On Friday evening, the Bloomington Jazz Orchestra delivered an hour’s worth of music from the edge of the Monroe County Public Library’s parking lot in downtown Bloomington.
Bloomington Jazz Orchestra (Aug. 12, 2022)
I counted more than 50 people in the crowd. Many had brought lawn chairs because they’d seen the advertising for the event, while some had just stumbled across the free concert like I had.
If the parking lot had a roof, the 19-piece ensemble would have blown it off the place. Some people got out of their seats to dance.
I don’t know anything about music, especially not jazz music, but I can tell when musicians are good and when they’re not, and BJO is really good.
If you see BJO on a future event listing, mark your calendar to go.
The orchestra is led by Janis Stockhouse, who retired as Bloomington High School North’s band director in spring of 2019.
Attendance at Bloomington city council committee-of-the-whole meetings, chronological from left to right.Attendance at Bloomington city council work sessions, chronological from left to right.Percentage of votes at council meetings (regular and special sessions, not including committee-of-the-whole meetings) for which councilmembers were present. For this chart, abstentions are counted as present for the vote.
This past Wednesday, Bloomington’s city council failed to achieve a quorum for its committee-of-the-whole meeting.
For the nine-member council, a quorum is five. But only four councilmembers showed up: Susan Sandberg, Jim Sims, Dave Rollo, and Ron Smith.
In practical terms, the lack of a quorum just meant that the four councilmembers could not take an advisory vote on the one agenda item, which was the historic designation of the Bethel AME church.
The four councilmembers still heard the presentation from the city’s historic preservation program manager, and comments from the public.
The lack of quorum did not mean the church’s historic designation was delayed. That item will still appear on the city council’s Wednesday, Aug. 17 agenda, but without a committee recommendation.
But as Wednesday’s gathering was wrapping up, councilmember Jim Sims remarked on the lack of quorum.
He started by noting who else was in the room: “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I just got to say, we’ve got people from the public that have come here to share their voices, staff that is here to make a presentation. We’ve got a couple of historic preservation commissioners here.”
Sims added: “I personally think it’s a bit of a disservice that we don’t have at least five people here on this council as a quorum to conduct proper business.”
In a Thursday news release, Bloomington police reported that a 23-year-old man, described as a “transient,” has been arrested in connection with the July 27 shooting death of a Kinser Flats resident on the city’s north side.
The news release says that Kendrick Q. Webb was arrested in Melrose Park, Illinois, which is just west of Chicago, but still in Cook County.
Webb has been charged with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
It was Bloomington police detectives working with members of the United States Marshals Service who took Webb into custody without incident on Aug. 10 around 2:30 p.m., the news release says.
Webb was then taken to the Cook County jail, where he waits for transport to Monroe County.
Bloomington’s Bethel AME church looking east (Aug. 11, 2022).
Bloomington’s Bethel AME church looking northeast (Aug. 11, 2022)
From left: Councilmembers Susan Sandberg, Jim Sims, Dave Rollo, and Ron Smith. (Aug. 11, 2022)
Councilmember Jim Sims (Aug. 11, 2022).
Bethel AME congregation member Nancy Cross-Harris (Aug. 11, 2022).
HPC member Elizabeth Mitchell (Aug. 11, 2022).
Aerial image of Bloomington’s Bethel AME church looking east, from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
Bloomington’s Bethel AME church, which sits on the northeast corner of 7th and Rogers Street on the western edge of downtown, is set to receive historic designation from the city council at its meeting next Wednesday (Aug. 17).
The parsonage, which sits to the north of the church, will also receive a vote on its historic designation.
From left: Bloomington deputy mayor Don Griffin and Greater Bloomington Chamber president Eric Spoonmore address the Monroe County Council (Aug. 9, 2022)
Greater Bloomington Chamber president Eric Spoonmore addresses the Monroe County Council (Aug. 9, 2022)
County councilor Jennifer Crossley (Aug. 9, 2022)
View looking south from the top of the 4th Street parking garage of property that could be used for the convention center. The convention center is in the right of the frame.
