Jim Bradford has one goal at the top of his list right now-to save the Whistle Stop, one of Broad Ripple's oldest landmarks, before it erodes to shambles on the edge of the Monon Trail.

"I have lived in this area my entire life," Bradford said. "This building means so much to me and has so much history that I cannot stand to watch it fall apart anymore."

At the present time, Bradford is "partial" owner of the Whistle Stop, located at 901 E. 64th Street. When riding, walking or running by the building on the Monon, there is absolutely no way that you can miss his half of the building-it's painted bright pink and green. The addition of a sad face and the words "Save Me!" were recently added this past weekend to the tropical colored façade.

"This is the best way that I feel I can draw attention to this building, and remind people that it is here and it needs help," Bradford said.

Painted on Bradford's side of the building is also a web address to a site that should be up and running within the next week: www.savethewhistlestop.net.

The other half of the Whistle Stop is currently owned by the city of Indianapolis, through a lease agreement that had its confusing beginnings in the 1960s.

Although it has not yet been registered as a historic landmark (which Bradford said he is working on), the Whistle Stop was built in 1885 as the original Broad Ripple train station along the CSX (Monon) train tracks.

Trains would run from Broad Ripple to Chicago, Cincinnati and numerous other Midwestern cities. The Whistle Stop (then known as Broad Ripple Station) was part of the humble beginning of what would become a thriving cultural district years later.

When trains stopped running through the area towards the late 50s, Judy Grady approached CSX and developed an ongoing lease with the company. She then opened the Whistle Stop Deli, which eventually grew to become an area destination.

Bradford said in the mid-80s, the city of Indianapolis bought the tracks and all the surrounding properties, including any improvements that would hence forth be made on the properties.

"The problem that the city ran into was that Judy had built an addition to the original building in the late 60s that CSX didn't own, so therefore, they didn't own it either," Bradford said.

Bradford continued by discussing how in the late 1990s the station was becoming run down, so he and his partner at the time put together a proposal for Grady. The problem ended up being that the business (after he purchased it) never had an ongoing lease with the city.

"I purchased stock in the Whistle Stop in August of 2000," Bradford said. "However, when I sold my interest in the station in 2006, the city and Metropolitan Development refused to recognize my purchase and sued me in December of 2006."

"I countersued in January of 2007, and the court date is set up for March of 2008."

Beyond the legal matters that are currently preventing the property from being bought or renovated for re-opening, Bradford claims that the city is not entirely following through with their end of the bargain in the upkeep of the building.

"They put a new roof on, but chopped down two trees right afterwards. The exterior of the building has needed a new paint job for ages, and they have not even addressed the graffiti," he said.

Bradford said the last straw for him was a busted out window on their half of the building. After he boarded it up, he decided that it was time to get outsiders involved in saving the historic building.

"All I want to do is save the station," he said. "I have great plans and possible opportunities."