- I'm gonna call to order this meeting of the Bloomington City Council on Wednesday, July 22nd The agendas
- are printed out on the clerk's desk and there are some posted on the doors We have fairly straightforward
- meeting today First we'll have some minutes for approval I believe and then reports
- I'm sorry. I always am I'm even reading it right here The first thing that will happen will be a roll
- call and so in which case I'm well clerk Bolden, please call roll It's fine councilmember Flaherty Here
- Stasberg here Piedmont Smith Zulik Asari here Daly here Rallo here rough Rosen barker here
- Thank you. All right. So back to the agenda summation. Then we have one piece of legislation for first
- reading and three pieces of legislation for second reading. There will be two times of public comment.
- All right. So with that, let's go. If there are any minutes for approval, do we have any?
- I don't think we did, right? Okay, we don't have any minutes for approval, so moving swiftly along.
- Council members, any reports? Please, Council Member Stasberg.
- Go ahead and say welcome back to our first meeting after recess I spent my recess traveling to a few
- different places and it's one of those interesting things when you get out of Bloomington now I look
- at lots of elements and pieces of the places where I was and sometimes that makes me go oh
- wow, look at all the things Bloomington has. And sometimes it makes me go, oh, look at all the things
- Bloomington doesn't have. But I mostly wanted to take a minute to celebrate some of the things that
- we have in terms of our infrastructure. One of the places that I went to was Belize, and it was very,
- very interesting. But there was also transportation infrastructure was not the same.
- And it was really interesting, the elements that I thought to myself, oh, it would be like, we have
- a lot better infrastructure in some of these ways.
- in terms of our transportation infrastructure. And then in other ways, they had some sleeping policemen,
- if you've ever been to Belize, maybe you've heard about the sleeping policemen, they are speed bumps
- in the middle of 50 mile an hour roads. And you learn to expect them, you learn where they are, and
- everybody just goes with it. And it is one of those interesting pieces of infrastructure that we wanna,
- like, I hear lots of complaints about speed bumps, but it is,
- definitely a tool that slows you down on Belizean highways when you are approaching a bus stop in the
- middle of a 50 mile an hour road. And it can really be utilized as a tool and people just get used to
- it. And so that's something that I want to kind of put out there is this general like things change
- and things are different and there are many different ways to proceed and do things and do things well and
- People are very, very adaptable, and success can look like a lot of different things. So that's my takeaway
- from my nice, relaxing summer traveling. Thanks. Thank you very much. Any other comments? Council Member
- Pima-Smith. Yes. On a slightly less positive note, I did want to express my dismay that the
- land swap seems to have not occurred that we were supporting for the College Square site that the RDC
- owns and the Seminary Point site that the CIB owns with different dates for requests for proposals by
- the two bodies. They seem to be going forward in
- different directions and further away from any possibility of swapping land, which is unfortunate. So
- that's all. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Any other comments or reports? I'd like to make just two
- brief ones. The first is in terms of things to be dismayed by. Many of you may be familiar with the
- Bloomingtonian, which is a local news organization that recently had its page taken down by Facebook without
- any sort of process was taken down by an AI bot. I'm particularly concerned about this, something I've
- often spoken about, but you know, local media of any sort matters a lot and we live, luckily we have
- people who have
- you know, dedicated, I think, at a lot of cost of sweat and tears and often financial to themselves,
- a lot of time to this community and making sure that we stay informed. Obviously, people like the B
- Square Bulletin and the Bloomingtonian, I think, are pillars of how we stay informed as a community.
- And so I was obviously dismayed that that happened. Very happy, though, that
- I mean, luckily, Facebook seems to have responded now and reinstated their account, but it's still at
- a state where they're not monetized now as an account. And so if any of you feel so compelled, it would
- be wonderful if you can support the Blue Lintonian, if you care about that type of journalism that's
- happening in the community. The second thing, I think similarly,
- not a particularly happy thing to speak about, but there were recent reports of a potential hate crime
- that happened at People's Market at their greenhouse just two days ago, or just yesterday, I'm sorry,
- where I don't want to go into all of the details, but the simple fact of the matter is that somebody
- was attacked based on their identity, and this is something that I think too often
- we like to act like does not happen in a place like Bloomington. And we like to say, well, we're Bloomington.
- If any of you ever watched the film about Matthew Shepard, one of the common threads that happened in
- that film was that people in Laramie, Wyoming would say, well, this is Laramie. This type of thing doesn't
- happen here. We're a very liberal community. I went to high school in Laramie, Wyoming, so I remember
- this kind of vividly. But here in Bloomington, we have that same type
- of approach a lot of the times when we talk about equity when we talk about what it really means to
- be a resident in this town. It's too often that we think that we can rest on our liberal you know sort
- of laurels and and forget the fact that the very reason why we still have work to do is that if
- anyone is oppressed, then we all are. If anybody is under threat, then we all are. And so I just would
- like to very clearly say that we're against all forms of violence, and that this type of violence needs
- to be addressed the right way. Through economic means, it needs to be addressed very clearly with policy.
- And also, again, if anybody is so inclined, the people's market would love your investment. And so if
- you're able to invest in some way, shape, or form in making
- is community safer, more accepting. It's just the sort of general call and plea. So again, thank you
- all for all the work you do. Welcome back. I'm very excited for this portion of our term. Let us move
- on then. We have reports from the mayor now in which there'll be a presentation of the 2026 Human Rights
- Award. Who is doing said presentation?
- There is no wrong side Perfect, thank you So good evening, my name is Emma Williams and I serve as the
- chair of the Bloomington and Monroe County Human Rights Commission and
- It's truly an honor to be here tonight, not only in my role as chair, but as a member of this community
- that continues to show up for one another in really meaningful ways. On behalf of the Commission, it's
- my honor to welcome and present this year's Human Rights Awards. The Commission exists to promote fairness,
- dignity, and equal opportunity in our community, and tonight, we're going to recognize the people and
- organizations who bring those values to life in really meaningful ways.
- The human rights award was established in 1997 and it honors individuals and groups who have made significant
- contributions to civil rights human relations and community here in Bloomington and Monroe County Each
- year the nominees remind us that progress is built day by day through the commitment care and courage
- of the people in this community It's a privilege to recognize two recipients this evening whose work
- reflects exactly that first the 2026
- Individual Human Rights Award is presented to Melanie Davis. Mel's work... Mell's work has been rooted
- in advocacy, education, and a deep commitment to service.
- As her nominator shared, she's dedicated her life to expanding opportunities for members of the LGBTQ
- plus community to grow, thrive, and find safety, and build meaningful connections amongst our community.
- Her impact can be seen across many spaces, from her work with Protect Our People, helping to ensure
- access to resources for the transgender community, to her involvement with B-Town PFLAG, and her voice
- on WFHB's Blooming Out Radio Program.
- Most recently, Mel became the founding president of the Front Door LGBTIQ Center, which is working to
- create a safe, sober, and family-friendly space for the LGBTIQ community here in Bloomington. Through
- all her work, Mel has helped make Bloomington and Monroe County a more welcoming, inclusive,
- and compassionate place for everyone. Her efforts remind us what it is and what it means to build community
- with intention and care. Congratulations, Mel.
- Next, the 2026 Organizational Human Rights Award is presented to Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. Mother Hubbard's
- Cupboard works every day to increase access and nutrition
- access to nutritious food in ways that cultivates dignity, agency, and community. Through their food
- pantry, garden, and educational programs, they create a space where people are treated with respect
- and where community is actively built. One nominator spoke about their personal experience receiving
- resources, and they shared a simple but powerful truth. Access to food changes lives.
- At its core, this work reflects the understanding that having enough to eat is not a privilege, it's
- a basic human right. Mother Hubbard's Cupboard embodies that principle in action, ensuring that members
- of our community are supported in meeting immediate needs, and they do so with dignity and empowerment.
- So join me once again to congratulate Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.
- Tonight's honorees remind us that human rights work can take the shape of many forms, advocacy, education,
- service, and care, but at its core, it's about recognizing the inherent worth of every single person.
- We're grateful for their contributions and for the example they set for all of us. Thank you. Thank
- you so much. Fantastic. And we'll now move for any reports from council committees. Are there any? All right.
- Moving on and congratulations again. Moving on to the first best part of the meeting, which is time
- for public comment.
- Rules are as they usually are. You have three minutes. Please remember to sign in. State your name or
- alias for the record, if you will. People online, we'll start with people in the room. And then if you
- are online, you can raise your hand and we'll acknowledge you for public comment. We'll start in the
- room. And I see Commissioner Madeira here. So take it away.
- Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to address the council on a matter of mutual interest to
- the county and the city. So at a recent commissioner meeting, we identified time and space as key factors
- of importance in selecting a jail location. So time, we must proceed as quickly as possible with the
- construction of a jail facility and unnecessary delays are not acceptable. In space, we need to find
- a buildable acres sufficient to build a jail facility.
- Co location was strongly preferred and space for adequate external circulation So and there is a there
- should be materials that are being distributed to so that I will not need to elaborate at great length
- on these So the county considered the hopeful property in 2022-23 Although at the time we had a design
- that was limited to only a jail. This was understandably problematic for the sheriff and
- We approached the City Council at that time and requested consideration for the use of that part of
- the Hopewell property for a jail facility. The Council declined to support the request at that time.
- We recently reviewed our scoring matrix from years ago and Hopewell came up as a preferred site.
- At this time, I'd like to turn the podium over to my colleague, Commissioner-President Julie Thomas.
- Hello, everyone. Thank you.
- So our architect experts at DLZ designed a combined justice facility. You'll see it on the paper that
- was handed to you. Because the city has expressed an interest in assisting us, we are returning now
- to repeat our request for consideration. It is close to downtown and center stone as well. There is
- an important caveat, however.
