A Community Activist, Public Citizen, Jim Shilling

Sometimes our little city seems to me to be on the edge of a razor. Knox seems destined to become another ugly and mean place like so many other ugly and mean places across America. Could perhaps Knox become something better? Our public institutions mostly haven’t kept pace with recent rapid changes. As it now stands, laissez-faire is our unofficial policy of governance. There are codes and ordinances that do a little bit towards shaping our future. But these are weak and often not appropriate to the challenges facing our city.

Jim Shilling is and has been and active shaper of Knox. My recent post, Wythogan Park, a modest proposal and the follow-up post, Well, just damn it, Anonymous resulted in strongly worded objections to my recognition of Jim Shilling for his contribution to the park’s walking path.

I want to talk a little about Mr. Shilling as a community activist. (My disclaimer: I am not an expert on the subject of Jim Shilling, so I very well may make some errors and omissions, for these I beg your forgiveness in advance and invite corrections.)

It is often very difficult to accomplish anything in the public sphere. Even well placed politicians and political appointees find it difficult to get things done. I would like to discuss two of Mr. Shilling’s remarkable accomplishments in the public realm: The Gateway Project and The City of Knox Master Plan. (The Master Plan will be published here at a future date.)

One of Mr. Shilling’s strong interests is historic preservation. The Gateway Project is an expression of that interest. The Gateway Project involved using public land (Wythogan Park) and acquiring adjoining private land East of US 35 on the Yellow River. Mr. Shilling was very interested in saving the old Nickel Plate RR depot that was then located downtown alongside the present train tracks. This would involve moving the depot to a new location. Shilling came up with a plan to get Transportation Department money to pay for the Depot renovation. The details of obtaining the funding involved some debatable ethical and financial maneuverings. But he got it done.

The depot restoration required a huge amount of work done to exacting the standards of historic preservation that were demanded by the oversight authority of the State of Indiana. Shilling had to get commitments and coordination from various branches of local government and quasi-governmental agencies. This was a Herculean feat by any standard. The restored depot is generally considered a success and a plus for the City of Knox. I concur.

The stone “gates” to the city were the 2nd element in the Gateway Project. I happen to think that these “gates” are silly. To me they are inappropriately pretentious and grandiose. The problem is scale and intent. The scale is way too grand. The intent is way too grandiose. As a matter of taste, they are a failure. In the photo observe the lettering. The font is obviously a hasty job on a word processor and not appropriate for stone carving. The spacing and layout is ill conceived. Mr. Shilling is responsible for this aspect of the project and was adamant and inflexible about changes to the “gates”. These were a very big deal to Mr. Shilling. Insofar as they do not relate to historic preservation, I consider the gates to be mostly a self-memorial to Mr. Shilling. I consider the “gates” to be a failure.

The walking path was a “key” to the funding. The path was the only “transportation element” in the project. Without the path there would be no funding. The walking path was hastily conceived and terribly flawed. Thankfully, the overall “Gateway” plan had to be approved by the Knox Park Board because all the Gateway Project elements were to be deeded to the Knox Park System. The Park Board made extensive changes to the path design. Because this element was “vetted” by a caring board, the path was a success. The Board hoped to someday make the path a 1-mile loop and it was laid out with that in mind. Mr. Shilling seemed to care less about these changes. He quickly agreed to the changes when it turned out that the changes would result in a cost savings that could be applied to the depot restoration.

In conclusion, overall the “Gateway Project” is a welcome addition to our city. Mr. Shilling’s contributions to the realization of this project are enormous. It simply would not have happened without him. But it is important to realize that without the changes demanded by the Knox Park Board we would not have a net gain to our city. The danger is that a very capable and energetic individual can play with public funds and public lands for a mostly personal interest. Historic preservation may or may not be what our city needs. However, do not demonize Mr. Shilling. It was not in a position of public trust or in any official capacity that Mr. Shilling did what he did. There were many public officials that signed off on all of his activities. He is an extraordinary community activist and public citizen. Although I am wary, he has earned my respect.

Watch for 2 future blog posts:
"Jim Shilling’s Knox Master Plan” and
“Jim Shilling's Historical Bric-a-brac Collection in the Park”