I thought I would start a thread where people can post their suggestions for topics and guests they'd like to see at our monthly meetings.

Because Mel and I are relatively new homeowners, we're interested in any kind of home maintenance and repair topics including landscaping and gardening issues. We very much strive to be as environmentally conscious as possible, so we're interested in green approaches as much as possible.

Some topics I'm interested in include:
Backyard composting
Recycling (especially of cardboard, plastics 4 through 6, etc)
Green roofing

I'd also like to see somebody do a presentation on the area schools that are available to us.

Re. Monthly Meeting Topic Ideas

I am an avid tree hugger and share your environmental concerns. I am also concerned and appalled that Indianapolis was recently listed as being in the top 10 worst air pollution metropolitan areas in the US and that Indiana is among the 5 top polluting states due to electrical power generation emissions. While the city/county is not responsible for the state, I see an ugly trend in these two dubious distinctions so ...

1.) I would very much like to have someone from the City/County attend our meeting to inform the association as to whether there are efforts aimed at improving air quality and, if so, what specific steps are in the plan and what is the time frame for implementing the steps.

2.) What recourse do the residents have to notify the city/county when the air quality is bad. I have at numerous times used the ''Mayors Action Line'' and have had no response past logging my call or follow up to this venue so I am looking for ''the next step''.

If we are to attract and retain the type of people to our neighborhood then the quality of the physical environment has to be addressed.