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2007 06 15

Column

Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v04n12)

Tammy's Take - By Tammy Leiber

posted: Jun. 15, 2007

In his decade on the City-County Council, Jim Bradford probably rankled most people in his north-side district at one time or another.

When he stepped down from the council in December, a few people no doubt breathed a sigh of relief. Some probably cheered.

Not me, though. Speaking as a journalist, I always considered Jim a great politician-and by great I mean outspoken, always quoteworthy, and sometimes a little out in left field. Those kinds of sources make for news articles that practically write themselves.

As a citizen, I had to give Jim credit for sticking to his guns, even though I didn't always personally agree with him. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you're on, you have to admit he had a knack for getting people to pay attention to issues, which I think is a wonderful thing.

Seriously, who could forget him posing with a Grinch during a protest outside the Broad Ripple fire station in opposition to the department consolidation that took the fire truck out of Broad Ripple?

I found myself thinking about Jim recently, so I looked him up to see what he's doing these days.

I caught up with him just as he was on his way to buy a slew of pork loins. Walking through the aisles of Meijer, Jim told me about his new job as kitchen manager for the café at Traders Point Creamery on the northwest side. The café opened recently for lunch and dinner four days a week, and Jim said he'd taken the interim position until a permanent manager starts in the fall.

He also told me about his new company, DaDa Media, which sounds as eclectic as the early-20th century art movement for which it's named. The name suits him, Jim explained, because he's as irreverent and anti-Establishment as the Dadaists were.

Jim plans to keep a broad focus with his company. So far, he's helped Turkish immigrants secure an alcohol permit for their new ethnic restaurant, and he's helping the Shepherd Community Center on the near-east side develop new programs.

The latter also happens to be where Jim spends a lot of his time when he's not at Traders Point. Each Wednesday, he cooks dinner at the center, which recently renovated and moved into the old Sahara Grotto on East Washington Street. He talked about his wish to find some land where Shepherd and organizations like it could have gardens, so inner-city kids could gain skills they otherwise wouldn't.

To summarize: Jim Bradford, an often-caustic Republican councilman, now spends his days volunteering in the inner city and working at an organic farm dedicated to earthy-crunchy things like sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation.

Sitting with Jim in the café's bucolic setting in a barn surrounded by rolling, verdant fields, somehow it didn't seem all that incongruous. Jim admitted he's happy, definitely more so than he was in his final years on the council.

"I feel very comfortable in my own skin now," he said.

He lamented the status of the Whistle Stop café, closed now for almost a year. Jim is still embroiled in a lawsuit over the building with the city, which owns the land on the Monon Trail on which the Whistle Stop sits. He hopes to resolve the lawsuit so that he can sell the building or perhaps reopen the Whistle Stop in some incarnation or another.

Talking about the Whistle Stop building caused Jim to slip back into councilman mode-critical of the city's current administration and how taxpayer dollars are being spent. It's still not difficult to set him off on a rant, whether the topic is the Broad Ripple levee or the city's perceived lack of attention to the Village.

I finished my scrumptious blackberry ice cream at Traders Point, picked up some yogurt on the way out, and thought about how glad I was to have the chance to catch up with Jim. As much as I miss having Jim in local politics, I'm even happier for him and for the communities he's helping, now that he's out.

Tammy Lieber is a freelance writer who lives in Meridian Kessler, otherwise known as SoBro. A former reporter at the Indianapolis Business Journal, she now writes journalism and marketing pieces when she's not fixing up her house or enjoying the company of friends over a pint of Guinness. Her favorite spectator sport is politics, except on Sundays during football season. Email her at tammy@broadripplegazette.com

tammy@broadripplegazette.com

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