Ahead of decision on veto: June 16 meeting about Kirkwood to be hosted by Bloomington mayor

In a rare Saturday news release, Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson has announced she will be hosting an hour-long “community conversation” on Tuesday (June 16) about permanently closing Kirkwood Avenue to car traffic for seven months of the year.

The event is planned ahead of her decision about whether to veto an ordinance that was approved 5–4 by the city council this past Wednesday (June 10).

Under the ordinance, the first five blocks of Kirkwood, from Indiana Avenue to Walnut Street, will be closed to vehicular traffic from April 1 to November 15 each year. The ordinance has an effective date of April 21, 2027, so for next year, the closure is slated to begin on that date.

The closure Kirkwood has been an annual debate since 2020.

Councilmembers who supported the closure want to push the mayor to invest in programming and infrastructure to make a seasonally pedestrianized Kirkwood successful, as a step towards making it the shared street called for in the city’s transportation plan.

The planned event hosted by the mayor will take place in city council chambers on Tuesday (June 16) 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The format is supposed to be more informal than the three-minutes-at-the-mic format that’s familiar from city council meetings.

According to Bloomington’s communications director Desiree DeMolina, “The goal is for this to be an open but organized discussion where the Mayor and the community can converse and interact, rather than a traditional dais-and-microphone format with formal time and exchange limits.”

The city’s consultant for activation of Kirkwood Avenue is Talia Halliday, who owns two downtown businesses. After the council’s Wednesday vote, she posted a letter to her Facebook account that points to the practical considerations, including cost, of activating the street: “Activity must be intentionally planned, funded, staffed, marketed, executed, and maintained. As an example, I recently hosted a single three-hour event that activated just one block of Kirkwood. The total cost approached $7,000. Even at that scale, the event relied heavily on volunteers, community goodwill, and assistance from friends.”

For B Square coverage of the event Halliday cites, see: Kids on Kirkwood: Bloomington’s townie summer begins with block party for families

Halliday’s letter concludes: “I urge the City Council and Mayor Thomson to continue supporting temporary and strategic street closures for special events while rejecting the proposal for an extended seasonal closure.”

Under state law, Thomson has 10 days to either sign the ordinance or veto it within 10 days of its presentation to her by the city clerk. Presentation of an ordinance to the mayor generally takes a few days.

The mayor’s office confirmed to The B Square on Saturday morning that the ordinance has not yet been presented to the mayor for her signature. According to city clerk Nicole Bolden, she received the ordinance from the council on Friday, and expects to provide it to the mayor on Monday (June 15).

The city council has the power to override a veto with a two-thirds majority, which is six votes on the nine-member council. The override vote has to take place at the next meeting of the council after the 10-day window for the mayor’s action. The next regular meeting when the council could override a potential veto is set for July 22. A special meeting of the council could also be called before then, for the purpose of overriding a veto.

Council president Isak Asare voted in favor of the ordinance, along with councilmembers Matt Flaherty, Courtney Daily, Dave Rollo, and Kate Rosenbarger. Councilmembers Sydney Zulich, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Hopi Stosberg, and Andy Ruff dissented.

There is no legal requirement that a councilmember vote the same way on an override as on the original ordinance. A councilmember who opposed the ordinance could vote to override the veto, and vice versa.