May 2012 Meeting
Using Electronic and Social Media to Spread Your Message
May 3, 5:30-7:15PM
Indiana Landmarks Center
The focus of HUNI's May meeting will be on electronic and social media vehicles neighborhoods can utilize in spreading their messages to residents both within and outside of their neighborhoods. Local social media aficionado Tiffany Benedict Berkson will overview this topic for fellow HUNI members. Tiffany, founder, developer and operator of HistoricIndianapolis.com (HI), will also educate neighborhoods on items which HI regularly features and in which neighborhoods might want to submit to gain additional publicity for itself or its residents.
"I am delighted that Tiffany agreed to overview this topic for us. She is doing some amazing things with HistoricIndianapolis.com and has developed a significant following of those who love and appreciate the history of our community. We are lucky to have her as advocate for historic preservation," asserted HUNI Chair Lorraine Phillips Vavul. "I believe HUNI Neighborhood reps can gain valuable insight from Tiffany's experience and understanding of how social media has come to the forefront of communications between neighbors and neighborhoods."
Immediately following the meeting, neighborhoods will have time to submit their basic information for the HUNI website. "We are very pleased to have received a grant from the Marion County Historic Preservation Fund to upgrade the interactivity of the HUNI website. This is the next exciting step in making the HUNI site of added value to those both within historic neighborhoods and those who want to learn more about the characteristics and activities of Indy's historic neighborhoods." Look for calendars, maps, legislative updates on issues affecting historic neighborhoods and additional links to valuable resources.
Here's more info on Tiffany:
After much travel around the country growing up and throughout her early adulthood, Tiffany Benedict Berkson settled in Indianapolis in pursuit of her next adventure. She launched "hi" in July 2009 due to her great love of history and passion for old architecture. She is neighborhood historian of Herron-Morton Place and a former president of HMP. She is also the founding member and president of the Hoosier Chapter of the Victorian Society in America, headquartered at the historic Morris-Butler House Museum. More info on Tiffany can be found at www.historicindianapolis.com and Tiffany may be reached at Tiffany@historicindianapolis.com.
2012 Annual Meeting
Environmental Court Judge Dave Certo Speaker
Feb 18, 9-11am
Illinois Fall Creek Center
Environmental Court Judge Dave Certo will be our featured speaker discussing "Environmental Court: How it Serves Historic Neighborhoods" at HUNI's Annual Meeting on Saturday, February 18th from 9-11am.
2535 N. Capitol Ave
We'll meet in Room 101 of the transformed St. Vincent Hospital on Ivy Tech's campus. The building -- now named the Illinois Fall Creek Center - re-opened in mid-January after a multi-year, extensive construction project in which the old façade and grand staircase was integrated into the building new design.
Illinois Fall Creek Center is located at 2535 N. Capitol Avenue (46208) and parking can be found immediately north of the building, which can be accessed via Capitol Ave or Illinois Street just north of Fall Creek. For those interested, we'll have a tour of the building, which Ivy Tech calls "A Jewel in the City."
RSVP by Feb 16 to either lvavul@aol.com or clethig@indianalandmarks.org with your attendance plans.
Background Info on Judge Certo
Judge Certo, a former President of HUNI and a current resident of Woodruff Place, was appointed to the Marion Superior Court by Governor Mitch Daniels in August 2007. In August 2010 the Executive Committee of the Superior Court assigned Judge Certo to Community and Environmental Courts. In Environmental Court he hears ordinance violation cases including barking and dangerous dogs, unsafe buildings, and licensing cases, as well as major environmental torts. In Community Court he receives guilty pleas for low level criminal offenses in a catchment area that includes downtown and the near east and south sides of Indianapolis.
Prior to taking the bench, Judge Certo was counsel to the director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and was a policy staff member with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. He has served as chief counsel for the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, general counsel for the State Treasurer and director of the Indiana Board of Pharmacy. In addition, Judge Certo was a Governor's Fellow in the office of Governor Evan Bayh. Judge Certo served for two years as the president of HUNI and three terms as president of the Indianapolis Police Department's Citizens Police Complaint Board. Judge Certo is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis.
2011 HUNI Recap
As 2011 comes to a close, HUNI celebrates another active year promoting and supporting Indianapolis historic neighborhoods. We kicked off 2011 by going live with our first-ever HUNI website, thanks to the diligent work of several neighborhoods and the technical and design efforts of Jay van Santen of vSC webgroup. Throughout the year, Google analytics showed hundreds of unique visitors viewed the HUNI website to learn more about Indianapolis' urban neighborhoods and their activities. Two additional neighborhoods -- Watson McCord and Oliver Johnson's Woods -- joined the 20+ HUNI member neighborhoods in 2011.
In February at our annual meeting at the historic Glossbrenner mansion, civic leader John Krauss shared his recollections of Indianapolis in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s delivering a first-hand account on the climate of the City's development and fledgling historic preservation initiatives during this time.
May's meeting brought us to the beautifully-restored Landmarks Center, Indiana Landmarks' new home. This meeting produced the genesis of hosting a free Mayoral Forum on urban neighborhoods, quality of life and downtown redevelopment. Ultimately, Mayoral Candidate Melina Kennedy presented her vision for Indianapolis regarding neighborhood economic development, education and public safety at a free city-wide Forum. More than 70 attendees took advantage of this interactive forum to educate themselves on Mrs. Kennedy viewpoints on the issues facing our community.
Our August quarterly meeting featured comments from Nelson Price, author, journalist, historian and radio host of "Hoosier History Live!" the nation's only live radio show about a state's history. Nelson spoke about the many of Indy's historic neighborhoods which he has featured over the years.
August also featured an informal brown bag lunchtime discussion with City representatives coordinating the Abandon Housing Demolition Initiative including DMD's Demolition Project Manager, Health & Hospital's Unsafe Building Program Manager and a Rebuild Indy representative. The goal of the meeting was to gain a better understanding of how the process works as well as to discuss creative suggestions beyond demolition that might save the City money while bringing these derelict properties up to code. Indiana Landmarks, created a special task force to continue conversations about a variety of tools and strategies available to the City beyond demolition and deconstruction.
The Demolition Initiative, coined Re-build Indy, continued as the focal point of HUNI's final quarterly meeting in November 2011. HUNI President Lorraine Phillips Vavul lead discussions outlining the pros and cons of using demolition and deconstruction to address the City's complicated abandon housing issues. Mark Dollase, Indiana Landmarks VP of Preservation Services, discussed the strategic formation of an Abandon Housing Task force by Landmarks to work with city leaders on new strategies to minimize the unnecessary loss of properties which could be saved from the wrecking ball.
The last third of each quarterly meeting was dedicated to HUNI representative updates on what's going on in his or her respective neighborhoods.
In 2012 HUNI will continue to advocate for the preservation, revitalization and interests of Indianapolis' historic urban neighborhoods.