Annual block party - Friday, 8/22

Everybody loves a party! The annual BPNA summer block party is scheduled for August 22, 6-9 pm.

Craig Brenner and the Crawdads will once again inspire dancing in the street—specifically the 1000 block of South Dunn St. Please bring a potluck dish to share with your neighbors. BPNA will provide grilled meat and veggie burgers and hot dogs as well as lemonade. Come meet new neighbors and celebrate with old friends.

We need your membership dues to fund food purchases. We’re down on our knees here. Dues are just $5 a year, and a handy mail-in form is provided on this page. In the past, BPNA has received a Small & Simple grant from the city to help with the cost of this large party, which drew about 200 people last year. We hope to receive another grant this year. Keep your fingers crossed!

We can always use extra hands; contact Jon Lawrence at jolawren@indiana.edu or 334-2075.

Association News - Summer 2008

BPNA blogs. This spring, BPNA launched a blog to replace its former web site. Check it out at www.bryanpark.blogspot.com. You’ll find news, announcements, updates on city plans for the neighborhood, even a sideshow of pictures taken at BPNA events. Want to publicize your garage sale? There is a section (called “Label” in blog-speak) just for that.

There were two main reasons for the change. First, the blog form is easy to keep up-to-date and organized. It supplements this newsletter, which will continue to be printed three times a year. More importantly, it gives everyone a chance to comment on and discuss issues important to the neighborhood. We can even gather input on controversial issues by posting a survey question for people to vote on online.

Isabel Piedmont, the representative for our district on the City Council, says that she reads the Bryan Park blog regularly to see what people are thinking about, so by adding your comments, you help get things done. Piedmont also posts notices of her monthly constituent meetings on the blog. Put your hands together for our responsive representative!

The blog is easy to use. Type the address, www.bryanpark.blogspot.com, into your browser and the most recently posted item shows up first, with older items in the same category appearing in reverse chronological order below it. To comment on an item, click on the comments link in the green bar beneath the item. Type your comment into the box that appears. Then type the letters that make up the Verification code into the next box (this prevents scammers from automatically posting Viagra ads to the site). Lastly, choose how you want to sign your comment. Tip: the “Anonymous” option does not require you to set up a password. Click Publish to post your comment or Preview to, umm, preview it.

If you want an item posted or need help with using the blog, contact the webmaster, Sarah Reeder, smreeder@gmail.com. Mary Miller and Sarah Reeder led the effort to design and build the blog; Anne Hedin, Jim Gronquist, and Jon Lawrence assisted.

Election results are in. Jan Sorby beat out Barack Obama and John McCain. Just kidding, but Jan was again elected BPNA president. Congratulations to the three new officers: Vice President Scott O’Brien, Treasurer Mary Lou Mitchell, and Secretary Lillie Aydt. Heartfelt thanks to the outgoing officers, former VP Jeanette Richart and former Treasurer Jennie Bauer for three and eight years of service respectively.

Source: BPNA Newsletter, June 2008

From grocery to church to an unknown future

by Mary Lou Mitchell

On February 12^th a prospective developer of the former church building at 1014 South Washington Street invited Bryan Park neighbors to a meeting that the developer convened at Templeton. The developer’s courtesy was greatly appreciated and there was much discussion on the use of the building. Although it is zoned for commercial use, it could also be developed as residential property, which most of the surrounding neighbors would prefer. They also said they wouldn’t object to child or adult day care, a gallery, or some similar low-traffic use. We all hope there will be an agreeable solution for this property.

This property has been zoned commercial since 1929-1930, when the R C McKinley grocery was built on the lot. Sometime between 1930 and 1938 it became the A V Kirk Grocery. August V Kirk had previously been an accountant at the Matthews Brothers Stone Mill on South Walnut Street. He owned the store until 1950 when he sold it to John Zark. Mr. Zark vacated it in 1952. It stayed vacant until 1956 when the Church of Christ fellowship, the current owners, bought it.

