The boxcar restroom
at Thomas Centennial Park is now open for the season--from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
every day--but work on the facility’s landscaping continues.
As Chesterton MS4
Operator Jennifer Gadzala reported at the Park Board’s meeting Tuesday
night, the pathways immediately in front of the restroom and caboose comfort
station have been graveled and three decorative boulders placed at the
boxcar’s east end, but a garden has yet to be designed and planted.
Gadzala said that
she’s got her eyes on a “more cultivated look, a consistency of flowers and
color, rather than wildflower-looking.”
A video
surveillance camera has also been purchased, and now Gadzala plans to
investigate lighting for the site. Member Paul Shinn volunteered to assist
her.
Meanwhile, the
installation of a fence just north of the facility is underway to prevent
folks from wandering on or near the Norfolk Southern right-of-way just
beyond, Gadzala said.
Finally,
directional signage is being prepared for out-of-towners who may not know
that the boxcar is actually a restroom, a donor plaque will soon be
installed, and the water fountain and decorative fountain are being readied
for installation as well, Gadzala said.
Members did vote
unanimously to release the remaining $29,000 in Patronicity donations
collected last year to pay for the landscaping, the lightning, and the
signage, and for four park benches--at $750 per, “pretty darn cheap,” she
said--identical to the ones already placed in Thomas Park.
Gadzala told the
board that she will soon begin working on her final report to Patronicity,
due on Aug. 2.
Chesterton Art Fair
In other business,
members voted unanimously to waive the shelter fees for the Chesterton Art
Fair, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 3-4, at Dogwood Park West.
Member Wendy
Marciniak, executive director of the Chesterton Art Center--the sponsor of
the fair--recused herself.