- we cannot utilize this site if it will require a full plan Commission and City Council review because
- that would mean an additional minimum of Nine months of time that we really do not have so we do ask
- for your support for this request to go before the city's redevelopment Commission and
- If you support this we'd also ask for copies of the geotechnical studies of the property And we do ask
- and request that you respond to our
- As soon as you possibly can we would be open to considering purchase of the property Or potentially
- to develop a land swap for the Thompson property, which is considerably more acreage But we'd obviously
- would need our council approval on that So, please contact us via email if you have questions and or
- to let us know hopefully that you support this plea Thank you so much for your time
- That's that was great. Okay. Are there any other comments in the room? Mr. MG Hey, good evening council
- happy townie summer This is Chris term G from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Fresh from
- the Sherwood Oaks 50th anniversary from the euro award-winning Parks Department a jewel in the city I want to
- Recognize the city's comprehensive audit of the development review and permitting services conducted
- by American Structure point plus welcome longtime chamber friend of and friend of the community. Mr
- Lynn coin his new leadership role at the plan department and important juncture For several years the
- chambers heard concerns of from our members about Bloomington's review and permitting process Those
- concerns were never about avoiding rules
- People wanted to understand what was expecting of them, a straight answer based on the code, and have
- some sense of how long these things were actually going to last. The audit confirms those experiences
- are real. It found excessive review time, poor coordination among departments, conflicting comments,
- and inconsistent interpretations of that code. Perhaps most telling, it found culture of mistrust with
- stakeholders describing reviewers as gatekeepers rather than collaborators.
- That finding about culture is one that I would ask the council to just sit on for a little bit. The
- report recommends helping applicants find a path to yes. Not by overlooking the code, but explaining
- the requirements clearly and helping compliant projects move forward. The audit also provides useful
- perspective on staffing, which we've heard from this chamber. Bloomington appears appropriately staffed.
- The larger opportunity is not simply adding positions. It's improving coordination, accountability,
- project ownership and consistency. For our members, these problems are especially visible in adaptive
- reuse. A small business owner may see an older storefront and see an opportunity, but once the process
- begins, that modest improvements can trigger substantial architectural, engineering, accessibility,
- and construction costs. Consider the proposed emergency vet clinic on West Second Street.
- Reusing that building produced roughly $130,000 to $150,000 for the exterior site alone. So that's parking,
- sidewalks, ADA ramps, landscaping. That doesn't include the interior work or specialized equipment needed
- in that veterinarian hospital. For a larger develop, those costs are manageable. For a small business,
- six-figure costs can be death knell for a project, leaving a needed service unrealized and the existing
- property vacant. We are grateful
- For the City Commission this audit and made it public but a report alone will not change anyone's experience
- Implementation will be the real measure of success We welcome Len coins leadership and see an opportunity
- to build clear more collaborative system one that protects Bloomington standards while giving residents
- and Businesses confidence they can navigate this process. I thank you for your time tonight, and I'm
- just under Thank you We'll go online and then see mr. Rousseau here. But um, is there anybody online
- with a comment?
- All right, we'll come back to chambers, Mr. Rizzo. Good evening, I'll be very short. I look forward
- to the conversation that is about to take place with the Bloomington Housing Authority, and I hope you
- ask a lot of appropriate questions, because I'm confused. I haven't had time to pore over the documents.
- I would like to know.
- City is city money being used to Mr.. So just just though the rules of the house say that you can't
- you can't comment during this period about a thing That's already on the agenda so right you are I've
- completely forgotten. Please ask a lot of questions. Thank you
- Hello, hi, I'm Megan Betts. I'm here with Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. And I'm so thankful to have extra
- motivation to be here tonight. But while I was here, I didn't want to pass up on an opportunity to just
- share a couple of summer invitations that we have over at Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. So I'm just going
- to run through some upcoming program. As a reminder, every Tuesday from 4.30 to 5.30, we have Kids'
- Garden, which is a drop-in opportunity
- To bring the kids out, all ages, older kiddos get an opportunity to lead younger kids in the garden.
- They'll tend to the space. They'll work on their observation skills. They'll connect with the space.
- And over time, we really see kids take it on as a space that they have ownership of. So drop into Kids'
- Garden. You don't have to be there for the whole time. Just come as it works. Wednesday, 430 to 530,
- we have kids cook. So again, kids of all ages can drop into an opportunity to try out a recipe.
- We try to keep those seasonal so things that are in the garden will make their way into the kitchen
- and things that are in the pantry will also make their way into those recipes so that the pantry feels
- like a more exciting place for families to shop from and have some ideas to take home. Those are open
- to everyone, no registration required. But we do have a couple of free workshops each month on Tuesday
- and Thursday evenings if you or anybody in your community are interested.
- in learning about fermentation or sourdough baking, making your own homemade tortillas, then I encourage
- you to check out our education page on our website and join in sharing and building your kitchen skills.
- And then we also have garden work days. We've been monitoring excessive heat and air quality, but when
- it works out from four to six on Thursday, we are in the garden together.
- And the last Thursday of the month, those become dig and dine. So we spend some time in the garden and
- then also share a meal together. So I encourage all of you to drop in, spend some time together, be
- out in the garden while things are feeling really abundant, and just join in everything that we're up
- to. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody else like to make comments in chamber?
- All right. Anybody online? We'll move along then. Are there any appointments to boards and commissions?
- Seeing none, we will move along to legislation for first readings and any motions. I move that ordinance
- 2026-15 be introduced and read by the clerk by title and synopsis only. Second. There's a motion and
- a second. Any discussion? All right. Will the clerk please call the roll? Councilmember Flaherty?
- Yes. Sasseberg? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Asari? Yes. Daly? Yes. Rallo? Yes. Ruff? Yes. Rosenberger?
- Yes. Thank you. Will the clerk please read. Ordinance 2026-15, amending Title II of the Bloomington
- Municipal Code regarding establishment of the Fire Merit Commission.
- Councilsponsors councilmember Zulek the synopsis is as follows this ordinance amends title to of the
- Bloomington Municipal Code to delineate the duties between the Bloomington Board of Public Safety and
- the City of Bloomington Fire Merit Commission and to create a new chapter Which identifies the existence
- of the statutorily created City of Bloomington Merit Fire Merit Commission? Thank you very much. I Move
- for council to discuss legislation
- All right. Remind me, we need to vote on that too. Okay, we need to vote on that and will the clerk
- please call the roll. Council Member Stasberg? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Asari? Yes. Daly? Yes. Rallo?
- Yes. Ruff? Yes. Piedmont, or wow, Rosenberger? Yes. And Flaherty? Yes. Thank you. All right. Is there
- somebody here to present on that? Are you here to present on it?
- OK, no. No. Attorney Allen, was Councilmember Zulik supposed to present on this matter? I would have
- expected the city legal department. I don't know if there's someone online who would like to present.
- I can give a brief synopsis of the changes, if you would all like, since there appears to be nobody.
- Is there somebody online? And if not, yes, absolutely, we'll go to you, sir. There's no one online?
- Interesting. Okay. Well then Please take it away. I'm attorney Allen wonderful This this ordinance
- essentially just it updates title to you as it said as we heard by the title So state code was changed
- a few years ago to add in merit board systems as a default for police and fire and
- The city of Bloomington had a split decision on the merit boards. The police department decided not
- to adopt the merit board The merit board as part of their and to continue with the Board of Public Safety
- as its oversight body They affirmatively did that as provided by state law. However, the fire department
- did go with the merit system in accordance the
- the Board of Public Safety no longer has that oversight over the fire department. It should be the new
- merit board system. So what this ordinance essentially does is it updates existing language in Title
- II to make it clear that the Board of Public Safety no longer has that oversight role over the fire
- department and then it adds language to add that merit board consideration in accordance with Indiana
- law and as the city decided for the merit board system for the fire department. Thank you very much.
- Any questions or discussion?
- Seeing none, we'll go to public comment. Hi there. My name is Wes Martin. I'm the president of Local
- 586 Political Action Committee. We are the local firefighters union, and I'm here to speak in support
- of the ordinance. And yeah, just say that this is a system that we are excited to be a part of. I understand
- that the police did not want to go ahead with this.
- but it's something that our membership looks forward to and it's nice to have kind of additional oversight
- over both promotions and disciplinary action within our department and to have some union buy-in in
- that process. So again, Local 586 and our local firefighters union recommend passage of this ordinance.
- I know this is first reading, but yeah, that's our position. Thank you very much. Are there any other
- commenters in the chamber?
- All right, moving online, is there anybody online who'd like to comment? Okay, well back to council,
- any comments or questions or motions? Councilmember Slasberg. I'll just say that I'm supportive of this change.
- reminding hopefully not necessarily my colleagues but the public that we discussed this probably about
- a year ago at this point when it was first established and it feels just kind of like an oversight at
- the time that it didn't get worked into code. I'm delighted to hear that the fire department union supports
- this change because that says to me that it's been working well for the last year. So yeah, I don't
- have any questions and I guess I'll move that
- We move it to second reading at our meeting next week, right? Next week. Next week. Second. Second.
- Second. OK. There's a motion and a second to move this to our July 29th meeting. Can the clerk please
- call the roll?
- Piedmont Smith. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Daily. Yes. Rallo. Yes. Ruff. Yes. Rosenberger. Yes. Flaherty.
- I'm sorry. I'd missed it. We didn't get Councilman Flaherty. Stasberg. Yes.
- All right, so that'll be on the agenda for next week. We're now moved to second readings and resolutions.
