Dear family and friends,

We hope this holiday season finds you happy and healthy. The past one has been an eventful year for the Fort Wayne community. Allow us to share some highlights (and low points).

A definite high point came in July, with a trip to Shao- xing, China, for about 80 members of the Voices of Unity Youth Choir and about two dozen musicians and chaperones. They brought back some impressive souvenirs: Two gold medals from the World Choir Games, where they competed against more than 400 choirs from around the globe. They did us proud.

Those of us who stayed behind had our own lesson in cultural awareness when an employee posted a sign at a local laundry barring Burmese residents. It seems the worker was bothered by someone who chewed betel nuts and spit out the juice. In the end, we were reminded that it’s wrong to label entire groups of people for the actions of a few, while a handful of our newest residents learned that some habits allowed in refugee camps are not considered acceptable in the U.S.

We spent a lot of time talking trash this year. The upshot of it all was a new garbage and recycling contract that means we’re all getting covered bins on wheels to make it easier to recycle bottles, cans and newspapers. We’re looking forward to some savings on trash collection and cleaner streets and alleys once the open recycling bins are gone.

Speaking of trash talk, it finally ended between the city of Fort Wayne and Indiana Michigan Power. The lease that allowed I&M to serve utility customers in a power grid controlled by the city expired in February, with no agreement. But months of talks ended in a deal to sell the grid to the utility company for $39.2 million. There already are plenty of helpful ideas for how to spend it.

Lots of comings and goings among our political office-holders this year. State Reps. Matt Bell and Randy Borror traded their Statehouse seats for lobbying jobs, while our congressman, Mark Souder, fell victim to the “poisonous environment” of Washington. That set off an interesting chain of events. You would be surprised at how many people are attracted to open seats in Congress. In the end, GOP caucuses alone bolstered tourism numbers for the year.

It was a great year for get-togethers all the way around. Festivals celebrating Three Rivers and Johnny Appleseed drew the usual hordes, while a new celebration – IPFW’s Riverfest – looks to become a June classic.

All of that squabbling over a downtown baseball stadium fell quiet in 2010, or at least it was drowned out by the sell-out crowds cheering on the TinCaps at Parkview Field. By the way – we’ve still got some nifty real estate at the southeast corner of Jefferson and Webster, if you’re interested.

We were disappointed to learn this year that Navistar is not interested in Fort Wayne. The company, with about 1,400 local employees and contractors, decided that suburban Chicago was more to its liking. We did our very best to convince Navistar officials that staying put made sense, but to no avail. We do know that many of the company’s employees want to stay here, and we think their skills will be pretty attractive to another company that could open here.

Not every company was intent on leaving town. After a 10-week furlough in the summer of 2009, GM’s Fort Wayne Assembly truck plant is running three shifts a day, with about 3,800 employees. We’re hoping the automaker picks our plant to invest an additional $230 million to build the next generation of pickup trucks.

We celebrated the opening of a beautiful downtown hotel in September. Local residents already are enjoying its amenities. School board member Kevin Brown was among the first to visit the sports bar, staying a bit longer than he should have.

We bid a fond farewell to Elmhurst High School this year, although some of us had a harder time letting go than others. It took a St. Joseph County judge to inform some that the school board has the right to close a school.

We also bid a sad adieu to the New York Central freight station at Clinton and Fourth streets. It’s a landmark lost, but a good reminder to preserve the past whenever possible.

We’re gearing up for an exciting year. County Councilwoman Paula Hughes, City Councilwoman Liz Brown and others have ideas to improve on the job Mayor Tom Henry has been doing. We also get to decide how to spend that $39.2 million from I&M and divvy up city and county office space in Renaissance Square. It should make for a fascinating 2011.

Our best to you and yours in this holiday season.