Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo. (April 12, 2023)
Bloomington traffic commissioner Greg Alexander (April 12, 2023)
An expected up-down vote on the question of Greg Alexander’s removal from Bloomington’s traffic commission did not take place at Wednesday night’s city council meeting.
The motion for Alexander’s removal—because of Tweets he posted late last year—had been postponed from the council’s March 29 meeting. That postponement had unanimous support from the council, in order to give Alexander at least five business days to respond in writing to the specific reasons listed out in the motion.
On Wednesday, councilmember Dave Rollo wound up withdrawing his motion to remove Alexander.
Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo at a September 2022 city council meeting. (B Square file photo)
Bloomington resident Greg Alexander addressing city council on Nov. 2, 2022. (B Square file photo)
A possible vote on the removal of Greg Alexander from Bloomington’s traffic commission is now set for the city council’s April 12 meeting.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, Dave Rollo made a motion for Alexander’s removal, because of three posts on Twitter.com that Alexander made in November 2022.
The Tweets cited in Rollo’s motion read as follows:
“with all due respect, taking things away from elm heights *IS* exactly how the rest of the city gets help.”
“i would really like to know. it sounds like they are going to savagely penetrate your neighborhood and I want to know what they’re going to use to do that?”
“haters gonna hate and bloomington democrats gonna lick the shit out from between elm heights’ neighbors ass cheeks”
As a traffic commissioner, Alexander had opposed installation of the sign. The traffic commission as a group had recommended against the stop sign’s installation. Alexander sees the city council’s decision, which was contrary to the commission’s recommendation, as showing undue deference to the Elm Heights neighborhood.
The traffic commission is an advisory board that, among other things, recommends to the city council and other city officials ways to improve traffic conditions and the enforcement of traffic regulations.
On Wednesday, the council postponed Rollo’s motion until April 12, in order to allow at least five business days for Alexander to respond in writing.
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 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”→
Bloomington councilmember Susan Sandberg (Feb. 1, 2023).
From left: Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Sue Sgambelluri, and Dave Rollo (Feb. 1, 2023).
From left: Dave Rollo, Jim SIms and Ron Smith (Feb. 1, 2023).
Greg Alexander addresses the Bloomington city council (Feb. 1, 2023).
Bloomington city councilmember Steve Volan (Feb. 1, 2023).
From left: Kate Rosenbarger and Susan Sandberg (Feb. 1, 2023).
Bloomington councilmember Dave Rollo (Feb. 1, 2023).
Greg Alexander (Feb. 1, 2023).
Eric Ost (Feb. 1, 2023).
Stephanie Hatton (Feb. 1, 2023).
The question of removing Greg Alexander from Bloomington’s traffic commission won’t get a vote by the city council until March 1 at the earliest.
At this past Wednesday’s city council meeting, the matter was referred to a special committee that already existed, after it was appointed by council president Sue Sgambelluri at the first meeting of the year.
By March 1, the four-member special committee on the council’s legislative processes is supposed to deliver to the full council some kind of recommendation on the question of Alexander’s removal.
Bloomington city councilmember Susan Sandberg (Jan. 18, 2023)
Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo (Jan. 18, 2023)
Bess Lee, CUBAmistad.
Frank Marshalek, CUBAmistad.
Dareal Ruble, Bloomington resident.
Outline of Bloomington in blue, superimposed (to scale) on map with Santa Clara, Cuba.
“Who the hell do you people think you are? You’re not the White House!”
That was Dareal Ruble speaking from the public mic at last Wednesday’s meeting of the city council.
He was reacting to a resolution on the meeting agenda that called for an immediate end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.
The resolution was not controversial for councilmembers—it passed unanimously.
The vote came almost an hour after the resolution was introduced by Dave Rollo, who co-sponsored it with Susan Sandberg.
Rubel was interrupted twice during his allotted five minutes by council president Sue Sgambelluri, who admonished him—for speaking off the topic of the resolution, not for any particular choice of words.
But questions about the kind of tone and demeanor that councilmembers consider acceptable were swimming just under the surface of Wednesday’s meeting—in connection with an earlier agenda item.
Neither Rollo nor Sandberg supported a raft of resident re-appointments to boards and commissions that were approved early on the agenda.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Rollo confirmed to The B Square that he voted no, because the list included Greg Alexander’s reappointment to the city’s traffic commission.
Based on Alexander’s social media interactions, which Rollo described as “aggressive,” Rollo said he think’s Alexander’s temperament is “ill-suited” to serving on a city board or commission.
(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.
Middle Way House Wrapped in Love installation 2022: “A place of learning”
Peace symbol sculpture from Freezefest 2022
Under the policy approved by Bloomington’s board of public works at its Tuesday meeting, no public street mural with words and letters could be installed by private parties—if the mural is expected to last longer than a week.
The action by the board was time sensitive.
A federal judge has ordered that by Jan. 2, 2023, Bloomington must develop and disseminate a policy on private art installations in the public right-of-way.
The court’s order came as a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by an Indiana University student, after Bloomington said he could not install a street mural with the phrase “All Lives Matter.”
The “All Lives Matter” slogan is associated with opposition to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Under the court order, Bloomington has to allow the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Kyle Reynolds and the Indiana University Chapter of Turning Point USA, to apply for installation of a mural under the new policy.
Under the new policy, the previously rejected mural might be allowed, but only if it is “temporary art”—which means it would be expected to last longer than seven days.
