Jimmy Fitzner
Contributor

Growing up at 9th & Elmwood, my family never knew the neighborhood by any name other than “Northeast”. I went to James Elementary, in the Northeast. I played baseball at Whatsoever Community Center, in the Northeast. My first job was at Westlake Ace Hardware on Independence Ave. When my wife and I bought our first home near Super Flea in 2004, we learned that we now lived in North Indian Mound; the hardware store is in Sheffield; Whatsoever sits on the border of Sheffield and East Blue Valley; as it turns out I had grown up in Lykins.

These separate identities make a lot of sense given our density, geographic size, and architectural diversity, but it always felt like one Northeast to me. My friends in Scarritt Renaissance, Independence Plaza, Columbus Park, and Pendleton Heights also feel that connection; they sense the difference when venturing out, and the feeling of coming back home. In any number of ways, it’s just a little different here. A place with a palpable charm and an unmistakable grit. “Northeast” is a shared identity that is older than any of us and will outlive all of us. 

After our second child arrived in 2019, I found myself asking: what does my family owe our community? What does my community owe my family? How can I help improve the things I can no longer accept or ignore? How do I let the rest of the world know that we deserve nice things too? Strangely, it was each individual neighborhood association, which established identities in their own right, that provided answers. In my area, the Indian Mound Neighborhood Association (IMNA) was fixing up abandoned homes on my block, putting on events at our parks, and protesting to save our elementary schools. I began attending our monthly meetings and eventually volunteered to sit on their board. As the current president, I see many challenges ahead but also the clear difference we can make by utilizing the tools available to us.

We meet neighbors, discuss housing, talk about what it feels like to bike at night on Cliff Drive or walk our kids to school in the morning. You might see us hosting a pumpkin patch or picking up trash. We try not to take ourselves so seriously, and yet City councilpeople want our opinion; nonprofits seek our letters of support; our projects win grant money worth tens of thousands of dollars; judges grant us temporary possession of abandoned homes while we match the home with a rehabber (who often becomes a new neighbor through Legal Aid’s “Urban Homesteader” Program). Like it or not, there is a certain level of power held by your neighborhood group. My ask is that you step forward and seize it!

Speaking with other neighborhood leaders across Northeast, they are also concerned about how to involve more of their neighbors. Additionally, they agree on the importance of a shared identity and I’m proud of our growing relationship with other neighborhood associations across Northeast and beyond. There were times we worked in siloes but I believe that time has passed, at least for now. Northeast neighborhoods have each other’s backs: either through amplifying our shared assets (like our beautiful parks) or by working together to solve our commonly held challenges (like reversing the trend of demolished homes and vacant buildings or being maligned as a dangerous “services district”).

Multi-neighborhood solidarity with one another is only possible when we have the support of our greatest asset: the people who live here. All of our neighborhood organizations need more volunteers to give feedback, fill secretary or treasurer positions, or get their hands dirty at a clean up. You might not even realize how big an asset you are to your community. For instance, at IMNA meetings we have too few Spanish speakers, young people, or people that grew up here. That said, everyone has a skill and everyone is welcome! You don’t have to know anything about being a “neighborhood leader” to jump in and help.

My second term as president of IMNA will end in July of 2027 and I will voluntarily roll off our board; new neighbors will need to step up and take the reins. For my part, I will guide our current board to continue the good work of past volunteers, while planting some seeds of our own.

Our neighborhood organizations aren’t the only way to create community, of course. Hosting a neighborhood potluck, attending a religious service, volunteering at your child’s school, or just being that porch-sitting neighbor who says Hello are some of the many ways I see us maintaining community. However, important decisions are being made without many of you. Do you feel confident that these decisions are being made in your family’s best interest?

Don’t sell yourself short; find out which Northeast neighborhood you’re in, attend the neighborhood meeting, and listen. You might like what you hear and think “I can help with that”. Or maybe you won’t like what you hear and think “we can do better”. Either way, we could all use a hand maintaining this wonderful and unique group of neighborhoods we call Northeast.

Send us an email at president.imna@gmail.com if you’re ready to tap in.

In Community,

Jimmy Fitzner President,
Indian Mound Neighborhood Association