A year-end look back on Fishers, Indiana, community news and politics through tweets.
MOMS FOR LIBERTY, HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA CHAPTER
Some community leaders immediately spoke out against this local chapter of Moms For Liberty. Sadly, many did not.
$50 PARKING FEE FOR VISITORS
The new $27 million man-made beach & park opened this summer free for Fishers residents. Visitors from outside Fishers required to sign up to visit Geist Waterfront Park 48 hours in advance, download an app and pay $50 to enter to park. This was a policy designed to discourage non-Fishers residents from visiting the park and taking up the 240 parking spots.
HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN SCHOOLS BOARD OF TRUSTEES – NEW BOARD MAJORITY’S CONTROVERSIES
Four new members elected to the Board of HSE Schools formed a new extremely conservative majority in 2023. These members immediately disrupted Fishers’ high-performing school district. The new board majority considered declining a valuable $5.7 million mental health grant, eliminated the student-requested addition of microaggressions from student handbook, halted a pre-paid mental health survey, prevented routine contract renewal of top administrators (two of these administrators have since left) and resigned our school district’s first African-American woman Superintendent.
HAMILTON EAST PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD BANS 1000+ YOUNG ADULT BOOKS FROM TEENZONE
The extremely conservative majority of the Hamilton East Public Library board created a policy to review every Young Adult book in the library’s TeenZone. If a book contained a sex scene, violence or profanity (no matter how mild) that book was banned from YA section and placed in Adult Fiction section instead. The policy was suspended months later after the majority members who created the policy and battled the Library Director and disapproving citizens were no longer on the library board.
STATE ROAD 37 & 141ST STREET
A roundabout was promised to be completed by 2022 but the intersection was disrupted instead so that drivers can’t cross State Road 37 now. Mayor Fadness promised in 2023 that the intersection would be constructed in 2025. The overall SR 37 project is $47 million over budget so far.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY
I will always believe that Fishers City Government can do better than this. Our citizens deserve better than this. There are many examples this year that demonstrate our city leaders’ continued aversion to public scrutiny, transparency and accountability.
FISHERS POLITICS
Our community is now undeniably politically balanced but local elections reflect a GOP stranglehold, won by $$$ and dirty tricks. I hope the GOP elected officials and leaders never forget that they serve ALL community members.
HOPE
2023 was a tumultuous year for the Fishers community. But I have hope! Balance + Compassion is our path forward to reset our community, listen to one another, address our shortcomings and create a good community for ALL. I will do my part to keep working for this because, “I want Fishers to be the place it’s portrayed as.”
