A journal of Politics, German Studies, Travel and Insights
I’ve read the recent book on Fort Wayne’s last 30 years of economic resurgence entitled Turning Rust to Gold. It is more a memoire than a documentary,...Read more
That's Just the Way He Is: City Councilman Jason Arp came to mind the other day when we read of a heavily armed young man prancing around in a park so...Read more
Think of this in your nice, quiet neighborhood – every day four or five garbage trucks rumble past your house.Envision your lovely neighborhood scente...Read more
Shadowy Saboteurs in Dark Alleys: It is becoming tiresome.On Indiana Business Journal two of the leaders of the effort to redevelop ye olde GE campus ...Read more
Fort Wayne is on the Move: Cindy Joyner’s presentation to City Council on July 23rd was simply marvelous. She should be the marketing director for For...Read more
My friend Jason Arp perplexes me. He has done so more than a few times. When he first came on council one of his earliest efforts was an or...Read more
Football is War, or Fun at the Beach: I’ve seen football played in seven countries: Turkey, the US, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Romania. ...Read more
If any issue sinks the mayor’s re-election campaign it will be the ongoing debacle of garbage mis-collection. Most lucid Fort Wayners know the story o...Read more
Two new friends sat across from each other on a picnic table at a party in eastern Germany. One from Fort Wayne, one from Gera, both tall men, b...Read more
Electric Works Anti-Climax: Josh Parker and Kevan Biggs were to have been the dramatic stars of last night’s city council meeting, expected to level a...Read more
Balance in Representation: One of the rallying complaints of the American Revolution was “taxation without representation. So lets take a look a...Read more
Lost Opportunity Cost: Trouble at Electric Works has delayed the Science Center planetarium.Let me explain.Electric Works is a multi-hundred million d...Read more
My erstwhile friend, Jim Banks, perplexes me.His image is the perfect Christian father, husband, community servant and keeper of the faith to which mo...Read more
Rarely does council defeat a tax abatement, but on May 28, 2019, they voted 6 to 1 against a firm, ElringKlinger. They company filed late for their ab...Read more
I have always enjoyed seeing what was over the next hill or around the corner excites me, still. There is a mountain pass on Crete that suddenly...Read more
A Canary Between Two Cats: Rebuilt center of WarsawPoland in one of those countries that has come and gone and come again in history. Over the centuri...Read more
The Rathaus in Breslau, Kais, Berlin Kölnwitz Kriegsdenkmal: Read more
Of the eight candidates running for four council seats two showed up at the Southwest Area Partnership, SWAP, meeting May 15, 2019.Taylor Vanover is a...Read more
And so I began my travels through Germania: My first week in Munich was like being home. It felt like home, it sounded like home and the streets...Read more
What Happened to John Crawford: Abortion and baggage, in short. First, there is a litmus test within the Republican Party that every candid...Read more
Council, May 13, 2019: In short, the new ordinance passed out of committee last night by council wants drone pilots to register their vehicles. Safety...Read more
My favorite town square in Europe is in Wroclaw, Poland. A massive gothic Rathaus sits in the center of the square the size of two football fiel...Read more
Shake Downs in East Europe: Romania, Moscow, St. PetersburgHe literally jumped to the verge of the Romania highway from a hiding place among tall, lea...Read more
When you vote for a mayor you’re not only electing that person but all their supporters, donors and political allies. It is like a marriage, where alo...Read more
Forgetting the History of Garbage: One of the worst proposals I’ve heard from city council over the past decade came during the discussion of the Red ...Read more
Four candidates out of a possible six stood respectfully beside the lectern at the Fort Wayne Sport Club, their hands clasped awkwardly at crotch leve...Read more
The fight over the West Jefferson rezoning offers a few questions. The first question is why a good citizen would ever bother to volunteer to serve on...Read more
Mr Jehl Goes To Berry Street: Over the last seven years we’ve watched city council carefully, and learned more than a bit about the personalities and ...Read more
But, the elephant in the room is in the air we breath and the water that flows under our bridges: Indiana is considered the most polluted state in the...Read more
Let The Campaign Begin: Candidate for mayor, city councilman, oncologist and trophy hunter John Crawford will become city council president next your ...Read more