Neighborhood Association paints crosswalks in hopes of bridging community

“It’s kind of a creative way to brand the neighborhood so we got some funding that had been provided by a couple of different entities,” said President of Riverside/Normal City Association Jeff Eads.

Riverside/Normal City takes up a big part of the Muncie area. "We run from Bethel to Jackson then McKinley over to Wheeling avenue."

Eads explains the crosswalk is to bring the city together.

"We really want the neighborhood and the students around the campus to understand that they are a part of the neighborhood and a part of something unique and specific, " said Eads.

Graduate assistant, Derek Tulowitzky explains that the area is often misunderstood.

"We are the surrounding area of Ball State and often times the defining area is that's where the college students live," says Tulowitzky, "It's actually not true north street has a lot of professors as well as me, I wasn't a student I was just a twenty something guy, and it seemed like a cool place to go."

A lot of thought went into the location of the crosswalk.

"We chose this particular area because it's close to the Village and this is sort of a transition phase between what deem as the village and then more of the residents area," says Eads, "and so we thought that this would be could because, to let students know one, that this is actually a neighborhood."

Renters and homeowners often see each other in a bad light, and the riverside normal city association is hoping this will mend the gap.

"The two have always seemed to clash, at least with my time in Muncie. The rentals are more hoping, i would argue and the homeowners maybe want to be in bed a little later, so if we were able to bridge those gaps and let the students know that they are in our neighborhood and letting the homeowners know hey we as a neighborhood value these students."

The Riverside/Normal City Association plans to do regular maintenance on the crosswalks and also host a community painting party in the spring. 

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