Tag: sidewalks

Column | Sliding into the holidays: Expectations for Christmas Eve blown away

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Vick Luna (Dec. 24, 2023)
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Vick Luna (Dec. 24, 2023)
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Vick Luna (Dec. 24, 2023)

Mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve in downtown Bloomington was pretty quiet. It did not feel much like the traditional holiday season in southern Indiana.

Because Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday, some shops and restaurants were closed that might have otherwise been open for business. Temperatures in the mid-60s did not help matters.

The sidewalks were empty. Just three lonesome cars were parked on 6th Street in the block between Walnut and Washington.

The day was unfolding just about as expected.

Then the quiet was broken. The booming voice of a trombone echoed off the historic brick facades of the buildings near the courthouse square.

Now filling the air was some kind of elaborate jazz improvisation—not exactly traditional Christmas tunes.

But wait.

Underlying the embellished phrasing, even to an untrained ear, was the unmistakable melody of “Frosty the Snowman.” Continue reading “Column | Sliding into the holidays: Expectations for Christmas Eve blown away” →

Column: Sidewalk question deserves more concrete answer from mayoral hopefuls

B Square image of downtown sidewalk on Walnut Street just south of Kirkwood Avenue
Bad downtown sidewalk on Indiana Avenue north of 4th Street.
B Square image of sidewalk on the south side 6th Street sidewalk just east of Washington Street.
Recently poured new sidewalk on 8th Street looking west, just off Rogers Street.
Recently poured new sidewalk on 7th Street looking west, east of Rogers Street.

“Will your administration end the policy that individual homeowners have to pay for sidewalk repair?”

That was the final question asked at a March 30 forum for Bloomington mayoral hopefuls.

Moderating the forum was Paul Helmke, who was a three-term mayor of Fort Wayne, and is a professor of practice at O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

The forum was hosted by Stonebelt  and the city’s council for community accessibility. After posing the question, Helmke noted that sidewalk repair is an important issue for people with disabilities.

Helmke had essentially squeezed in the question at the end of the forum, giving a time limit for answers of just 45 seconds. That meant the four people sitting on the dais in the packed city council chambers didn’t have a lot of time to talk about the topic.

Answering the question were Democratic Party primary candidates Don Griffin, Susan Sandberg and Kerry Thomson and independent hopeful Joe Davis.

I think all four answers fell short of reasonable expectations for someone who wants to lead the city of Bloomington. Continue reading “Column: Sidewalk question deserves more concrete answer from mayoral hopefuls” →

Cataloging scooter parking violations: Bloomington to use temp agency for initial staffing of 2 positions

Scooter blocking a sidewalk along 7th Street (Sept. 19, 2022)
Scooters staged in all the bicycle hoops at Miller-Showers Park (Sept. 16, 2022)
Scooter blocking an ADA ramp at Walnut Street and College Avenue. (Sept. 24, 2022)

Shared electric scooters that are parked so they block ADA ramps and sidewalks in Bloomington will soon be systematically documented and moved out of the way by two temporary workers.

In action taken on Tuesday, the city’s three-member board of public works approved a contract with Express Employment Services that is supposed to pay two workers $15.75 an hour for around 25 hours a week. The total cost of the city’s payments to Express can’t be more than $15,500.

The parking services division, within the department of public works, will administer the pilot program, which is supposed to be evaluated at the end of the year.

A temp agency is being used just to get the new workers on the job as quickly as possible, with an eye towards bringing the same people on board as temporary city employees soon after that.

The jobs are posted on the city’s own job board.

The program to document blockage of ADA ramp and sidewalk access, and move the scooters out of the path is being launched more than three years after the city council enacted its scooter ordinance.

Bloomington’s local law allows shared use electric scooter companies to use the public right-of-way for their operations, in exchange for a licensing fee of $10,000 a year, and a payment to the city of 15 cents per ride.

Currently licensed to do business in Bloomington are Bird, Lime, and VeoRide.

Continue reading “Cataloging scooter parking violations: Bloomington to use temp agency for initial staffing of 2 positions” →

Sidewalk projects: Bloomington city council committee set to apply new criteria for decisions on limited funds for 2022

At noon on Jan. 6, the Bloomington city council’s transportation committee is scheduled to meet to continue its work on allocating money to add new sidewalks and traffic calming to the city’s street network.

Since 2007, a total of about $4 million has been allocated for new sidewalk projects, which reflects incremental increases each year starting in the low $200,000s in 2007.

For the 2022 budget year, the city council has $336,000 in available sidewalk funding to allocate.

At its Dec. 9 meeting, the committee voted unanimously to adopt a new approach to ranking potential projects.

It’s not just that the ranking criteria have been revised. The starting point is different.

Previously, the approach has started with a list of projects  that have been requested through various channels. Those projects have been ranked, based on an objective metric. The metric has included factors like cost, safety, roadway class, pedestrian usage, destination points, and linkage to existing facilities.

The newly adopted approach starts by analyzing all locations in the city, based on a mathematical expression. The output of that expression is a collection of areas that would benefit most from an added sidewalk. Continue reading “Sidewalk projects: Bloomington city council committee set to apply new criteria for decisions on limited funds for 2022” →

Electric scooter parking violations: Zero citations, in over 2 years since local Bloomington law was passed

A scooter blocking the sidewalk on 6th Street on the evening of Nov. 20, 2021.
Screenshot of uReport filed by The B Square about an improperly parked scooter.