- I'll just make a quick procedural note here. If you note, we hadn't put item A on the agenda originally.
- namely because right before winter break, we had a lot of feedback that continued to receive throughout
- the time. We did not have time within the window to action all of that. And so I'm asking that we don't
- introduce this and postpone it. But of course, that's to you all to decide. But all right, so if there's
- any motions, 20, 26, 12.
- move to I move Sorry, I forgot my words. I move that ordinance 2026-12 be introduced and read by the
- clerk by title and synopsis only or We can say no Okay, I move that we postpone no, I
- There's no second there was no second so I know I would like to hear from attorney Allen how we should
- So if there's no second that it doesn't get introduced but so Potentially it just fails to be considered
- at this meeting However, I mean the cleaner way is potentially to go ahead and read this on the agenda
- and move to my understanding from Councilmember sorry, of course, I don't want to say anything different
- President sorry, but if you wanted to reintroduce a new resolution The way to do this is be to table
- this particular version of the resolution so that it could only be brought back up by a majority vote
- of council But it wouldn't be necessarily postponed to a different time at this point That actually
- is a better idea. So we don't to do lots of amendments So yes, do we in order to do that? Do we need
- to introduce it so we can discuss it so we can have that motion? Yeah, I believe okay
- So would you like to make the motion again I Move that ordinance 2026-12 be introduced in red by the
- clerk by title and synopsis only Second there's motion a second. Will the clerk please call the roll?
- Councilmember, sorry. Yes, Daley. Yes, Rallo. Yes, Ruff. Yes, Rosenberger. Yes, clarity Yes Stossburg.
- Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes
- All right, thank you very much. Will the clerk please read? Resolution 2026-12, establishing rules and
- guidelines for alcohol permit districts. The synopsis is as follows. Resolution 2026-12 establishes
- rules, procedures, and public interest guidelines for alcoholic beverage permits for which the City
- of Bloomington has authority, discretion,
- Influence to recommend support condition object to monitor or otherwise participate in the alcohol beverage
- permitting process. I Move that ordinance 2026 dash 12 be adopted Second. All right, will the clerk
- please call the roll? Oh, we don't need to sorry. Sorry. Sorry move that we withdraw Should we vote
- for it? Somebody has to move to table and it can't be me
- And it yeah, I'll go ahead and move Resolution 2026 12 be tabled indefinitely. I second Thank you very
- much motion in a second. Will the clerk please call the roll unless sorry, is there any discussion?
- All right, will the clerk please call the roll? Councilmember daily Yes, Rallo
- Yes, rough Rosenberger. Yes Flaherty Yes Stasburg, yes Piedmont Smith. Yes. Sorry. Yes Thank you.
- All right. Thank you very much. Any other motions. I Move that ordinate no resolution 2026-13 be read
- by title and synopsis only motion and a second will the clerk be called the roll and
- Member Rollo. Yes. Ruff. Yes. Rosenberger. Yes. Flaherty. Yes. Stosberg. Yes. Piedmont-Smith. Yes. Asari.
- Yes. Daly. Yes. Will the clerk please read. Resolution 2026-13 authorizing issuance of bonds for the BHA
- For the BHA, council sponsor is Council Member Zulek. The synopsis is as follows. Resolution 2026-13
- authorizes the Bloomington Housing Authority or BHA to issue up to $100 million in bonds to acquire
- five properties from Hometown Group. The properties include 924 units of affordable housing for rent
- at or below 100% of the area median income. The bonds will be issued at an interest rate not to exceed
- 9% and a term
- to maturity of 45 years. This bond issuance is not an obligation of the city of Bloomington and does
- not count against the city's bond limit. The bonds are to be repaid from revenue from the acquired properties
- and any surplus revenue of the BHA. Thank you. I move that resolution 2026-13 be adopted. Second.
- All right. Do we have someone here to present? I assume that fantastic.
- Take it away. Good evening. My name is Nathan Ferrer. I'm the executive director of the Bloomington
- Housing Authority. Thank you for having us tonight. We've got a great opportunity ahead of us and hoping
- to answer your questions about that. With me is Chris Cashman from Ice Miller. They are representing
- BHA as bond attorneys. And we did send a presentation
- So Chris is gonna start us off. Thank you. Good evening, and thanks for including us on the agenda this
- evening. We can wait for the presentation to be loaded. Also, even though we've prepared a presentation,
- really, you know, feel free to hop in with questions any time, because we'd like to address your questions
- more so than kind of force feed you this presentation. But we can go to the first slide, which is kind
- of an overview of
- The bonds initially and then we'll dive in a little bit deeper after you hear more about the project
- But the authorities put together a nice Working group. So ice Miller our public finance team will serve
- as bond council on the transaction the authorities Hired a financial advisor and call yours will serve
- as an underwriter on this proposed project Should you vote to move the resolution forward? I
- I think it's important to note, and we'll say it a few times just to drive the point home, that the
- bonds would be secured by the revenues of the project and other surplus funds of the BHA. It will not
- be an obligation of the city. Right now, the authority is working diligently to obtain a bond rating,
- which will help market the bonds, and the bonds will be kind of offered on a limited public basis with
- an offering document, so unlike maybe
- Prior housing bonds that you've seen in the past these these bonds would be issued under the local housing
- authority statute and Just to put the context as as to why we're here, you know before you with the
- resolution That statute requires the fiscal body of the unit to approve the project So a little bit
- different than perhaps you may be used to seeing with with other housing projects Let me go to the next
- slide and talk about the properties if you're ready. I
- That's right So the hometown group properties consist of five Apartment complexes around town. Those
- are highlighted in the map Woodland Springs Basswood Northcrest Kingston Manor and Summit Point totally
- 924 units if you'll skip to the next one you'll see that these average rents if you're familiar with the
- what the rents are right now. These are definitely in the more affordable range. There's a little more
- detail. If you've heard anything about these properties, you may know that at least a couple of them
- are fairly well run down. There's regular complaint calls about the quality and how they're managed
- to hand and to the police department.
- Excited about this project for a number of reasons first and foremost Preservation of workforce housing
- of naturally occurring affordable rents are is our primary goal here We will put in you can skip to
- the next one This will include nine million in capex for immediate repairs those will
- focus on code violations resurfacing resurfacing interiors roof and exterior replacement at a couple
- of the properties and additional repairs as needed to get them up to our standard. These apartments
- will utilize am I's that are consistent with workforce housing. I didn't catch the whole description
- but I want to clarify that
- that 100% AMI was an average. That's what we're shooting for. We are usually in the business of creating
- affordable housing, and this is workforce housing. So this is about preservation. I would say the next
- primary reason we wanna do this is to create a pipeline for future LIHTC, low income housing tax credit
- deals, or other deals that might use HUD tools as they become available.
- To create deeper affordability much more like our rad properties at Crestmont and walnut woods and lastly
- why this is really critical for us is our Our revenue from HUD has become less dependable we have faced
- cuts in the form of no inflationary increase this year and
- And a freeze on issuing any new vouchers. So that means when a voucher gets retired somebody doesn't
- need anymore We are not issuing new ones since last July. So we're we're stuck in a pretty difficult
- financial spot We estimate that bringing on these properties post construction will generate about a
- million dollars of revenue per year and in the next five to ten years, we would put
- Hopefully at least one of these in five years through a light tech or a rat like conversion so that
- we can create deeper affordability. Yeah, I think that covers all my points. Next slide please. I'm
- gonna leave this one to the bond lawyer. Thank you attorney Allen. So I think half of my colleagues
- think visuals like this are helpful and I'm in the bucket that think these are a little bit of a head
- scratcher.
- To me this is meant to be kind of a flow of funds and how the project is going to be or would be financed
- which is To show that we have our bond underwriter in the middle And they're gonna go out and market
- the bonds and sell them to a bond invest investor those purchase proceeds Will flow to the project?
- You know about eight or nine million will be used for capital expenditures there'll be some used for
- cost of issuance and
- And then the majority of the rest or the bulk of the funds would go to acquisition. The bottom part
- of the graph or the picture here is meant to show that the property, that the actual rental income is
- what secures the bonds. So as our tenants pay or as their subsidized rents pay, that flows through the
- indenture and pays the bondholders with any surplus funds of the authority.
- Should any surplus funds be needed and we can go to the next slide, please And this is meant to show
- a timeline of kind of where we are in the process It's not really kind of like a hard delineated set
- of buckets here So some of this overlaps, but I would say we're around step four. So The BHA has gone
- to the EDC They've gone through the inducement process. So they've gone before their board for like
- initial approvals as well and
- And then they started putting together a working group including folks to market the bonds bond council
- including ice Miller Financial advisors. We've started drafting documents for approval as well And now
- we're here before you as the fiscal body For approval by resolution which is required by the Housing
- Authority statute and then they'll go back before their board again next week and then you know
- Once hopefully the resolution moves forward and receives your your up votes We'll go out and market
- the bonds rate lock and then proceed to closing and there's still a lot of work left to do but you know,
- we're pretty lucky in the city to have a housing authority like Bloomington's and They've done a lot
- of great work so far to get to this point. So we can go to the next slide. I
- And this is kind of driving some points that we already mentioned home a little bit more. But the bonds
- will be issued pursuant to the local housing authority statute 36-7-1830. And they're payable solely
- from project revenues and surplus funds of the BHA. They're not payable from taxes, and they're not
- a general obligation of the city. And issuing these bonds will have no effect on the constitutional
- debt limit or bank-qualified limit of the city.
