OrthoWorx Member Spotlight: Quality of Place is Priority for the City of Warsaw

Guest Author: Mayor Joe Thallemer, MD

I am often asked what it is like to be the Mayor of Warsaw. I usually tell people it is like an old Western movie where the guy is hanging on tight to the reins of horses pulling a stagecoach, guiding it as it races across the plains toward its destination. So goes the constant forward progress of our city with a “team” of community leaders giving it their all; the destination being a safe, livable community. Good things continue to happen when people want to live here!

Working with department heads, community leaders and interested citizens, our goal is to refine and implement ideas that improve the livability of Warsaw. Our initial accomplishment has been investing in a new City Hall at the downtown heart of our city. We will be opening our doors with a community open house on Saturday, May 11, to show off this new space that is now home to our city departments and a large council chambers.

But more importantly, it will provide a gathering space for everyone in our community to utilize and be a source of pride. The new adjacent City Plaza will host our Saturday morning Farmers Market, WCDC First Friday events and will be available for community-sponsored events, such as car shows, teen dances and bicycle races, to name a few.

In addition, our Parks Department and Building and Planning Department have been working hard to create a vision for the needs of a community-wide bike and pedestrian system. “The Ride-Walk Initiative was developed to further bicycling and pedestrian facilities, education and safety in Warsaw and Winona Lake,” says Staci Young, Warsaw Parks Recreation Director.

A master plan has been completed, and the work of building the network has begun. Having created the first mile of on-street trails last summer, further expansion will continue. Construction will begin on the OrthoWorx-funded Krebs Trailhead Park on McKinley Street later this spring.

“A new city-wide comprehensive plan, a summertime ‘visioning’ charette with the Ball State University School of Architecture and Planning, and the continued expansion of local retail with the new Meijer store scheduled to open next month, makes for an exciting time to be a part of the City Council,” remarks Council president Diane Quance. I couldn’t agree with her more!