A Broad Ripple Visioning Session was held on May 29, 2008, at the College Avenue branch of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library at 42nd and College Avenue. Close to 100 people packed the meeting room. This session's goal was to find out from Village residents what they like and don't like about the neighborhood. By understanding what is desired, the Village can work together to promote projects that would move the area toward that vision.

The session was sponsored by HARMONI (Historic Midtown Neighborhoods Initiative), Green Broad Ripple, BRVA, and Broad Ripple Alliance for Progress.

Tom Healy opened the session. Tom is on the board of directors for the BRVA and the Broad Ripple Alliance for Progress. He explained that this is the second session. The first was organized by Conrad Cortellini on Earth Day to talk about a quality of life plan for the Broad Ripple area. The idea for this initiative came after the Town Hall meeting held at Broad Ripple High School in April where residents asked Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD) head Maury Plamback what can be done to preserve the Village feel of Broad Ripple without discouraging all development. A number of movers and shakers decided to attempt to determine what the qualities and elements of the Village are that its residents deem important.

Tom introduced the first speaker of the session, Kathy Shorter. Kathy instructed attendees to each fill out an index card listing something you love about Broad Ripple and something that you do not love about Broad Ripple. The cards were collected and some of the information on the cards was used to divide the attendees into smaller groups for discussions.

Kathy introduced DMD planner Kathleen Blackham. DMD provided many publications for the meeting on the subject of city planning and development. "You're going to ask what can the city do? I'm going to sum it up in one sentence. We are going to partner with you in your efforts," explained Kathleen. There was a roaring ovation from the audience. "Now," said Kathleen, "we are short on funds, but long on talent and planners. We can help you put together this plan."

Next, the audience broke into a number of smaller groups to discuss in detail four main regions of Broad Ripple - riverfront, canal, parks, and transit. All of the results of the individual discussions will be compiled by the session leaders. The next session will be June 26th, 2008, at 5:30 at Legion Post #34.