By: Diane Benjamin
Bloomington City Council meeting tonight:
http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=18264
Beginning on PDF page 380
Remember the Wayfinding signs?
In August 2016 the Council hired a firm to design the signs for $62,190. In December 2017 the Council approved spending another $28,095 for design after the original designs were nixed.
They could have held a local contest for designs, but evidently Bloomington doesn’t have any artists.
In April 2018 the City put just the Wayfinding part out for bid. I’m assuming that is signs like the one on the right.
They received NO bids:
Tonight the Council will approving carrying over the money not spent last year to this year for a total of $446,928.90 left to spend.
They will try bidding the entire project (wayfinding and gateways) again.sometime this summer.
Meanwhile: (PDF page 382)
Parks spent $24,976 on Downtown Streetscape items such as bike racks, benches and trash receptacles in FY 18.
I wonder if that includes the 2 concrete planters on Front Street that were completed and then 1 ripped back out which required new concrete sidewalks. https://blnnews.com/2018/05/31/government-waste-in-pics/
In other business:
1)
The Council will be asked to approve an agreement with Wesleyan for redeveloping the North Main property. The City bought 3 acres in March of 2016 for $1.4 million. They want to market what IWU owns and what the City owns together. They will of course be looking for a “Right Fit” and of course a TIF was created to provide incentives . See PDF page 409.
2)
The Council will also be asked to approve buying a new garbage truck for $352,804. After numerous reports from citizens of garbage being picked up the old way requiring more than one person, I emailed Jim Karch:
The new trucks were supposed to cut down on labor and workman’s comp injuries. Your garbage rates were increased anyway and will continue to increase every year.
This truck will replace a 2012 vehicle with extensive maintenance costs. See PDF page 421.
There are actually MANY talented sign makers in the area. Just look at the wonderful murals in Pontiac or some of the local signs. Problem is, they smother the small guys with legal paper work and permits, to the point where they don’t want to do it.
That or they don’t want to work with the people in charge.
Sometimes both. Would YOU want to deal with Tari, the council and whoever else would get involved to tell YOU your job?
Remember who was the chairperson for the signage committee? A meeting every week at 8:30 am for two years took place to come up with a failed design with the help of a consultant. That person is now the “director” of the DDD being paid $95K plus benefits and an automatic cost of living increase. Brilliant.