- We mentioned here that the City Council as Fiscal body of the unit is required to approve the project
- by resolution and The interest is meant to be tax-exempt. So the holders of the bonds will receive tax-exempt
- interest at the federal and state level And I think that's where we'll open it up to any questions that
- we can address about
- Fiscal body approval and anything regarding the project as well Thank you so much Councilmembers questions
- Councilmember Pima Smith So a hundred million dollars, that's a lot of money what is the timeline for
- repaying the bonds We're looking at eight years at the moment and The the model we have at the moment is
- Includes potentially selling the properties at the end. We don't intend to do that. So as we As the
- model gets more specific the bond payment may take longer The one that we're utilizing at the moment
- is for eight years with a contemplated sale at the end Wait, you said you might sell the properties
- at the end, but you don't know know what?
- It the pro forma that we have contemplates a sale at the end. We don't intend to do that That is not
- our intent. We will keep these and we will redevelop them But that'll impact how the the bonds get repaid
- back paid back. So I actually I don't know how long it the sale is Yeah, so let me I think it's a little
- bit longer maybe like a 10-year wham at the moment But
- We can get some more specifics regarding the pricing as we get closer in time as well. But right now,
- it's considered to be a 10-year term for the general revenue bonds. So you expect to earn back $100
- million in 10 years? No. How does this work? How does the math work? Sorry. You want me to go?
- So hometown group holds a $65 million, oh, sorry, hometown group holds a $65 million Fannie Mae loan.
- We are working with Fannie Mae to assume that loan. So that's part of this as well. We do not intend
- to pay this all back. Like I said, the pro forma we're contemplating just has a land sale as part of
- the current model, which we will not do.
- I can already see I've created more confusion. So next week, I will get a more detailed response about
- how long it will take to pay back both the Fannie Mae and the bonds that will be paying back as part
- of this project. OK, so you'll be assuming that debt. That is the goal is for us to assume.
- Yeah, there's so there were the the goal the resolution is kind of set outside parameters as it stands
- now We've we've tried to build in some optionality But the approach now the structure is contemplating
- assuming about 65 million dollars of existing mortgage debt on the properties which would mean if if
- that's the approach that
- Ultimately, we end up executing on and it's still subject to Fannie approval because it's existing
- outstanding Fannie debt Then the bond issuance is going to be far less than the hundred million. But
- what we didn't want to do is is present you know a much smaller dollar amount and then and then if works
- if the Existing mortgage loans were then ultimately paid off if we pivoted away from assuming the debt
- and paying it off then we'd have to come back with a
- kind of a larger bond issuance request. So as it stands now, what we're modeling is assuming the existing
- debt and then a smaller bond issuance amount somewhere around, it depends on what the debt
- service requirements can handle, but somewhere around 32 million of a bond issuance if we go the route
- where the existing debt is assumed. And it's older debt.
- No one can predict where you know interest rates are going but we do know where interest rates have
- been right? So it's it could be potentially lower cost of debt because it's a little bit of a it was
- you know issued a few years ago, so Maybe more favorable to the authority to proceed that way Yeah,
- so to follow up on that a little bit so that hundred million dollars is kind of like the maximum
- Possible and so you're asking us in terms of approval to approve the maximum potential But really you
- expect the actual bond to be lower than that As long as we get Fannie approval and the execution goes
- into place where the existing debt is assumed Then it would be a much smaller bond amount So so by the
- existing debt being approved so that basically means like that
- You get turned over as the mortgage payer so you don't have to pay that entire thing back at once You
- just start paying those mortgages, right? And so then it's like BHA still owes that money, but it's
- not in the form of a bond, right? So in another way of thinking about it is the project is assuming
- you know 80 to 100 million of new debt or is incurring a hundred eighty million hundred eighty to a
- hundred million of new debt and
- It's either going to be all bond financed or it's going to be partially financed by assuming the existing
- debt and then the Delta between that would be bond finance. So I think the existing debt somewhere around
- 65 million and maybe the purchase price, which is still perhaps being negotiated under PSA, but would
- be something like 62 million for the properties. So sorry, 72 million for the properties assuming six and
- So you know right now the seven million Delta would be would be debt finance and the the existing debt
- would be assumed Okay And then the nine percent interest rate which also seems kind of high is that
- also a maximum and what kind of interest? Yeah, would you actually expect? So right now we're much and
- it is and just to reiterate the resolution is meant to kind of set outside parameters almost like you know
- Bumpers at a bowling alley, right? So it's meant to be kind of the outside Parameters and we wouldn't
- expect it to be around there. I think we're modeling Currently somewhere around in between 475 and 675
- on on the bond piece, but it depends on pricing and and a few other Kind of to be finalized deal terms
- Is that a fair assessment?
- I appreciate that interest rate a little bit more. So I'm glad that we're not actually looking at 9%.
- And then in the same with the 45-year term, it's kind of an outside parameter that's allowed by statute.
- So we approve that. And we don't intend or expect to go there. Right now, we're modeling on the bond
- piece with the loan assumption somewhere around a 10-year term. And then we can report back on the remaining
- term of the existing loan.
- that the housing authority can help gather that information prior to second reading. Council Member
- Flaherty. Thank you. It was a helpful presentation about some of the multiple, I guess, dimensions of
- the rationale for this proposal. Some understanding the context of the revenue creation in the context
- of maybe eroding support from federal government.
- the opportunity to convert some of these through LITECH or RAD in the future makes sense to me. I think
- the first reason mentioned was kind of like stabilizing or helping, you know, preserve workforce housing
- in the community. I guess maybe two questions related to that. Like one is, are these properties generally
- or any of them in particular like at risk for losing that workforce housing now under existing conditions?
- Like is it,
- some window that the BHA is or there's some particular need the BHA is trying to address that that isn't
- being addressed currently with current owners and Do you anticipate the rents will stay about the same
- as what they are now or are you trying to deliver? More affordable rents than these properties have
- right now Thanks so I'll try to answer all that and let me know if I didn't So yes, we know that at least
- A couple of these properties are in very poor condition. We actually conduct inspections because we
- have vouchers at several of these. And we've had to address many issues with the current landlord at
- several of these properties. We know that two, Kingston Manor and Summit Point are at locations that
- would be prime for redevelopment. Given their locations, we would assume those would be
- demoed and redeveloped as student housing like what you've seen around town. Our goal here in terms
- of preservation would be to do the needed fixes and then do a much larger rehab through the light tech
- or rad in the five to 10 year range and save those properties
- We project rents may go up modestly, but like it said in the introduction, we'd be targeting 100% average
- with a ceiling of 140% AMI, which is typical for workforce housing. And then for our RADs, once they've
- gone through a conversion, our RADs, the cap is 50% AMI, so we'll introduce those gradually as we're
- successful with those applications and our
- are ready to do those. So did that answer most of your questions? It did. Yeah. I do have one follow-up,
- if that's OK. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead. Thank you. Which is just, what do you think are the
- most significant risks of this proposal? I mean, it's a pretty significant amount of debt. What could
- go wrong? How are you anticipating that? What are the downside risks here? Absolutely. There is risk
- here. To the BHA, these are
- general revenue pledge bonds. What that means is anything that's already not tied up in a commitment.
- So anything beyond what is owed to HUD or to our investors would be at risk here. We feel like developing
- affordable housing, preserving affordable housing, addressing our housing shortage is a statutory
- responsibility of the housing authority. So we see this risk as worthwhile. These types of deals have
- been done before, mostly in larger places. So we're a little new in that we're a smaller housing authority,
- smaller community attempting this, but there's no reason in my mind that we should not try this. So
- I hope that answers your question.
- Yeah, I think it does and it seems like like I suppose renting for more if you needed to or Selling
- the properties would always be like there's back stops to the risk. It's not like the value of the you
- know, the land Deteriorates entirely or something even if revenues don't match projections. Is that
- part of your? Calculation I guess our analysis. Yeah I'll add just another piece that might help is
- you know, another risk is that we can't fill these some of these have very
- Vacancies, but we we believe the capex will do that We also do not have the capacity to asset manage
- these or property manage these so we are going through an RFP process right now to address both of those
- needs so we will be reliant on a larger property manager with More experience marketing this kind of
- housing where whereas we're used to
- working with a wait list and incredible demand for our units, that won't be the case here. So we're
- bringing in some other experts to help us with that. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you. Any others?
- Councilor Varela? Councilor Varela. I had a question related to, so logistically you're going to renovate
- these properties and yet you're counting on rent. So you're going to be displacing people
- or is there, could you describe a little bit about the process of how you're going to go about making
- this capital investment while keeping people housed and the returns on rent that you'll require to service
- the debt? So some of the renovations will not displace people. I'll give you one example. Woodland Springs
- has staircases that are dangerous
- That is not going to displace anyone. And many of the renovations are like that. So siding, air conditioning
- units, where we can manage to keep people housed during those kind of renovations. I'll also add that
- the vacancy rate on these is quite high. So being able to renovate some, we expect renovations to take
- probably up to two years. So it's not going to be all at once. It's going to be doing pieces as we can
- get to them.
- This is something we do have experience with because we did it with our ads and we didn't displace anyone
- so it's There's a clear path forward for us. I can certainly get more detail about that, but Sorry That's
- adequate. I just wondered you know, you seem to have experience in this So I'm assured that you you've
- been through it before so that's all I've got right now. Thanks
- Okay, first of all, what is capex I'm sorry capital expenditures, so this would be renovation costs
- Okay, thank you My question is about the actual language in the resolution Which is kind of legalese,
- but it just doesn't make logical sense to me. It's um the second
- paragraph after the whereas clauses where it says resolved further the series 2026 bonds shall be secured
- by the general revenues of the authority and shall be payable from the proceeds of bonds to be issued
- by the authority. So how can the bond funds be used to repay the bonds which. Yeah.
