Activist celebrates 1-month stay in tree

Tracy "Dolphin" McNeely has spent an entire month without the comforts of a solid roof, electricity or plumbing. In that time, she's braved blowing rains, intensely humid heat and even a snowfall.\nMcNeely celebrated her one-month anniversary Sunday in a Brown's Woods tree. Despite the elemental exposure and increasing negativity from developers and the landowner, the 19-year-old environmentalist said her commitment is unwavering.\n"I'm still feeling 100 percent willing to stay up here, and I doubt that's going to change," she said. "It's getting harder and harder by the day, but I also find more things by the day to keep myself going and keep my spirits up."\nIn her abundant free time, McNeely said, she enjoys reading, doing crossword puzzles and using a two-way radio to talk with "ground support."\n"Ground support," as McNeely refers to the family-and-friends unit that keeps vigil around the clock at the base of her tree, has acted as McNeely's primary lifeline and communication with the outside world.\nThe group keeps a quiet camp around McNeely's new home, with the McNeely family dogs greeting visitors with sloppy kisses and wrestling playfully in fallen leaves.\n"We've had lots of people, especially in the first couple weeks," Donna McNeely, McNeely's mother, said. "Weekends tend to be real busy."\nDonna estimated that more than 800 people have come to visit McNeely and offer their support. More than 600 have offered their signatures to petitions calling for the preservation of Brown's Woods.\nBut Jeff Kittle, vice president of Indianapolis-based developer Herman and Associates, said the project will continue despite the protest.\n"Our position is to close on this piece of land in the next 60 days and start construction," Kittle said. "There's a strong need in Bloomington for affordable housing."\nKittle said the land is not environmentally sensitive, contending it's simply a privately owned piece of land and that the construction of the housing complex will create a tax base and jobs for Bloomington and Monroe County citizens.\nActivists and Herman and Associates have their eyes on the May 8 Monroe County Council meeting, in which the council will determine whether to release a $13.5 million tax bond to Herman and Associates.\n"The project has private activity tax-exempt bonds, and there needs to be approval from the issuers, Monroe County," Kittle said.\nKittle said the process of approving these bonds has been underway for almost a year and was unanimously approved by the Economic Development Commission.\nDespite the looming reality of construction, the protesters, said they remain optimistic.\n"I think (the first month) has been very successful," Donna McNeely said. "I think tree sitting is now a household phrase in Bloomington. I think urban sprawl has been on the front page, and people have been up in arms about that for a long time."\nDespite having living quarters not much larger than the inside of a dumpster, McNeely has stuffed her perch from edge to edge with necessities from food, water and propane to luxuries including a coffee maker, books and a megaphone. The megaphone was donated after her voice became hoarse from shouting her messages down to the rest of the world. And she's willing to keep sitting, shouting or whatever it takes to keep Brown's Woods intact.\n"It's time to get out and explore," McNeely said. "Explore the green spaces that are around -- in your own neighborhoods, around IU. Just take in everything the forest has to offer"