OCTOBER 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

What are you doing for the next 29 days?

I hope a lot: we have a crucial election to win. Voter registration in Indiana ends at noon today – Monday the 5th of October. Early voting begins tomorrow, on Tuesday the 6th. 

Vote early if you possibly can, either in person or by mailing in your absentee ballot. Voting questions? Check here.

Volunteer to make phone calls, texts, or knock doors. Need suggestions? Try Mobilize US.

Donate to candidates so they can finish the race strong. One easy option is Act Blue. 

It’s hard to keep up with events. Our heroic and historic Justice Ginburg died, leaving Senate Republicans a chance to show how incredibly hypocritical they are, rushing a nominee while voting is already underway in a Presidential election. (Can you say Merrick Garland?  And how is it the Senate can’t pass a bill to help ordinary Americans hammered by the recession?)

President Trump comes down with COVID-19 and is hospitalized, after spending months minimizing the danger and failing to protect millions of Americans who caught it too, and of course the 200,000+ who died. We hope all who are ailing will recover and regain their health.  

Even locally, tempers run high and frustrations bubble as we try to address the big challenges facing us on race, on economic equity, on the climate emergency. 

Sometimes we just need to breathe and stay focused. 

Toward the end of the gruesome bloodbath of the Civil War, President Lincoln, meeting with General Grant, quoted his Secretary of State Seward to say:

"[T]here was always just enough virtue in this republic to save it; sometimes none to spare, but still enough to meet the emergency."

With 29 days until voting in our national election closes, let’s prove that virtue still will prevail, to save this republic, to meet the emergency. Activate. Agitate. Organize. 

Democratically yours,

John

P.S.  Check out Dawn’s recent part in a great national series called Unchained Democracy, with weekly episodes about major challenges we need to meet as a country. (You can see Dawn at about minute-54 in the second episode, found here.) 

SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

It’s action time.

Eight weeks until this election is done, and our future charted. I have THREE REQUESTS for action:

First, please join us for the 6th annual Hamilton/Johnsen Family Picnic-now-Fundraiser. The pandemic prevents us from safely gathering for our usual picnic the Sunday after Labor Day, but we must still build Monroe County Democratic momentum for the Fall -- and have fun doing it! Here’s the plan:  

Instead of hiring a band and BBQ this year, I am taking that money to offer matching donations. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday Sept. 9th, through the picnic,  Sunday Sept. 13th, my campaign will match local donations to any Democrat on the ballot. Five days and $5,000. Details and the Zoom link are HERE, so please give to a D on the ballot and double your money!! Be sure to join your friends and our candidates at 4pm on Sunday the 13th for one hour of fun, speeches, trivia, entertainment and power building. You can designate additional funds for your chosen candidate on the call! As Speaker Pelosi likes to say, our diversity is our strength, and our unity is our power. Let’s get together on Sunday!

Second, please speak up in support of the Recover Forward package including our proposed modest 0.25% increase in the Local Income Tax. Our City Council will consider this proposal over two Wednesday evenings: Sept. 9th at 7:30pm, and Sept. 16th at 6:30pm. You can find links to join these meetings via Zoom here.  The Council no doubt will hear from anti-tax opponents and others who urge against this modest increase that’s so important for our progressive, caring community. (And note that our progressive county presently has the LOWEST income tax rate of all seven contiguous counties). 

We have big challenges to meet – addressing economic, racial and climate justice – and we must have resources to meet them over the coming several years. I hope you can add your progressive voices to support our Council’s decision, which is needed before the state legislature may take away our ability to control our own fiscal future. Thank you for helping us walk the walk of Bloomington values.

Third, please volunteer for the election that is already underway and finishes in 56 days. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris make us proud and need our help, as do Dr. Woody Myers and Linda Lawson, Andy Ruff, and tons of local candidates. You know the stakes. You know that Democracy requires action. Pick a race or a district or a state where you want to make a difference. And of course be sure you have your personal plan to vote and encourage your family and friends to do the same. 

Some vital dates: Voter registration ends in less than a month, October 5th. In these uncertain times, I urge you to vote early,  beginning October 6, just four weeks from today. Also consider whether COVID-19 or other circumstances may keep you or loved ones confined to home on Election Day, in which case order your absentee ballot now! Do not wake up on November 4th wishing you had done a little bit more to save our future. 

That’s it, three requests during these extraordinary times. Please take care of yourselves, and each other, and Bloomington and our country. Thanks so much for all you do!

Democratically yours,

John

P.S.: For fun, check out Andy Ruff’s music video The Ballad of Tennessee Trey.  Let’s get the 9th back, Andy!!