While a lot of details remain to be worked out, Monroe County councilors appear receptive to the basic idea of transferring ownership of the county’s convention center and related properties to the city of Bloomington.
The city’s hoped-for timeline for getting the deal done is the end of September.
In a news release issued Tuesday afternoon, Bloomington police reported the outcome of their investigation into a crash on Saturday (Aug. 6), which took place at the intersection of SR 46 and the southbound entrance ramp to I-69, on the northwest edge of the city.
On Tuesday, police arrested Charity D. Hall, a 46-year-old Bloomington resident, as soon as she was released from the IU Health Bloomington hospital, where she had been taken for treatment of her crash-related injuries three days earlier.
According to the news release, Hall was taken taken to the Monroe County jail, and charged with several crimes: Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Death (level 4 felony); Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Catastrophic Injury (level 4 felony); Reckless Homicide (level 5 felony); Battery Against a Public Safety Official (level 6 felony); and Resisting Law Enforcement (class A misdemeanor).
Workers remove AT&T telecommunications gear from the historic Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. (Aug. 8, 2022)
Workers remove AT&T telecommunications gear from the historic Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. (Aug. 8, 2022)
Workers remove AT&T telecommunications gear from the historic Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. (Aug. 8, 2022)
Workers remove AT&T telecommunications gear from the historic Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. (Aug. 8, 2022)
Workers remove AT&T telecommunications gear from the historic Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. (Aug. 8, 2022)
The actual “H” in the word “Johnson’s”—which is spelled out in the brick on the Johnson’s Creamery historic smokestack, off 7th Street in downtown Bloomington—is now visible.
Until Monday, the letter had been obscured by some AT&T telecommunications equipment that was installed at the top of the smokestack. Two bars of the telecom gear had been colored white, as a stand-in for the “H” so that the name of the historic creamery was still legible.
On Monday morning, a crew from an AT&T contractor removed the telecommunications equipment from the top of the smokestack.
These shots are from the Monday morning (Aug. 8, 2022). It was perched on the courthouse weathervane, but flew off to the east, then looped back around to the southwest side of the square and landed on top of the Hyatt Place hotel building. It sat there for a couple minutes, surveying downtown Bloomington, before heading off north towards the Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. It did not land on top of the smokestack. Continue reading “Photos: Hawk checks in at Hyatt Place”→
At the time, just two patients at IU Health south central region hospitals had diagnoses for COVID-19.
On Friday, Shockney reported a total of 31 patients who were diagnosed with the virus at IU Health’s hospitals in Bloomington, Bedford and Paoli.
Shockney said, “Over the last 90 days, we have seen a continued increase in our inpatients.” He added, “With the workforce shortages across the state, and nation along with the highly complex care that our patients require, it’s difficult to provide care for all those who need it.”
The number of cases has remained pretty steady for the last three months and would qualify as “low” community spread under the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) categories.
Panorama of convention center looking to the southwest.
View of the convention center looking southwest from the top of the 4th Street parking garage.
The initial potential term sheet that has been floated by the city of Bloomington for the acquisition of the Monroe County convention center is now public.
The key points of the proposal include the transfer of the convention center at 3rd Street and College Avenue to the city of Bloomington—as well as other property that has been purchased by the county government with proceeds from the innkeeper’s tax.
The city wants to acquire the convention center, in order to purse an expansion of the facility independent of the county, because the joint venture between the two governments was stalled even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Under the terms, the county would also have to support an annual transfer from the county to Bloomington, or its property manager, the proceeds from the county’s 5-percent innkeeper’s tax. The tax is overseen by a five-member convention and visitors commission, which is appointed by county government. It’s the innkeeper’s tax that is used by the county to make the payments on the existing debt on the convention center.
As part of the term sheet, Bloomington would pay off the existing debt, which is about $2.5 million. The only other direct compensation for any real estate would be for property that the county has acquired using “non-convention center-dedicated funds.” That appears to be synonymous with “funds other than innkeeper’s tax revenue.”
