The Friends of Broad Ripple Village (FOBRV) held a meeting on October 7 at the Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th Street [A4 on map], to announce the new Future-of-the-Village study and to ask for public input. The theater at the Art Center was full. I estimate there were around 125 in attendance.

The meeting was run by a director of the Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA), Bo Boroski, who is also the head of the BRVA Land Use and Development Committee.

The FOBRV is working with Indy Economic Development (IEDI), the official economic development organization for the City of Indianapolis, CSO Architects, and former Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard.

This meeting is the first of four planned. The remaining meetings are scheduled for November 19, January 21, and March 4.

The November meeting is to present the evaluation of the input from the October meeting. The January meeting is to present the recommendation for the future of the Village. That seems like an aggressive schedule to formulate a plan, but there is a lot of experience in the groups working on it.

I counted fifteen people from the audience that took the microphone to voice their opinions on the Village. Comments ranged from making Broad Ripple more upscale to keeping it small and local. Many want to get the message out that Broad Ripple is as safe as the rest of Indianapolis, and the violence that occurred a few years ago is in the past. Some want the water features - Central Canal and White River - to be more prominently featured.

Jim Brainard suggested making more of the Village's natural resources. He said that all projects require money and the only way he knows of doing that is through Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

Tom Healy finished the public input section, saying that Broad Ripple needs more data from the City, including the current TIF for Midtown and revenue from the Broad Ripple parking meters.

It isn't clear how the voices of 15 people will be used to shape a Village of thousands. We will find out in November!