Moving In - Preparing Part One

Today is Wednesday and we have gotten notice that our furniture has made it to the U-box center in Indianapolis, Indiana. When we arrived I began planning for the arrival of our furniture. I check with U-box in Indianapolis to check in and give them our phone number, I called the condominium management company to check on the arrangements for move in, I wandered the streets surrounding the condo building to find the best spot to place the pods, and I arranged for some strong, silent men to assist in the move.

U-box has been good in notifying me when the pods actually arrived. However it would be nice if they had a method similar to FEDEX to track the location of the boxes. Maybe it is there, but I didn't find it. Liz was worried since we were coming the the end of our clean underwear, and we had underestimated the need for blankets on our bed. It turns out that what was sufficient in Raleigh is not sufficient in Indianapolis.

The condo management group has been helpful in letting me know about what I needed to do to prepare for the move in: notifying them 24 hours in advance of the date so they could protect the walls of the elevator. In addition I have purchase sticky plastic film to protect the hallway carpet from damage as we track through the snow into the building.

I wandered the streets: the block of E. Ohio Street immediately in front of the building with parking meters, the block of N. Cleveland Street (which we overlook and provides the most direct entry into the building) lined with large no parking signs on both sides of the street and has 5'wide sidewalks, Miami Street immediately behind the building with the building dumpster (in reality an alley), and East Street closing the rectangle with parking not in a traffic lane, unmetered and rarely empty. The parking lot is immediately below the building but has low clearances typical of such structures. Given these conditions, I began to think that I needed to contact the city about "permits".

Finally I logged into the U-haul movers site and found a list of available moving assistance companies. I chose the one at the top of the list SILENT HOOSIER MOVERS. Not taking a clue from their name, after booking them I attempted to call them and was connected to a hearing impared interpreter. My fault, the arrangements appear to be moving ahead smoothly.

So, last Thursday I talked to U-haul, and the condo management team about the potential permit that might been needed. They knew nothing. I called the Mayor's help line and a young woman said she would call me back. I heard nothing through yesterday afternoon when I called back at 4:48PM on a snowy day (more about that later). She was able to give me an answer which lead me to visit the Department of Code Enforcement today at noon (because of budgetary restrictions, they are open to the public on Wednesday from noon to five). I got there promptly at noon, explained my situation to the person at the information desk. He informed me that yes I would need a permit and needed to visit the Right Of Way enforcement officer. Again the lady was most helpful, pointing out which form I needed to fill out, providing me with a pen, and assisting me with filling it out. She even called the enforcement officer and got additional information from him. I could not use Cleveland Street sidewalks....something about the weight of the pods and it was suggested that I use the metered space on E. Ohio Street. I was given instructions to find the metered spaces I needed (a minimum of four), record the meter number EO-####, arrange for lighted traffic barrels, and return with the completed form, and $$$ (they do accept credit cards). And I would need to do this quickly since Indianapolis Police or Parking Enforcement would need to hood the meters in advance. I asked where to get lighted parking barrels (I had images of the sculptures from Hillsbrough Street, and Cameron Village) they said they could not make a recommendation but handed me a yellow pages and told me the index to look up (Traffic Control). Oh and this was especially expensive since we live in the Regional Center (downtown business district).

I then had the bright idea to call the U-box lady in Indianapolis to see if they had lighted barrels I could rent. They did not, but came up with an alternative. I rent a 26' U-haul truck, load it from the U-boxes, drive to E. Ohio Street, park in two of the metered spaces (send Liz to the bank to get rolls of quarters to feed the meters), and unload the truck. The rental of the truck is offset by not having to deliver the pods. I think the problem is solved and will report back tomorrow.

More about the weather. We have had snow for the past several days...not heavy but 4-5 inches with some light wind....and cold!!! 22 is the predicted high tomorrow.