Friends,
A short-term worry and a long-term wish are front of mind right now.
Short term: I’m very worried about the pandemic, again. We seem in a race between the vaccines and the variants. As fast as the vaccines arrive, we’re getting them into arms. But we have a long way to go. And I’m worried that within a few weeks we’ll have more vaccine than people willing to get the shots. In the meantime, variants of the virus are spreading, and the longer they stick around, without herd immunity, the greater risk of another surge. Check out HERE what’s happening in our neighbor Michigan right now: a six-fold increase in daily cases in the past month or so.
I hope and expect we’ll keep local controls in place for a while longer, even though the Governor is very unwisely loosening up while our state's numbers deteriorate. We’ll also keep offering our $100 wellness benefit to all City employees who get vaccinated. It’s good for them, our workforce, and our community.
Long-term: I’m hopeful for transformational progress, as we invest the $50 million arriving soon locally from the American Rescue Plan Act. This really is a huge deal – this amount of one-time money for our city and county governments is unprecedented. We need seriously to engage with each other and determine the best ways to invest this over the next year or two, to help our people, and to accelerate our better future. Inclusion and sustainability are central themes to me, as we seek to improve quality of life for current and future residents.
If you add in the prospect of a $2 trillion national infrastructure package, well, you’re talking potential generational impact like the New Deal or the Great Society, if we act wisely. That’s my long-term wish: that here at the present moment, we join in a pivot for our country and a Build Back Better momentum that will carry on for many years.
If anyone says elections don’t matter; the parties are the same; what difference does it make? Just remember how close the presidential election was – just a few tens of thousands of Americans voting differently in key states and Trump is reelected. And similarly, if just a handful of Georgia voters chose differently, no rescue package and likely no major infrastructure bill through the Senate.
So, I’m worried about the pandemic in the short-term, but I’m full of hope for the long-term. Please do your part for both: get vaccinated as soon as you can, and keep hope alive as we pivot into our next chapter. Thanks for all you do for each other and for Bloomington.
Democratically yours,
John
P.S. In case you missed it, Bloomington was recently named Indiana’s “Rising Tech City,” which you can read about HERE. I do believe our future is bright if we do things right.