- So not in their entirety. But there will likely be some bond proceeds used to fill up debt service reserve
- funds or capitalize interest accounts. So like when they're going through the renovations to help have
- a pool of money available to pay the bondholders during a certain kind of rehab or construction period.
- And then depending on how pricing comes in and how the bonds are marketed, there'll be debt service reserves.
- To fill up as well and some of that could be funded by bond proceeds Likely a lot of that will be funded
- by project revenues as well. But again, it's kind of authorizing The the resolution is meant
- to be authorizing the outside parameters to allow for maximum flexibility When the authority goes to
- the market to market the bonds and the structure of the deal Well this sentence to me
- The series 2026 bonds Shall be payable from the proceeds of the bonds Period. Yeah, so some bond proceeds
- will be some stand in part but not not in total some bond proceeds will be used to to pay future interests
- and and to fund debt service reserve funds that shouldn't be hit but for should there ever be project
- revenue shortfalls, so
- I understand that, but it says it shall be paid from the bond proceeds, period. Yeah. So that doesn't
- make sense. Yeah. And in part, I think would have gone a long way there for us. So yeah, certainly happy
- to make that revision on second reading. But hopefully, verbal explanation helped a little bit there.
- But very good point.
- Should have been in part. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you customer Rosenberger Hi, thank you couple questions
- related first question is how are these properties selected? So we were approached by a developer broker who's
- Applied to be our asset manager about this and they've been in touch with a number of property owners
- in town This was the the deal that looked the most promising So it's hometown crew group had contemplated
- selling these I think we're especially attractive to hometown group because there's not many other bodies
- that could assume a Fannie Mae loan And do what we're doing to make this purchase happen So it was
- purely through our brokers investigating what properties might be for sale, and all five of these are
- owned by the same owner. Great, thanks. Follow-up to that is wild card a little bit, but can you speak
- to why the Seminary Point properties most likely could not be considered or part of this purchase and bond?
- I don't know if I can speak to that, but on a side note, we have been part of the conversation about
- Seminary Point throughout, and that conversation is continuing. We have not contemplated attempting
- to sell bonds to purchase any other properties beyond this deal, which this deal we've been contemplating
- for about a year.
- There have been a couple other potential deals that have come up, but those both sold quickly. And this
- is the only one that's moving slowly enough that we could actually go through this process to potentially
- use bonds to purchase it. I absolutely think we would consider selling bonds to purchase other properties
- for the purpose of preserving or creating affordable housing. The timing of this is such that it just
- this has been on our focus with the bond sale. So it's not something we wouldn't rule out. Awesome.
- Thank you. And I totally understand that you got to move at the, you know, you got to find properties
- that are moving at the snail pace of local government. So that makes sense. And very exciting to hear
- that potentially seminary point properties could be in consideration for later. I love, I mean, a lot
- of these properties, I think it's going to be great. It's adding a lot of housing units.
- but the The seminary point is so wonderful because you don't need a car and like a lot of these properties
- But thanks so much for answering. I think you're doing great Yeah, thank you others Councilman Rallo
- Yeah, could you just state again? So a hometown is repairing and maintaining the properties but so could
- you delve a little bit deeper into why BHA is planning to assume that liability and
- Is it, I mean, what would happen if you did not do this? Is it just a matter of scale that it requires
- this level, I suppose? Could you describe a little bit? I think the Fannie Mae is a pretty big factor.
- That loan would not be assumable by just anyone. It may be the scale. I don't know what other offers
- they've had, but they have been contemplating the sale for a year, so I'm guessing they haven't had many.
- these If you're familiar with any of these properties, I would say two of them are in quite good shape
- and Will not require a lot of work Three of them partly due to age and partly due to just neglect are
- in very poor shape and it could be that the initial price tag that was contemplated or that they put out
- Uh, for these apartment complexes was just too much for anybody to consider. Um, that has dropped by
- about $10 million since we got involved and have kind of negotiated the sales price. So it could be
- that if they went back to the public with a lower sales price, these would sell. But, um, like I said
- before, I think at least two of these would quickly get demoed and redeveloped as student housing.
- Thank you. I saw in that resolution that it's, and so this is kind of like a general BHA question.
- It says, you know, it's in the first whereas clause, it specifically states these apartment complexes
- and then says that they're within the incorporated area of Bloomington or within five miles thereof.
- So I'm kind of assuming the BHA can like do stuff within five miles of Bloomington as part of like your
- documentation and.
- I don't know if you can speak to the statute some of our internal language some of our bylaws says strictly
- Bloomington So but in terms of the state statute, yeah the state statute I think allows housing authorities
- in certain situations to participate in projects within the five miles so to me that's a recitation
- of statute and just saying we're checking the statutory box here with respect to an allowable project
- for the Bloomington Housing Authority and
- Okay, but in terms of the actual property is those are all within city limits because there's a couple
- of them like where exactly is the border they are Woodland Springs part of Woodland Springs is in the
- county. So it's split Yeah, and our intent would be to annex that into the into the city. Okay, great.
- Great. Thank you. I
- now to, oh, sorry, Casimir Pimo-Smith. I'm sorry, I'm still hung up on this language. So is there any
- legal risk to leaving that one paragraph where it says the series 2026 bonds shall be secured by the
- general revenues of the authority and shall be payable from the proceeds of bonds to be issued? Is that,
- maybe I'm also asking,
- Mr. Allen our counselor tree Is that okay to leave in there with the understanding that? Most of it
- will be paid from revenues of the BHA and not from the bond itself I Think it's it's at the will of
- the the body. I think it's okay. I also think it's okay to leave it out because Excuse me
- What we're doing here is is fiscal body approval. So the the resolution to me isn't going to necessarily
- Govern how the the the course of the project and how it's documented But it is going to check a diligence
- box that we followed the Housing Authority statute and presented a resolution to the fiscal body for
- its approval and
- So I think it's okay to take it out if you're more comfortable we could also propose Some language for
- your approval prior to to second reading. I'm assuming resolutions go for second reading, but it's also
- okay, so Happy to to workshop some some language now with you then Mr. Allen, what do you think?
- I know that we had that conversation earlier I think the statement as a whole is meant to cover again
- the maximum parameters of the possible bond. And understanding that even if if there was any situation.
- where the underwriters were confused about how the bond proceeds were going to be used at all. To understand
- that there might be a reserve fund that's used to finance by certain proceeds of the bond, but also
- includes that revenue piece. I think those have to be read together and not disjunctively in that particular
- whereas clause. So read together conjunctively, I think it's fine to leave it. I am not concerned about
- it at all. Also, I think to Chris's point as well is
- The full parameters of the issuance are covered not only in the initiating resolution of the BHA, but
- also the confirmatory resolution of the BHA, which is far more specific about the bond parameters. And
- as we've just seen, because this is potentially going to be a placement, those parameters are going
- to get further narrowed down as we go. We're just doing the broad overarching approval with the maximum
- possible parameter. So from that standpoint,
- My opinion would be to try to give as much flexibility as we can at this stage if you're all comfortable
- with the project and the issuance and allow that process to work itself out Okay, well I won't try to
- do an amendment on the fly then if If the legal advice is that this is sound the way it is Thank you
- Thanks, sorry
- It says here, so in the staff memo that was issued to us, it indicates that on May 19th, the BHA presented
- to the Economic Development Commission, which indicated general support for the project and bonds. So
- that wording general support leads me to think that maybe they had some concerns or reservations or
- just deeper questions. Can you speak to anything that might have been other than like, yes? I didn't
- hear that. I think general might have just
- been too vague a word. If anything, I heard those members say, I heard expressed excitement, and this
- is a bold direction, I think were some of the words I heard. So if anybody else wants to speak to that,
- but I'm happy to just echo that. That's what happened. Awesome. Thank you. Just wanted to clarify.
- If I wrote the language so I could tell you why I use the word generally, if you'd like. The reason
- why I use generally is just because the EDC didn't formally vote on it. Since this isn't the normal
- kind of rat process where they have a role to play, this is more of an advisory. It's just to say there
- was no formal vote taken, but the room was very supportive of this. I'm sorry, I was in art form. Great,
- I just wanted to hear what other bodies had in their opinions. So that's very helpful, thank you.
- Thank you, just super fast.
- When do you expect these purchases to happen? You said repairs would take up to two years, but when
- are we actually going to take control of the properties? So the purchase agreement has to be executed,
- I believe, by November. And there is still a lot of due diligence on these properties to be done. This
- has been a very slow, tedious process. So I would expect those.
- Renovations to begin immediately by the end of the year. So we're hopeful that the sale will take place
- take place by November Okay, great. Thank you If I can add something to that just if this purchase falls
- through We still have the ability potentially to utilize bonds to use this on other properties. So it's
- it's a tool that with your approval will
- will take forward. And if we're successful on this first purchase, it's certainly one we plan to use
- again. Any other questions? All right. Seeing none, we're going to move to a time of public comment.
- Same rules as the first time, if you'd like to comment. And if you're online, there is a raise hand
- function that would be very helpful if you'd let us know.
- Hello council members I'm Mary Morgan I'm executive director of heading home of South Central Indiana
- and I am a board member of the Bloomington Housing Authority. I just wanted to let you know that the
- board gave its full threaded support for this project. You know it's a gutsy move. It's an area that
- we have not explored before. It's a need.
- And even though initially these will be workforce housing units, that's going to benefit our entire
- community. I look forward to the longer term plan to turn these through RAD process into more affordable
- units, but I think nonetheless it's needed. It's keeping these properties locally owned, which is huge.
- And I think we're just grateful that we have someone with Nate's experience leading this effort. I feel
- like it's a great opportunity for our community. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in council chambers
- would like to make a comment here?
