Dave Rollo, Bloomington city council member. (Oct. 4, 2023)

The effect of Hamilton’s veto is that the stop signs with asterisks (*) will not be reinstalled. The signs at the 7th-and-Dunn intersection will remain, based on a 180-day order from the city engineer.

Bloomington mayor John Hamilton at the Oct. 11, 2023 budget adoption meeting.

Remaining intact after Wednesday’s city council meeting was Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s veto of the council’s Oct. 4 decision to authorize reinstallation of stop signs at four intersections along 7th Street.

At its meeting on Wednesday night (Oct. 18), the council declined to consider an attempt to override the mayor’s veto of the ordinance, which it had enacted on Oct. 4. The vetoed ordinance authorized the reinstallation of four stop signs along 7th Street—at Morton, Washington, Lincoln, and Dunn streets.

The removal of five stop signs along the corridor accompanied the opening of the 7-Line protected bicycle lane in mid-November 2021. The removal of the stop signs, which had been approved by the city council, was intended to make the east-west corridor a more attractive transportation option for bicyclists.

The stop signs at the 7th-and-Dunn intersection, which had already been reinstalled based on a 180-day order from city engineer Andrew Cibor, will remain in place. The 7th-and-Dunn stop signs will be allowed to persist for another 180 days, based on a fresh 180-day order. Continue reading “Stop sign veto by Bloomington mayor stands, as council declines to consider an override vote” →

Friday’s big local civic news was that Bloomington mayor John Hamilton had vetoed a city council ordinance that authorized reinstallation of stop signs at four intersections on 7th Street.

That means an item appears on the agenda for next Wednesday’s city council meeting, that makes it possible for the council to vote again on the same ordinance.

If the council votes again on the same ordinance, and it passes with a two-thirds majority, that would achieve an override of the mayor’s veto.

A two-thirds majority on the nine-member council is six. It was a narrow 5–4 vote that approved the ordinance on Oct. 4.

It seems unlikely that any of the four dissenters would join the majority, to give the council the one extra vote it would need to override the veto. There’s a certain futility that would be attached to the effort.

It’s worth noting that there is no requirement that the council even try to take a vote that could lead to a  veto override. Continue reading “Column | Mayoral veto on stop signs: Bloomington’s city council should take a unanimous vote” →