Our Monday Night Tradition

One of the few things I will miss about Indianapolis is our Monday nights at Metro located on mass Avenue in the Mass Ave cultural district of Indy. We have been going there on Mondays to see Dave Lowe who plays keyboard, since his first night performing there. Dave has gotten the "old house bug" and is working on two homes on the East Side. In addition to hearing Dave, a lot of local talent usually stops by including two regular performer Ray Davidson and Vernie Johns.

Ray plays at a couple of other venues around town and Vernie sings at several venues as well. She has a CD out called "Vernie with a V" and if you like jazz it is definitly a Cd worth owning.

'The Peacock Room"

Anyone who has more than a passing interest in the Victorian Era would be well advised to visit this blog which focuses on the Aesthetic Movement within the Victorian era. There is a large quantity of well researched information that is a great resource for anyone who is involved in historic restoration or just a fan of the Era.

http://thepeacockroom.blogspot.com/

Hill Place Tour

I had the good fortune to be invited yeaterday to an open house of Hill Place, here in Indianapolis. the owners have been working long and hard on the home and one can see the result of all that hard work. Hill place is on the National Register and was built by John Fitch Hill and his wife Sarah who was the great niece of Daniel Boone in 1853. The home originally sat on 220 acres but today is surrounded by smaller homes and cottages built in the late 1880's. Once "out in the country" it now sits within view of the Indianapolis business district skyline as the city grew.

The home is 6000 square feet and the owners have done a remarkable job of restoring the interiors to period victorian.

Faxing Faxes

Today is on of the faxing faxes days. I have roughly 14 pages of documents to fax to my Realtor who in turn faxes them to the seller which in this case happens to be Fannie Mae. Now of course dealing with a quasi government agency essentially means that what is normally a simple process is enormously complex.

For example document MUST be faxed on legal paper, and there are strange little addendums that only an govenrment agency would require and I wont bore you with all the details.

Personally I'd just like to write the check and be done with it but it is a "process". In may ways Fannie and Freddie are contributors to the housing mess by "dumping" properties for far less than their actual worth. By my calculations I figure this house is being bought for 10 cents on the dollar! While certainly a great deal for me it bothers me that in the governments 'rush" to get rid of property that they are selling it so cheap which drives down "comps" in an area. Fortunately for our neighbors we are actually investing a large sum of money into the house. Far too many homes are sold to "investor types' who will sit on them waiting for the market to turn around. That does not, in my opinion , help neighborhoods grow and re-develop.

Day at the Canal

I took some time the other day for a walk on the canal. For those of you visiting Indianpolis, or if you have lived here for years I highly recomend it. The Canal along with White River State Park and the Indianpolis Zoo can make for a great day or a great weekend of entertainment. There are several museums along the canal and of course the park and a variety of fountains and public art.

A Major Step_Hoppe building in Preservationsist hands!

As you know we have been trying to get the Historic Hoppe Building in St Joe Missouri saved. We are pleased to report it is now in the hands of a local Historic Preservationist there in St Joe. We could not be happier as it removes one obstacle and source of frustration to our move to Cincinnati!

National Night Out Tuesday Night

Neighborhood organizations, block clubs and Crime watch groups will be celebrating National night out with a variety of activites. Our local neighborhood is one of several hundred ornganizations celebrating tommorow night. We will have our local Police stopping by as well as people in city governmentand the crime watch program. We are also block off the street for a block party with food and music.

Perrysburg Oh to demo historic school

The board of education voted to demolish about half of the Commodore Building, an amalgamation of structures built between 1894 and 1991.

the school board accepted a bid of $152,000 to demolish large sections of the 117,000-square-foot building, including the 1894 section and a 1916 addition. The gymnasium constructed in 1957, a cafeteria built in 1991, and a building from 1931 that currently houses the school district's administrative offices will not be demoed.

Because the building has so many addotions over the years it was ineligible to be landmarked,

We apologize for the brief interuption

I've been having some knee problem taked care of. I was putting this off for a while and finally decided it was time to get this done. Soooo, I wont be running any marthons for the next few weks but I will be spending alot of time on the computer sharing news and information about historic restoration and urban planning and development.

A busy Week

I've been away from the blog for several days but Ive been involved in some pressing neighborhood issues up here that have consumed large chunks of my time. Should be back on an even keel next week.