Drury Hotel Proposal

Is an 88' tall 7-story hotel an appropriate development for the northeast corner of West 71st Street and Marsh Road? I can remember the horsefarm that preceded Chestnut Hills. Its beautiful farmhouse nestled in mature trees is now a centerpiece of the custom housing development. The owner of the land to the south, Sourwine Development, was able to convey a considerable amount of land to INDOT for interstate off ramp rights of way after selling a site to Bob Evans. Hotel is probably an appropriate use but rezoning is required. The remaining land is zoned commercial and approved for an extended stay hotel not to exceed a height of 35'. There is some concern about the intensity of a facility over twice the previously approved height being placed there. Neighbors have asked to see a computer graphic rendering depicting the shadows cast by the new structure to the adajcent neighbors to the north. PTRA will hear from the developer, Drury Hotels, at their next regularly scheduled meeting on April 9 at 7:00. PTRA meets at the government center at 56th and Lafayette. Traders Point Association of Neighborhoods (TPAN) has not taken a position.

Blogger Jublilation

This blog began simply because it made more sense to place bits of data I acquired about the area on the web rather than in a shoebox (which is what I had been doing before I discovered blogging). There are days, weeks and months when I have nothing to say and nothing changes. And there are also times when I add three or four disparate ideas pertaining to Traders Point in a week. But rarely does anyone contact me. And that's ok because this is more a safety deposit box than a lemonade stand. But I am beginning to notice there are people out there and I want to share some of the contacts I have made that would not have otherwise occurred.
1. A great, great, great, great granddaughter in Iowa researching her family's genealogy was able to locate the final resting place of an important patriarch who lived here in the 1700s, after reading an article I had written about the Cotton Cemetery (in the West 86th St. development). We plan to meet in the near future.
2. A man from Ohio I know solely by his email address asked me about a former resident of Traders Point who died in the 1920s and initiated my year-long study into the life and death of artist Cassily Adams, who painted Custer's Last Fight.
3. A son seeking information on the Old Pleasant Hill Cemetery for his mother who owned a lot, found me through a google search that linked to a blog article about the cemetery. He was able to confirm a way to make arrangements for his mother's service and to reach the cemetery, which is not in any phone book. I have since established a site for the cemetery http://www.ophc.info/ and have had others reach us there.
4. A writer curious about the area found the blog and wrote a feature article for Nuvo Magazine's Neighborhood Guide 2008, naming Traders Point one of the 13 most distinctive neighborhoods in central Indiana.
It is hard to believe how far we have come since the Smith Corona that got me through college and the IBMselectric that greeted me in my first job. Thanks to the internet, to blogging and to search engines; Traders Point, and the stuff in it and of it, has become known to a few people seeking something with me at the other end.

Krannert/Normandy Farms Barn moved across 38th St.

(note: this barn was originally located near Traders Point in the southwest corner of West 79th Street and Marsh Road on the Normandy Farms Estate developed by Herman Krannert and now owned by the Kleinops family. In 1998 they donated it to Indiana State Fairgrounds. At that time it was meticulously disassembled, bad wood was discarded and replaced with new wood and then the post and beam structure was reassembled on the south side of East 38th. Yesterday it was picked up and moved across the street.)

March 25, 2008
Dairy barn moves to state fairgrounds

By Vic Ryckaertvic.ryckaert@indystar.com

Traffic on 38th Street near the Indiana State Fairgrounds came to a halt Monday morning as a lumbering green and white dairy barn crossed the road.
The dairy barn that once sat across from the fariground's main entrance was jacked up, put on wheels and moved across East 38th Street about 9 a.m. to a new location on the north side of the fairgrounds, spokesman Andy Klotz said.
It took about four hours to get the barn to its new location.
The Normandy Barn will become part of the fairgrounds' agriculture education program dubbed "The State's Largest Classroom," Klotz said.
The space that the barn vacates will be used for parking.
The State Fair Commission is paying $72,500 to Wolfe House Movers of Indiana to relocate the barn next to the State Fair's Pioneer Village. Edwards-Rigdon Construction of Danville will be paid $498,000 to prepare the barn for the move and hook up utilities after it's done.
The milking barn, built in the 1930s on the Pike Township farm of former industrialist Herman Krannert, was disassembled and rebuilt on East 38th Street in 1998.

Disgrace near Traders Point

J.K. Lilly may have been inspired by Frederick Law Olmstead, the father of modern day landscape architecture, during the creation of Lilly Lake. This small man-made lake, nestled in a mature wooded border, with its natural earthen levee at the south end of water's edge, dates to the early 1930s and is one of the crown jewels of Eagle Creek Park. The news today that the dam has been allowed to fail due to budgetary concerns and neglect, is a travesty. When the city accepted title to Eagle Creek Park, they should have established a maintenance reserve to maintain the property's amenities at the time of the gift, including but not limited to this lake, in perpetuity. Evidently that either was not done or the piggy bank was robbed. Patrons of Eagle Creek Park are well aware that the Eagle Creek Foundation has stepped in on numerous occasions to assist with the park's department budgetary shortfalls. The foundation rang the bell early and often that this matter needed to be addressed. Unfortunately it appears the cost to repair has inflated considerably thanks to the neglect of the rightful custodian; Indy Parks.

