• You know that latest Star Wars movie has a local connection? Adam Driver, the actor who plays villain Kylo Ren, attended the University of Indianapolis for a year before transferring to Juilliard.
• Thank you to organizer Paula Schmidt, Sue Beecher, all the volunteers, and homeowners who participated in the biggest Irvington Luminaria to date! It was dazzling to see the wonderful lights, plus all the cyclists tooling through the neighborhood, and the fantastic music pouring out of the Coal Yard. Once again, east side neighborhoods come together and prove to the rest of the city that east side is the BEST side of town!
• INDOT will be tracking Santa on their Facebook pages. Kids should get their parent’s permission before tuning in to www.facebook.com/INDOTEastCentral to see the Jolly One make his Hoosier rounds!
• The first phase of the Oxford Place development is Oxford Place Senior Apartments, a 32-unit building on the former Crown Laundry site. An aggregate pier foundation was installed in late November, and concrete footers are currently being poured, so the footprint of the entire building is now visible on the site. Construction will continue through the winter, and anticipated to be complete by fall 2016. This projected is being developed by Englewood Community Development Corporation and The Whitsett Group. Oxford Flats, a 15-unit building on the first block of N. Oxford, is still with the architects for finalized construction drawings, and will break ground in early spring.
• Perry Township School’s Clinton Young became the only elementary school in the state, out of 341 entries, to win a $10,000 prize from Donors Choose and Code.org. The check was presented during an assembly December 15th. The grant encourages science and technology, specifically the use of coding in schools. Code sponsors one $10,000 award in each state to promote the event called “Hour of Code.” The money will be used to purchase computer equipment and accessories such as 3D printers and robotic equipment that students can program with lines of code.
• As the year draws to a close, the Weekly View would like to thank all of our readers, columnists, contributors, carriers, and advertisers for another successful year! Every week, we receive calls and e-mails from folks who enjoy reading our community newspaper and find it informative and entertaining. In fact, our readership is growing quite a bit in Broad Ripple and the northern edge of our distribution area, and remains very strong on the near eastside, Irvington, Beech Grove, and in Cumberland and Greenfield. We appreciate the continued support of everyone, and are looking forward to an even better and brighter 2016!
Our office will be closed Dec. 25-Jan. 1 so we can take a little time off to be with our family and friends (and rest up for what is sure to be a busy New Year).