AUGUST 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

Were your spirits touched by John Lewis this past week? His powerful, posthumous Op-Ed, “Together, You can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation,” and the poignant memorial services telling his story, made us think about America. And Bloomington.

They made me think about our imperfect union, and our imperfect community. His words rang like a bell: “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.” Our progress together depends upon people like Congressman Lewis, and all us regular folks, being committed to each other, to take action, committed to love and peace, and justice and truth. We can’t just live in a state of democracy. We have to act.

There is a beautiful greatness in John Lewis’s story. A Black American, believing in America’s future in spite of its past. Despite the most painful, ugly parts of America’s story, powerful patriots, like Congressman Lewis and others, these new founding mothers and fathers, call us to perfect this union, and this community.

John Lewis’s lifelong commitment to nonviolence, and to loving inclusion – making converts rather than adversaries – should inspire us in these hard days. With our national government such a shamble. With vitriol and venom coursing around us. And a virus. John Lewis calls us toward each other, rather than apart.

He calls us to remember progress is real. That we have the power. That we belong to each other. That we can change the future.

And we need each other so. We need to get through K-12 school openings. We need to welcome 30,000 IU students back. Safely. And don’t we need to fill our community with more justice – economic, racial, and climate?

The decade of the 2020s has begun, and we have to get it right. Joe Biden says we’re in a struggle for the soul of America. I think he’s right. And I believe we’re also struggling for the future of our community. What do we stand for? Do we walk the walk, and put our money where our mouth is? Are our values manifest in our community?

I hope you’ll join the effort, on how we Recover Forward. We face big challenges. We could learn a lot from John Lewis – getting in “good trouble,” keeping our eyes on the prize, and not ever giving up.

Democratically yours,

John

PS: I’ll be asking the City Council for support in our efforts to Recover Forward: First on August 12th for a 2020 investment plan, and then the week of August 17th as we present our 2021 budget. And thereafter as we consider how to carry our momentum forward this decade, with a modest local income tax increase. I hope you’ll be engaged, and help ensure we put our words and values into action.

JULY 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,
 
“Bloomington is a BOTH/AND community, not an EITHER/OR one,” I’ve often said. Meaning, we have to do several things at once – address climate change while also building economic justice, or improve mobility options while also strengthening job growth, or increase affordable housing while also improving core neighborhoods.
 
But the past 10 days, this dichotomy has taken on a new meaning to me.
 
After seeing horrifying videos of a racist attack on a Black resident of Bloomington near Lake Monroe -- and additional race-related incidents around the same 4th of July weekend – it strikes me that, in an important sense, we must be an EITHER/OR community.
 
EITHER we really tackle the racism that persists among and around us, OR we’ll never truly be the progressive community we aim (and claim) to be. It’s one or the other.
 
Many of us are mobilizing, speaking up, and taking actions to assure justice is done in recent individual cases. That’s essential. We know also that it’s a long and hard effort to eliminate structural racism and implicit bias and create a truly inclusive, welcoming community (and country) for everyone.
 
We should gain resolve knowing that we have made progress as a community and country, over the past decade and centuries. And we should bolster our resolve knowing how much remains to be done, and with urgency.  Bloomington must continue with serious efforts together to confront issues of race and our shortcomings.
 
You’ll hear more soon about our Bridges initiative on race. You’ll also see ideas in our Recovery Plan and our 2021 budget proposal about how Bloomington should move forward in how we fund and manage public safety, climate change, racial justice, economic opportunity and more. We need to embody our vision and values in our budgets and our actions. More ideas are welcome. Please share them with me and each other.
 
As we address all of these big challenges, we are square in the business of building the community we want to live in – a Bloomington that meets our highest aspirations.
 
In these challenging times, please take care of yourselves, each other, Bloomington, and our country and world.
 
Democratically yours,
 
John
 
P.S.: I’ll share some more thoughts on how to move forward, in a speech planned for noon on Thursday. Watch for it. I’d also encourage you to check out Joe Biden’s latest information about how we Build Back Better, full of very good ideas to help America get back on track.  And finally, for more information about recent events in Bloomington, one source is the city website HERE, with FAQs and compiled media coverage.

JUNE 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,
 
Two images, one country:

• Masked and gowned nurses in hospital, saving lives by risking their own

• Uniformed police officers casually killing an unarmed black man in their custody

Images of community and caring, and of racist cruelty and barbarism.
 
