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Dave Askins

Dave Askins

Bloomington, Indiana

Dave Askins is editor and publisher of The B Square Bulletin. A Hoosier native with a background in math and linguistics, he previously co-founded the Ann Arbor Chronicle with his wife, Mary Morgan.

Mapping tools released: Anyone can draw new Bloomington city council districts

Mapping tools released: Anyone can draw new Bloomington city council districts

Late last week, the MGGG Lab at Tufts University released a mapping tool that makes it easy for anyone to draw new boundaries for Bloomington’s city council districts. The release is part of a web-based redistricting resource the lab has developed, called Districtr. The Bloomington module of Districtr

Column: Should city lawmakers regulate employee parking rates or focus on legislating land use?

Column: Should city lawmakers regulate employee parking rates or focus on legislating land use?

Because it operates under Indiana state law, the city of Bloomington’s local government is divided along familiar lines—between legislative and executive branches. But when it comes to policy on parking prices for city hall employees, that division is not easy to discern. The distinction is hard to see,

Vacation of alleys for hospital site redevelopment gets yes from Bloomington council on second try

Vacation of alleys for hospital site redevelopment gets yes from Bloomington council on second try

At its meeting on Wednesday, Bloomington’s city council voted unanimously to vacate parts of two alleys in one of the blocks near the former site of the IU Health hospital. The request came from the Hamilton administration through the Bloomington redevelopment commission (RDC). The block in question is bounded

Bloomington city council decision on Johnson’s Creamery alley vacation to wait until June 15

Bloomington city council decision on Johnson’s Creamery alley vacation to wait until June 15

At its regular meeting on Wednesday (June 1), Bloomington’s city council postponed a vote on a request from Peerless Development to vacate an east-west alley that cuts across the parcel where the Johnson’s Creamery building sits. Vacating the alley means ceding to private ownership some land that

Column: Judge rules Bloomington plan commission violated Open Door Law, second lawsuit now filed

Column: Judge rules Bloomington plan commission violated Open Door Law, second lawsuit now filed

In a ruling issued on June 1, Monroe County circuit court judge Catherine Stafford found that Bloomington’s plan commission violated Indiana’s Open Door Law (ODL) with its March 14, 2022 meeting. The allegation that the meeting violated the electronic meetings section of the ODL was made in a

Possible mayoral run for Sandberg: Bloomington city council president forms exploratory committee

Possible mayoral run for Sandberg: Bloomington city council president forms exploratory committee

On Wednesday (June 1) a little before noon, Democrat Susan Sandberg filed paperwork with Monroe County to form an exploratory committee to run for mayor of the city of Bloomington in 2023. That means her campaign can accept financial contributions, but does not require that she eventually declare her candidacy

Tangled web: So-called “spider” TIF for Bloomington high-speed internet deal hits procedural snag

Tangled web: So-called “spider” TIF for Bloomington high-speed internet deal hits procedural snag

A 2–1 vote by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) on Tuesday night is now a procedural bump for a $50 million high-speed internet fiber deal between Bloomington and the Paris-based infrastructure firm Meridiam. Even though two out of three was a majority of RDC members who were