A V Kirk and his wife, Anna, lived in the neighborhood themselves until Anna died in 1981 and A V died in 1992 at the age of 96. As a small boy, my husband Dick Mitchell and some buddies did odd jobs at the grocery. A V always threw the crates his vegetables came in down the basement steps, then every so often, he would hire the boys to bust them up. Dick says there was always water (from the creek) and rats (also from the creek) in the basement. A V also took the boys on deliveries. Their pay? 10 or 15 cents – enough to buy a candy bar and a bottle of pop.

Tot Lot officially opens

If you have been in Bryan Park lately, you have doubtless noticed the new Tot Lot playground in the northwest corner of the park. Maybe you noticed a child in a spinning cup, or manipulating the backhoe diggers, getting a push on the swing, or climbing on the play house. But if you were there on Tuesday morning, June 10, you would have also seen Mayor Mark Kruzan, District 5 City Council Member Isabel Piedmont, and BPNA president Jan Sorby.

At the formal opening ceremony of this playground, designed for children ages 5 and under, Mayor Kruzan said that the city spent $135,000 on the equipment, which includes rubber safety surfacing, new fencing, a shaded seating area with tables, benches, and drinking fountain in addition to numerous pieces of play equipment. The entrance to the area is through a gate designed by local artist Joe LaMantia and produced in partnership with Stone Belt. The Parks and Recreation Department handled the installation.

The neighborhood’s city council representative, Isabel Piedmont, spoke of the positive impact that parks like this have on the imagination and physical development of children. On behalf of the neighborhood, Jan Sorby thanked the City and Parks and Rec for enhancing “the jewel in our crown,” Bryan Park.

“We want to thank the City also for including the ideas and desires of the adjacent neighborhoods into the planning process. As parents are challenged with rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other health issues among our children, this park offers space for children to start the healthy habit of exercise and play,” Sorby said.

“We are fortunate that our Bloomington parks are more than just a little country in the city; they provide a multitude of benefits for a variety of uses. The Bryan Park neighbors appreciate the hard work that goes in to balancing passive and active natural and constructed areas of the park. We know much thought and consideration went into choosing each piece of equipment on this playground.”

Source: BPNA Newsletter, June 2008

Crosswalk to improve pedestrian safety

The Traffic Commission supported the BPNA’s request for a multi-way stop and a pedestrian striped crosswalk at the intersection of Allen and Henderson Streets to safeguard pedestrians crossing Henderson into Bryan Park or onto the sidewalk. As part of their process, they sent City engineer Justin Wyckoff to examine the situation and make a recommendation.

BPNA’s president Jan Sorby says, “Henderson has a posted 20 mph speed limit. Justin Wykoff did a traffic study at the intersection which showed that only 3% of drivers observed the limit. He clocked cars passing this school/park zone at speeds as high as 57 mph. The Traffic Commission was so shocked at the horrendous speeds they requested Justin to come up with something different than just a stop sign.”

The drawing above shows the solution to slowing traffic on this stretch of Henderson. It adds an island dividing the lanes of traffic and providing a protected space midway where pedestrians can stand if on-coming traffic prevents them from completing the crossing. (Parents with children have been known to drive three blocks to the park rather than attempt crossing on foot with a toddler and a stroller, Sorby points out.)

On either side of the cross walk at midpoint is a planter for vegetation, which neighbors have promised to tend. The strategy is to make the space look and feel narrower to drivers so that they drive more carefully.

This drawing also shows the realignment of the Bryan Park parking lot entrance with Allen St. and the new sidewalk on the western side of Henderson, a future improvement. Currently the only sidewalk on this stretch of Henderson borders Bryan Park and continues south to Templeton Elementary School. Crossing Henderson is particularly dangerous during the peak hours when children need to walk to school.

Missing from this drawing are the stop signs to be added on the approaches to the crosswalk. In order to implement what the Traffic Commission has approved, there is a formality to satisfy. City ordinance requires a certain level of traffic to warrant putting a stop sign on a street. Traffic on Henderson exceeds that level, but traffic on Allen and out of the parking lot normally falls below that level.

As a result, District 5 City Council Member Isabel Piedmont is expected to introduce the multi-way stop request as an amendment to the ordinance when City Council meets on June 25 or July 2, as the schedule permits. City Council will vote on it at the next meeting. Bryan Park neighbors and other city residents will have an opportunity to provide input on the request at the first meeting.

Source: BPNA Newsletter, June 2008