It's a wrap. 2018 that is. I hope you have enjoyed reading my column.

Here are some highlights of 2018.

My favorite Indy Star columnist, Matt Tully, died in October after a 2-year battle with cancer. He shared the battle with his readers. I understand he lived in Broad Ripple for a while. In any event, we miss his insightful views on city life.

I broke the story in February that the Glendale Library was looking for a new location with lots of parking and uncongested roads so everyone could drive there. Chief Librarian Jackie Nytes panned the Village-the roads were already too congested to handle a branch library.

Take over the old BR High School? Too much of a hassle since it was so big it would have to be leased to others.

Why not a walkable Village location? Do you really have to have everyone driving in their car to go to the local library. The entire vision needs a reboot. When I moved here the library was in Broad Ripple Park where the Community Center now stands. I rode my bike there. The Glendale Mall branch should be moved back to the Village.

After months of community input meetings, I happened to ask IndyParks landscape consultants what happened to the outdoor pool. It was in none of their final three scenarios for the Park. Really? So we started Friends of the Broad Ripple Pool, alerted the local media, and circulated a petition at the pool to keep the outdoor pool open. Yes, an indoor pool would be nice, but let's have both. Further, using park land for a Community Health clinic is a bad idea, even if they would build a gym or a pool. The whole process was frustrating to say the least.

We gathered 526 signatures and presented them to the Mayor and the Department of Metropolitan Development. While they approved the IndyParks plan, they told IndyParks to come back before closing the pool.

I also stumbled onto another story. DPW was letting Fishers tell Federal officials to allow abandonment of the Nickel Plate / State Fair train regional corridor without any public input. We believe joint trail / transit use would be better. The tracks run from 10th Street downtown all the way to Noblesville. Let's not let Fishers dictate regional transit policy. The Surface Transportation Board has yet to approve the flawed and selfish Fishers request.

Join Save the Nickel Plate on Facebook.

And thank you Mr. Vonnegut for suing DPW for not holding hearings on the issue.

2018 saw lots of changes including the opening of many new apartments, road improvements, new sidewalks, and other improvements in the Village to make our community more than just a bar crowd hangout. Broad Ripple Avenue now has a co-working space run by the Episcopal church, a fitness business, and an arcade bar. Now if the old steak house could only find a tenant.

We are still waiting to hear what will happen to the Broad Ripple High School site and where the Farmers Market will end up. I personally think the property should be used for something other than a charter school (or maybe a charter school and Library). How about moving the Farmers Market to the Broad Ripple Park parking lot?

Sadly Weaver's Nursery closed. They apparently leased most of the area to the east used for parking. I miss Grandma Weaver who sometimes acted as cashier. We will miss them.

That's it for 2018. Happy Holidays and now for some fun...

I recently spent a long weekend in Phoenix. The new Valley Metro Light rail took me to my downtown hotel, the Residence Inn. I also used it with a connecting bus to get to the fabulous Denver Botanical Garden where you can learn about the plants of the desert. They also have a holiday night light show. Close by is the Zoo. The downtown core is very walkable with lots of shops and restaurants-and even an ice skating rink. I paid $400 on Southwest which never charges a bag or seat fee (and you can change your ticket for free). You can't beat a long weekend there. I only used Lyft once taking the light rail and bus to all the attractions including the airport. (Did you know Amtrak runs right by the tracks at our airport?)

Happy New Year to all!