Friends,
Spring is here, and isn’t it sweet to see flowers and greenery and feel the warmth? And the company of friends and family again!? Being fully vaccinated, Dawn and I have safely gathered with small groups of other fully vaccinated folks for a meal, or just a conversation – in person, without masks, outside. What a joy and restoring of some pre-pandemic normalcies.
If you or yours haven’t yet, PLEASE get vaccinated so you can safely join in, and help us all defeat this pandemic. We have a ways to go still – vaccination slots are going unfilled as too many people are declining the protection. Coming weeks will be critical in advancing our herd immunity.
An update this month on three other things in front of our community:
American Rescue Plan Act – The $50 million arriving locally from the federal rescue package is a tremendous opportunity to advance our community. We just had a meeting with City Council to begin conversations about how best to invest these one-time funds. I expect we’ll be able to make major headway on addressing chronic homelessness and other housing insecurities. To invest in jobs and the arts and social services. To accelerate work on climate change and inclusion, with public infrastructure and energy-related programs. We’re coordinating with the county and the state to identify ways to invest together too. Please join in the upcoming conversations with your ideas for the city or county.
Zoning – New maps and zoning rules for Bloomington are in front of City Council. Much is already approved – like defining student housing areas close to IU campus for new investments in major undergraduate housing, or incentives for more affordable housing and energy efficiency in new buildings. The biggest issue of contention is whether and how to allow changes in single-family housing zones, the bulk of our land parcels. City planning experts and the resident-led Plan Commission have supported loosening regulations to allow some duplexes to be built (or converted) in single-family areas, and to identify some specific corridors where other “missing middle” housing like triplexes or tiny-home villages could be built. Some residents believe that such a loosening threatens to deteriorate (or even destroy) their neighborhoods. Others support it as allowing more people to benefit from great neighborhoods. Contentious debates continue, in some ways feeling generational. The City Council appears closely divided. I expect the Council to land somewhere in the middle, and to allow evolution of our neighborhoods, but not revolution. Incremental change feels right to me, to advance inclusion and access while protecting what we all love about our city. Get more info here, and stay tuned for Council action in coming days.
Annexation – With City Council, we are resuming the annexation process that was illegally interrupted in 2017 by the State Legislature and the Governor. It’s very frustrating that all this would have been done by now, except that the radical state Republicans unconstitutionally ordered us (and only us) to stop a normal and legal annexation process. Now, after 4 years of litigation and the Indiana Supreme Court chastising the legislature and affirming our right to proceed, we’ll pick up where we left off. The bottom line is that cities have to grow their boundaries over time to stay healthy and vibrant. Bloomington did so many times for our first 185 years (or else we’d have a city the size of six blocks!), but the previous administration stopped progressing on this front: we’ll have gone 20 years without any expansions, while population and neighborhoods have grown all around us. This leads to illogical and inefficient public services – like sanitation trucks bypassing unannexed houses, lifting snow plows while driving unannexed streets, or leaving apartment buildings uninspected for safety – and perhaps more importantly, stops us from being one community, discussing and voting on our future choices and representatives as an integrated, inclusive city. Get info and share ideas here and look for public discussions in the coming months, with Council decisions on future boundaries expected by September.
Each of these important topics will involve civic debate and, no doubt, different views. I hope for and encourage respectful dialogue, without name calling or demonizing. Vigorous advocacy, absolutely, but also respectful listening and compromising: that’s a democracy. If we lose a vote, we get back up and work for the outcome we seek next time. That’s democracy.
Democratically yours,
John
P.S. If you get a chance, we encourage you to fill out a city survey to share your views on our beloved Bloomington. Go online here, and let us know what you think.