By: Diane Benjamin
Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/14/bloomington-last-night-3/
Tari wanted the Council to reappoint Ryan Whitehouse to the Connect Transit Board. Jenn Carrillo and Jeff Crabill were opposed because that wanted someone more closely aligned with their ideology. They lost. Whitehouse has now replaced Mike McCurdy as chair.
The budget process this year is going to be must see TV! Carrillo and Crabill will attempt to defund the police. Carrillo tried last night and was later joined by Crabill. On the agenda was rejecting a bid for a police vehicle because the City found a cheaper source. She stated she will not support purchases for police in the future:
A renter on Lee Street who wanted to have 4 chickens in her backyard won’t be able to. The Council voted against a Special Use Permit after neighbors didn’t want them.
During the presentation of approving the new 2 year contract with City dispatchers Tim Gleason implied he is working on returning to Metcom instead of having separate 911 response locations. It should have never happened in the first place. I hope Gleason can get it done:
The next hour of the meeting was about downtown and Jamie Mathy’s initiative to resurrect the Downtown Task Force report. You can watch it yourself starting at 39:55. It sounds like outdoor dining is here to stay (until winter freezes people). Jeff Crabill was more about ADA compliance for all the businesses who were forced by their government to put people outside or go out of business. He must not remember the City built an arena that wasn’t ADA compliant for over 10 years and had to be sued to spend more than a million fixing it. (Probably much more!)
There weren’t any votes just direction for staff. Evidently a Downtown Business Association still exists even though the City disbanded the office by hiring their staff who I think have since left. Staff will be looking at parking, more green space with plants, Christmas decorations and of course the downtown transfer station. The city “offered” City Hall as a potential location as well as the parking garage where Task force report recommenced the library build a combination library and transfer center.
Tearing down taxpayer owned buildings makes much more sense than tearing down one of the many empty buildings already downtown. Maybe in another 3 decades downtown will finally be utopia, but then maybe not.
I hate to say this, but I almost hope all of the downtown restaurants fail, and it will be their own fault for kowtowing to the “outside dining” edicts. If any of them had a backbone they would flatly refuse to make their patrons eat outside with the bugs, heat, humidity and rain. Outside could be an option, for the fearful, but it should NOT be forced. It is truly sad that they have bullied them all into submission – at east i THINK they are bullied into submission, someone correct me if I’m wrong I really don’t want to have to go down there and find out for myself. I avoid “downtown” as much as humanly possible, so in other words, except for an occasional drive through, I don’t go there.
The problems associated with the Downtown are many and fairly textured: (1) City government and its cronies micromanage and attempt to centrally plan the area and don’t let the marketplace decide; (2) there’s a collection of property owners Downtown that refuse to invest in modernization or even routine maintenance of their buildings, often preferring vacancy to anything other than an overly inflated-monthly rent; (3) the Downtown business owners fight amongst themselves and have very little in the way of consensus; usually the most vocal get their way and others tune out; (4) no anchor tenant/ key attraction to drive foot traffic and attention; and, (5) they’re going off input from those that already go Downtown on a regular basis versus the 99% that don’t. What am I missing?
BANG! DEAD ON!
“(2) there’s a collection of property owners Downtown that refuse to invest in modernization or even routine maintenance of their buildings, often preferring vacancy to anything other than an overly inflated-monthly rent; (3) the Downtown business owners fight amongst themselves and have very little in the way of consensus; usually the most vocal get their way and others tune out”
Sociology 101 explains why the downtown is a has been and shall br for years to come.