There were about 100 in attendance at the Spring public Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) meeting held April 16th, 2019, at the Indianapolis Art Center. The food and drink was provided by Broad Ripple Brewpub and Average Joe's. Throughout the evening, door prizes were given out courtesy of BurgerFuel, Greek's Pizzeria, Dr. Eve Earley chiropractor, and the BRVA.

BRVA president Josh John opened the meeting and discussed the 50th anniversary of the BRVA, the Bark Park and Family Center redevelopment at BR Park, the status of BRHS, Riverwalk, membership changes, and CreateIndy grants.

On the Riverwalk, the proposed project to connect Broad Ripple Park with the Monon Trail, Josh announced that the BRVA received at $750,000 matching grant from the city. The BRVA will be working to raise the full $750,000 to be able to double it with the grant.

Next Colleen Fanning, BRVA executive director and district 2 City-County councillor, introduced the group from Tomato Fish Marketing to detail the design of the new BRVA Cultural District logos and associated BRVA graphics. Colleen explained that the previous logo became synonymous with the nightlife in Broad Ripple. The BRVA received a $25,000 grant from CreateIndy and, through a selection process, picked Tomato Fish Marketing to rebrand Broad Ripple. The logo, shown here, has several versions, including blue/white and multi-color. There are also seven sub-logos for the seven events the BRVA offers. Those are Farmer's Market, Art Walk, Duck Race, Carnival, Ripple Effect 5K, Home Tour, and Lights Up.

Next on the agenda was Purdue Polytechnic High School (PPHS). Scott Bess, Head of Schools for PPHS, detailed the reasons PPHS exists and the techniques used for student achievement. PPHS will open this fall at 1430 Broad Ripple Avenue [H10 on map], across the street to the east of Flanner Buchanan Mortuary. This was previously CICF. For more information: pphs.purdue.edu

Next was Dan Parker, Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW), to talk about street resurfacing and chuckholes. Dan explained that while Indianapolis has 30% of the roadways in the state, DPW only receives only 10% of the state's road budget. DPW is also responsible for 538 bridges in Marion County.

Dan said that street sweeping has been brought back under city control. DPW will start sweeping Broad Ripple four times a week. Colleen announced that in 2020 the entirety of Keystone Avenue will be resurfaced.

The final portion of the meeting was Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Deputy Chief Chris Bailey talking about the downturn of crime in general in Indianapolis. He also mentioned returning to smaller beats so the IMPD officers can know better (and be known better) in the area. Currently North District, which includes Broad Ripple, is the size of Fort Wayne, but with one half the number of the officers on patrol.

The next public BRVA meeting is scheduled for November 12.