New housing on West 7th Street, near Ray's house.
While there are many 'big picture' activities that are beginning to take shape a year after my friend, neighbor, and Plainfield City Council President Ray Blanco's untimely death, there is one smaller and closer to home that I think would please Ray and make him smile...and splutter.
For years, a tract on West 7th Street just down the block from Ray's house that had been slated for residential development sat vacant and overgrown with weeds behind a chain link fence.
Not exactly attractive. And this throughout the housing boom.
A year later, construction is well under way for a very pleasant and upscale-looking cluster of single family homes massed to look like a couple of mansions.
Unlike the previous vision for this development property, there are no outlets onto busy West Seventh Street. Thank God! The units facing in that direction present pleasant and attractive (if a bit high from the street) front facades, with steps down to the sidewalk.
All the access from the new complex is from a private drive that bisects the property and enters Spooner Avenue. Across from Ray's driveway.
I can hear him spluttering now, rushing to a meeting, maybe even uttering an expletive or two, as he waits in HIS driveway for the traffic to empty out of the new development's driveway before he can hit a left and make his getaway.
But he would still be happy the project was finished.
And that would make him smile.
Remembrances and reflections on Ray's life and contributions --
- Plaintalker - July 29, 2006: "Remembering Ray Blanco"
- Plaintalker - August 1, 2006: "Chad Remembers Ray Blanco" -- Courier reporter Chad Wiehrauch.
- Plainfield Today - July 29, 2006: "Council President Ray Blanco Dies"
- Plainfield Today - August 6, 2006: "Ray Blanco - A Remembrance"
-- Dan Damon
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