Two weeks ago I shared a speech – “Ten Tough Weeks” – trying to put into some context the upheavals and challenges of the pandemic.  Remarking on the sobering fact that only ten weeks had passed since the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization. Feels like a hundred.
 
And now beyond a pandemic, we have protests and turmoil ignited across the country because, again, innocent black lives are stolen, by government action or vigilantism. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. Added to the terrible list of years, centuries.
 
It’s so stark, this dissonance between caring and callousness, between altruism and animus, in our own communities.
 
The pandemic has changed our world and we can’t go back. We shouldn’t go back. Racism, its legacies and its immediacy, persist in our world, like a terrible, centuries-long, self-inflicted virus.
 
We need to RECOVER FORWARD.
 
The pandemic will be with us for a while, exposing vulnerabilities we must address. Too many of us live on the edge, at the margins, where one bad month, one financial hit, can cause disaster. Too many essential workers are underpaid and undervalued. Our public health system is underfunded and disparities in outcomes are stark. As Councilmember Jim Sims said recently, quoting his African-American grandmother: “when America gets a cold, people like us get pneumonia.”
 
Racial bigotry still abounds, and must be addressed. Actively and intensively.  Millions across America are demanding it daily, nightly.
 
Every community in America – the world – faces big challenges. The smart communities will recover forward in ways to address the important, persistent, underlying issues.
 
Bloomington needs to be bold and smart. Our recovery should:

• Accelerate growth of good paying jobs with dignity

• Directly address social inequities, of race, gender, economics, and more

• Directly address climate change and how we’ll need to adapt locally

• Improve the quality of life for everyone in the next generations

 
This won’t be easy. It will demand hard choices, and countercyclical actions, and inclusive efforts. When things are a mess and households in stress, government needs to focus and make things better. We need to recover forward and make the smart choices to accelerate our momentum toward the beloved community we imagine.
 
Please share your ideas, be involved, listen, be an ally, care for each other, and stay tuned.
 
Democratically yours,

John
 
PS: With our primary election just concluded, gear up for the general election!! The next five months will set a course for our country. You know the stakes. Get ready and get active!!

MAY 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,
 
Last month the COVID-19 pandemic really hit home. Dawn got sick and spent 11 days in the hospital, where they saved her life. Her mother did not make it out of a Pennsylvania COVID ward. The homecoming was sweet as Dawn recovered, but poignant too, with the loss of Carolyn, the wonderful Johnsen family matriarch.
 
Many, many thousands of families across the country and globe have been hit with loss. Every number is a name and a story and a singular tragedy.
 
Our community seems so far to have flattened the curve with physical distancing and other measures, which is good news. But we’ve also suffered an economic punch in the gut: several thousand Bloomington residents have filed for unemployment in the last month – staggering numbers – and hundreds of employers have closed or shrunk their operations.
 
To protect our positive momentum, we’re extending the stay-at-home protocols and continuing the physical distancing and masks-in-public expectations that save lives and slow the disease. Indeed, locally we’ve declined to move as fast as our Governor has – our data does not justify opening up as cases continue to grow. See order extending current rules for two weeks.
 
Two working groups I set up in March are helping in big ways: bolstering social services in the crisis (including shelter, food, childcare, and health services) and supporting the economy (with emergency loans and other assistance). Folks all throughout Bloomington have stepped up for their neighbors and community. Thanks to all the helpers.
 
We will continue to monitor the situation and make decisions based on facts and science, to minimize harm and maximize recovery and quality of life.
 
As we continue to work hard to address this pandemic and determine how best to promote the recovery that WILL come, perhaps one important guiding principle is truly understanding that facts are stubborn and demand attention. The virus is a fact, and no wishful or magical thinking can make it behave differently.
 
We have needed intentional and intensive planning and action to address the challenge. (Don’t get me going on how badly the Trump administration has handled this, with awful bungling and braggadocio that hurt millions, but I digress...)
 
Some other stubborn facts will challenge us as we design and implement our recovery: climate change is real, an existential threat, and also demands dramatic and quick responses; income and wealth inequality are real, and dramatically worse over the past two generations, and demand intentional and intensive action; racial disparities persist – in this health crisis and elsewhere – and call for lasting remedies. And more of course.
 
Government must be countercyclical in times like these. We should help reduce pain and suffering and loss as much as possible. We need to accelerate recovery and opportunity however we responsibly can. Watch for ideas about that – and please share your own – so we can move forward into a sustainable community that works for all, and welcomes all, and is a good steward of all our resources.
 