- Good evening council Randy Cassidy. I'm speaking tonight as a citizen, but Understand the aspect of
- the work for housing and the fact of what BHA is done with the rad and the thing It's an admirable thing
- to do the one only question I have on this particular thing because it is a pass-through situation that
- BHA would be responsible is is this going to end up being a tax? exempt properties when this is done
- because my quick calculation and while trying to
- Workforce housing, tax revenues and such, those five properties at the present moment are churning out
- about $830,943 a year in property taxes. So that's the only question that I would have in regards to
- it is how the replacement of that income might impact overall for the next few years in regards to it.
- The workforce housing is extremely needed. BHA is extremely good at managing accordingly. And under
- Nathan's leadership, they've done a great job.
- the revenue replacement is my only question. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any others in council chambers?
- All right, we'll move on. As the third is getting ready, anybody online? All right, we'll go to online
- then for the moment. They should unmute you and we're welcoming your comments. Yeah, Kevin Keough.
- Tonight's discussion I think highlights just how complex the $100 million proposal is, but complexity
- shouldn't replace standard. I don't know how much financial due diligence has been done, but I agree
- preserving 924 affordable housing units is a crucial goal. However, the council seems to be asked to
- authorize up to $100 million in bond while effectively flying blind on three, I think three standard
- items. The first is evaluation. I don't think I had
- heard any discussion tonight about have these units been valued? I think I would be part of having an
- independent appraiser or valuation study. I haven't heard that tonight. Second, the operating performance,
- I'm just fabulous that there hasn't been, as part of the documentation, the performance. As an accountant
- and a CPA and an auditor,
- I would think that would be something we would want to look at and see and just really understand the
- math. How is it working? Because I think there's been some questions tonight and some confusion. The
- third is I think you really need an independent risk assessment. I know the team presenting the deal,
- they're part of the transaction and are heavily invested in that. But I think the council needs an objective
- third party financial advisor to make a really good risk assessment. I need the approval without these
- I believe three basic disclosures. It is an oversight. It's not really oversight. It's a leap of faith.
- It seems like you're being asked to take a leap of faith and then to basically fly blind. So again,
- I think it should be part of this process. You actually know what the appraisal of these assets are.
- I think you need multi-year operating performance.
- Hopefully you go out at least 10 years, and I really think you need a really good independent
- risk assessment. Good intentions do not pay off bonds. Sound math does. So I think you really need to
- look at the numbers. So thank you. Thank you so much. Is there anybody else online? Were you going to
- comment, Mr. M.G.? Or was he just standing up earlier? Okay. Anybody else in council chambers?
- All right going once okay, we'll come back to council members any comments or further questions Piedmont
- Smith Yeah, I'd like to follow up and ask the question about the tax exempt status of the properties
- once the sale goes through Any specific details I'll rely on Chris, but yes, these would be tax exempt
- properties
- That is part of what makes this a workable deal. Do you have a more specific? Any other questions? This
- kind of follows up a little bit on some of what Mr. Keough was talking about with that kind of due diligence.
- And it's probably most for the attorneys in the room in terms of this, because
- these bonds aren't really being issued by the city of Bloomington, and it's not going against our bond
- limits or anything like that. It's entirely the responsibility of the BHA. Why do we have to approve
- them doing this? Because I'm kind of working on the assumption that the
- BHA has done that due diligence, and that when this was presented to them with the full resolution that
- has all of those details in it that is in our packet and that was referred to earlier, that initial
- presentation was part of this. And that's the assumption that I've been working off of here. And so
- it's kind of this weird question, like, why is council involved at all? And that goes, I'm assuming,
- to state law. But does anybody know why that decision was made?
- Your assumption is correct. It's statutory requirement, check, and balance. But just to reiterate, the
- housing authorities hired CFX, which is a nationally renowned housing financial advisor who has,
- you know, legally a fiduciary duty to the authority. And I know that the team is dug in quite deeply
- on diligence, and it's still an ongoing process, like with any other real estate transaction. You know,
- they're digging in deep on their diligence, that's for sure.
- But yes, they have a financial advisor but the reason that we're bringing it to your attention other
- than Good brother sister governance is is because of the statutory requirement that the fiscal body
- of the unit approve such projects Mr. Allen, do you know like why this is part of that state statute
- in terms of the
- Overall, because we also don't approve like BHA budgets or anything like that during budget time, right?
- That's right. Yeah, you do. You do hear the BHA. I think it's part of that.
- kind of quasi relationship that the city of Bloomington has. I can't tell you why the general assembly
- in their infinite wisdom included this particular oversight because it kind of, it does mirror though
- other bonding authority. So there are independent entities obviously that have bonding authority in
- which the city council provides some oversight. So I guess it's more of a mirror of that to make sure,
- just like there's a requirement in the statute that a public hearing was held. So the notice, they already
- published the notice in the paper and as part of the BHA board,
- had to hold a public hearing. It's more just to make sure this is given wide public attention, that
- the public has a chance to speak out about it, to learn about it and learn about the parameters and
- give maximum opportunity to feel like there is actual representation before it's approved. Okay, thank you.
- I have a quick follow-up question to a handful of both the comments and some things that other councilmembers
- said, and I think I asked a similar question when we heard at the EDC, but just sort of wrapping maybe
- some of this together. In terms of the risk, and Councilmember Flaherty aptly spoke about the backstops
- that are available, I mean, one being selling of the properties, but because we're putting BHA
- funds as the assurance for the bond are, in the worst case scenario, can there be downstream effects
- on other BHA operating procedures? And then the question that Mr. Keough brought up, I mean, are we
- fairly certain of the, if our main backstop is the ability to sell the property, do we have any concerns
- about the liquidity of that property or our ability to sell it quickly? I should rather say that buildings
- aren't liquid, right?
- our ability to sell it quickly should things go south, given the sort of market that those properties
- are already showing right now. And last question is, are we able to segregate the loan in a way where
- you could sell off one property, or do they have to operate as a unit? I'll speak to the first part,
- and then I'll ask Chris to speak to the loan. So that was a lot.
- Back up and make sure I've got all that. So yes, general revenues are pledged as part of the assurance
- of these bonds. I mentioned this before, but we have multiple entities that own the RADs, that own our
- future light tech project, that own various projects. And in those investor partially owned properties,
- there's a waterfall. So only the portion that reaches us is available.
- as a pledge. So that means we have to meet the DCR that's required by the project before we even get
- to the funds that might be pledged for this purpose. Obviously there are other funds that we have, so
- Summit Hill and some funds that HUD has no jurisdiction over that would be pledged. Things that HUD
- has responsibility for we also cannot
- Pledge in this deal. So in terms of the greater risk I Part of our due diligence will be appraising
- these properties So I think we'll get a better sense as we dive in how sellable these are if we had
- to sell one quickly To to save ourselves in a bad situation but Can't speak to that quite yet. So in
- terms of the
- the loan and whether that's can be divided. Yeah, particularly the fan the Fannie Mae loan because the
- way the way we were talking about it is that one of the reasons people didn't want to assume this property
- we were thinking is because of the existence of that of that fairly large loan. Yeah, and I'll check
- with Colliers and the diligence team on that specific question of because I don't want to misstate the
- answer to that question of whether it's a
- a mortgage loan secured by all properties or whether the properties could be separated out. But it is
- an existing Fannie mortgage-backed security mortgage loan securing all of them. But I'll have to follow
- up to determine whether the properties could be broken apart and how easily that could be done. Excellent.
- Thank you. I forgot I was chairing. Any other questions? Councilmember Flaherty, thank you.
- Thank you. Yeah, just a few more follow-ups. So assuming this is authorized, the Bloomington Housing
- Authority Board would still have to make additional approvals subsequent to this, right? Correct, we
- have our final resolution going to next Tuesday's BHA board meeting at 8.30. Got it, so you just mentioned
- of the properties that it sounded like those have not been done, but you would do them. Is that correct?
- And so is that, would that not proceed the forward's decision then? We are, so what the board is approving
- is the limit of bonds that we could potentially sell. My understanding is these bonds still have to
- be sold to somebody. So we have to,
- there will be a process of convincing them that BHA is a good bet and that these properties are a good
- purchase. So that's a long process. What you all are approving and what BHA is approving is what that
- max limit of bonds might be. So. That's helpful. I guess to further clarify, before purchase of the
- properties themselves, would those be approved by the board later down the line as a separate decision
- then? Like this is about bond authorization.
- purchase of the properties themselves would come later. Is that a safe assumption? Yes, a purchase of
- this magnitude would require resolution of the board. Correct. Okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay. That answers
- my questions. Thank you. There was one other part. So we are relying on our
- broker, developer, and that partnership to do much of the due diligence. Once we have a property manager
- on board, they will also participate in some of that. Thank you. And one final question from me.
- because we're sort of setting the upward bounds of this, do you have an internal thought on particular
- things that may make this not work? Do you guys already know? I mean, we say like 9%, for example, as
- an interest rate, but do you already internally say, look, we can't go beyond eight? Is there certain
- economics that don't make this work? In other words,
- What I'm implying by the question is us passing this today, approving this today, we're not setting
- you on a necessary path of going and purchasing this. We're just saying, generally speaking, here are
- some things that we were concerned about. We want you to keep in mind while you go about this process.
- So just talk us through a little bit about the continued thought process, the continued due diligence,
- and the continued decision-making processes that will happen hereafter.
- I mean, just like any property purchase, there's a long list of due diligence. So I don't know if I
- can speak to specifics about a certain interest rate making a deal not work. But when we get to a final
- pro forma, if it doesn't cash flow, obviously, there's no path forward. And if we're not generating
- the kind of revenue that we expected, there's no path forward. I mean, that's one of the conditions
- for this. So happy to share that as those come available.
