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Broad Ripple Random Ripplings
The news from Broad Ripple
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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v04n09)
City Officials meet with Broad Ripple residents in Town Hall Meeting - By Ashley Plummer
posted: May 04, 2007
Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell, along with other guest panelists, spoke to a near-full auditorium at Broad Ripple High School on Tuesday, April 17,2007, about safety concerns in the Broad Ripple Village area.
In lieu of the monthly Broad Ripple Village Association Meeting, the association held a public safety question-and-answer forum in the old town hall meeting fashion. The panelists, who included District 3 City-Councilman Ryan Vaughn, Indianapolis Greenways Manager Karina Straub, Indianapolis-Marion County Police Department North District Major John Conley, and Campbell, had been chosen and invited by the BRVA to answer questions posed by area residents.
Broad Ripple residents listen to Deputy Mayor Steve Cambell at the Town Hall Meeting.
BRVA president Ellen Morley Matthews opened the meeting by thanking BRHS principal Greg Allen for letting the BRVA and residents use the school auditorium, and asked all attending persons to take a moment of silence for those who were affected by the tragic events at Virginia Tech.
She then turned over the microphone to Jack Rinehart, news anchor for RTV6, the forum's moderator.
"Broad Ripple is an eclectic mix of personalities that seems to work," Rinehart said. "Tonight all the personalities are all open for discussion. . . because it [Broad Ripple] holds a very unique place in the city of Indianapolis."
"However," he continued, "Broad Ripple has other instances and problems as well-parking, theft and high numbers of alcohol related problems. This is what we are here to discuss."
Rinehart then gave the floor to Campbell, who began a slide show presentation he had put together for this meeting specifically.
"These northside neighborhoods like Broad Ripple, Butler Tarkington, Meridian Kessler, are extremely important to me," he began. "These neighborhoods are important to me personally, and they are important to the city. They are historic and full of involved residents and businesses like you.
"These are our show neighborhoods that we show to people when we try to bring them to the city," he continued. "I know there is tons of temptation to move out to the suburbs, but I always start off by saying thank you for living here."
Campbell went on to explain to the audience that as many people already know, Broad Ripple is a very unique area. He highlighted that it has numerous things that other parts of the city do not have-and entertainment zone, the canals, the food-which makes it a destination zone for numerous citizens and visitors. It also, he continued, makes it a unique challenge to protect the overall safety of the citizens.
"There is a lot more people, a lot more traffic," Campbell said. "And if there is one thing that my mother always told me that still rings true, and something the mayor has said recently as well-there is nothing good that happens when you mix midnight with alcohol. There are always going to be 22-year-olds who come and get drunk.
"My philosophy is about getting stuff done. Let's put this stuff down on paper, and start getting stuff done."
Campbell continued with his slide show by listing what he knew were some of the main issues concerning Broad Ripple residents: cleanliness, parking, lighting and most importantly, the safety of the entertainment zone and the surrounding residents' properties.
He stated that he knew for a fact that the cleanliness of the area had been a definite issue for years. Currently, he said, the Department of Public Works (DPW) cleans Broad Ripple every week, which is more time than any other area of the city receives. However, the current cleaning day is Tuesday.
"I realize Tuesday does not do the Village much good," he said. "So we are going to start cleaning on Saturday mornings instead."
"We would love to clean the entire neighborhood," he continued, "but I feel it is better if for the time being, we just focus on the heavy traffic areas."
He continued by saying that the city was also going to pilot "Big Bellies," new trash cans run by solar power that act like little trash compactors. He mentioned that he hopes these will take care of some of the overflowing trash issues on the main drag.
Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell discusses north side issues at the BRVA meeting.
Campbell also mentioned lighting issues, and the fact that the city was doing numerous road resurfacing projects in the area-including College Ave. from 62nd to 71st streets, and Broad Ripple Avenue from College to Keystone Avenues.
One of the biggest issues, parking, was something that he admitted the city has yet to figure out.
"What we want to do is see if we can try to finally find a solution to the parking issues here," he said. "We are going to pay for a feasibility study for parking in the village area. I read some great ideas in emails from residents, for a shuttle, for a parking garage. This is a neighborhood unlike any other, and we want it to keep growing. We are going to begin doing everything we can to solve its parking issues."
He then addressed the bar zone, and introduced Major Conley, who had scheduled a meeting with bar owners, to address certain safety issues in the village.
"I am kind of tired of the excuse 'oh, it happened outside my bar, it doesn't really apply to me,' from bar owners," Campbell said. "If something starts in your bar, you do have a responsibility. That excuse doesn't fly with me."
Conley agreed.
"Clearly the number one responsibility that we have is to keep people safe," he said. "In a nutshell, when the average person says we don't care about public safety, that's not true. If you look at the County budget, 60 percent, or even a larger majority of that is dedicated to public safety, the courts and justice system."
Conley continued by discussing the bar owner meeting.
"We have a meeting arranged with the bar owners to talk about what we can do to try to increase the visibility, and take care of some of the vandalism and drunkenness that carries over into the neighborhood areas of Broad Ripple," he said. "I'm going to work with bar owners to try to help get an understanding to what those problems are and try to cut down on the vandalism and rowdiness that takes place at night."
Soon after Conley spoke, Rinehart started the question and answer part of the evening, beginning with a question from Warfleigh resident Chris Carlson, who was concerned about lighting in areas outside the main strip.
Campbell explained that even though it may not seem so, the Broad Ripple neighborhoods are actually better lit than most other parts of the city.
"There are areas we are looking at, specifically those streets outside the strip," he said. "We have addressed these areas and will work on them."
Many more residents asked questions surrounding the overall safety of the neighborhoods outside the strip.
Councilman Vaughn and Police Major Conley met with attendees one-on-one.
A forty-year area resident (who remained nameless) told Campbell that she thought he was doing a great job identifying the problems in the area, but disagreed with the need for bars.
"The safety things that have directly involved me ties into the drunks," she said.
"It seems to me that someone in those bars must know they are serving alcohol to people who cannot handle it."
"How come we have not closed any of these bars? When was the last time that a bar's license was taken away?" she said.
She concluded by stating that the city should not put up new parking meters, but they should put breathalyzers up instead.
Mass transit issues were also brought up by numerous residents. Ideas for a form of public transportation were thrown across the panel; with everyone agree that at some point in the future, Broad Ripple was going to need its own method.
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