Indiana University Bloomington campus, May 12, 2024
Indiana University Bloomington campus, May 12, 2024
Indiana University Bloomington campus, May 12, 2024
Indiana University Bloomington campus, May 12, 2024
Indiana University Bloomington campus, May 12, 2024
Indiana University Bloomington campus, May 12, 2024
On Valentine’s Day this year, The B Square reported the nesting activity of a pair of red-tailed hawks on Indiana University’s campus—in the big Sycamore tree above Bryan Hall.
A month later, it looked like the birds had switched things up and were setting up their household on the grounds of Monroe County’s historic courthouse.
Nejla Routsong speaks from the public mic, thanking the eight councilmembers who signed an open letter to IU president Pamela Whitten, calling for a reversal of the Dunn Meadow policy and the bans from campus for those who were arrested. . (May 1, 2024)
Bloomington city council meeting (May 1, 2024)
At its regular Wednesday meeting, Bloomington’s city council voted 9–0 to override mayor Kerry Thomson’s veto of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza so that humanitarian aid can be delivered.
The 9–0 tally satisfied the two-thirds majority on the nine-member council that is required to override a mayoral veto.
Council chambers were packed on Wednesday night with a crowd who were there to support the override of the veto.
Many of that crowd also appeared to be in attendance in order to support speakers at the public mic who denounced the actions to taken by Indiana University president Pamela Whitten on April 25 and April 27, when she called in state riot police on Dunn Meadow protesters and made a total of 55 arrests over two days.
On Saturday, several more demonstrators were arrested in Dunn Meadow on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, as a part of their ongoing demonstration in support of Gaza.
On Thursday, 33 people were arrested by state police. On both days, the stated objective of the law enforcement action was to remove the tents that activists had set up as a part of their demonstration.
Around mid-morning on Thursday, the Indiana University Divestment Coalition set up an encampment in Dunn Meadow on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, to protest the killing of civilians in Gaza by the Israeli army and the humanitarian crisis there.
The encampment was set up in the meadow to the southeast of the intersection of Fess Avenue and 7th Street, across from the Chabad House, a Jewish community center for the campus.
The activities of the demonstrators included call and response chants led with a bullhorn, playing music, and drumming.
There was an occasional counterpoint from the Chabat House in the form of music amplified by a boom box. Standing on the grounds of the Chabad House, or along the sidewalk, were at least 50 people, with Israeli flags draped around their shoulders. Some held signs that read “Bring them home!” a reference to the hostages taken by Hamas in their Oct. 7 attack.
From left: Kristen Weida, Joe Van Deventer, and Paul White, Sr.
At a Wednesday afternoon forum hosted by the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation at the Monroe Convention center, three rounds of county commissioner candidates from both major parties fielded questions from a moderator and the audience.
That included the two Republican candidates for the party’s District 3 county commissioner nomination.
All registered voters in the county can cast a ballot in a District 3 race. The geographic districts for county commissioners are used only to define the area of the county where candidates have to live.
An application by Bloomington Transit for $35 million from the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) for the construction of a new administrative, operations and maintenance complex now has a resolution of support from the city council.
At its regular Wednesday meeting, the council voted 8–0 to support the resolution. Andy Ruff did not attend.
The reason for building a new operations complex is that BT’s current bus facility, at Grimes Lane, is not big enough to accommodate the expanded battery-electric fleet that BT will need, in order to operate expanded service, including a planned new east-west express route. The planned new route has been branded by BT as the Green Line.
The construction cost for the facility is $43.75-million. The amount requested from the FTA is 80-percent of the construction cost, which is typical for federal transit funding. A 20-percent local match is expected. That means BT will have a balance of $8.75 million to match with local money.
Parklet for Metal Works Brewing on 6th Street looking southwest. (2022)
The west side of College Avenue from Kirkwood to 6th Street. (Bing aerial imagery 2022)
(B Square file photo from August 2020) College at 6th looking south.
Screenshot of a web-based survey that includes a way for respondents to place a dot where they feel unsafe (red) or safe (green) with comments. Link to survey: https://tooledesign.github.io/Bloomington_SS4A/
Bloomington wants to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on the city’s roadways to zero by 2039.
That’s one of the big points of a resolution adopted by Bloomington’s city council at its regular Wednesday meeting.
The other big point of the resolution is that the city will adopt a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Action Plan. The SS4A is a grant program administered by the Federal Transit Administration.
Presenting the resolution was Ryan Robling, who is the city’s planning services manager, and Dean Chamberlain, who is the engineering group manager for Toole Design’s Minneapolis office. Toole is helping Bloomington develop the city’s SS4A action plan under a $132,500 contract approved last year by the board of public works.
On Saturday afternoon, four Democratic Party candidates for the three at-large seats on the Monroe County council fielded questions at a forum that took place in the auditorium of the downtown Bloomington location of the Monroe County Public Library.
Over the course of 90 minutes, they answered more than a dozen questions that asked for their thoughts on balancing mental health services against building a new jail, financing a new jail, housing, and reducing the cost of child care, among other topics.
In the council at-large race, eligible voters in Monroe County choose up to three candidates. No Republican candidates declared a candidacy in the primary.
Vying for one of the three seats are incumbents Trent Deckard and Cheryl Munson. Hoping for their first turn of service on the seven-member county council are Matt Caldie and David Henry. Incumbent Geoff McKim is not seeking re-election.
