Great Indy

Help Make Our City a Brighter and Safer Place to Live, Work and Play!

Now through April 16, sign up for the Every Litter Bit Helps

program at www.GreatIndyCleanup.com .

Participants receive a trash bag and gloves they may pick up at any Marion County Public Library, YMCA or National City Bank branch.

Fill a bag with litter from your community and dispose of it with your weekly trash pickup.

"In wistful limbo" Herron School of Art and Design BFA Painting Thesis Exhibition

Paintings by Brittany Eaton and Chad Waples

Opening Reception:
Friday, April 2nd 6-10 pm
Available by appointment through April 6th

Senior painters from Herron School of Art, Brittany Eaton and Chad Waples, will be exhibiting their work during April's First Friday Gallery Walk. The work will be shown in a unique space in Fountain Square, located a short walk down Prospect Street from the Murphy Building and many exciting galleries.

Brittany Eaton's paintings concentrate on the disconnect between the intrinsic struggle that nature endures and the heedless sentimentality that is forced onto it. The distortion of nature into patterns and objects of decoration along with kitsch, environmental issues, old wildlife encyclopedias and her neighborhood of Fountain Square are all integral influences on her work.

The current body of work by Chad Waples consists of a personal reflection on theological and metaphysical studies consistent among several religions and philosophies that include; Buddhism, Hinduism, Pagan symbolism, Judeo Christian metaphors, Gnosticism, Biblical symbolism, dream symbolism, and mystical interpretations.


Special Thanks to David Eskenazi and Sandor Development

Indianapolis Makes EPA’s List of Top 25 Cities With The Most ENERGY STAR Labeled Buildings in 2009

For the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranks the Indianapolis metropolitan area in the top 25 cities with the most ENERGY STAR labeled buildings. Buildings that have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR perform in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide. Indianapolis ranks 23^rd out of the top 25 cities in 2009.

“We as a city should be very proud that the EPA is recognizing Indianapolis as a leader in Energy Star buildings,” said Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. “This recognition underscores the commitment of building owners and operators to become more energy-efficient in how they manage buildings as well as their commitment to reducing their energy consumption and improving our local environment.”

Buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR use an average of 35 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Indianapolis counts 39 ENERGY STAR labeled buildings within its greater metropolitan area. By strategically managing energy use and by making cost-effective improvements to their buildings, the organizations that own and operate these buildings have prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity use from 6,113 households for a year, or a savings of $4.9 million. A list of Indianapolis Energy Star buildings is available online at www.sustainindy.org/energystar.cfm.

EPA’s ENERGY STAR energy performance scale helps organizations assess how efficiently their buildings use energy relative to similar buildings nationwide. A building that scores 75 or higher on EPA’s 1-100 scale is eligible for the ENERGY STAR. Commercial buildings that may earn the ENERGY STAR include offices, bank branches, financial centers, retail stores, courthouses, hospitals, hotels, K-12 schools, medical offices, supermarkets, dormitories, and warehouses.

EPA introduced ENERGY STAR in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products, new homes, and commercial and industrial buildings. Products and buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the government.

Last year alone, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved nearly $17 billion on their energy bills while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 30 million vehicles.

For more on Mayor Ballard’s vision of making Indianapolis one of the most sustainable cities in the Midwest, visit www.sustainindy.org. For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov/buildings.

“Reading Makes $ense”

Purdue Extension and the Fountain Square Branch Library Presents

“Reading Makes $ense”

Your 3^rd – 5^th graders are invited to the Fountain Square Branch Library to learn about money management with Captain Cash and First Mate Penny.

During the program students will learn through inter-active activities how to budget, save and spend money wisely.

When: IPS Spring Break - March 29^th – April 2^nd at 10am – 11am

Where: Fountain Square Branch Library, 1066 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46203

For additional information contact Tammy Coolman at

317-275-4390.

“Reading Makes $ense”

Purdue Extension and the Fountain Square Branch Library

Presents

“Reading Makes $ense”

Your 3^rd – 5^th graders are invited to the Fountain Square Branch Library to learn about money management with Captain Cash and First Mate Penny.

During the program students will learn through inter-active activities how to budget, save and spend money wisely.

When: IPS Spring Break - March 29^th – April 2^nd at 10am – 11am

Where: Fountain Square Branch Library, 1066 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46203

For additional information contact Tammy Coolman at

317-275-4390.

Mayor Ballard Announces Utility Public Meeting Schedule

City and Citizens Energy Group Seek Public Input on Utility Transfer, Infrastructure Investment

Mayor Greg Ballard announced a public meeting schedule today to garner feedback from Indianapolis residents concerning the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to transfer the City of Indianapolis’ (City) water and wastewater utilities to Citizens Energy Group (Citizens).

