By: Diane Benjamin

I don’t want to, so you will get a brief recap.

Summary: Officials think they are on a roll. You will be thinking Coliseum fleece instead.

See 1:55

A good number of the far left showed up at public comment to talk about affordable housing and why starting a business is hard. Inflation wasn’t mentioned, the problem is PARKING. The City regulations demand too much parking which makes housing and business too expensive.

One guy said Merchant Street in Decatur is impressive. He left out it’s a tiny little street. At night most of the rest of downtown Decatur is deserted. Merchant Street has some nice businesses. Bloomington doesn’t have plans to do one tiny street however.

Also at Public Comment were a couple of downtown building owners thrilled with the City plans for downtown. I’m shocked! One did mention something needed to be done with the 20-30 people who roam downtown making people feel unsafe. 🤦‍♀️

Patrick Hoban, EDC, claims businesses tell him they would locate here if the downtown is fixed. Keep in mind he also claimed housing is in extremely short supply when in reality he wants people who work here to live here so the money stays local. Commuting is evil.

None of this was on the agenda, so the conga line will be back next Monday when they claim it will be.

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See 18:10

The downtown streetscape plan is going to pass in April. Remember all the streets that were resurfaced a few years ago? The plan involves separating the sewer and stormwater pipes, so unless those are under buildings the streets will be torn up. The plan is much more than $30 million. This slide was shown:

City Manager Tim Gleason claimed they have funds for year one of the 10 year plan. Of course if high inflation continues (it will) the total cost will be far more. What was presented last night lacked details, the Council appeared to have been briefed on far more than was presented. They will be looking for grants from our already bankrupt government.

Since the actions of this Council don’t bind future councils, the plan could be shelved in the future. That was discussed, it depends on voters. Fixing infrastructure is different the rest of the plan. You can page through the slides but you likely won’t learn much.

Connect Transit also presented their tentative budget. See 1:28:00. The out of service electric buses were never mentioned. NO surprise, that’s a secret. If you care, page through their slides.