Tag: Downtown Bloomington Inc

Convention center: CIB takes steps to contract with architect, to include input from arts, entertainment

Galen Cassady addresses the Monroe County capital improvement board at its June 12, 2024 meeting.
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Kirkwood and Walnut streets looking south. (June 14, 2024)

Two big pieces of news came out of Wednesday’s meeting of Monroe County’s capital improvement board (CIB).

First, the CIB chose Weddle Bros. as the construction manager for the convention center expansion project. Second, it will be the real estate to the east of the current convention center that will become the location of the expansion of the current center, which stands at the southwest corner of 3rd Street and College Avenue.

But the CIB took another newsworthy step on Wednesday—giving a green light to its legal counsel, Jim Whitlatch of Bunger & Robertson to start working on a contract with its selected architectural firm, Schmidt Associates, for design work.

That contract will draw on around $6 million in food and beverage tax money that the city council already appropriated in 2019 for architectural fees. The purchase orders with Schmidt Associates are still open for those appropriations, according to CIB treasurer Eric Spoonmore and CIB controller Jeff Underwood.

The expansion design work will get input from an advisory group that the CIB has formed—on arts and entertainment matters for the downtown geographic area known as the BEAD (Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District).

The CIB plans to incorporate the city’s one-percent for art ordinance into the convention center expansion design work. Continue reading “Convention center: CIB takes steps to contract with architect, to include input from arts, entertainment” →

Bloomington boards act on tents, belongings in parks, public right-of-way

Board of public works

Board of public works from left: Jennifer Lloyd, Elizabeth Karon, and Kyla Cox Deckard (Aug. 15, 2023)
District 6 Democratic Party nominee for city council Sydney Zulich (Aug. 15, 2023)
Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce president Eric Spoonmore (Aug. 15, 2023)

Board of park commissioners

Bloomington resident Nick Angelos (Aug. 16, 2023)
Board of park commissioners from left: Israel Herrera, Kathleen Mills, and Ellen Rodkey. (Aug. 16, 2023)
Christopher Emge with the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce (Aug. 16, 2023)

On Tuesday, Bloomington’s board of public works passed a resolution asking that the city council enact an ordinance that will keep the public right-of-way clear of tents or belongings.

It’s not clear when or if the city council will follow the board’s recommendation.

The following day, the board of park commissioners took action, to enact a new policy that essentially prohibits tents in parks. The new policy takes effect on Aug. 23—that’s next Wednesday.

Action by the two boards on successive days is part of a general effort by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s administration, to regulate the way Bloomington’s unhoused population is able to use public space.

Director of public works Adam Wason described to the three-member board of public how the draft ordinance would make clear that the police have the legal authority, to immediately clear the right-of-way of someone’s belongings, if they do not respond to a request to move.

Parks and recreation director Paula McDevitt told the board that the intent of the new policy against tents and other makeshift enclosures is to ensure that parks areas can be used and enjoyed “by the whole community.” The way tents are now used in parts has created serious public health and safety risks, due in part to illegal activity, McDevitt said.

McDevitt said the policy does not prohibit unenclosed shade structures, if they don’t shield from public view what is happening under them.

At both meetings, commentary from the public mic in favor of the administration’s position came from business owners, and business advocacy groups—the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, and Downtown Bloomington, Inc.

Public comment against the administration’s approach came from social service workers, members of mutual aid groups like Help Ourselves, and other advocates for the unhoused. Continue reading “Bloomington boards act on tents, belongings in parks, public right-of-way” →

Gathering at People’s Park for Kirkwood Avenue: All over the road

The light poles and light strands were installed on July 13, 2021 by Cassady Electrical Contractors.
The light poles and light strands were installed on July 13, 2021 by Cassady Electrical Contractors.
The light poles and light strands were installed on July 13, 2021 by Cassady Electrical Contractors.
From left: Daniel Deckard on lead guitar, John Donlon on drums, and Hank Ruff playing a set at People’s Park on July 15, 2021.
Charlie Jesseph played the first set in the Thursday night concert series at People’s Park on July 15, 2021.
DBI’s floral crown “make and take.”
Bloomington mayor John Hamilton. mayor John Hamilton gives remarks at People’s Park on July 15, 2021

A little more than a year ago, on Juneteenth of 2020, the mural at People’s Park at the east end of Kirkwood Avenue got a new, unsanctioned overlay of lettering that reads “Black Lives Matter.”

That came during a summer of protests, nationwide and locally, prompted by the killing by Minneapolis police of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man.

The overlay remains in place, because the Bloomington Arts Commission was not in a rush to “buff” the mural or to replace it with a different one, even if that’s likely in the cards at some point.

On Thursday evening, Eva Allen’s original mural, together with the “Black Lives Matter” lettering, gave an extra pop of background color to park visitors who were weaving together floral crowns from bunches of flowers.

The crowns of flowers were a “make and take” hosted by Downtown Bloomington, Inc.—something the DBI normally includes at its “Taste of Bloomington” event. The annual gathering, for thousands to gather and sample local food offerings, was transformed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It became a take-out only affair called “Taste of Bloomington to Go.”

Thursday’s park gathering covered a lot of civic territory—networking for the hospitality industry, a celebration of new light strands strung over Kirkwood, remarks from Bloomington mayor John Hamilton, and the regular People’s Park concert series.

Like the new lights, the event was a bit “all over the road.” Continue reading “Gathering at People’s Park for Kirkwood Avenue: All over the road” →

Canopy light strands get LED bulbs, annual lighting set for Nov. 29

View from the southeast of workers atop the Monroe County courthouse stringing lights on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019. (Dave Askins/Beacon)
The strand of lights from the “Canopy of Lights” that connects the Monroe County courthouse building to the former Subway building on the northeast corner of the square. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

On Tuesday, a crew from Cassady Electrical Contractors worked with Monroe County maintenance staff to start re-stringing the strands of lights that connect the courthouse roofline with buildings around the square. The strands form the canopy in the “Canopy of Lights” that’s switched on the day after Thanksgiving every year. This year that’s Nov. 29. Continue reading “Canopy light strands get LED bulbs, annual lighting set for Nov. 29” →