By: Diane Benjamin
I saw a social media post asking why the arena was built downtown instead of along the interstate that could have brought people in from nearby cities. (Common sense?)
I didn’t respond but the answer is clear. It was built downtown because the people who are elected to represent you have been trying for DECADES to revitalize downtown Bloomington. The current council is no different.
Of course nowhere near the majority of voters bother to vote in local elections. Maybe that is because the fix is in by scheduling them close behind November national elections. Most people don’t even know local elections are taking place. People who win with a couple hundred votes think they have a mandate.
National elections are November 5th. Local elections come quickly after – a primary if needed on February 25, 2025 followed by local elections on April 1st. Since mayors will be on the ballot a slightly higher turnout than normal can be expected.
That turnout will not be anywhere near 50%. Therefore the obsession with downtown Bloomington will continue. It isn’t government’s fault, it the fault of everyone who fails to vote or even know what’s going on locally.
Don’t expect media to encourage voting. The local elites don’t want the fleece to change. Again, it’s the citizens fault! You get the government you deserve.
The right to privacy would be violated but wouldn’t it be nice if we could publish a list of the names of all the people that voted in each election along with the time and place they voted. (not who they voted for) This would solve a number of voting issues.
It would solve voting roll issues, voting fraud issues. It would boost turnout.
Among other things we’d also be able to tell those people that didn’t vote, to their faces – “shut up” when they complain about political, social, tax, and spending related issues.
I do know the list exists and we have personal access to it.
In the 2020 election emailed Tim Mitchell and asked if my vote had been counted. I was told. – “ I am showing that you voted early. All the ballots that were put into the ballot box at our early voting locations were counted.”
A big problem with that was that I had voted on the day of the election. In a phone call he later said he had looked at the wrong list of something. I still wonder.
You don’t have access on purpose. It should be public information!
I had no issue with the arena being built. But at the time I said the corner of airport and empire where ancho and agave stands would have been ideal as nothing was there at the time. Plenty of room for parking and and restaurants to build up around the arena. Plus right by the airport.
Instead of a block from crack houses.
Who was the land owner that sold the land to the city for the arena?
I’ve heard for years the Markowitz connection isn’t true
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