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Almost Daily Bulletin

June 16, 2025: Flags, no kings, free shuttles, cross country bicycle race

Update on funding: Please help

The vision of B Square Bulletin includes a newsroom of a half dozen journalists reporting for Bloomington's local paper. The estimated annual budget for that operation is around $800,000. The feasibility of that figure is based on a combination of individual contributors and business sponsorships.

The projected number of needed individual contributors is 6,000. Currently that figure stands at 427. If you were signed up for a monthly contribution on the old platform before this year's relaunch, that pledge was not automatically transferred to the new system.

Details on how to contribute online or with a paper check are spelled out in the About page of the website.

We're not going to achieve 6,000 individual supporters all in one go. So I've set an initial target for the end of June, two weeks from now: 600.

To those of you who have already made a monthly recurring contribution, or sent in a paper check: Thank you! For those of you who are waiting for the right moment, I hope you'll consider it to be right now.

If you have made your own contribution, please consider encouraging your friends, neighbors and coworkers to follow your example. You know them better than I do, and will know exactly the right kind of messaging to use.

Weather

Based on the National Weather Service forecast in text and charts here's some advice:

Monday: You don't have to worry about staying dry at the start of the day, but if you want to be the smart one who planned ahead, figure out your favorite way to shelter yourself from raindrops starting around 1 p.m. and later. Chances of thunderstorms come with the rain. Dress light, because the relative humidity will be close to 100%, making the 79°F high temperature feel plenty muggy.

Tuesday: A chance of rain and thunderstorms of around 30% to 50% will persist through the day on Tuesday. The 83°F temperature combined with the humidity will make it feel like it's 88°F.

Ask your best friend if they have signed up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system.

Roundup of recent articles

On the calendar

First meeting: Transportation commission. The inaugural meeting of Bloomington's newly formed transportation commission takes place on Monday at 5:30 p.m. (June 16). The commission was established early this year to replace three other commissions: bicycle and pedestrian safety commission; traffic commission; and parking commission.

$342,374 for Hopewell West sanitary sewer upgrades. On the 5 p.m. Monday meeting agenda for Bloomington's redevelopment commission (RDC) is approval of $342,374 in TIF (tax increment financing) funds to pay for sanitary sewer upgrades to support the development of Hopewell West.

$79,000 for NEPA study for Bloomington Transit. On the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday meeting agenda for the Bloomington Transit board is $79,000 for Hansen Professional Services Inc. to conduct an abbreviated NEPA Phase II study. This would cover work required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as part of due diligence. I think this is most likely for the purchase of land where BT would like to build a new operations center.

Convention center construction update. Several items on the 3 p.m. Wednesday meeting agenda for Monroe County's capital improvement board involve updates on the convention center expansion project construction. The groundbreaking ceremony might seem like it took place in the distant past, but it was just two weeks ago.

Race Across America bicycle race (RAAM). The route for the west-to-east RAAM goes through Bloomington again this year, and based on my math, the leader will pass through town around 9:30 p.m. tonight. As I type this, Philip Kaider, a 39-year-old Austrian, just crossed the Mississippi River. Track this yourself on the live tracking website that RAAM has set up.

Parks survey! I get that there is a certain survey fatigue that can set it, but this one is short. It's about the Bloomington parks system, to help the staff update the master plan for parks. The parks survey took me under 4 minutes to complete.

Meet Jack!

Up for adoption, as of June 15, 2025, at the city of Bloomington's animal shelter is Jack. Here's another link: all animals up for adoption at the shelter. (The photo is from the city's website.)

This very, very good boy is a German shepherd. Here's what the shelter staff have to say about Jack:

Jack is a silly young doofus that just loves bouncing and zooming around the yard. He still has a bit of growing up to do, but he would love to meet you!

Photo Finish
Rose Hill Cemetery

The sunrise created a beautiful scene with soft light and some nice lens flare across the gravestones—it felt like a peaceful moment worth capturing.

The Photo Finish items are drawn from the B There section of the B Square website.

The geographic coverage of the B There section is pretty limited. Please consider occasionally contributing to the B There section some brief factual observations about the world outside your own head, as you go about your normal business. (Photos are optional for B There.) The mechanics of making a contribution are pretty straightforward—just let me know if you'd like to learn the ins and outs. If you're looking at this bulletin in your email inbox, you should be able to reach me by hitting Reply.

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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