Diagram showing protected bicycle lane along Clarizz Boulevard.
Feb. 2022, aerial photo of Latimer Square site from Monroe County property lookup system
View looking northwest along Clarizz Boulevard (May 22, 2023)
Motorists and pedestrians who are navigating north and south on either side of the Latimer Square apartment complex, which is now under construction at the site of the former Kmart off East 3rd Street, will notice some lane closures in the coming weeks.
That’s assuming Bloomington’s board of public works grants the requests from Gilliatte General Contractors, which is doing the construction work. The lane closure requests appear on the board’s Tuesday agenda.
The builder wants to close some lanes on Kingston Drive which runs north-south along the western side of the 900-bed apartment project, and Clarizz Boulevard, which runs north-south along the eastern side.
The photo of the property at 530 Washington St. was provided in the meeting information packet
Bloomington’s board of public works from left: Jennifer Lloyd, Elizabeth Karon, Kyla Cox Deckard.
From left: HAND compliance officer Rob Council and assistant city attorney Chris Wheeler
Joe Davis, owner of 530 Washington St.
The city of Bloomington plans either to hire a contractor or send its own staff to the property at 530 Washington St. to bring it into compliance with a local law.
The law says you can’t “throw, place, or scatter any garbage, recyclable materials or yard waste over or upon any premises, street, alley, either public or private…”
Davis had previously appeared before the board to appeal a total of $200 in fines imposed for the city’s notices of violations, saying that the materials that are stacked around his property are not garbage, but rather building materials and tools. They’re needed for the kind of active construction site he is overseeing, he has said.
That’s the position that Davis has outlined in a tort claim that he has sent to the city. The claim is against the city of Bloomington, the HAND department, the department of public works, and the board of public works.
Bloomington board of public works from left: Jennifer Lloyd, Elizabeth Karon, Kyla Cox Dexard.
From the Turning Point application to paint a street mural.
For now at least, a proposed mural that says “All Lives Matter” will not be painted on Kirkwood Avenue just west of Indiana Avenue in downtown Bloomington.
Bloomington’s three-member board of public works has unanimously denied a special events application from Turning Point USA at Indiana University, to paint such a mural on the weekend of April 7 and 8.
The denial came at the board’s regular Tuesday meeting, after about 20 minutes worth of public comment, all of it opposed to the approval of the application to paint the mural.
The public commentary in opposition was based mostly on the fact that the “All Lives Matter” slogan is associated with opposition to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
When it came time for a vote, the board didn’t deliberate on the question.
But when the item was put in front of the board, the basis for the denial was laid out by city attorney Mike Rouker: The proposed mural is for permanent or semi-permanent art (intended to last more than seven days), and it includes “speech.”
The inclusion of “words, letters, numbers, or universally recognized symbols, or logos of any kind” for a permanent art installation put the proposed ALM mural in conflict with the city’s new policy on art installations by private entities in the public right of way.
The photo of the property at 530 Washington St. was provided in the meeting information packet
Joe Davis is a self-described “unconventional guy.”
But the city of Bloomington wants him to take a more conventional approach to the appearance of his residential property at 530 Washington St.
The city contends that it’s not just a matter of appearance. The housing and neighborhood development (HAND) department sees Davis’s property as violating the local law that says you can’t “throw, place, or scatter any garbage, recyclable materials or yard waste over or upon any premises, street, alley, either public or private…”,
That’s the basis of a series of warnings and fines that the city’s HAND department levied against the property last year. Davis appealed the fines to the board of public works, but they were upheld.
It is at Tuesday’s meeting that HAND will ask the board of public works for an abatement order, which would, if granted, allow the city to go onto Davis’s property to take the steps the city thinks are needed, in order to bring it under compliance with city code. The city would then send Davis a bill for the work.
The application for the mural was made by Turning Point USA at Indiana University.
Bloomington’s city attorney, Mike Rouker, has recommended that the application be denied, because the design includes “speech” as defined by a new city policy on such art in the public right-of-way.
The board’s action to adopt a new policy was taken because Bloomington was under a federal court order to develop and promulgate rules for private entities to install art in the public right-of-way.
That order came in connection with a lawsuit that Turning Point and Indiana University student Kyle Reynolds filed, after being denied permission to paint their “All Lives Matter” mural in 2021. The court found that the city’s refusal in 2021 to allow Reynolds to paint his mural likely amounted to viewpoint discrimination, and issued a preliminary injunction. Continue reading “Street mural: Bloomington attorney says application should be denied, because it contains speech”→
[Ed. note: As of Tuesday, all of the very good boys and girls in the photos above are available for adoption at the Bloomington’s animal shelter.]
