Woodruff President’s Message 2018-08
According to SAVI, it was only seven years ago when the Near Eastside was home to the highest rate of foreclosures in the county at 11% which doubled the national average. It was only eight years ago that Marion County home vacancy was 7% but the Near Eastside was more than three times that, coming in at an eyebrow raising 24%. Those numbers provide clear evidence of an upside down housing stock crisis – too many homes, not enough home dwellers. Growing vacancy is a first step in continued neighborhood decline – businesses close, tax revenue goes down, city services suffer, illicit opportunities take advantage and so on.
Since then, things have been changing and the pace is picking up. Neighborhood pillar organizations have tirelessly worked to enhance the community. Individual neighborhoods have taken up the challenge of restoring homes from what were empty buildings or overly-dense multifamily units. Companies have relocated operations here. Businesses have chosen the area to open new ventures. We have witnessed a critical mass of private individuals, not-for-profit, city leadership and corporate investment interest come to the table. All of that investment is now beginning to reap new rewards and people who once overlooked the area are looking here first.
Some are drawn to the allure of an 1890’s Queen Anne and others are being enticed by brand new construction. Businesses are repurposing vacated structures and setting up shop. But those who have been here throughout it all are not being forgotten or overlooked. Near East Area Renewal has renovated or rebuilt over 100 homes to date and each property came from surplus city stock and reportedly, no one was displaced in that process. Caulk of the Town brings neighbors together and helps those who are unable to perform ongoing home maintenance, allowing them to stay in their homes. Change is brewing here on the Near Eastside and it is almost all positive. I hope that we can think of the growth as re-population. Re-population of families, re-establishing of businesses, re-investment of taxes, re-storing a sense of community we can all be proud of.
Woodruff 4th of July Photos
Woodruff 4th of July Photos
Wheelbarrow photo subjects: Ben Pidgeon (pushing) Ijah Robertson (riding). Caption: East Drive’s Ben Pidgeon makes a move for the inside corner during the annual Fourth of July wheelbarrow race in Woodruff Place.
Flag photo subjects: (Left to right, front): Kate Certo, Isabella Fuss, Lucy Certo
(Left to right, back): Peter Certo, Royal Lloyd-Hostetter, Odin Belsaas, Julian Hostetter
Not pictured: Liell Lloyd-Hostetter (signal caller)
Caption: Neighborhood kids participate in the annual raising of the American Flag at the Fourth of July ceremony at Town Hall.
Local Artist Loves Woodruff Place
Early on in my career as an artist, I realized with a mix of delight and sadness that I had been walking past so much beauty every day without noticing it. As I began to look closely at familiar places, I saw surprising color, nuance, texture, and light in the most mundane scenes – shadows on the snow in an alley near my house, speckles of light splashed on the roof of my house from the tree leaves above… even traffic lights glowing on wet, grey February afternoons. As I began to paint nearby scenes, I shared them with the local community through various shows in coffee shops.
Over and over local neighbors marveled with me at places so familiar to them, and some of my favorite conversations were when someone said, “I know that intersection!” or “I drive past that building every day on my way to work!” Inspired by conversations like these, my growing goal is to connect with my local community over the shared beauty of our neighborhoods. One of my favorite neighborhoods to paint has been Woodruff! Recently I started a collection of work painted on-site in Woodruff, and the collection can
be viewed here: www.aliciazanoni.com.
In addition to painting local landscapes, other frequent paintings I create are house commissions, like this one: (house commission photo) Even more than most historic neighborhoods in Indianapolis, Woodruff has houses bursting with life and nuance, and I love to reflect as much of those elements in a painting as possible. If you’re interested in commissioning a painting of your own house, you can write to me at [email protected].