The full forum is available on CATS. Below is a summary of just a few highlights, which are not organized in the chronological order of the forum.
The event was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County, and cosponsored by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Monroe County NAACP, Monroe County NOW, IU PACE, IU BIG Voting Challenge, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Tau Omega Chapter.
BT continues to claw back ridership numbers after the 2020 pandemic hit.
A BT bus heads north on Walnut Street (March 20, 2024).
The view is to the west. The image is of BT’s current facility on Grimes Lane, from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
Bloomington Transit (BT) is looking to build a new $43.75-million administrative, operations and maintenance complex, to replace the one currently at Grimes Lane.
On Tuesday night, the BT board approved a resolution that is supposed to help pay for that new complex. The resolution authorizes BT general manager John Connell to apply for $35 million in federal funding for the 2025 fiscal year.
The amount requested from the feds is 80-percent of the cost, which is typical for federal transit funding. A 20-percent local match is expected. That means BT will have a balance of $8.75 million to match with local money.
The specific source of funds, which are available for this type of project through the FTA (Federal Transit Authority), is Section 5339(b) of Title 49 of the United States Code.
According to BT grants and procurement specialist Zac Huneck, the total estimated cost for the new facility is $54.4 million, which includes $10 million for land acquisition, and $600,000 for architectural and engineering work.
The reason for building a new operations complex is that BT’s current bus facility at Grimes Lane is not big enough to accommodate the expanded fleet that BT will need, in order to operate expanded service, including a planned new east-west express route. The new east-west express route has been branded by BT as the Green Line.
It looks unlikely that the new BT operations center will be built on an expanded footprint at the current Grimes Lane facility. One factor weighing against the Grimes Lane location is that it sits at least partly in a floodway. The same is true for neighboring real estate.
The floodway is basically a deal-breaker, because the new facility is envisioned to include not just more raw square footage, but indoor storage. The indoor storage is needed to protect the battery-electric fleet to which BT is gradually transitioning. Building indoor storage in a floodway would almost certainly never win the required approvals from the feds.
BT has directed its real estate consultant, Hanson Professional Services, Inc., to expand its search for a new location to include any property within Monroe County’s urbanized area.
The real estate where the Grimes Lane facility sits is owned by Indiana University. Bloomington Transit and IU Campus Bus services are co-located there. So one of the strategies included in BT’s strategic plan, adopted early this year, is to expand opportunities for collaboration and integration with IU Campus Bus, beyond mere co-location.
The 2024 budget for Bloomington Transit includes $12.5 million for land acquisition to build a new facility. The idea had been to use about $2.5 million of local money to match a hoped-for federal grant that would cover the cost of the roughly $12.5-million land acquisition.
In an email to The B Square, responding to a question about the land acquisition costs and how that fits into the $35-million request, Huneck wrote: “We determined that we can move forward with land acquisition utilizing existing federal funds from previous years, alongside some local funds.”
About the logic behind that choice, Huneck wrote, “We’ve pivoted and believe seizing the opportunity to apply for a larger amount of funding is more strategic, given over $1B in funding is available.”
Pursuing the $35 million in grant funding this year could mean shortening the overall timeline for the project, Huneck, indicated. He put it like this: “If successful, we will be able to accelerate facility construction by one year so we may start realizing the full scope of our ongoing projects—transition to zero-emission fleet, the Green Line, boosting frequencies, and potential service beyond city boundaries.”
About BT’s chances for winning the grant, Huneck wrote: “We believe we have a good shot this year. And should we not be awarded the grant this year, we’ll be in an excellent position to be successful in 2025 using whatever post-application feedback from FTA we would receive, with no downside to our original plans.”
In early March, when general manager John Connell briefed the city council on BT’s plans, he asked for some kind of letter from the council in support of its Section 5339(b) grant application.
On Wednesday, city council staff administrator/attorney Stephen Lucas responded to an emailed B Square question by indicating he does not believe there will be an item about BT’s federal grant application on next week’s (March 27) meeting agenda.
But Lucas wrote that he is working with Connell and council president Isabel Piedmont-Smith to nail down a meeting date sometime in April for the council to vote on an item in support of the federal grant application.
Based on February ridership numbers for 2024, BT’s fixed route service continues to claw back ridership after the sharp downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 289,453 rides in February 2024 are 20 percent more than February 2023. But the February numbers this year are still just 87 percent of the 330,889 rides given in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic hit.
BT continues to claw back ridership numbers after the 2020 pandemic hit.
A BT bus heads north on Walnut Street (March 20, 2024).
The view is to the west. The image is of BT’s current facility on Grimes Lane, from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
It still seems likely that some kind of boutique hotel will be developed in the Trades District. But on Monday night, uncertainty emerged about who the developer will be.
On Monday’s agenda for Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) was a resolution to approve a letter of intent with Pure Development to build a $35-million, 150-room boutique hotel in Bloomington’s Trades District.
But at the RDC’s 5 p.m meeting, John Fernandez announced that two and a half hours earlier, around 2:30 p.m., he had received an updated offer from a different developer—MHG Hotels.
So Fernandez asked the RDC members to put off a decision on the resolution that appeared on that night’s agenda, and to direct him to go back and negotiate further with the three developers who have made offers on Tract 3 of the Trades District to build a hotel there.
