It is my observation that almost everyone in our community has a vision of what Broad Ripple could be and, as there are about 12,000 residents and many more merchants and visitors, there are probably as many visions for a future Broad Ripple. This is not a situation that is conducive to the creation of an action plan. What Broad Ripple has not yet been able to do is to create a single vision for an obtainable future arrived at through a process of consensus building whereby many visions are forged into a single plan for the future that all can buy into. Not an individual vision of community but a community vision of itself. This is the vision that is missing in Broad Ripple. The first step toward creating this vision is to design the consensus process. This is the first work we face - designing a plan for the development of the plan.

In order to make headway in this endeavor, we first must cure ourselves of the NIMBY disease. The notion of a NIMBY epidemic was only one of a number of valuable ideas Dom Nozzi provided to us during his presentation on Smart Growth that he brought to our city and our community last month. The symptoms of NIMBY and related maladies seem to be: partial loss of vision making the sufferer oblivious to elements of his/her environment, partial paralyses whereby the afflicted, although he/she may realize increased urges toward reactionary behavior, loses all capability for proactive endeavor, a reduction of brain capability especially in rational functionality and a development of a curious behavior reminiscent of the ostrich's strategy for avoiding danger. NIMBY is an acronym for "Not In My Back Yard." Other related afflictions are: NIMTOO = Not In My Term Of Office, CAVE = Coalition Against Virtually Everything, BANANA = Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything, NOTE = Not Over There Either and NOPE = Not On Planet Earth.

Some who are afflicted with NIMBY (and there seems to be a considerable number in Broad Ripple) would say that my characterization is unfair - that NIMBY is not an affliction but represents a legitimate vision of the most desirable future for Broad Ripple. Yet I propose that this view has done little to stop change from happening. What it has done is to effectively prevent our community from being able to manage or even influence the change. Instead of development occurring as a result of public discourse, the process has gone underground. Important and far reaching decisions are made in closed secret meetings well outside the realm of public scrutiny. The worst strategy for a developer is to openly announce his intensions and invite the community to participate. It is obvious that this policy based on preventing change is ineffective and, most importantly, will never be capable of producing a plan to manage the inevitable change that is certain in our future.

Parking is a hot button for every merchant in Broad Ripple. Much of downtown Broad Ripple is Zoned C4 (Community-Regional Commercial District). For the purpose of our discussion, let us say that a new tavern would like to open its doors on Broad Ripple Avenue. The Commercial District Regulations would require this new business to provide one off street parking place for every employee and one for every 75 SF of bar floor space. A 5,000 square foot drinking establishment employing 20 people would need to provide 87 parking places in order to satisfy zoning requirements as set forth by the Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC). Now, the fact that providing 87 new off street parking spaces in downtown Broad Ripple is probably an impossibility coupled with the fact that a bar has a huge profit potential provides incentives for clever people to find ways around this regulation. For a number of years, a parking shell game has been perpetuated right under the nose of MDC. The prospective owner meets the parking requirements by renting any excess parking other adjoining businesses might have to amass the total number required - a practice commonly accepted by MDC. However, after a year of operation, the establishment simply stops paying for the rented spaces. As MDC has no means in place to track which space belongs to which business, excess parking is used over and over again in this way for various businesses to technically meet the letter of the zoning requirements while avoiding of the regulation's intended effect at the expense of the community.

You may say that this is a highly unlikely hypothetical scenario, however, information has come my way, that a large chain by the name of Brothers Bar & Grill is currently negotiating to purchase the Broad Ripple Trophy Center building for their operation and it seems to me that playing the shell game will be an irresistible way for them to meet the zoning requirements. As a community, we have the right to question whether a new additional 5,000 SF bar is likely to benefit the community. We have the right to have a say in how we want the future to be in Broad Ripple. Since no community vision for a future exists and Broad Ripple has consistently failed to muster sufficient civic energy to counter the power of big money outside interests, it is likely that Big Brothers will open before most Broad Ripple citizens have an opportunity to ask what's up.