Indiana lawmakers talk mental health at Bloomington Chamber event

District 44 state senator Eric Koch. (Jan. 12, 2024)

District 40 state senator Shelli Yoder. (Jan. 12, 2024)

District 46 state representative Bob Heaton. (Jan. 12, 2024)

District 60 state representative Peggy Mayfield. (Jan. 12, 2024)

More than 100 people were assembled at The Mill at midday on Friday for the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Legislative Preview.

This year’s session of the Indiana legislature started on Jan. 8 and will wrap up by mid-March.

Friday’s crowd got to hear four Indiana state legislators answer a question posed by Bloomington’s new mayor Kerry Thomson—about mental health.

Thomson’s question, which she had written out on one of the cards distributed for that purpose, was read aloud by the Bloomington Chamber’s CEO, Eric Spoonmore:

The state is experiencing a mental health and substance use crisis. This cannot be addressed simply at the local level. What can be done about it at the state level, to ensure health care before criminal justice?

Taking a crack at the question in turn were the four state legislators who attended the event: Eric Koch (District 44 state senator), Shelli Yoder (District 40 state senator), Bob Heaton (District 46 state representative), and Peggy Mayfield (District 60 state representative).

Yoder is a Democrat. The other three are Republicans. Continue reading “Indiana lawmakers talk mental health at Bloomington Chamber event” →

Bloomington prevails in lawsuit filed by vendor over anti-white-supremacist protests at farmers market

On Wednesday, a U.S. District Court judge delivered a summary judgment in favor of Bloomington, in the lawsuit filed against the city, the mayor and two staff members, by the owners of Schooner Creek Farm (SCF).

Six protestors against Schooner Creek Farm, including one in a purple unicorn costume, were arrested on Nov. 9, 2019. None were charged.

The summary judgment means the case got a ruling without a trial. It also means the court agreed with Bloomington that there were no relevant disputes about the facts of the case, and that it could be decided just based on application of the law.

The court found that Bloomington did not violate the constitutional rights of SCF’s owners, as they had claimed. According to the city of Bloomington’s news release, which came late Friday, SCF’s owners have 30 days to file an appeal with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Schooner Creek Farm (SCF) was a Bloomington farmers market vendor during the 2019 season. SCF drew protests that year from local activists over its ties to white supremacist groups and views. On two occasions, protesters were arrested by Bloomington police, but charges were not filed.

The lawsuit claimed that the city had not enforced the market rules against the protesters in the same way it had enforced rules against SCF—which is a constitutional equal protections issue. SCF also claimed that its constitutional rights of free speech were infringed by the city’s response to the protests. Continue reading “Bloomington prevails in lawsuit filed by vendor over anti-white-supremacist protests at farmers market” →

For now, “free” parking in Bloomington’s new 4th Street garage, due to computer chip shortage

4th Street parking garage Bloomington, Indiana (Sept. 11, 2021)

Bloomington’s new 4th Street parking garage opened for use three weeks ago on Monday, Aug. 23.

The opening was announced in a release issued by the mayor’s office the previous week. It means the city hit its hoped-for opening date of August 2021.

The city has sold 370 monthly permits for the garage. Hourly parking will eventually be charged at 50 cents an hour.

But for now, it’s possible for visitors to downtown Bloomington to park without paying for a space in the new 4th Street garage.

That’s not because the city has adopted a philanthropic approach to parking garages. It’s due to a worldwide supply chain problem, according to the mayor’s office. The metering of time spent in the garage, as well as the customer service portal, run on technology that requires a computer chip from China, where it’s being manufactured.

As soon as the equipment arrives and is installed, the gates will go down, and daily parkers will start getting charged, according to the mayor’s office. Continue reading “For now, “free” parking in Bloomington’s new 4th Street garage, due to computer chip shortage” →

Column | Because sometimes it takes a village: Local diner says, “We need your help!”

Next Friday it looks like I will again be able to enjoy a breakfast of biscuits and gravy from Village Deli on Kirkwood Avenue.

A temporary shutdown was supposed to go through Sept. 1. There was no word as that date came and went, so speculation had tended towards permanent closure.

But in a Facebook post this past Friday morning, the diner announced an attempted re-opening on a limited basis starting Sept. 17.

According to the Facebook post, online orders only will be taken on Fridays, with full table service for “very limited seating” to be offered on Saturdays and Sundays.