- Don't have specifics on that at the moment. So, yeah. Council members, any final comments or motions
- for that matter? Council member Stasberg, then Piedmont Smith, then Rallo. I have a final comment. I
- suppose we can call it. As was said, this is kind of a big move, kind of bold, kind of gutsy.
- The word gutsy, I think, was used out there.
- I think it's also kind of exciting to be going forth in this manner. And I guess I specifically want
- to call out Kingston Manor because that is over in District 3, which is my district.
- I live less than a mile, actually, from that complex. I knocked doors in that complex. I've been in
- the common spaces. A couple people let me into their units, and it definitely needs a lot of improvements.
- But the rents over there are very affordable, and that's something that has kept people there. It's
- also an amazing location. You know, speaking to this idea of,
- the return on investment of selling, tearing it down, and rebuilding some much more luxurious, expensive
- apartments.
- on a bus line, it's adjacent to the college mall area, which has a lot of shopping. It has a lot of
- grocery and food options. It really is nicely placed. It's in a great school district. There are a lot
- of families that live in that complex, and I'm really pleased that it's on this list, and I'm hoping that this
- all will go through in terms of all those numbers working out so that the folks who live there can continue
- to live in a place where they can afford their rent, but their hallways won't be musty and they won't
- have some of those health and safety concerns that currently exist in that complex. So I'm really glad
- that you guys are moving forth boldly in this manner and I hope that it works out.
- in really positive ways for Bloomington. Thanks. Yes, I agree with my colleague. I think this is a bold
- move and a positive direction for BHA. I understand these are not at the affordability level of the
- current BHA properties, but they are an essential part of our housing ecosystem
- and they are at levels that are much lower than the new student housing complexes that we see popping
- up. So I think it is very important to preserve these and to improve the management of them through
- this rehabilitation that you're planning to invest in. I was focusing on Basswood because that's in
- my district.
- And when I was campaigning, people would be like, oh, you're not going to Basswood, are you? You're
- not going there alone, are you? I felt perfectly safe there. But it is run down. It does need investment.
- And it does provide very, very badly needed housing for people who don't have a lot of money. So I think
- Mr. Cassidy had a question.
- Important point about the eight hundred thirty one thousand estimated property tax revenues from these
- properties that Government would be losing But I think you know our portion of that the city's portion
- of that I would consider a good investment in keeping this housing. So, thank you I Think it's been
- covered pretty well
- I have nothing more to add, thank you. Thank you. Council Member Ruff, anything? I'll just add that
- I think, oh, sorry, I'm sorry, Council Member, the whole room got excited that you raised your hand,
- so Council Member Flaherty. Any order is fine with me. Yeah, I just wanted to briefly follow up. A,
- I support this and appreciate the creative thinking and the efforts to do something different. I think
- there's some advantages to it.
- I think it is a little strange our approval. We're not really the primary fiscal oversight body for
- BHA. I see our role here essentially as approving at a relatively high level conceptually, which is
- I think what we're hopefully doing here today. And it was good to confirm and clarify the multiple steps
- to follow from the board, which does have a more direct fiscal oversight role of the BHA.
- First, in just authorizing the bonds for this purpose. And then second in approving large scale purchases
- to follow, which is probably the stage at which we would have some of the additional due diligence steps
- for their review that Mr. Kia was asking about. So I appreciated those questions. I also appreciated
- the discussion and afforded afterwards. Thanks.
- Thank you so much. Just echoing the comments, I love the fact that this is bold. My assessment of why
- it's bold though is maybe different. I think that this is bold simply because we haven't done it before.
- hope that as a city, generally, we can start adopting more of like, let's do stuff that we haven't done
- before. But I think just pragmatically, it's shrewd, there's an opportunity to invest and provide value
- to the people who live here. And I think that it's the type of philosophy that we should be adopting
- for all of the type of goals that we're trying to achieve here. And so I just, I really applaud, yes,
- the willingness to do something new,
- And I'm excited for for what that can deliver. So needless to say I'm very supportive of this. So with
- that being said If there's no other comments Will the clerk kindly read the roll now call the roll?
- Sorry Yes Rosenberger yes clarity Yeah Stasberg yes Piedmont Smith. Yes
- Sorry? Yes. Daily? Yes. Rallo? Yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. I move that ordinance
- 2026-12 be read by title and synopsis only. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? All right.
- Will the clerk please call the roll? Rosenberger?
- Yes. Clarity. Yes. Stasberg. Yes. Piedmont Smith. Yes. Asari. Yes. Daly. Yes. Rallo. Yes. Ruff. Yes.
- Thank you. Will the clerk please read. Ordinance 2026.
- dash 12 to amend title 15 of the Bloomington municipal code entitled vehicles and traffic to seasonally
- provide a carless Kirkwood council sponsors daily and Rosenberger the synopsis is as follows this ordinance
- seeks to codify streets and alleys in Bloomington that disallow vehicular traffic Specifically this
- ordinance codifies the seasonal carless schedule of specific blocks of Kirkwood Avenue. I
- With this ordinance, businesses and residents can expect a permanent seasonal carless Kirkwood, allowing
- businesses the predictability to invest in outdoor infrastructure for guests. The city administration
- has provided valuable operational feedback in its 2026 memorandum identifying important challenges regarding
- infrastructure, sanitation, public safety and accessibility that naturally arise as temporary programs
- transition toward permanent city fixtures.
- With that this ordinance aims to provide the necessary legal and budgetary certainty for the city to
- move beyond Incomplete solutions and invest in more permanent infrastructure such as more ADA compliant
- features and high quality seating recommended by staff I Move that ordinance 2026-12 be adopted second
- Will the clerk please call the roll? Oh, sorry All right. Yay
- Would somebody like to say something? Council member Rosa Parker. I'll start. Thank you. Okay, so I
- do want to start by saying council member Daley and I are aware that this ordinance does not have enough
- votes to override the mayor's veto. I find that pretty unfortunate for the city of Bloomington residents and
- visitors. While we still have an ordinance in our books and our code that Kirkwood will be open to people
- and closed to cars, April 2027 this ordinance sought to make that a more predictable occurrence and
- we still have a lot on the book so it'll be interesting what we hear then. I'll talk more about that
- later. What I do want to say is
- this ordinance that tweaked really the original ordinance was really awesome to work on. Uh, I spent
- a really long time, I think since, at least since I on city council have done something where people
- have been so excited and come to help with so many ideas and so many stories either about what they've
- experienced other places or what they've experienced on Kirkwood. And it just really was an awesome
- experience to,
- see Bloomington residents so enthused and so excited about something as neat as closing five blocks
- in our city to cars. I made some bullet points that go a little deeper in that. You know, we've had,
- I would say, a lot of public input. This today is our one to
- three, four, fifth meeting this year on the topic. And we have been meeting on this topic for five years.
- And those meetings have been fairly predictable because we have always had to pass the outdoor dining
- program ordinance starting in COVID. So some fun people we heard from, parents with an odd
- With a child with autism, he only spends time on Kirkwood when there aren't cars. People who bike to
- work to IU who choose Kirkwood instead of the seven line when it doesn't have cars on it. People who
- use mobility devices who feel safer and take more time shopping on streets without cars. We just simply
- and in general heard from so many people who either experience Kirkwood car free as families or friends
- or experience elder.
- streets internationally car free and just like absolutely up their quality of time spent there. We also
- heard from a church worried about parking, which is something we can solve. And we heard from advocates
- of people with disabilities worried about people's access. I say advocates there because we also heard
- from many people with disabilities who prefer a street
- without cars. From the outdoor dining ordinance and this one, we worked with the Council for Community
- Accessibility and we would and will continue to do so. Car Free Kirkwood, this ordinance specifically,
- was unanimously recommended by the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability and Resilience and unanimously
- positively recommended by the Transportation Commission. It was
- a 5-4 vote here, and of course, the 2025 ordinance was a 9-0 vote. I think most council members at least
- have talked about their vote changes, and I do want to acknowledge, of course, opinions change and years
- change, so maybe to the best of our ability, we don't really go through that again. Public input, so
- I came across
- a chart from safety week that I did send to all of council members. This was something that really had,
- well, it had never been shared with city council. And so during safety week, planning and transportation
- staff tabled on Kirkwood for four days. This was in August during welcome week for IU. So students were
- back or were coming back, parents and visitors were here, more families were here because the school
- system was back in session and people were back at the grind after vacation.
- I would say, you know, we have a lot of data on this. We've had a lot of meetings. The mayor had a listening
- session. And to me, this is the very best data that we have because this is people, a random selection
- of people experiencing a space and commenting on that space. I don't know why you guys are nodding down
- there. I can't hear you. If we want to put this up, that would be good.
- While that's happening, I will just say the fun fact of this is it was collected in August 2025 and
- it was available and not used when ESD made the decision in 2026 to keep Kirkwood open to cars. That's
- its own problem and can be talked about later. So in this survey or in this tabling of 271 people, 90%
- of those of those who participated either
- They got two little puff balls to put into jars any way they chose and so 90% of those puff balls went
- into jars that either wanted Kirkwood permanently closed to cars and open to people or seasonally closed
- to cars and open to people. 3% I guess didn't say anything which then I guess they just filled out their name and
- then the other 10% weren't in favor of a closure. You know, I'm just kind of like taking the liberty
- because I'm here to talk about other cool stuff. So I was looking up and speaking with the person in
- Indiana who runs a creating places program because we hear a lot about how this
- oh, this is done in other cities and other states, but it can't be done here. We've got state code.
