Letter From Sharon Butsch Freeland

I am pleased to report to the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) membership that your neighborhood association now has a new home. Many of you who attend the BRVA monthly public meetings or who work on BRVA committees are already aware that a move was in the works. It has now been accomplished.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend (2006), BRVA Board members, spouses, and friends moved the association's possessions from the converted former garage at the rear of 6417 Carrollton Avenue to a main-level office suite in the Riviera Building at 6311 Westfield Boulevard. Even though the new office has more square footage than the old one, the overall cost to the organization will actually be less than it was in our previous location. The rent in the new space will be the same as the rent in the old space, but utilities that were paid separately before are now included in the rent. Our new office has five large windows that look out toward the Village.

We are grateful to our new landlord, J. Todd Morris, a Vice-President of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, who went to bat for us with his business partners to arrange a generous lease agreement for the BRVA. Todd and his investment group recently purchased the Riviera Building, and they are committed to becoming good neighbors in the Broad Ripple Village community.

Thanks are in order to BRVA members Peter Dean and David Matthews for the use of their pickup trucks, as well as their brawn. Thanks also to Ellen Morley Matthews, Sandy Arnold, Rich Bees, Julia Merkt, Diane Seybert, Kathy Kist, and Michael Freeland, who spent hours hauling boxes, furniture, and office equipment. Fortunately, the distance between the former BRVA office and the new one is only about three city blocks. In addition to the workers doing duty who are named above, Alan Hague came by to take photos of the moving crew, and Conrad Cortellini, Patty Scott, Sue Zilisch, and Carolyn Savill stopped by to give moral support.

I will be spending the coming days unpacking boxes and reorganizing all the association's belongings. Once that task is accomplished, I'll begin making plans for the new year ahead. It is my hope that in our new location, the BRVA will become more visible in the community and more accessible to the membership. With the ongoing participation of members like you, who already belong to the association, as well as a continuing infusion of new members, I am confident that the Broad Ripple Village Association can accomplish great things in 2007.

Sharon Butsch Freeland

Executive Director, Broad Ripple Village Association