July 19, 2026: Scooter ridership drop; words in artwork; jail-overcrowding resolution
This morning's edition includes reports on Bloomington electric scooter ridership falling 82%, the story behind the (C)olumn sculpture at 2nd and Walnut streets, and county commissioners removing the sheriff’s jail-capacity figure from an overcrowding resolution.
Civic Solver
This week’s puzzle is a 10-question news quiz. If you have read the B Square over the last week, it will be a breeze.
Weather Talk
Based on the National Weather Service forecast in text and charts here’s some advice.
Monday: An Air Quality Alert has been issued by the National Weather Service for Monday. Stay indoors if you’re a child or a teenager, an older adult, have asthma or heart disease, or are pregnant. Even if you’re not in a sensitive group, slow down. Visibility could be reduced due to smog and fog early. The day will be mostly sunny, with a high near 89F°.
Tuesday: Be ready to get rained on, however you prefer to do that on hot days. There’s a better than 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms for most of the day. The high will be around 90F°.
Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system
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Recent articles
- Sunday Funnies: Hawk v. Fish. What kind of fish is Fish?! Find out in today’s episode!
- Monroe County property transfers through July 15, 2026. This report includes new property transfers in Monroe County that haven’t previously been reported by The B Square, with dates ranging from June 5 to July 15, 2026. The data in this report comes from Beacon, the county’s online geographic information system for property and parcel data.
- Bloomington electric scooter ridership drops 82%, city prepares new licensing round. Bloomington scooter ridership fell 82% from 2019 to 2025, and the first half of 2026 saw an continued declining trend. Even so, the city plans to seek operators for another year and could revisit its $30,000 annual license fee and 30-cent charge for each trip
- A time capsule in steel words: The story of (C)olumn. Installed in 2015 at 2nd and Walnut streets, Bloomington’s (C)olumn sculpture turns nearly 300 community-supplied words into a steel civic time capsule. Co-designer Jon Racek says it captures the city’s joys, frustrations and identity around 2014.
- Jail-capacity figure struck from overcrowding resolution by Monroe County commissioners. Monroe County commissioners ratified a resolution declaring a jail-overcrowding emergency after removing the sheriff’s 186-bed functional-capacity figure. They accepted Clark Johnson & Knight’s representation letter to defend them and sheriff Ruben Marté in the new jail-conditions lawsuit.
Other notes
Challenge to candidates? So far, I don’t think there has been a challenge to the write-in candidacy of Joe Davis for county clerk in the Nov. 3 election. A challenge could could probably be made, light of Indiana’s so-called “sore loser law,” which appears to preclude his candidacy. Davis lost the Democratic Party’s primary race. As I understand it, it’s not up to the county election board to initiate enforcement of the law. Rather someone has to file an official challenge, on the official CAN-1 form.
Sharepoint for county government now accessible! The Microsoft Sharepoint for Monroe County government has now been configured so that .pdf files uploaded there are searchable and copy-pasteable. This basic functionality would have been nice to have from the start, but it’s also worth noting that we’re now up to snuff.
On the calendar
Bid opening for College Square. On the 5 p.m. Monday (July 20) meeting agenda for the Bloomington redevelopment commission (RDC) is the bid opening for College Square. For B Square background, see: Bloomington RDC signs off on public offering for College Square, declines 30‑day pause for land‑swap talks. For more recent coverage, see: CIB selects Dora for Bloomington Convention Center hotel, declines delay for potential land-swap
For a detailed history, see the Bloomington Convention Center Timeline.
Transit budget. On the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (July 21) agenda for the Bloomington Transit board meeting is a first look at the proposed 2027 budget for BT.
Kirkwood closure: Veto override? On the 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (July 22) agenda for the Bloomington city council is the ordinance vetoed by Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson that would permanently close Kirkwood Avenue to car traffic for more than seven months every year. Despite whatever statements councilmembers might have made to the press after the mayor’s veto, the council can still act in whatever way it wants on Wednesday night.
One possibility is that the ordinance doesn’t even get a vote on its merits. That’s because the council has an extra step in its regular procedure that requires every resolution and ordinance to get a vote on its reading, before the item is in front of the council. The staff memo on the topic possibly foreshadows the outcome of that vote on the reading (introduction): “Failure to obtain the necessary votes to introduce the legislation also results in its defeat.”
Remember that 2027 is a municipal election year. If you’d like to run for city council, now is not too early to start thinking about it.
Meet Pepper!
This very, very good girl is a Labrador retriever. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Pepper:
Pepper is a very boisterous and active dog who is enthusiastic about all life has to offer!
Photo Finish: Grant Street & Kirkwood Avenue
The Photo Finish items are drawn from the B There section of the B Square website.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is off to a great start!
Dave Askins
734-645-2633
dave@bsquarebulletin.com
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