The missing ingredient for a more ambitious re-opening is staff. The Facebook post invites people to apply for positions online. As of Sunday morning, the Facebook post has been shared 120 times. That’s a measure of the affection Bloomington has for the place.

Lots of folks don’t hang out on Facebook. If you have a network that includes folks looking for work, please help spread the word.

And to be clear, it’s not just Village Deli that needs more staff.

I think the next several months could help decide what Bloomington’s retail and restaurant landscape looks like in the downtown area through the mid-2020s.

On Sunday morning, a quick lap around the courthouse square and down Kirkwood Avenue confirmed that Village Deli is not the only place looking for help. Here’s a list of the 14 places I saw with help-wanted signs or notices about staff shortages: B-Town Diner; Baked!; Cafe Pizzaria; The Indiana Store; Nick’s; Five Guys; Noodles and Company; Soma; CVS; Pili’s Party Taco & Deli; Bub’s; Bloomington Bagel Company; B-Town Smoke Time; and Taco Bell.

And I know there’s plenty more places looking for help that don’t happen to have a sign posted on their front window. One of those is my favorite place of all: Function Brewing. From their Facebook post a week ago, “The position requires multitasking, efficiency, precision, and the ability to follow directions independently. Prior kitchen experience is a plus but not required as this can be a good first kitchen job.” Continue reading “Column | Because sometimes it takes a village: Local diner says, “We need your help!”” →

Post-flood recovery: Monday signing of local disaster declaration part of Monroe County’s two-pronged approach to aid, officials caution against high hopes

People’s Park gathering on June 21, 2021.

Talisha Coppock, executive director at Downtown Bloomington Inc.

From left: Bloomington public works director Adam Wason; Bloomington fire chief Jason Moore. People’s Park gathering on June 21, 2021

Monroe County’s emergency management director Allison Moore. Standing behind Moore is Jesse Minnick, south region liaison for Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Bloomington’s deputy mayor Don Griffin and Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce executive director Erin Predmore.

From left: Bloomington director of economic and sustainable development Alex Crowley; City of Bloomington Utilities director Vic Kelson.

Bob Costello, owner of Village Deli.

People’s Park June 21, 2021.

On Monday, Monroe County board of commissioners president Julie Thomas signed a declaration of local disaster, because of weekend flooding that hit downtown Bloomington and other areas of the county.

The disaster declaration will appear for ratification on the three-member board’s regular meeting agenda on Wednesday.

A declaration of local disaster, under Indiana Code 10-14-3-29, will “activate the response and recovery aspects of all applicable local or interjurisdictional disaster emergency plans.”

Such a declaration could also make homeowners and business owners alike eligible for reimbursement of uninsured flood damages by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

But the county’s emergency manager, Allison Moore, told a gathering of about 25 business and nonprofit leaders on Monday morning that nothing is guaranteed to be reimbursed.

Still, a disaster declaration would “help our cause,” Moore said, in connection with another approach the county is taking. The second approach is to ask the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest loan assistance. Continue reading “Post-flood recovery: Monday signing of local disaster declaration part of Monroe County’s two-pronged approach to aid, officials caution against high hopes” →

Bloomington council says no to corridor zoning for 87-acre parcel

The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

Parcel requested to be rezoned for jail.

A requested rezone for 87 acres of land at the southern tip of Bloomington, next to I-69, was rejected by Bloomington’s city council at its meeting last Wednesday.

The requested rezone by owner Bill Brown—from PUD (planned unit development) to MC (mixed-use corridor)—was based on the idea that it would improve the marketability of the land, which has sat undeveloped under its current zoning for more than three decades.

The vote on the nine-member council was 1–7. Ron Smith’s was the sole vote of support. Steve Volan abstained when the roll was called. Continue reading “Bloomington council says no to corridor zoning for 87-acre parcel” →

Kirkwood closures won’t include half block in front of CVS pandemic vaccination clinic

Looking east on Kirkwood Avenue from Walnut Street. The plastic igloos are used by the Uptown Cafe to serve customers outdoors. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

Looking northwest at the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and Washington Street. The east half block of Kirkwood between Walnut and Washington will not be closed, to that the CVS COVID-19 vaccination clinic will not be impacted. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

Starting Thursday next week, Kirkwood Avenue’s yellow bollards will reappear, blocking off isolated segments of the east-west downtown Bloomington street.

That’s the result of action taken at the regular Tuesday meeting of the three-member Bloomington board of public works.

Like similar decisions made last summer and fall, the Kirkwood closures are meant to help retailers and restaurants expand their customer reach, while COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limit their indoor capacity.

