A way to lend small amounts of capital, Neighbor to Neighbor.
A group has been formed on Prosper.com to provide capital for small businesses on the near-eastside (NESCO's Boundaries).

The money comes from people on the near-eastside who are willing to invest small amounts ($50-100 is typical). When enough lenders have committed their funds, the loan is underwritten.

For more information, see the enclosed flier.

Micro-Loan_Flier.pdf

A series of articles about ways that we can reduce energy consumption, save money and reduce the impact on the environment.

There are many features of our neighborhood that help it to stand-out, that make it special and make our homes potentially more desirable and marketable. A priority this year will be to bring more attention to how well our neighborhood lends itself to being “Green”.

To highlight the green nature of our neighborhood, we will feature a series of articles in the newsletter and website about energy saving products, materials and other ways that we can reduce energy consumption, save money and reduce the impact on the environment. This fall, we hope to have an open house to show off at least some of these energy saving products and techniques.

~See: Emerson Heights - A Green Neighborhood~

Emerson Heights is fortunate to be served by a variety of good schools with a proven track record of academic performance. Parents can choose from a menu of schools that offer innovative teaching styles, extended school days, enhanced art and music programs, focused curriculum and an emphasis on leadership and values—just to name a few of the possible options. Because these schools vary greatly in their teaching styles and emphasis, parents are encouraged to visit and learn about these schools in order to find the best fit for their child. Several of these schools are located very near the neighborhood.

Some of the school choices include:

More...

877-GET-HOPE is a toll-free confidential help-line that is available 8 a.m. to 8 p.m daily, at no cost to the consumer. Whenever possible, counselors assist homeowners over the phone. If more extensive assistance is needed, the counselor refers the homeowner to a certified foreclosure intervention specialist.

The Web site http://www.877GetHope.org , is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Our neighborhoods, including Emerson Heights, Little Flower and Irvington have done a significant amount of work to replace trees in the neighborhood. Tree plantings have been done with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. and supported by volunteers.

Here is some excellent technical information about urban tree planting and preserving trees during development.
The documents are produced by the US Forestry Service and are very high quality.

Urban Tree Planting Guide

Urban Tree Risk Management

Urban Watershed and Conserving and Planting Trees

A new Noise Ordinance for Indianapolis was signed into law in Feb of 2006.


What do boom cars, fireworks, children playing and cell phone conversations all have in common? According to the Revised Noise Ordinance for the City of Indianapolis (Article III, Section 391-301-303), given the time of day and environment, they are all examples of unreasonable noise. Fines for unreasonable noise are $50 for the first offense, $250 for the second, and $500 for the third (within a 12-month period). Additionally, the ticket can be issued to the property owner.

But, before you start thinking that the City of Indianapolis has gone too far in regulating “children playing” or controlling the use of your cell-phone (or free speech for that matter), consider what the new ordinance says. Rather than using a device that measures decibels to determine what is noise, the city has now defined Unreasonable Noise as:

“Sound that is of a volume, frequency, or pattern that prohibits, disrupts, injures, or endangers the health, safety, welfare, prosperity, comfort, or repose of reasonable persons of ordinary sensitivities within the city, given the time of day and environment in which the sound is made.”

And, there are no intentions of limiting First Amendment Free Speech rights because the ordinance states:

“That the sole intent of the provisions of this chapter is declared to be, as a matter of legislative determination for this declaration of public policy, to secure and promote the health, safety, welfare, prosperity, comfort, and repose of persons in this city by reducing unreasonable noise, and a determination of violation of this chapter may not be based on the content of any message conveyed during the creation of any noise or the identity of any person responsible for or associated with the creation of any noise.”


Unreasonable noise can occur 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unreasonable noise can be from sources such as car horns, loud stereos or radios, people yelling or screaming, and vendor’s vehicles (ice cream trucks). Below is a digest you can print out to place on your refrigerator.

If you experience unreasonable noise, ask the offender(s) to either turn the noise down or stop the noise. If they do not comply, call the police non-emergency number at 327-3811. According to Sheriff Frank Anderson “the law is the law.” Therefore, if a responding officer tells you that it is not worth their time to ticket a $50 offense, you may ask him if he would give the same response if Sheriff Anderson were calling. You may also ask the officer how he knows that the offender doesn’t already have the $50 ticket. The price of the first ticket may be only $50, but for neighborhoods and communities---well, you’ve HEARD it before, the ticket is priceless.

Below are copies of the Indianapolis Noise Ordinance and a handy digest:

Prop_50_approved_2-13-06.doc

Noise_Digest.pdf

Here is some basic information about the Eastside HOTIF and the Eastside Redevelopment Area

Neareastside_HOTIF_FAQs.pdf

HoTIF_description.pdf

NESCO-Redev-HoTIF_map.pdf

More information is available from:

Joe Bowling
Community Builder
Great Indy Neighborhoods Initiative
http://www.greatindyneighborhoods.org
2236 E. 10th St.
Indianapolis, IN 46201
P: 317.633.8210, 2357
C: 317.496-2662
F: 317.633.3006

Information regarding incorporation and tax-exempt status. At the March meeting, Sheila Jenkins, an attorney with the Community Organization Legal Assistance Project (COLAP), spoke to the residents about incorporating EHCO. Jenkins strongly recommends that EHCO incorporates in order to help protect the organization.

As Jenkins explained, if EHCO holds an event (such as the biannual clean-up) and someone gets injured, the members of EHCO can be sued. The members being sued could be anyone involved with the event, not just the officers. By incorporating, we can protect ourselves from possible lawsuits. By law, a corporation is treated as an individual, not a group of individuals. Therefore, any lawsuit would be against EHCO, not an individual.

One other reason for incorporation is that ECHO would be more likely to qualify for tax-exempt status. This is a status, specifically a 501(c)(3), that ECHO would eventually like to become. Tax-exempt status would allow ECHO to receive donations and the donor would be able to write the donation off on their taxes. With tax-exempt status, ECHO could make purchases without paying taxes.

Jenkins is willing to help EHCO complete and file all necessary paperwork at no cost to EHCO. The only other cost would be $30.00 to file the paperwork with the State of Indiana and $10.00 each year after to keep our incorporation status.

Click on the link below to view the information Jenkins passed out at the March meeting.

Should_Your_Organization_Incorporate.pdf


This file is in PDF format. To view a PDF file, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available free of charge at Adobe's website.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

Use the Emerson Heights brochure to help "sell" the neighborhood along with your house. This attractive brochure lets prospective buyers know about the good things that are happening in the neighborhood and why a home in Emerson Heights is a good investment.

Be sure to print it out and include it with other information about your home, such as the fact sheet that goes in the For Sale sign.

It prints on legal size paper in landscape format.

Emerson Heights brochure

Be patient, this is a large file (22 meg). You will need acrobat reader.