March 24, 2008
Eagle Creek Park lake drains,

Foundation, citizens board had sought repairs to earthen dam at Lilly LakeBy Melanie D. Hayesmelanie.d.hayes@indystar.com
Late Sunday morning, John Ulmer was driving through Eagle Creek Park to meet his bird-watching group when he noticed a drastic change in the scenery -- Lilly Lake was drained.
Sometime in the night or early morning, the lake's dam had given way.
"We noticed all the mud and several hundred fish that were laying along the ditch along the dam," said Ulmer, 66. "It was recent enough that the fish were still flopping around."
The earthen dam is 120 to 140 feet across at the top. Its condition had been a concern for several months, and the structure recently was patched. Three existing holes apparently grew large enough to let massive amounts of water drain out, although the specifics were still being investigated late Sunday.
The dam did not completely break, which would have caused a surge of water. Officials planned to meet today to figure out what to do next.
Although the scene stopped Ulmer in his tracks, he wasn't surprised. Ulmer, who has met his bird-watching group every Sunday for 15 years at the park, is the chairman of the Eagle Creek Park Citizens Advisory Committee, which has been fighting for the dam's upkeep.
"I thought, 'Gee, it finally happened,' " the Zionsville-area resident said. "Periodically they would fill it up, so cosmetically it would look nice, but they never went about a proper repair of it. This has been this way for at least three years."
Eagle Creek Park, with its 5,300 acres, is the 12th largest city-owned park in the country and a recreational destination for residents and international tourists.
Lilly Lake, however, has been a safety hazard because its dam has been in poor shape for several years, said Michelle Cloud, president of the Eagle Creek Park Foundation. The foundation had asked the Indy Parks and Recreation to repair it, but money wasn't made available, she said.
"The repair of the dam, had it been undertaken five years ago, would have cost $50,000," Cloud said. "Since it hasn't been repaired, every rainy season, huge holes develop in the dam . . . rusting away supporting structures and damaging the bridge downstream. The cost for both those projects would now be $550,000."
Had the dam been repaired in a timely manner, the lake wouldn't have been washed out, Cloud said.
"I'm extremely disappointed that this has happened, especially when we had so much forewarning," she said. "But I'm very grateful it was not a catastrophic dam collapse. It's a beautiful day and people are walking around and enjoying the park. There could have been lives lost."
Jeff Ward, Indy Parks' administrator for environmental education and land stewardship, said an engineer looked at the dam a few months ago.
"We knew that there were issues that needed to be taken care of," he said. "But there was no indication . . . of a catastrophic failure, which did not take place. The dam itself did not fail. There was no gush, no damage to the roadway, no more damage to the bridge below the dam."
The water and fish -- largemouth bass, catfish, bluegills, carp -- were swept through the dam, into a stream, and into Eagle Creek Reservoir, Ward said. Some fish survived the 250- to 300-foot trip.
Ward expects to meet today with Indy Parks Director Joseph Wynns and others.
As recently as January, after citizens complained the dam was eroding and runoff had damaged a nearby bridge, a parks department spokeswoman said the dam and levee were not failing.

school board forum

March 22, 2008
School funding is No. 1 issuePike School Board candidates offer ideas at forumBy Robert Annisrobert.annis@indystar.com
Candidates for Pike Township School Board debated the district's financial future during the Traders Point Association of Neighborhoods meeting Thursday.
Challengers Ricky Hence and Brownell Payne joined current board members Larry Grau, Larry Metzler and Nancy Poore in a forum attended by about 30 people at Traders Point Creamery.
Four of the five candidates will be elected May 6.
Money received the most attention because the legislature this year changed the way schools are funded and capped property taxes.
Hence and Payne suggested the board look for nontraditional funding sources, including foundations supported by Pike Township businesses. Metzler said the district aggressively seeks corporate and government grant dollars but emphasized cutting costs as well.
"Being on the board, sometimes you have to make uncomfortable decisions," Metzler said.
Poore emphasized investing in quality products that will last over time, citing the new geothermal heating system to be installed in Eastbrook Elementary School. While the district would spend more money up front on the geothermal system, Poore estimated that money would be made up through energy savings within five to 10 years.
Payne, whose wife is a teacher at New Augusta Public Academy North, expressed concern about employee morale, noting that Pike teachers are working without a contract and that bus drivers are not allowed to vote on forming a union.
Grau countered that pay increases could force the School Board to discontinue programs and services for students.
Hence and Payne are endorsed by the drivers and the local American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union that seeks to represent them, but said they are more than one-issue candidates. They called for more emphasis on special education and under-performing students.
"We need to take care of the least fortunate, because they're the ones that need the most help," Hence said.
While the incumbents stressed their experience, several audience members expressed dissatisfaction with the district's standardized testing scores and under-performing schools. Metzler and Poore pointed to increasing numbers of students coming from Indianapolis Public Schools and those who speak English as a second language as some of the reasons why test scores have dropped.

