About Park Ridge East

Park Ridge East is a large, quiet neighborhood in Bloomington's east side located just off of East 3rd street, with entrances on East 3rd and the four-way stop at Smith Road and Morningside Drive. A well established neighborhood, its first houses were built in the early 60's. These houses sit on nice size lots surrounded by beautiful mature trees. Additionally, the neighborhood includes condominiums and apartments on Park Ridge Road as well as some duplexes on Smith Road. Many sidewalks are well used by the residents.

Park Ridge East is convenient to schools, shopping, and many recreational facilities. The schools listed for Park Ridge East through the Monroe County School Corporation are University Elementary, Tri-North Middle School and Bloomington High School North. Indiana University offers many opportunities for classes as well as bounteous events—many of which are free! There's plenty of local shopping in the area, including businesses that run along 3rd Street between Smith Road and Park Ridge Road. The College Mall is just minutes away, as well as several grocery stores. The neighborhood boasts a 4.5 acre city park that is equipped with tennis and basketball courts. There is a large playground with slides and swings, a softball field and a shelter house which we use for neighborhood picnics.

Park Ridge East was developed with Covenants Restriction and Limitations that run with the land. They are intended to protect the character of Park Ridge East and to maintain property values. The Park Ridge East Neighborhood Association (PRENA) was created to address issues, welcome new residents, and coordinate neighborhood activities.

"Oh Deer...."

(August, 2011)
For some in the neighborhood, deer have been (and continue to be) a real nuisance.  While lovely animals, they can lay ruin to a flower bed or vegetable garden in a matter of minutes.  The City of Bloomington has established a Deer Task Force to study what can be done to minimize the damage and allow us to live in harmony with the deer and other creatures we share our community with.  The task force has a website: http://bloomington.in.gov/deertaskforce and you are encouraged to visit the site.  One of our neighbors has been attending the task force meetings and would very much like to hear from any residents that have opinions concerning deer, especially in Park Ridge East.    If you have strong opinions, feel free to send them to parkridgeeast@gmail.com and we will see that she gets them.  You can read a memorandum the committee published after their November 2011 meeting here. The next meeting is Tuesday, 26 January 2012, in the Council Chambers in City Hall.

Speaking of wildlife...composting hints

In addition to deer, our proximity to the edge of Bloomington provides an abundance of other wildlife including racoons, groundhogs, chipmunks, squirrels and other rodents.  These animals can be attracted by improper composting.  We encourage everyone to compost, but do a bit of research before simply dumping your garbage in the garden!  One of the cardinal rules to avoid rats and other animals is to make sure that no meat products go into your compost pile.  If you still have problems (especially with racoons) just make sure you deeply cover all food scraps that you want to compost or have a separate closed container for food waste until the composting is well started! 

·