If you’ve not been by the pocket park recently, you are encouraged to do so. A lot of progress has been made and the park development is coming along nicely. The Pocket Park Committee has been actively working on securing additional donations, revising plans to align with the current budget, and mapping out the next phases of the parks development. Lisa Grossweiller, a professional mason and friend of the neighborhood, has begun work on the brick columns for the fence entrance to the park. Ms. Grossweiller was able to get the bricks as well as some, but not all, of the materials donated to the HMP park. Additionally, Ms. Grossweiller is donating her labor to the neighborhood.
Through the generous $5,000 contribution of David and Angela Colby and the funding awards from LISC, MIBOR, and FHHCI, the pocket park committee has raised enough money to begin working on the park shelter. The contractor is scheduled to begin work on the shelter in late October/early November. Moreover, the remainder of the fence will be installed late October and early November. The committee is still pursuing funding for historic lighting and public art.
Mark Webb and Lee Smith are donating stumps for the children’s play area and Anthony Mezzetta has graciously agreed to donate large boulders for the amphitheater seating and landscaping.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc., (KIB) is willing to contribute $500 towards a pergola-like roof on the play station, a brace on the entrance to the ropes course to make it useable and add a climbing net, and get a better tire swing if the budget allows. Ball State also left us stain for the play station.
To continue the successful fundraising efforts, the pocket park committee has decided to set up a crowd-sourcing site to raise funding for items such as park benches and other smaller needs. Information on the crowd-sourcing site will be forthcoming.
Finally, the last pocket park work day was very short on volunteers. Those neighbors who did show up were able to accomplish quite a bit of work. If you have not been by the park recently, please check out the new plantings and trees. We are thankful to KIB for ordering a watering truck twice a week and Doug Day was gracious enough to allow the neighborhood to use his water for the park.
It is necessary to have as much neighborhood participation in the workdays as possible. There is still much work to be done and neighbors who were unable to make the last volunteer work day can make the next one. Please look in the Urban Times, email communication, Facebook, and neighborhood signs for information on the next work day.