There's a lot of news in the Ripple:

The Naptown Chickens are at it again. See www.naptownchickens.org for more information on the trend and take a self-guided tour of local, urban chicken coops and meet the owners that love them at the Third annual "Tour de Coops", presented by Nap Town Chickens. The "Tour de Coops" will be held Sunday, September 22nd, 2013, between 1pm and 5pm throughout Broad Ripple, Meridian-Kessler, Butler-Tarkington and Rocky Ripple neighborhoods. There will be 12 "show coops" on display and a couple of Project Poultry schools with coops. This is an "open-house" style event and can be explored at your leisure. Tour de Coops is bicycle-friendly and encouraged! Pedal & Park will be providing bicycle racks for your safety. Of course, cars are also welcome on the tour. The Tour de Coops begins at Agrarian, located at 661 E. 49th Street. Photo courtesy Andrew Brake of Naptown Chickens

If you haven't ridden north to the end of the Monon Trail, plan on a trip. The trail has been extended north into Westfield by 3-4 miles and makes a nice (albeit long) ride from the Ripple. You can stop at the new coffee place and microbrewery bar just south of Main Street in Carmel for a break as well.

Did you know? The upcoming WARMFest benefits the Carl G. Fisher Society. The benefits will be for Broad Ripple and White River. Carl Fisher was a very interesting man. Not only did he plan and design the Speedway but he also planned and built Miami Beach.

We have a lot of fun events in September at Holliday Park including:

The Indiana Native Plant Society will have a garden tour on September 22, 2013. This will be a home tour on how local gardeners use native plants in their garden. Details at www.inpaws.org.

I couldn't figure out why our city pools close August 4, 2013. Indy Parks claimed the life guards were high school students. As pointed out by Amos Brown in The Recorder, the life guards were not high school students and they did not go back to school August 6. (They are mostly college students.) In any event, students don't work weekends, so could the pools stay open on weekends in August? Long story short: the real reason they close the pools early is to save money (this is what an Indy Parks insider admitted to me). As I have asked before, why can't the pools stay open until Labor Day like Jordan Y and the Monon Center outdoor pools do?

Sometimes Indy can be frustrating. We skimp on basic services (pools, police, libraries, and transit) but have money to handout to for-profit sports teams and cricket fields. Let's get the basic services right first.

This year there is an event on Friday, September 6, 2013, before the Penrod Art Fair on Saturday, September 7, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The evening will feature food and drinks as well as musician Todd Snider. Also, there will be previews of approximately 150 artists' works in advance of the Saturday fair.

Does the story sound familiar? Whole Foods has announced plans to open a supermarket in a mixed-use retail and residential development. Whole Foods will occupy the ground floor while the five story building will include 200 apartments on the top. Actually, this story is from The St. Paul (MN) Villager about the proposed Whole Foods in St. Paul. The building replaces a bank and several homes.