Traders Point Barn at fairgrounds to be moved (again)

March 21, 2008
State Fairgrounds barn to be moved MondayBy Tom Spaldingtom.spalding@indystar.com
The famed 1930s-era, green-roofed Normandy Barn on East 38th Street in Indianapolis will be moved Monday from its current location to its new home inside the State Fairgrounds, the Indiana State Fair Commission announced. Wolfe House Movers of Indiana is handling the move and will transport the barn in one piece using remote-controlled dollies. The barn, a 35-foot-high structure originally built on the Pike Township farm of Indianapolis industrialist Herman Krannert for milking his prize dairy cows, has been at its current site since 1998. That space is being turned into parking.
Fair officials plan to pair the relocated barn with a second barn that will transform the north side of the fairgrounds into a year-round attraction. Both barns would figure prominently in plans for what fair officials are calling "the State's Largest Classroom," that promotes agricultural education and professional development throughout the year.
If you want to watch:The barn is expected to cross East 38th Street after the morning rush hour around 9 a.m. It will enter the fairgrounds through Gate 19 on the fairgrounds’ southwest corner and proceed north along the fairgrounds west end. The barn will then travel out Gate 16 onto East 42nd Street and head east before reentering the fairgrounds near its final destination west of the Pioneer Village area. The entire process should take less than four hours and be complete by noon.

Creamery's market keeps growing . . .

Traders Point Creamery's market keeps growing through winter
By Susan H. Miller
Indy Star correspondent
March 13, 2008
Farmers markets flourish in every community throughout the spring, summer and early fall, but there is one farmers market that courts consumers year-round.
Traders Point Creamery, just south of Zionsville on Moore Road, provides space inside a heated barn for local farmers to sell their products Saturday mornings from November through April. In the summer, the market moves outside and switches to Friday evenings.
Besides being the only year-round farmers market in the area, it's also the only one exclusively for organic growers. Farmers who use pesticides and chemicals on their produce, or growth hormones in their meat, aren't allowed to market their products at Traders Point.
There aren't many fruits and vegetables to be had in the dead of winter, but these farmers have proven themselves resourceful.
Redwine Farm in Westfield sells dried versions of the same fresh produce it sells in summer -- tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers -- "anything you can grow in Indiana," Jacob Redwine said.
All the dried vegetables Redwine sells in winter can be reconstituted in soups and stews. He grinds some of the dried vegetables and puts them in jars for consumers to use in cooking.
Another local farm has found a way to grow some of its produce year-round. Homestead Growers in Sheridan, owned by Anita and Steve Spencer, built a specially equipped barn to grow exotic mushrooms, such as shiitake and oyster mushrooms. In the summer, the Spencers grow a full range of garden vegetables to sell, as well.
The Spencers also have branched out to start Local Folks Foods, a local company that makes a mushroom pasta sauce, vegetarian mushroom patties and mushroom ravioli.
Traders Point Creamery's own products -- milk, yogurt, ice cream, beef and award-winning cheeses -- come from grass-fed cows that are free of growth hormones and antibiotics.
With food contamination scares in recent news accounts, consumers are flocking to Traders Point and other farmers markets.
Federal farm policy, however, makes it difficult for local growers to supply area supermarkets with produce.
The Spencers grow their produce on about 15 acres rented from Steve Spencer's parents, Fred and Sandy Spencer, who grow corn and soybeans on about 100 acres.
Under current farm policy, the government subsidizes farmers who grow traditional crops, such as corn and soybeans, but does not subsidize farmers who grow fruits and vegetables. So, if the elder Spencers lease land to their son and daughter-in-law instead of using it for corn and soybeans, they lose money, they said.
"It's more expensive for us then to farm because we want to find a way to pay back my parents," Steve Spencer said. "And with grain prices being so high now, they lose even more money than just the subsidies."
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has been trying to reform federal farm policy for the past several years to address such concerns. Lugar's press secretary, Andy Fisher, said Lugar wants farmers to decide what they grow, not the government.
Lugar voted against the Senate farm bill in December because it didn't offer significant reform to current policy, he said. The bill is now in negotiations in the House and Senate conference committee. Fisher said he expects it will move out of committee sometime in April.

Parks Dept. Meeting 3/25 at Healthplex

Dear Traders Point Neighbors:

The meeting that was to be held by the Indianapolis Parks Department on Tuesday, March 4, 2008, regarding the 2009 updates to the Parks Comprehensive Plan, was canceled due to the winter weather. A rescheduled meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, from 6:30 to 8 PM, at the Westview Healthplex on Guion Road.

ALSO: Don't forget the next TPAN meeting will be held on Thursday, March 20, 2008, starting at 6:45 PM, at the Traders Point Creamery. The main function of this meeting will be a forum on the candidates for Pike Township school board who are running for election in the May primary.