SWAP, the Southwest Area Partnership, is administering a Homeowner Improvement Program. Historic Southwood Park homes qualify, and you can be reimbursed up to $300 on a matching grant for improvements to your homes’ curb appeal. Money is available through the City’s Investing in Neighborhoods Now (INN) program.
If you’re planning to paint your house, upgrade your landscaping, or replace some gutters, take advantage of this opportunity!
Dirt Day Remnants
Dirt Day was last Saturday, but as of late last night there is still a lot of soil left on Arlington (between Sherwood and Maple Grove), Sherwood & Stratford, and a bit left at Westover and Beaver.
Let’s find garden homes for this soil before tomorrow’s rain!
Dirt Wain. Interested?
“Dirt Wain turns residential and commercial food scraps into nutrient rich dirt. We are committed to community-scale composting—which means finding solutions that meet various communities’ needs. We keep food scraps out of the landfill where they become methane gas—an accelerant contributing to climate breakdown. Composting reclaims nutrients and puts them back in circulation in the communities where food scraps are generated.”
Check out DirtWain.com for more information.
If you are interested in participating in a “neighborhood subscription” at $12/month (regularly $15), email Southwood_Park@yahoo.com. If there is sufficient interest, we will share more information.
Happy Earth Day, Southwood Park!
Happy 
Day Southwood Park! Yesterday may have been unexpected but most of our trees stood stoically beautiful under the heavy snow. Let’s plant more, replace what has died plus an extra one or two and give our neighborhood healthier air, shade, and a beautiful canopy for generations to come. 
Historic Southwood Park strongly opposes HB 1164, which will be considered in the Indiana Senate Utilities Committee tomorrow, April 1.
HB 1164 blocks local governments, neighborhoods, and homeowners from guiding 5G tower site selection by prohibiting local control over density, height, and location of small cell towers.
Utility companies want a path of least resistance. Communication companies do not want to co-locate with existing utilities where they belong, in easements along alleys and the rear of properties. They want the easiest locations and cheapest for them: in front of houses along the street. And they do not want to co-locate with each other, either. We can expect a Verizon pole every other block. And an AT&T pole. And a Frontier pole. And a pole for each of the other companies entering the 5G market.
Neighborhoods on the National Register of Historic Places are being denied thoughtful Section 106 reviews of tower placements. What does this mean? Cell towers use bandwidth regulated by the federal government. Since this involves federal law, review of tower placement should be discovering that these towers have an adverse effect on historic properties and landscapes. But, preservation advocates are being denied information on upcoming and on already processed Section 106 reviews. State officials are giving these towers are “green light”, as applications falsely claim “co-location” in many instances.
To reiterate: we believe these poles should be co-located with other utilities in utility easements. We believe neighborhoods should be beautiful, not industrial. Every neighborhood, everywhere should have this consideration as a matter of equity. We contend that the arrival of 40 foot (or taller) towers in front of anyone’s house will bring property values down. Our property values should not be infringed for the benefit of Verizon’s balance sheet.
How can you help today? The priority is to put pressure on the State Senators who represent our area and encourage them to oppose HB 1164.
Senator Dennis Kruse (R – District 14)senator.kruse@iga.in.gov | 317.232.9400Legislative Assistant: Jake Torriejake.torrie@iga.in.gov | 317.233.0930
Senator Liz Brown (R – District 15)senator.brown@iga.in.gov | 317.232.9400Legislative Assistant: Kaitlyn Gomezkaitlyn.gomez@iga.in.gov | 317.234.9426
Senator Justin Busch (R – District 16)senator.busch@iga.in.gov | 317.232.9400Legislative Assistant: David Boyerdavid.boyer@iga.in.gov | 317.232.9488
Senator Andy Zay (R – District 17)senator.zay@iga.in.gov | 317.232.9400Legislative Assistant: Kate Semmlerkate.semmler@iga.in.gov | 317.234.9441
Leaders from the Packard Area Planning Alliance, the Southwest Area Partnership, and the City of Fort Wayne have contacted state legislators. We ask that you join contacting your legislators as soon as possible and encourage others to do the same. Call. Email. Social media. Whatever you can do helps!
Steve McCord
President
Historic Southwood Park Neighborhood Association
UPDATE! April 22. From Wildwood Park Facebook: Here is an update on 5G legislation from Jim Sack, president of the West Rudisill neighborhood association and the 5G point person for neighborhoods that belong to Southwest Area Partnership: “The cell tower bill was amended by the Senate after much statewide opposition to various provisions and now gives us, as an association and as individuals, a seat at the table to determine the location of these soon to be ubiquitous “small” cell towers. I argued for these changes during two short appearances before the house and the senate committees that conducted public hearings. The bill is not fair to us, but is much better than the original version. FYI, all local legislators, save one, Phil GiaQuinta, voted against local involvement in citing and density, and for control of our Right-of-Way by Verizon, ATT and a dozen other companies who may all wish to install a tower in front of your home. And, another FYI, the quadrant to which we belong, the Southwest Area Partnership…, will pressure both the city and the cell installers to place the towers with full consideration to the beauty of our neighborhoods.”
Trees Now Available
Planting instructions: Tree planting instructions
Dumpster Day and Pocket Garden Cleanup – April 24th
Neighborhood Seedling Tree Program Coming Soon
The trees of Historic Southwood Park are always one of the “top assets”, literally and figuratively, in our neighborhood surveys! We have to plant new trees to help maintain it.
The Association will have five varieties of upland hardwood trees available for you to plant. There will be 20 seedlings of each variety. Addresses where they will be available will be announced soon. Do you have a space to plant one? Give it enough space to grow, away from buildings, and at least 15 from utilities. Plan now! Keep watching this website and our Facebook page for the announcement trees have arrived. Locations will have a sign like this:
White oak 
Black oak 
Scarlet oak 
Chestnut oak
Shagbark hickory 
Here are instructions for planting your tree in PDF form: Tree planting instructions
Once upon a time, parts of Southwood Park were covered in valuable trees. The developers referred to our area as a “forest primeval”. The photo below shows a map of a small portion of the neighborhood, the 4200 block of Tacoma Avenue. All of the dots on the map were mature trees that existed at that time. White Oak was the most common tree on the map. Many came down as houses were built, and many others died over the last century. Of all the dots on the map of that block, less than half a dozen still stand.
We want to replenish that valuable canopy! You can give one of these “tree babies” its forever home. The Association also helps our tree canopy with other programs, like our Emerald Ash Borer treatments, our support of the City Street Tree Program (do you want a free street tree planted in your park strip?), and the purchase of some larger trees this spring for the Westover Road esplanade to replace the ones lost to old age.
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Let’s keep the WOOD in SouthWOOD Park!
3-week lane restrictions for Rudisill Boulevard intersection
from the Journal Gazette
The work is expected to be completed March 31, the city’s traffic engineering department said in a statement.
For questions or to report problems, call the city’s right of way department at 427-6155.
If you’re looking for a new doctor, you don’t have to go far! We are fortunate to have a Parkview Family Medicine Clinic in the neighborhood.
It’s located on the Summit Campus. It’s walkable!
