are ticked that they got caught, or their family member or buddy has done something and got caught! It is not a big conspiracy people, it is simply just people doing the career they enjoy and not getting paid enough to do it! I am not sorry if this comes across harsh, just speaking my mind like all of you are doing!

very good thought out and true post. I doubt anyone will believe what you wrote as it doesn't bash and place blame.

Good job stargazer0128~I AGREE 100% to everything you said!!

What you said:

"What are you waiting for go ahead and move out of town. But my guess is you havnt even saved enough money for a down payment or a security deposit on an apartment!"

Very intelligent! You dont even know her, or anything about HER so HOW DARE YOU post a ridiculous comment like that! Pathetic & Typical!

Can u recall the last judge? how many toes did she step on back then?whether u defriend her or not a lot of cops could get away anything! people do hold grudges,and a lot of them are still there! FILE A COMPLAINT IT WILL GIVE EM SOMETHING TO LAUGHT ABOUT WHILE THERE PLAYING GOLF !p.s PROBABLY ON THE CLOCK!

Truth be told Elwood is a low cost of living town that has a comfy feel to it. It is a pretty stress free town to live in, but it needs alot of love and attention. People on here make a good point that we tend to hold grudges. We are so used to the same things from our leaders that maybe we dont notice gradual change. By no means am i saying that our new leaders and officers are doing an excellent job but the whole intimidation factor has slowly gone away. There are a few veterans left no the force that seem to keep the grudge alive and well. One of our biggest problems in Elwood is our accountability. Us as citizens, Policemen who uphold the law, and judges and mayors all need to be accountable. We are all human so when we make a mistake, we have to not be ashamed to admit it and learn from it. If you or your children are having run-ins with the law, then most likely its because of something they are doing or someone they are with. I cant be there when the police do pull overs, but this town needs them to keep a watchful eye. I would hope they are very professional and have the citys best interest in mind, but they also need to make a better effort to improve relations with citizens. If you(the police) really feel you are being wrongly accused of all these things then make a point to show that you arent a guy on a power trip like they already had in mind before you walked up to their window of their car. Maybe you shouldnt have to prove your-selves to the public but if you want relations to improve what could it hurt? Mayors and judges are the same. If you want people to see you for who you "really are", then show them. Show the city what you can do to make a difference and bring change, and how you are going to do it.

As a district 5 state delegate, I seen it's at the local level that you need to change for any kind of improvement.

Run and support local candidates that have the moxy to fight the local establishment.

Cry all you want about Elwood, but, if you don't participate in the governing of your lives, then there's no emphasis for change in Elwood.

Start by taking the initiative and help the jobless get the skills they need to be employable in today's job market.
Put all those restless kids to work cleaning up Elwood or assisting the needy citizens.

Here's a link to help with electing local candidates
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

Elwood is a low cost living town? You very clearly dont own your home. Elwood has the highest taxes in the county. Taxes that are suppost to pay for the city things like trash pick up and the schools. Now we have to wonder why our children dont get the money for the gifted children program but they had the money to put sky lites in the cieling of oakland schools cafateria . And now we have to fork out more money to get out trash picked up. Folks someones getting fat on our money up town I dont know who but they are. Best fix forthis town would be throw out everyone involved .The school board, city planning commitee. the judges . and exspecialy the mayor that since hes been in office the city gets worse every year. He has tomany problems at home to be in the office and when he is he wont return calls.We have a fruit cake running around town in a gold cutlass saying she works for the city and she will fine people up to 50,000 dollars if the dont clean their yards . we have kids recking the town on mopeds and mini bikes and quads and the city wont touch them I have a kid in a green explorer that runs by my house every nite as late as 4 am with load bomming speakers that they wont do a thing about. If we threw out the crooks and the idiots we have in office and put in young new blood this city might come back to life. And as far as the library it was a conagie building and was donated to the city to be used for that reason a libirary and could not be sold at any time it would have to revert back to then. It was sold illeagily in the first place. Everyone should take a real close look and see whats really gong on in this town then judge people about it

GEEEZ PETE HOW DARE YOU post a negative thought on here.That is just not allowed on here anymore.I guese you haven't noticed the traffic on this site seems to have slowed down since we are not allowed.All the closed minded do not want it. Keep your heads in the sand and watch this town dry up to nothing!

its pretty easy to push the blame off on other people.this is why i say the only way for Elwood as a city to survive is simply annex.We have a very nice school system that we need in order for Elwood to grow,but the problem was created along time ago by setting our school boundries,Two miles north is Madison Grant,west is tipton and southeast is frankton.
So now we go to the city of Elwood,did you know that bussinesess and homes that are not in the city limits still pay for our water and sewage.(why not annex)?
The city just loaned yarling and wilber addition $200,000 thousand dollars for sewage.(why not annex)?Swifty gas station,Pizza Kng, Lucky Srike and the center of mental health have water and sewage.(why not Annex)?Four or five houses west of the high school are not in the city limits.(Why)?The most expensive thing to due is run water lines,east of true value on st rd 28 we have water but no sewage.North 19th street west to 9th street we have water and no sewage.i can go on and on about different areas of town that need annexed.(South Elwood)water and sewage was run under p street to hook these people up.why should these people recieve city services and not pay city taxes?If they need police or ambulance service they recieve it for next to nothing.This problem we are going through is not the current administrations fault they inhereted it from past administrations years ago.It doesnt cost much money to run sewer pipe we are paying the labor anyway.WE need to STAND AS ONE AND HELP OUR LEADERS THROUGH THESE ROUGH TIMES!!!!!!

