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News and Events  Please join your neighbors and friends at THE BRAG COMMUNITY GALA: Celebrating Five Years of Success. September 30 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the beautiful gallery at Community Hospital NorthMusic - Silent and Live Auction – Food and Drink. >> See our Invitation >> Purchase tickets online Brooke Billingsley is the featured speaker for the Tuesday October 19 BRAG Leaders Luncheon at George's Neighborhood Bar and Grill at 11:30 pm. Brooke is the Vice President of Perception Strategies, an Indianapolis -based customer service firm. She is the author of "Turn Your Customer On", a national best seller about customer service. She also places mystery shoppers in the healthcare industry. Brooke has been featured on Good Morning America, in the Wall Street Journal, and several national healthcare publications. Don't miss this outstanding public speaker who will entertain you while sharing solutions to customer service challenges and mystery shopper secrets in the healthcare industry. Be sure to attend this quarterly networking lunch by registering with Kas Vargo at kasvargo@gmail.com. Luncheon fee is $15.00. BRAG has added to new features to the website. The first is a Promotions page that will feature current offers from area business members. Promotions will directly benefit area residents and businesses, and provide financial support to BRAG. The other new feature is found on the Our Members page. Local realtors have joined with BRAG in a Realtor Partnership Program. Realtors have found that the wonderful improvements in the neighborhood have been a significant sales tool. If you are interested in either one of these new features, please contact our Development Director, Alison McConnell, at Alison@binford71.org or 522-6418. On June 7th our city council members, Michael McQuillen, Ginny Cain and Christine Scales invited the BRAG Board to the City Council meeting to be recognized by a special resolution for "five years of service to the Binford area with efforts to grow and sustain the community." The board is humbled and deeply appreciates the recognition. Indy Connect: Central Indiana’s Transportation Initiative Indy Connect is a collaboration between the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority (CIRTA), and IndyGo to collect public comment on the transportation needs of Central Indiana. If you’re like most Central Indiana residents, transportation is one of the most important parts of your daily life. It’s so much more than how you get around town. It’s how you get where you want to be. That’s why Indy Connect, Central Indiana’s Transportation Initiative, is seeking your ideas, comments and direction on how improved transportation options could change the way you live and get around the region. This Web site takes you through a preliminary draft plan and helps you imagine how a regional transportation system might look. So take a look around. Use the www.indyconnect.org/ web site to travel virtually along the proposed routes and learn about the various types of transportation and how they could work together to form a more livable, vibrant and sustainable region. Check out the terrific video on the website. Then let us know where you think we should go from here by attending the meeting at Eastwood Middle School. BRAG has a new Development Director, Alison McConnell, Alison@binford71.org. The Development Director position was established by the BRAG Board of Directors in order to sustain the long term viability of the BRAG organization. Please welcome Alison when she contacts you about ways you can support BRAG and improve our community. The Binford Farmers Market is now open for the season. Look for more details including vendors and special events at the Binford Farmers Market web site. The COMMUNITY GARDEN at Crestview Elementary needs your help. Donate your Time: sign up via email for updates on panting events and work days at kclary@mac.com. Donate Goods: We need hand tools (rakes, shovels, etc.) New or used scrap lumber would be deeply appreciated as well. Donate Money: for Curriculum materials and plant materials. Checks should be made out to Crestview Elementary School PFA-Garden Project (a 501c3 charitable donation.) Mail to:
See the results of the Binford Village Study here:
BRAG thanks Erik Vohs and Key Bank for the generous contribution of beverages and snacks to the Police Substation.
Kroger management and staff, local dignitaries and neighbors gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the new Kroger store at 71st and Binford on January 28th. Kroger Central Division President Bob Moeder noted, "We are very proud of Unit Manager Steve McGhee and his team. Today we celebrate not just the grand opening of our 47th central Indiana Kroger store, but the talent and dedication of associates who worked very hard to prepare this store for our customers. This new store is a demonstration of the outstanding teamwork that makes Kroger Central Division a success story of economic investment and job creation in the midst of a very challenging national economy. Our real estate department set the tone for long-term, collaborative relationship with our friend, neighbor and landlord Donna Carr in building a deal that already is having a catalytic economic impact on this neighborhood. Donna has made her own economic and job creation investments in the adjacent center, magnifying the positive impact for this Northeast Indianapolis neighborhood. Our friends from BRAG have been very welcoming and helpful. They are exactly the kind of new neighbors all of us love to have. Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has become one of our most important community partners. We have deep respect and admiration for their effective, passionate protection of the environment Kroger’s associates and customers all share." BRAG held its annual meeting in the store and received a very generous contribution from Kroger. The store was open for neighbors to tour and sample the many products available from vendors.
Joe Komenda was honored by The Indianapolis Star with the prestigious Jefferson Award in March 2010. Joe was one of five community volunteers who received the 2010 honor for outstanding public service. The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public service in America. Founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard to create a Nobel Prize for public and community service, the Jefferson Awards are presented on national and local levels. Today, they serve as a "Call to Action for Volunteers" in local communities. In December 2008 Joe also received the Mayor’s Community Service Award that was created to recognize Indianapolis citizens for their volunteer contributions and commitments to community service. Mayor Greg Ballard honored MCS award recipients at a city event and a brick will be engraved with their names. The bricks are placed at the Mayor’s Volunteer Plaza at the 11th Street Admiral Spruance basin on the Canal.BRAG received a thank you letter from the Indianapolis chapter of the American Red Cross thanking us for collecting almost $1000 for Indiana Tornado and Flood Relief. This amount was collected at the Binford Farmers Market in the weeks following the floods and tornados this summer. Many thanks to all who contributed! MAJOR MOVES 465/69 Northeast Project Phase 1 of the project will be the renovation and expansion of I-465 from the Meridian Street interchange to just east of Keystone. Work on this phase will begin in 2012. In this first phase additional lanes will be constructed in I-465, and the bridges at College Avenue and Westfield will be reconstructed to provide for the added lanes and raise the clearance on I-465 to at least 16 feet. The Keystone interchange will be reconstructed into what is called a modified cloverleaf eliminating all of the left turn access to I-465. Phase 2 of the project will continue beyond Keystone to the 82nd Street Bridge. As with the first phase additional lanes will be added to I-465 and the interchange at Allisonville will be reconstructed Bridges at North River Road, White River and Allisonville will be reconstructed. The Allisonville interchange will be reconstructed to be a SUI, or an interchange like that at I-465 and Emerson Avenue on the south side. Phase 3 of the project will shift focus to I-69, just north of I-465 to a point about a half mile south of 96th Street. Additional travel lanes will be added. Phase 4 will include the reconstruction of the interchange at I-465, I-69 and Binford Boulevard. Travel lanes will also be added on I-465 from just east of 82nd Street to just north of Fall Creek Road. This project also includes the bridges over East 71st and 75th streets. See the website for full details: 465-69northeast.in.gov BRAG Recycles! Many recycling options are available for BRAG residents:
More recycling locations around the city. Neighborhood Liaisons are your direct link to the Indianapolis Mayor's office, as well as any city department and service.
TRIBUTE WITH TREES PROGRAM
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Thank you to all who met with us at Hillcrest Country Club for the BRAG Celebration on Thursday night, Nov. 19th, 2009. We had wonderful crowd of nearly 200 listening to a summary of our accomplishments and engaging in active discussion about the future of BRAG and the Binford neighborhood plans. 
The new Kroger store is now open at 71st and Binford! 
Joe Komenda , BRAG board member to create a residential Crime Watch program, including the National Night Out anti-crime event on the Northeastside.Copyright © Binford Redevelopment and Growth, Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved.
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