With a final note to all the workers who keep things going – saving lives in health care, providing basic needs of food, water and shelter for all, protecting public safety, and just keeping all the gears turning – we say THANK YOU, and we redouble our commitment to support the dignity of all work and all people.
 
Democratically yours,
 
John
 
PS: If you want to get regular updates, some options include: Sundays HT Mayor’s Corner Q&A; Mondays WFHB news from the Mayor at 5pm, and a short weekly video message I share directly. Tuesdays I’m live on WGCL at 4pm; Wednesdays are presentations from me and others from my administration at City Council at 6:30pm, and Fridays at 1:15pm are weekly press conferences (hosted by IU and shared live on Facebook).

APRIL 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

Six weeks ago in the State of the City, I urged that we energetically address the climate emergency – making the decade of the 2020s memorable for our progress in saving the planet and making a more sustainable society where everyone belongs and has a place.

Now we’re overrun with the pandemic of the century – facing a deadly virus, a health care system in peril, our economy in a tailspin, and our safety net stretched to the limit. It’s been quite a six weeks. And more difficulty lies ahead.

I couldn’t be prouder of our City, both our employees and our residents. Our City employees are working hard every day to protect us all, from first responders to street crews, from water plant operators to sanitation workers, from planners to lawyers to personnel experts. Most are learning to do their jobs differently because of COVID-19, and all are doing them diligently and with great dedication to the public good.

Our residents are taking care of each other. From the heroes of healthcare, risking themselves so we can heal and stay well, to our grocery store and pharmacy staff, to delivery drivers and manufacturers of critical goods. And volunteers helping neighbors in need, in a thousand ways. 

You can learn all about what’s happening in Bloomington in response to the pandemic on our website. With experienced public officials and other local experts hard at work, planning for Bloomington’s needs. 

I’ll emphasize just two points here:

First, help flatten the curve! Every one of us is needed to protect all of us: staying home whenever we can, maintaining physical distance (I like that better than social distance – we can still be social, just with physical distance), and conscientiously following health expert protocols to wash hands frequently and correctly and avoid viral transmissions. This is critical to avoid overwhelming our healthcare system and to saving lives right here in Bloomington.

Second, be of good heart and hope. We know we will get through this. We will come out of the pandemic, and we will be a great community with much to do together. We have challenges to meet in the coming weeks and months. But we will meet them. 

We are reminded of our interdependence and the importance of resilience in our economy and community. We’re reminded of the value of human life and of human contact. Don’t you miss hugs and embraces and physical closeness with friends? They will return, and it will be so sweet and welcome.

We are reminded of how much we mean to each other and of how important it is to build the community we want to live in, sustainably, where everyone belongs and has a place. 

Be well, and take care of each other,

Democratically yours,

John

PS: Here are some ways you can keep up with the goings on in city government: Every Monday I send out a video message, every Wednesday night I present updates to City Council at 6:30pm, and every Friday at 1:15pm I have a press conferences with area colleagues.

MARCH 2020 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

A new Sustainability Investment Fund….that’s what I’m urging for Bloomington.  

For those who joined us at the State of the City on February 20th, thanks for sharing an evening of music and words. We talked about two great challenges/opportunities:

• Will we in Bloomington do our part to help save our planet – help address climate change and develop the new economy that will be carbon neutral?

• Will we ensure that the new sustainable economy will have a place for everyone at the table – decent jobs, housing, inclusion, quality of life, and safety net, to be sure no one is left behind?

The decade we’re starting – the 2020s – is make or break for both these challenges. Science tells us we must be well on our way to carbon neutral by 2030, or we’ll never make it and our planet is at great risk. And we also must address income and wealth inequality, racial justice, and real opportunity for all, with imagination and results in that same decade.

Check out my speech here, and join in supporting the investments needed here in Bloomington. Because to meet these big challenges/opportunities, we need new resources. A modest local tax can bring significant impact for transit, housing, equity, and more, and we’re in strong fiscal shape to accomplish this. It’s our time. (I hope our Local Income Tax Council will vote by June to establish the Sustainability Investment Fund.)

I firmly believe that we can make the 2020s a great decade for our future – doing our part on climate, and building the community we want to live in, that truly welcomes all, supports all, and embodies justice and opportunity for all. It’s Both/And.

It will take all of us – and that means you! Please get engaged to chart the path for the 2020s. 

Democratically yours,

John

P.S. The first of lots of public engagement to explore the 2020s plan is Thursday, March 5th at The Mill, from 7 to 9pm. More info here. Please come and advocate for our future!

P.P.S. You should receive the US Census forms in the mail this month. Please fill them out online, by mail, or by phone. Everyone counts!