I Just don't want you to complain about the same thing on ten different threads! It's too confusing for people to follow when you don't stay on topic.

Al Jordan

things will never change if people dont become involved in their comunity. as long as you set here and moan and groan and never take action or try to be part of the solution things will never change.... i love our town,it may have some problems but what town doesnt?,and right now its hard everywhere.... not just in elwood., maybe if more elwoodians took pride in their town instead of setting on their butts complaining all the time, things would get done....just wondering if anyone donated to the fire dept for the fire works that are complaining on here? we went to the park today and donated....you want change? then do something!!! even if its picking up a piece of trash the is in the alley,,, thats a start.... tonya

Get involved ? Is this what you called getting ivolved when you try to the town board hushs you up? When they have town meetings and conveniently forget to let people know it was changed to another day so the voters wouldnt be there to vote against what the city wants? You may like our little town but odds say you have a good job and make good money and dont worry about the poor people in this town.You may think Im a jerk but I have seen what this city does to steal from the poor I have feel victim to the ways . In one year the sneekie lawyer from this town ripped me off for over 900. bucks on two 7 yea5r old water bills I didnt even owe but due to age I couldnt prove. The his honor the mayor hid in his office when i tried to get him to help me when the tried it again when the city broke my water lines and I had to pay another 989.00 bucks for water. Only reason I stay here is for my wife and my parents . tThis town is nothing but high taxes and a city and school that beleaves money talks and bull crap walks,. you dont have money they wont listen!

In fact my family was one of the first families in this town my fathers father built most the bridges in this town my family was one that laid out the streets for this town and big part made it a town . My ansestors donated land to build churchs in this town. I of all people should be proud Im from Elwood. But I lost pride a few years ago .Before you talk about Elwood people and the money from this town take the blinders off your eyes and look real good And remember what is was like before the mayor we had before or present mayor took office . Im not refering to merril Im reffering to the mayor that blew or money on everything that we didnt need and broke the city. And I was at the park saturday all day enjoying times with friends and family actually felt like the old Elwood I remember. If Elwwod would make red golsd pay all the taxes they gave them to begin with that alone would bring us out of the hole. Gave pac a break look what good that was they are closing and didnt have to pay the taxes . We do live in mayberry rfd dont we?

like i said its people like you who number one, judge someone before you even know what your talking about. im an artist, and my husband works at a small factory in muncie, so i know what its like not to have a lot of money...and to say i dont worry about the poor, let me tell you something, something you propably wouldnt understand is do what you can do..... we found out about a family here in town who had a fire and had no insurance and my kids and i went door to door to collect items for this family who lost everything, i have fed people who had nothing when we were low ourselves, so how dare u judge me..... you want a change, get up off your butt and do something,,,, instead of typing hate on here get out and make a difference,,, yeah, i know what its like to get screwed, but you tell me where you can go in this world where people wont screw you over.... you wake up! you cant just rely on the city or town to make a difference, we all have to do our part to make this a better place to live and that is what we have been discussing about doing but then you come on here and have to be a freakn rude jerk and make assumsions about things you know nothing about.... you made a personal attack on me,,,, you dont like Elwood then you are free to move, but no matter where you go, there are problems everywhere.....so go find your mayberry, good luck...

Before you post a comment, could you please use spell check? If people outside of this town were reading these posts, they would think that it was a town of illiterates!

to the comment above, i do not think this sight has spell check.... funny how "guests" are so worried about what would be percived on here...

It has its own built in spell checker. You just right click on an underlined word and it will show you the correct way to spell it. In reply to Jacobs; funny how "guests" are so worried about what would be perceived on here...

Elwood has pretty much been a town that's never had a way for its citizens to communicate effectively. All they have ever known is a controlled media with very little opinion and almost no debate so a lot of people here are not very tolerant to others opinions. Its not their fault. Its just that they don't understand how important freedom of speech is yet. Freedom of Speech is what brings new Ideas to the table (A necessary ingredient to a prosperous society). Because of some of the complaints posted on here some positive things started happening too. People started getting involved! People started coming together and talking positively as a group about ways to improve our situation. And it started because someone was complaining :) The squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease. Think about it! Once we get past the shock, discust, anger, and surprise, we will start to work things out on this communication network that will make things better for us all. its just gonna take some time :)

Al Jordan

i agree but the we need to keep the possitive attitude going... otherwise all the good ideas will just get cold and nothing will come about.... i just think if we all try we can all make a difference..... tonya