“Public involvement and accountability are imperative to the success of this transfer. This process began more than one year ago with the formation of the Infrastructure Advisory Commission and will continue with transparent study and public deliberation,” Mayor Ballard said. “As we move forward with due diligence and explore how to invest the $425 million earned through the transfer, we want to hear from residents, who live in the neighborhoods with crumbling streets, curbs and sidewalks, about their infrastructure investment priorities.”

The public meeting schedule includes:

March 23, 6:30-8 p.m.: George Washington High School Cafeteria, 2215
W. Washington St.

March 29, 6:30-8 p.m.: Aldersgate Free Methodist Church, 9035 E 21st St.
April 13, 6:30-8 p.m.: Nu Corinthian Church’s Family Life Center, 5935 W.56th St.
April 20, 5-6:30 p.m.: Divine Savior Lutheran Church, 7315 E. 75th St.

Representatives from Mayor Ballard’s administration, Carey Lykins, Citizens CEO, and other key Citizens staff will be on hand to answer questions from residents and ratepayers regarding the transfer of the water and wastewater utilities.

“At Citizens we are looking forward to answering questions and providing information about the advantages of the utility transfer. We want to hear from our owners – the citizens of our community – about the most efficient and effective ways to run their utilities,” said Lykins.

On March 10, 2010, Mayor Ballard and Lykins signed the MOU to transfer the water and wastewater utilities to Citizens. Pending negotiation of final agreement and Board of Waterworks, Board of Public Works, City-Council Council and IURC approval, the City will receive more than $425 million that will be directly invested in the City’s crumbling infrastructure. In addition, Citizens agrees to assume approximately $1.5 billion of City debt (combined debt of waterworks and wastewater).

Citizens estimates that by the year 2025 combined water and wastewater rates will be 25 percent lower under its ownership compared to other options available to the City. Lower water and wastewater rates will be achieved through an estimated $40 million in annual savings available by combining operations of the water utilities with Citizens’ gas, steam and chilled water systems.

The Mayor intends to file legislation for the utility transfers with the Indianapolis City-County Council on April 16. In addition to approval by the City-County Council, the utility transfer must be approved by the Board of Water Works, the Board of Public Works and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Full approval would likely take place in late 2010.

For more information about the utility transfers and the schedule for public meetings, visit www.indy.gov/utilities or call 317-327-4MAC.

*** SEWAGE OVERFLOW WARNING TODAY ***

Indianapolis' combined sewer system in the old city limits is more than 100 years old and was designed to carry both sewage and rainwater in the same pipe. As little as a quarter-inch of rain can overload the combined sewers, causing raw sewage to overflow into nearby streams. Today, weather conditions indicate a strong possibility that precipitation may cause raw sewage overflows to occur or that raw sewage overflows have occurred in the past 72 hours. If the precipitation occurs as snow, raw sewage overflows may occur days or weeks later, when temperatures near or exceed freezing. Please avoid all contact with water downstream of combined sewers. Swallowing or hand-to-mouth contact with sewage contaminated water could make you sick. Signs are posted along our waterways to identify more than 130 combined sewer outfalls and areas where contact with the water could be hazardous to your health. Even in dry weather, it is best to avoid contact with urban streams and teach children to stay away. The affected areas include: White River downstream from 56th Street, Fall Creek downstream from Keystone Avenue, Little Eagle Creek downstream from Michigan Street, Eagle Creek downstream from the confluence of Little Eagle Creek, Pogues Run downstream from 21st Street, Pleasant Run downstream from Kitley Avenue, State Ditch downstream from Southern Avenue and Bean Creek downstream from I-65. The City of Indianapolis encourages you to take the following protective actions: - Avoid contact with urban streams, especially during and three days after rain or snowmelts. - Alter recreational activities to ones that do not involve contact with urban waterways. For example, walk or bike along a stream rather than swimming, wading or water skiing. - Always wash your hands after contacting water in urban waterways, especially before eating, drinking, smoking or preparing food. - Use a waterless hand sanitizer at outings that occur near urban waterways. The City's Clean Streams-Healthy Neighborhoods program is working to improve our waterways and reduce and eliminate raw sewage overflows. The City is implementing a 20-year, long-term plan to capture raw sewage overflows during all but a few large storms each year. Sewer and wastewater treatment plant improvements have already reduced raw sewage overflows by hundreds of millions of gallons each year. When the plan is complete, more than 95 percent of raw sewage overflows will be captured and treated in a typical year instead of overflowing into local rivers and streams. Under an October 2006 agreement with the state and federal government, the City has agreed to invest: > $1.73 billion (in 2004 dollars) by December 2025 to significantly reduce raw sewage overflows from the combined sewer system; > $50.4 million (in 2004 dollars) by December 2015 to eliminate chronic overflows from seven locations in the separate, sanitary sewer system; and > $3.5 million (in 2004 dollars) by December 2010 on supplemental environmental projects to eliminate septic systems in two neighborhoods. For more information or to view a list of planned projects, visit www.indycleanstreams.org.