Thursday, August 23, 2007

Have you got September 22 circled on your calendar? That’s great, because we’re counting on you, and planning to make your day instructive and fun.
This week you’ll begin to see changes in the greenspace surrounding the INDOT Salt Barn. We’ve marked the positions of trees and drawn bedlines. Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has ordered plants and mulch. Next week you’ll begin to see the shapes of the beds emerging on the slopes. With your help, before long the slopes will be populated with a new landscape of native trees, shrubs, and grasses.
Planting and mulching is not all you can look forward to on September 22. You’ll meet enthusiastic Traders Point neighbors, plus a large contingent of Master Gardeners and KIB Volunteers. To cap off the morning, our neighbors at Mill Pond are hosting a barbecue to reward your hard work, supported by in-kind and financial donations from businesses in the vicinity. Mayor Peterson may also pay us a visit.
It’s time now to firm up your plans to participate in planting day, and to recruit any other strong backs you can press into service. We could use a few more to lighten the load for everyone. Please be certain to register all recruits by sending me their email address at wwford@comcast.net. We’ll need this to be able to provide them information and to know how many volunteers to expect.
In the coming month, you’ll be hearing from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful about details of planting day. KIB is also accepting your tax-deductible contributions to defray the cost of keeping the new landscape watered.*
Thank you for participating in this important beautification project. We look forward to seeing you September 22.
–Wendy Ford, Traders Point Gateway Committee
*You may send a check, earmarked for the Traders Point Gateway Project, to Phil Schaefer, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc., 445 N. Pennsylvania St., Suite 910, Indianapolis, IN 46204.