Joseph’s House & Shelter will be hosting a community forum on Aug. 13 to update the public on some changes made to the Ida Street Inn propos?al in response to con?cerns raised at a previous meeting on the project in June.

According to Joseph’s House Executive Director Kevin O’Connor, the Ida Street Inn, which the shelter wants to turn into permanent housing for homeless alcoholics, or a wet house, has been updated to put the loca?tion of the building in a more remote section of the parcel.

Joseph’s House wants to build the facility on the property that is now home to the former Bizzarro Funeral Home. O’Connor said the organ?ization has an option to purchase the building and the land, but many residents were concerned with its proximity to res?idential homes.

The latest plan calls for the new building to be closer to the Poestenkill Creek and will be at the end of where Seventh Street empties into Ida Street. The parking lot for the facility, which O’Connor said will be available for public use, will be at the corner of Seventh and Hill streets. He added it will help enhance the neighborhood with bet?ter lighting as well as a renovated building.

The project was met with heavy criticism at the June meeting, an issue O’Connor said the organization has had with any project they have proposed, including the Hill Street Inn facili?ty.

Much of the concern was centered on the fact residents would be allowed to consume alco?hol in their rooms, although the organiza?tion has made it clear they will not be provid?ing the alcohol for them.

O’Connor said by pro?viding residents with housing first allows them to remove a source of chaos from their lives and provide them a bet?ter chance at becoming sober and/or turning their lives around. He added other programs across the country with a similar model that Joseph’s House wants to follow have seen a 40 percent improvement in the behavior of alco?holics.

The meeting will be held at Sage College’s Neff Athletic Center at 1 Canal Ave.The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures.Rectangular shaped Led Flood Light designed to replace 150W Metal Halide. on Aug. 13 at 6 p.m. The proposed project will be before the city’s Planning Commission on Aug. 15 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

It is a year or change and adjustment at the Indiana State Fair. It is change driven by the much needed and long overdue renovation of the centerpiece of the fairgrounds: the Coliseum.A solar lantern uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime. The temporary closure of the historic facility has forced the many livestock shows traditionally held in the cavernous arena to be moved elsewhere. To the credit of the State Fair Board, what could have been a chaotic mess has actually gone relatively smoothly.We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light. This is not to say everyone is happy and some toes have been stepped on. But recently the rural rumor mill has gone into action with stories about what will happen in 2014.

Shortly after the 2013 fair began, rumors began to circulate among the Hoosier Livestock community that many, if not all, of the livestock shows would not be returning to the refurbished Coliseum in 2014. An editorial on the Indiana Prairie Farmer website poured gasoline on the smoldering fire.They are called "solar" panels or solar module because most of the time, the most powerful source of light available is the Sun. “What’s really at stake is which direction is the Indiana State Fair going to go, and who is going to control it?” wrote Tom Beckman. “Is it going to abandon its agricultural roots, even if paid officials say otherwise, and opt for more concerts that appeal to an urban audience? Or is it going to remain one of the strongest agricultural state fairs left in America, and do all it can to encourage livestock shows?” Shortly after its publication, phones began to ring at County Extension offices with irate callers. This forced Purdue Extension to issue an advisory to all of its offices stating Purdue had no involvement in the scheduling of events at the State Fair.

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