The street closures authorized by the board of public works go through June 30, 2021. In December last year, Bloomington’s city council extended to August 6, 2021 the term of an ordinance allowing for the waiver of the relevant parts of city code.

The Kirkwood closures will persist through the week, not just on weekends. Affected will be the block between Grant and Dunn streets, as well as the block between Walnut and Washington streets.

But the half-block between Washington and the alley behind the Book Corner will stay open to automobile traffic, Michael Large, operations manager for public works, told the board on Tuesday.

That will allow the same current access to the CVS at the corner of Kirkwood and Washington, which is operating a COVID-19 vaccination clinic. Continue reading “Kirkwood closures won’t include half block in front of CVS pandemic vaccination clinic” →

A tour of Trades District parking structure: “I don’t wake up every morning wanting to build parking garages.”

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One of the two parking garages currently under construction in downtown Bloomington is close enough to completion that on Tuesday afternoon a dozen city insiders and media types got a tour.

Just north of city hall, the opening of the Trades District garage, with around 380 parking spaces, is on course for late March. But enough of the main elements are in place that it’s already unmistakable as a parking garage.

That contrasts with the replacement facility for the 4th Street deck, which is not due to come online until August of 2021. So it’s still coming out of the ground.

Of the 540 spaces to be constructed in the 4th Street replacement garage, 352 count as replacements for the spaces that were housed in the previous 4th Street structure. It was closed at the end of 2018 due to structural failure, and demolished last year.

Leading Tuesday’s tour were Bloomington’s director for economic and sustainable development, Alex Crowley, and Josh Scism, with Core Planning Strategies, the firm that’s managing both parking garage projects.

Scism focused the group’s attention on the structural elements: concrete, cabling, pumps and the like.

Crowley took the chance to review with the group the case for the city’s decision to build the garage, but hedged against any perceived enthusiasm for parking garages generally. “I don’t wake up every morning wanting to build parking garages,” Crowley said. Continue reading “A tour of Trades District parking structure: “I don’t wake up every morning wanting to build parking garages.”” →

Bloomington hopes to put $2M of local money into $10M “tech accelerator” if feds will make up the difference

cropped incubator2 2020-08-03 at 7.03.27 PM — A view from the west of Bloomington’s Trades District. The April 2020 image is from the Monroe County online GIS system.

Bloomington is applying to the federal government for an 80-20 matching grant that would pay for a $10 million “tech accelerator” to be constructed in the Trades District area of downtown Bloomington.

According to Jennifer Pearl, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, the tech accelerator would “make programming and services available to tech companies in our region, to help them grow and commercialize.”

The physical location in the Trades District would make it a “technology hub,” Pearl said.

Startups and mature tech companies alike would be candidates for using the tech accelerator’s services, Pearl said.

Bloomington’s 20 percent share of the project would be $2 million, drawn from revenue to the city’s consolidated TIF (tax increment finance) district. That’s why the proposal appeared on the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s Monday night agenda. The RDC administers the city’s TIF funds.

The RDC did not approve any expenditures of funds on Monday. They just gave a green light for the grant application to be made. Continue reading “Bloomington hopes to put $2M of local money into $10M “tech accelerator” if feds will make up the difference” →

Bloomington’s city council asks for dollar amounts on active tax abatements, accepts report saying all are in “substantial compliance”

cropped tax abatement 2020-08-02 at 4.39.40 PM — Image links to dynamic version of the map, with clickable dots that reveal links to the resolutions on the tax abatements approved by the Bloomington city council, including vote tallies.

At last Wednesday’s regular meeting, Bloomington’s city council accepted a report about tax abatement activity over the last year, from the city’s five-member economic development commission (EDC).

The oldest tax abatement reviewed by the council dates back to 2013. The most recent one was last year.

By accepting the report, without taking further action, councilmembers were acknowledging that the companies are in “substantial compliance” with the commitments they made—related to jobs and affordable housing—that led the city council to grant them a tax abatement.

Councilmembers have requested that city staff provide some followup information, about the dollar amounts of tax abatements.

And the city council will likely soon be asked to approve revisions to the guidelines on tax abatement compliance. The point of the revisions is to ensure that affordable housing projects don’t get analyzed as non-compliant due to a failure to create or retain the jobs they indicated in their applications. Continue reading “Bloomington’s city council asks for dollar amounts on active tax abatements, accepts report saying all are in “substantial compliance”” →