The quarterly public meeting of the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) was held on January 19, 2010, at the Indianapolis Art Center. There were about 50 residents in the audience. BRVA president Elizabeth Marshall opened the meeting at 7:10pm. She announced that the minutes of previous meetings are available on the website www.discoverbroadripplevillage.com. She also mentioned that the BRVA board meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month at the Indianapolis Art Center and are open to the public for observation. If someone has a topic to present to the board it can probably be added to the agenda if requested beforehand.

BRVA board member Tom Healy presented the 2009 association accomplishments, which can be found in this issue on the BRVA News and Views pages. Elizabeth Marshall asked the audience to look at the back of the agenda to recognize the members who have joined at higher than basic membership levels, giving extra support to the association. The BRVA is supported entirely from memberships. She then outlined the 2010 goals, which include working closely with the Mayor's office, increasing public safety with a push for bike patrols and lighting, working to improve trash pickups in the Village, helping to develop the canal redevelopment and repair, working on a long-term parking solution, developing zoning guidelines specific to the Village, supporting green space initiatives, and working closely with the new City of Indianapolis division of code enforcement.

In addition to continuing the past events in 2010, a new weekend fest is being planned for June.

Next on the agenda was a public safety forum. The panel was made up of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) North District Commander Robert Holt, Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD) Assistant Chief Dudley Taylor, District 3 Councillor and City-County Council President Ryan Vaughn, and City of Indianapolis Public Safety Director Frank Straub. Each spoke for about ten minutes before taking questions from the audience.

Robert Holt explained that North District contains 221,000 residents. If it were a city, it would be the second largest city in the state. While crime numbers are down, he stated that he is not satisfied. This year IMPD will work harder on burglaries, while continuing their strong focus on violent crimes. Holt said that IMPD has had success posting warrants on You Tube and MySpace, with 60% of them yielding new leads.

Holt offered a service to residents to have an officer come to your home to inspect for break-in vulnerability. He also asked for residents to let the BRVA know about any street lights that are not working. The power company has agreed to quickly fix all that are reported.

Dudley Taylor explained that IFD has a commitment to Broad Ripple. He has heard rumors of stations closing or changing, but stated that none of these rumors are true. "Personally, I'd like to see the engine back in station 32," said Taylor. "There is talk about doing that at some time - a possibility." Taylor said that the size of the station door restricts which equipment can be housed in Broad Ripple. Taylor also asked residents to look at hydrants as they walk though the Village, and to report any that look as though they may need repair.

Ryan Vaughn was recently elected as the president of the City-County Council and is also the chair of the public safety committee that is responsible for about 640 million dollars, well over half of the City of Indianapolis budget.

Frank Straub is the new public safety director for the City of Indianapolis, replacing Scott Newman. Straub comes from 26 years in law enforcement in New York. In his seven years as public safety director of White Plains he built a national model for mid-sized cities that resulted in a 40% crime reduction. Mayor Ballard brought him to Indianapolis to make a new model for major cities.

There was then a hour long question and answer period. Topics included crime in the Village and what residents can do to help. It was reiterated how important it is to call IMPD whenever anyone sees something that "doesn't feel right". Follow your intuition and call it in. The topic of graffiti was raised. Holt said that all graffiti should be reported quickly so it can be dealt with. The last topic was parking. Vaughn stated that the city is looking at parking county-wide. It is recognized that Broad Ripple is a destination. A request for proposal will soon be released allowing companies to bid on parking solutions and alternatives for Broad Ripple. This could include a resident permit system that has been successful in Chicago.

The final agenda item was community sharing. M&I Bank announced a January 28 first-time home buyer seminar that includes dinner. The next Envision Broad Ripple will be on February 10 at 5:30 pm at the Art Center. The Art Center has a midwest artist exhibit opening January 29th. St. Luke's United Methodist Church is hosting the Barnes Youth Center Musical on February 28.

The next quarterly public BRVA meeting will be April 20th, 2010, at 7 pm at the Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th Street.