Indianapolis, Indiana.......... coming to you directly from the beautiful downtown J.W. Marriott Hotel
The day could have started out with Morning Fitness at 6:15am in the lobby and going for a 30-45 minute walk/run. NOT today NOT for me. I was still sleeping.
All checked in and ready to go...... old blue t-shirt, NEW brown t-shirt, new bag with multitude of paper mailing for the General Membership Meeting on Saturday, New name badge and all my meals and activity tickets..... don't want to loose them.
Opening breakfast was good........ you can see how full the room was. AND you can just see the NEW NUSA banner up front.
Exhibit hall opened this morning. It is basically informational of many local private, public and state agencies.
Neighborhood of the Year Awards presentations are being given all day today. There are 9 neighborhoods competing for the Neighborhood of the Year Award.
Three in the Physical Revitalization-Sinlge Neighborhood- 1) Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association/ St Petersburg Florida - Bunglowfest - A Childrens Cancer Center Charity Event -- renovation of an old run down abandon building, staging them for sale, business from the area helping in kind with the staging. Profies to the charity........Neighbors helping neighbors, taking back their community, pride in the community. 2) California Heights Neighborhood Association/ Long Beach, CA - California Heights Home & Garden Tour.... takingg back the neighborhood, improvements, getting neighbors to show their homes to the public, charging for the tours. It was very successful and has gotten better every year. Money is earned to help fund other neighborhood activities and projects. 3) Echo Lake Neighborhood Association/ Shorline Washington - Densmore Pathway Project...... developing a great pathway through a neighborhood that connects the school with other parts of the neighborhood. Found residents that had equipment to donate for project, lots of volunteers and plenty of manual work hours..... they had fun along the way, getting to know their neighbors and connecting with each other.
Two Multi-Neighborhood Partnership Projects; 1) Wichita Independent Neighborhoods, Inc/ Wichita Kansas - Neighborhood University (unknown- sorry I missed this presentation- still at lunch when it started) 2) MJillersville at Fall Creek Valley Inc/ Indianapolis Indiana - Millersville Project Greenspace: Gateway & Village Transformation - a lot of blight, business leaving the area, needed to decide what was important in the area and develop a plan around that to begin with... the school was an historic building and they focussed on that..... having musical residals, picnics/BBQ's and community gatherings.
Four in the Social Revitalization -Single Neighborhood. 1) Lafayette Square Area Coalition/ Indianapolis Indiana - A World of Difference - International Parade & Taste the Difference.... declining aging area, preceived crime area........ formed their neighborhood group, made contacts - it seems that they have all these international restaurants in there area, so they made this their focus. They have turned their area around and now it is a destination place to eat....... they have available almost any type of food you can think of. They also sponsor an International Parade which has been very diverse and successful. 2) Shadow wood Neighborhood/ Coral Springs, Florida - Shadow wood Neighborhood Watch.... a very enthusiastic group with an exceptionally good relations with the Police Department and the City. They have 4 meetings a year at alternating homes (chairs in the driveway). 3) Fairmount Neighborhood Asscoiation/ Fort Worth, Texas - Pancakes in the Park....... the Neighborhood took advantage of a marathon coming throughh their town. They spoke with the Marathon officials and city officials and got them to change the route so that the runners came through their neighborhood (and other neighborhoos too)... this brought everyone to watch and help. They held a pancake breakfast for everyone. Gave out waters etc....... it was very sucessful and have done it now for several years. It has brought the Neighborhood resident closer and the other Neighborhoods closer to other Neighborhoods. Cleaned up their areas and pride in their community, 4) Wright Avenue Neighborhood Association/ Little Rock Arkansas - Movies on the Boulevard........ taken back a good part of their neighborhood, got neighbors out and working with each other.... the project was just as it is stated "Movies on the Boulevard" - outside on the grass - bbq, popcorn etc....... sucessful and they continue to do this each month (sounds just like what Larry is doing over in the Roseville Neighborhoods)
In each category there is a first ($400 cash), second ($300 cash), & third ($100 cash) place. (for the category with only 2 participants the cash prize is divided up differently) AND then one presentation is choosen as the Neighborhood of the Year and is given an additional $1000 cash prize. So as you can see it is worth it to put together a project that the neighborhood or city has done and present it.....
We had lunch on our own today........ PIZZA!! (I wished) and then I went to meet the board candidates. Very informative. 6 out of the 9 candidates were there. Each year there is an election of 1/3 of the board of directors. So they dedicated a session to meeting the 9 board candidates. We will vote for up to 7 of them on Friday. It is great having them all in one place at the same time.
AND topping off the day was the Neighborhood Pride Tours with Dinner......... mine was called "The Lafayette Square Area: From Regional Mall to International Marketplace" (YES it is the same tour as the presentation I listened to this afternoon) Very Good Tour........ nice comfortable airy roomy bus. On top of having all the Internatinal Restaurants in their Neighborhood they have also converted an old abandon tire shop to a nice service center for the neighborhood. They have computer hookups, plus a book library, several televisions and tables and chairs for the community to have meetings and other functions. This is a new project, so still lots of work to do.... alot on the outside with a garden and flowers. There are 3 large areas in the garage. Last year they had a food trucks event. I guess food trucks are big out here.
International Market...... very diverse, lots to look through and you can see by the next picture.
Some of the many international restaurants.......
Migrants Gardens - free land that this Shopping Mall donated
...... and this is the abondon tire shop that the neighborhood was given and they are turning it into a great meeting place for anyone in the communtity. As you can almost see, there is lots to do outside. Today it was in the upper 80's...... a little warmer than normal for this time of year.