When Bloomington’s city council enacted an ordinance regulating shared electric scooters, the local law came with a provision about sidewalk parking. Users could park their scooters on sidewalks, but with more than a dozen restrictions.

Among the restrictions are some obvious requirements—like the need to leave a clear straight path of some minimal width (at least four and a half feet), and a prohibition against blocking accessibility ramps.

At the July 31, 2019 city council meeting, when the scooter ordinance was enacted, city attorney Mike Rouker told the city council: “[The city of Bloomington] will be fining them every single time we see a parking issue.”

Apparent violations of the scooter parking ordinance are noticeable in many places around town where scooters are operated.

But the city of Bloomington has not made any citations or issued any fines related to improper scooter parking, after the ordinance became effective more than two years ago, on Sept. 1, 2019

Continue reading “Electric scooter parking violations: Zero citations, in over 2 years since local Bloomington law was passed” →

Mayor on 2021 Bloomington budget: “I do believe in a countercyclical government, so keep your ears open for that.”

Bloomington’s city council held its 2021 “budget advance” meeting last Wednesday. The meeting is an annual chance for councilmembers to tell the administration what their priorities are for the coming year.

Cropped Budget Advance Screen Shot 2020-04-29 at 6.33.29 PM
Screenshot of Zoom videoconference for Bloomington city council’s budget advance meeting on April 29, 2020.

Sidewalks, bike lanes, food security, and leaf pickup were among the specific topics that councilmembers discussed. The general theme was uncertainty about revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, the council’s budget hearings are scheduled to unfold on successive nights between Aug. 19 and Aug. 22. At the end of September the council will hear a first official reading of the budget, which can be different from the version that’s presented during the hearings.

Final adoption of the budget is expected on Oct. 14.

On Wednesday, controller Jeff Underwood sketched out a fiscal picture for councilmembers that included solid reserves—cash balances and a rainy day fund that are enough to cover 38 percent of general fund expenses for a year. With no revenue at all, the city could pay its bills for longer than four months. Continue reading “Mayor on 2021 Bloomington budget: “I do believe in a countercyclical government, so keep your ears open for that.”” →

Bloomington city council’s OK of $324K for new sidewalks comes with discussion of additional funding sources

Dave Rollo talks with Sue Sgambelluri before the start of the Jan. 29, 2020 city council meeting.
A map of 2020 sidewalk projects with overlay of the city’s consolidated TIF district.
Jim Sims, chair of the city council’s sidewalk committee.

This year’s annual approval of the city council’s sidewalk committee report came at last Wednesday’s city council meeting. The report included $324,000 in funding for six different projects. The half dozen projects included: two sidewalk construction projects, two sidewalk design projects, and two traffic calming or crosswalk projects.

The sidewalk committee’s report was based on its meetings last year.

The approval was not controversial, passing 9–0. But it did generate a bit of discussion about other funding sources for new sidewalks, besides the money that was approved last week. The $324,000 total came from the city’s alternative transportation fund (ATF). Continue reading “Bloomington city council’s OK of $324K for new sidewalks comes with discussion of additional funding sources” →

Sidewalk committee climbing a $17M mountain with $300K annual steps: Half-century until summit

On Monday at noon, Bloomington city council’s sidewalk committee met for the second time in the last couple weeks, to sort through 62 proposed new sidewalk construction projects for 2020.

Council Sidewalk Map UpdatedThis year, the four-member group has $324,000 to allocate towards the projects, one of which, along Dunn Street, has been on the list for two decades, since 2001.

This year’s total of $324,000 reflects an increasing trend. Over the last 10 years, the council has averaged around $280,000 per year in approvals, with the last six years right around $300,000 or slightly higher.

The money comes from the city’s alternative transportation fund (ATF), which was established in 1992 as part of the same ordinance that created the residential neighborhood parking permit program.

According to the residential neighborhood parking permit ordinance, “funds received in excess of the annual cost of operating the program shall go into an Alternative Transportation Fund.” Expenditures from the fund are supposed to be for the purpose of “reducing our community’s dependence upon the automobile.” Continue reading “Sidewalk committee climbing a $17M mountain with $300K annual steps: Half-century until summit” →

Bloomington city council gets assurance: county redevelopment commission’s planned new roads will have sidewalks

Monroe County attorney Jeff Cockerill presented a proposal to Bloomington’s city council Wednesday night that will use revenue from the West Side TIF (tax increment financing) District to pay for two new roads in the area southeast of the intersection of Vernal Pike and Curry Pike.

One of the two-lane roads will extend Profile Parkway to Gates Drive. The other will extend Sunrise Greeting Court from Vernal Pike down to Gates Drive. The roads are meant to promote development on the interior of the area bounded by Vernal Pike, Curry Pike and Third Street. Cockerill said the new roads are also supposed to alleviate traffic congestion—they’ll give motorists a reason not to use Curry Pike and 3rd Street as much. Continue reading “Bloomington city council gets assurance: county redevelopment commission’s planned new roads will have sidewalks” →