Buying In

How We Went From Renting to Owning in Green Acres
By Kevin Polk

When Kimberly and I started visiting homes for sale in Bloomington two years ago, we looked briefly at Green Acres. We liked the idea of living within walking distance to IU and a short bicycle ride from the library, the farmer's market and downtown. We also liked the schools that served the neighborhood.

However, we didn't like the noisy rentals or the IU traffic that cut the heart of Green Acres into a harrowing warren of speedways twice a day. We saw a few clumps of houses that still looked settled and inviting to families. But they all lay practically on top of the Bypass. So our search soon turned elsewhere.

We were both ready to set down roots. We had lived in eight states. We had become experts at holding garage sales, packing, shipping and postal regulations. Now we wanted to plant a garden and raise pets and children. We wanted anything but a sterile, anonymous apartment life.

In the spring of 2006, I completed a permaculture course. For a final project, I worked with Green Acres residents Ann Kreilkamp and Sylvia Van Bruggen to establish a neighborhood plan. Their enthusiasm was infectious, so we looked into the neighborhood again. When we realized we weren't quite ready to buy, a nice rental turned up on 8th street.

Our year on 8th street went much better than our time in various commuter apartments. Kimberly enjoyed her daily walks to IU through all four seasons. I took the GOES and Habitat Stewards courses and kept a low profile with my sustainable gardening activities at first. But I eventually observed that among the five houses on the block, there were already four organic gardens, an orchard, two or three compost piles, two backyard wildlife habitats, a greenhouse and a passive solar home. Neighbors started turning up at permaculture events.

As we became involved with GANA events and the Neighborhood Plan, it gradually dawned on us what a gem this place was. Residents of four and five decades missed the days when children playing in the streets and yards bound the community together. These elders especially seemed to appreciate efforts to recapture a lost sense of place through neighborhood events, signs, rain gardens and traffic calming. Since many had seen so much of the world used up in their lifetimes, they also encouraged all efforts to make Green Acres a sustainable village. Our landlords seemed delighted with our straw mulches, native plantings, leaf mold bins and tiny vegetable plot, having done plenty of organic gardening when they lived on the property long ago.

When we began to look for a house in spring of 2007, we focused on Green Acres. Yes, it was noisy and carved by traffic. But young families were starting to move in. The neighborhood plan was complete and GANA was full of energy. We looked beyond what the neighborhood was, to what it was becoming again.

We finally bought a house on Edwards Row. In July, while hauling boxes and furniture, we realized that this was our first move to a place where we already knew people. One of Kimberly's colleagues had lived in our house for 28 years. Our neighbor Stan two doors up told us about seeing our house built fifty years ago, on an open field at the edge of town.

The house has plenty of yard space and an unshaded south-facing roof. We've begun a program of energy upgrades which we hope will culminate in geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels on the roof. The neighboring yards sport plenty of native and edible plants. We have begun planting trees, flowers and salad greens in the yard. They seem to be setting down roots. So are we.

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HT Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

On Monday Oct. 24, a house near mine was demolished.
Signs on every window and door read: "The State of
Indiana, in cooperation with the Federal Government,
has purchased this property. All trespassers will be
prosecuted."

Green Acres neighborhood, bordering the 45/46 bypass,
has been warned that the already noisy, noxious,
dangerous highway is to become four lanes, so several
houses need removed. Road construction won't begin
until 2007, so why do this now, with no warning? It
was a handsome house in good shape. People could've
lived there. It could've been subsidized housing, or a
badly-needed community meeting space. Instead, it's a
limbo-lot awaiting some mythical highway project that
no one here wants.

Nevertheless, if the usable house had to be destroyed,
the usable materials could've been salvaged.
Bloomington has many skilled, eco-conscious builders,
the Habitat for Humanity Re-store, the recycling
center, and other folks and organizations who would
have been interested in re-using the materials. Were
they contacted?

Every attempt ought to be made to salvage materials.
Nothing was spared. Every double-paned window smashed
to bits, every tub, sink and light fixture crunched to
powder, every piece of lumber splintered to waste.
Wanton waste. Making way for future waste.

Nathan Harman

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In my own backyard

The following letter has appeared in the HT and the Bloomington Alternative...

In my own backyard
January 15, 2006

by Millie Jackson

Out my window on Oct. 24, I witnessed the day-long destruction of a house in my beautiful neighborhood of Green Acres (the neighborhood immediately east of the IU campus and west of the 45-46 Bypass between Third and 10th Streets).

The house had been purchased by the State of Indiana for the 45-46 Bypass expansion – an expansion that continues to be delayed and is years away from happening. Given the reality of imminent Peak Oil and the financial instability of the State of Indiana, I wonder if this project will ever come to fruition.

With that in mind, it was particularly disheartening to see decks, sinks, woodwork, insulation, pipes, etc., crumbled and loaded into dumpsters – usable items destroyed in a matter of minutes.

I watched in amazement as dust and debris filled the air. I closed all my windows and decided to delay my yard work to avoid exposing myself to the obviously unhealthy air.

Throughout the day, there were a variety of workers around the site – not one wearing a mask. I was shocked. I thought masks would have been mandatory for exposure to this kind of destruction. But I also thought that removing all usable items from the house before destroying it would have been required. The unnecessary waste and lack of common sense that I witnessed was upsetting.

***

In all fairness, I should let you know that I was still beaming that fall day from attending the Simply Living Fair in September and the Bioneers conference in October. Both events filled me with hope and inspiration in regard to a sustainable future for Bloomington.

Just the fact that these events are available to the Bloomington community is encouraging to me. For only $16, I attended a total of eight workshops over the weekend of the Simply Living Fair, as well as the informative and sobering keynote address regarding Peak Oil.

The Bioneers conference was totally free. I experienced three days packed with amazing speakers, workshops, and keynote addresses about innovative and resourceful solutions for a sustainable future. Attendance was surprisingly low, which baffled me. What does it take to get people more involved?

***

Well, it took witnessing wasteful destruction literally in my own backyard to get me more involved. Encouraged by members of my neighborhood association, I wrote a letter to the editor – the first time in my life – regarding what I witnessed.

Perhaps my disillusionment surrounding the destruction of the house lies primarily with my own lethargy prior to the event. I knew the house had been purchased by the State. I knew that the family that was living there had moved out. I assumed it would not be torn down without usable items being removed first.

I assumed that “someone else” was looking into how the house could be used – perhaps someone who owns a home in Green Acres, since I am “just” a renter.

Then there were my afterthoughts. How many more years could a family have lived in that house? Could an organization like Habitat for Humanity been allowed to remove usable items prior to the destruction? Could our neighborhood association have taken over maintenance of the property and used it as a community center?

The now-empty lot and additional traffic noise and headlights that were once blocked by that house are painful reminders for me of where inaction gets us. My thoughts about possible uses for the house came only after it was gone. I made a lot of assumptions and had justifications for my inaction.

I care deeply and am concerned about what is happening in the world. I recognize that we are entering a time of great crisis in regard to the depletion and destruction of our natural resources. Life as we know it is going to change dramatically in my lifetime – it is unfolding all around us.

Yet, I still had done so very little to make a difference up to this point. I sometimes find myself wondering if it really is “too late” for us to actually accomplish a sustainable future.

I want to believe that it is not too late. I find comfort in knowing that the wasteful destruction of that house awakened the activist in me. Silence does not serve us, and it certainly does not make problems go away – it makes valuable resources go away.

Millie Jackson can be reached at miljackson@sbcglobal.net.

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