“If you’re looking for that furr-ever, friend, we have them down at the shelter right now,” public works director Adam Wason reported to the board of public works at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
Wason said the shelter had recently had an influx of animals and could use some relief.
Wason added that he is thinking that the shelter will run an adoption special this weekend, waiving fees on all dogs, to try to get some space cleared out at the shelter.
(Jan. 4, 2023) The word “vote” as written by Thomas Westgård on the street at 7th and Madison streets ( Jan. 4, 2023)
(Jan. 5, 2023) An apparent attempt to wash away the chalk-based compound.
(Jan. 13, 2023) After about 0.75 inches of rain on Jan. 12, 2023 as measured by NWS at Monroe County’s airport.
Text of letter received by Thomas Westgård on Jan. 13, 2023 from the city of Bloomington.
Area resident Thomas Westgård has been fined $500 by Bloomington after writing “VOTE” on a city street.
Westgård sent The B Square a photo of the letter that he reported receiving from the city on Friday.
The letter, signed by Bloomington public works director Adam Wason, states: “On January 4, 2023, at the intersection of Madison and 7th Street in Bloomington, you spray-painted the word ‘VOTE’ in the street.”
The city of Bloomington has now responded to an application submitted in December by Indiana University student Kyle Reynolds for the installation of a mural on Kirkwood Avenue that says “All Lives Matter.”
Excerpt from the traffic management proposal in connection with the application that has been submitted by Kyle Reynolds for his proposed “All Lives Matter” mural.
Based on the city’s response, and the litigation backdropping the request, if Reynolds is eventually allowed to install his mural, it looks somewhat unlikely that it would be on the requested date of April 3, 2023.
It was under a court order that the city’s new policy on private art in the public right-of-way was developed.
That order came in connection with a lawsuit that Reynolds filed, after being denied permission to paint a mural in 2021. The court found that the city’s refusal in 2021 to allow Reynolds to paint his mural likely amounted to viewpoint discrimination, and issued a preliminary injunction.
Thomas Westgård talks with Monroe County clerk Nicole Brown inside Election Central on Jan. 4, 2023.
Thomas Westgård (Jan. 4, 2023).
Thomas Westgård (Jan. 4, 2023).
A Bloomington police officer gets briefed by a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy about
(Jan. 4, 2023) The word “vote” as written by Thomas Westgård on the street at 7th and Madison streets ( Jan. 4, 2023)
Thomas Westgård chats with a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy (Jan. 4, 2023).
Thomas Westgård (Jan. 4, 2023).
Thomas Westgård (Jan. 4, 2023).
(Jan. 4, 2023) Thomas Westgård (Jan. 4, 2023).
Around 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Bloomington area resident Thomas Westgård started dolloping a purple compound onto the asphalt at 7th and Madison streets near Monroe County’s Election Central.
After a few minutes, the word “vote” was spelled out in purple on the pavement.
It was a coincidence that Wednesday was also the first day when candidates in Bloomington’s city elections could file their official paperwork.
For Westgård, it was the right time and day to write “vote” on the street, because a status conference was on a federal court calendar for about an hour later, for a case that involves the right of private individuals to install art in Bloomington’s public right-of-way.
In November 2022, the judge issued a preliminary injunction against Bloomington, ordering the city to establish criteria for applications by private individuals to install art in the public right of way.
At its regular Tuesday meeting, Bloomington’s three-member board of public works denied an appeal by a resident for a noise violation ticket.
This scan is from a revised information packet provided to the Bloomington board of public works for its Jan. 3, 2022 meeting. (1) The social security number of the ticketed person was removed only after initial publication of the packet. (2) The fine amount was a part of the scan in the initial packet, but was added after the ticket was issued—which is standard practice.
That’s par for the course when a noise ordinance violation is appealed to the board—in part because the local law establishes a low and clear bar for what qualifies as an unreasonable noise.
Between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. any sound that is audible for a person with normal hearing, who is outside the premises where the sound is originating, counts as a violation.
The case heard on Tuesday included a couple of wrinkles. One was the delay between the issuance of the ticket and its appeal. The ticket was issued just after midnight on Aug. 21, 2022.
The three-month delay got some questions from board members at their work session, which was held an hour and a half before the regular meeting.
The other wrinkle did not get any board discussion: Included in the initial publication of the board’s meeting information packet was an image scan of the ticket, which featured the violator’s social security number (SSN).
Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act prohibits a public agency from releasing a SSN, unless it’s specifically required by a state or federal statute .
In a subsequent version of the meeting information packet, the social security number had been scrubbed from the image, not redacted with a more typical black box.