- We've got state legislation that's shrinking our budgets and everything like that. And I think in part,
- that's why this Indiana program is so successful. It's crowdfunding. It doesn't have to use any municipal
- dollars. It's $100,000. And cities across Indiana, some with Republican mayors and Republican city councils,
- are doing awesome things to activate spaces
- for people. So I looked up great things like Spark in Indianapolis now closes Monument Circle seasonally.
- It has this past year, 61,000 people who went there. And of course, if you know Indianapolis, Monument
- Circle is a big space where cars really come from all different directions. So it's a pretty high,
- high task, I think, to get that coordinated.
- Terre Haute revitalized streets with bike racks, seating, gateway signage. This took place under a Republican
- mayor. Hey, do we say Monticello or Monticello here? I forget Monticello, I think. I don't know. Connected
- its river to the downtown similar to Kirkwood. They were crowdfunding $50,000 and the public donated
- $101,000, which is amazing. And I think it's just pointing to the fact that
- people will show up and people want this and people will spend their own money on it. We have had some
- projects here in Bloomington. Captain Janeway on the B line was the first project. The Southeast, the
- Southeast YMCA also did a playground, a new playground with a creating places grant. Most recently,
- Cicada Cinema did
- this exact creating places grant. They were looking to raise $50,000. They raised $62,000 and then got
- a matching grant of $50,000 from the state of Indiana. I point to that because that grant closed July
- 15th and so it really, it really I think hits home that people want places to gather and there is again
- money in this community to help create those places. I speak to these projects and this grant because
- one, many council members are worried about a budget and too many council members say it takes a lot
- of money to pull this off. And these are all projects that are most of them are well under $100,000.
- Most of them are on the 20 to $30,000 range. And then
- The staff for this program did also price out the five blocks of Kirkwood as being a 30 to $40,000 project
- to activate it. So I think it's important to, you know, not necessarily make believe things, but like
- give experts a call and figure it out. That's all I want to say right now about it. Again, I understand
- we don't have the votes. I do want to speak maybe potentially have a longer
- final comment if we're not timing those. So I would like to ask for that and use my time from 78 other
- meetings tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much, Council Member Rosenberger. Other comments? If any or
- questions or anything else you'd like to do at this moment, I also would take any motions. Council Member
- Piedmont-Smith.
- So that was a lot from Councilmember Rosenberger. Thank you. A lot to process. I'm interested in these
- crowdfunding. I couldn't really follow. So there's crowdfunding that has been used in Indiana cities
- that the state matches for activation of public space is that
- what you were talking about. Yes, so IHCDA, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority,
- has up to $100,000, well, up to $50,000 matching grant for nonprofits or municipalities in the state
- of Indiana to activate spaces. It's been used for everything, right? Murals, public bathrooms, restoring
- a train car on the South Moe Non-Freedom Trail, buying
- flower pots to go on street lamps and watering them. Yeah. A removable screen for a street that gets
- used for showing movies in a summer. It's the website is patronicity.com slash creating places. And
- it's really awesome today. I scrolled through every single project and got really excited and obviously jealous.
- Oh, so it's $50,000 match, right? So the municipality or the nonprofit raises that money. You cannot
- donate to your own cause. So if the city were to apply for this, also it's very low barrier application.
- It's just like a Kickstarter page that you fill out. The city could not fund it, but for example, the
- chamber could or like DBI could be the sponsor and the city then, if it wanted, could put in $10,000
- or something like that.
- Anything else? Okay, I'll go to public comment if if anyone would like to comment on a reconsideration
- of ordinance 2026 12 Take it away Or so just the heck what the heck I'm here I'm really appreciated
- the comments by councilmember Rosenberger, and this is not the end well this issue will come back and
- And this is just the beginning. We might not have the money to do it the way we want to do it, which
- I think is the reason for some people reconsidering. But there will be another day. And I really appreciated
- the conversations that the mayor initiated. That was a very good meeting, an hour and a half meeting
- a few days before her veto. A lot of good input from people.
- We need more of that. And I think she's on board with getting more input about that. So thanks, everybody
- involved. Any other people would like to make public comment at this time? Is there anyone online?
- All right. To the folks online, you should be able to unmute at this point. Are they unmuted?
- Hello, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the Council, Steve Volin. I just wanted to speak briefly
- as a member of the Transportation Commission. I hate to correct Council member Rosenberger, but the
- vote was not unanimous. It was five to one in favor. So I just wanted to mention that correction. I
- also wanted to call attention to
- the resolution that I brought in 2023 on a downtown circulator, the idea of a permanently running bus
- that's circulating around downtown. I mentioned it now because I did the math on it. And if we had corrected
- parking meter rates the way they should be corrected, at least a million dollars a year would have been generated
- for the purpose of that circulator. The recent study from Walker parking, which we presented to you
- in a couple of weeks, but it's still going through transportation commission does call for adjustment
- of rates both up and down, but any change in rates is going to generate significant revenue
- far more than would be needed to do any kind of activation on Kirkwood. If the council is concerned
- about raising money, the money basically has always been there in the form of street meters. And that
- money should always be devoted to either transportation related issues, preferably public transit, or
- to fixing or improving transportation
- infrastructure within the district where the money is generated. At least that's the philosophy of this
- transportation commission member. So if money is an object, I would urge council to rethink their concern.
- You're gonna be getting a package of parking meter rate reform in the next few months if there's almost
- no question about it. It's just a matter of when and what the structure of that reform will be.
- I wouldn't use that as a reason to begin planning for a more car-free Kirkwood. Thank you for your time,
- and I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Next person online. Are they still there?
- Do you have a moniker or something I can? It's the person with the screen name Buff Brown. Oh.
- Buff Mr. Brown, Mr. Lawrence Brown, are you there? Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Yay. All right,
- that took me a while.
- All right, my name is Buff Brown. I have been a long-time advocate for bike, pet, and transit options
- for decades in Bloomington, founder of a former group called BTOP, Bloomington Transportation Options
- for People, that operated for 10 years with relatively good success from 2004 to 2014. I have also been
- a professional transportation planner for 25 years, now retired.
- I now live in Portland, Oregon for family reasons. I have now lived and advocated in five cities and
- know how councils and mayor relationships work and how they fail as well. I have been following this
- issue for years and have enjoyed the seasonal closure of Kirkwood and many visits back to Bloomington.
- I have a few points to make. Number one, this will work in the early,
- Earlier you start, the better. So vote yes. Use the 2027 planning process that you have planned to plan
- for its growth, not its rebirth. For a council to make this happen, this is exactly how to do it. This
- is the horse and not the cart. All data shows that this is what your community wanted. A public survey
- at the safety week
- Last year, a stakeholder business survey shows the majority of respondents want it as well. The 11-0
- vote of the sustainability commission, the 5-1 vote by the transportation commission, and most of all,
- a 5-4 vote by the council. Everything shows the community wants this, just not the mayor and some vocal
- stakeholders. I worry about the following. One.
- The vote is significantly about the power and authority of the legislative branch and the executive
- branch. And I think voting no abrogates power from the council. Two, I hope that the council members
- who I have worked with for years, whom I call the old guard, Ruff Rallo and Piedmont Smith, I feel are
- becoming the establishment Democrats, those who tend to hold up
- the status quo rather than take risks. So my conclusion, I'm asking you all to believe that your younger
- council people are here to make a difference, to create new things and make them work at a risk admittedly
- for their lives and their children's better lives. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else? Okay.
- other person who is online. We welcome your comments. You should be able to speak now. Hello? Hello,
- we can hear you. Okay, we can hear you. Well, one second. We could hear you, and now it sounds a little
- bit muffled. We'll give you back your time, but
- Are you able to adjust your microphone by chance? It's a little better, but you sound a little bit distant.
- Thank you, and if it's possible to write out what you said, that would also help, because we
- saw a transcription, couldn't exactly hear it, but it would be helpful just for confirmation if you
- could type that in into the chat, if that's possible, and we'll very happily read that out loud.
- Thank you. Okay, anybody else in chambers?
- pending the last comment here, then we'll come back to council comment. Have they written it? They haven't?
- Okay. Well, if they do, we'll stop and we'll read it. Okay. Fantastic. Back to council members. Council
- Member Daley. Thank you very much. Yep. As co-sponsor of this ordinance, I just wanted to quickly jump
- in and make my comment.
- It has been a wild process working on this with councilmember Rosenberger, you know after the vote six
- weeks ago You know, she and I have had multiple conversations and and some really great meetings Deciding
- how we were going to move forward, especially once the mayor did veto it and we we did
- come to an agreement early on that we were not going to work to overturn the veto. We were going to
- press pause and we were going to continue working on it throughout the fall and the winter and get that
- greater input and have more conversations and continue to keep developing it. And so we had decided
- that was going to be the plan. But then over the past six weeks, we have had a lot of outreach from
- a lot of invested community members.
- business owners, we've had just so much positive reinforcement from members of the community who wanted
- us to continue moving with this. So it is on the agenda for tonight. This is just part of our standard
- procedural. I didn't realize that it was actually coming up on the agenda for tonight, so I was surprised
- when I saw it. But all that being said, one more
- we did talk about the budgeting and the money. There was money in, I don't think Council Member Rosenberger
- said this, is that there was money in the budget for this year to put toward Kirkwood. And so we still
- have that money budgeted. So there is still money set aside that we can be putting toward the adjustments
- and the changes that we want to see to help make this more of how we envision a pedestrianized Kirkwood.
- So we do have some of that money now that we can be thinking about. So I just wanted to put that out
- there as well. But I don't expect that this is necessarily going to go anywhere tonight, but we are
- going to continue to keep working on this. And because it, of course, is an ordinance that I co-sponsored,
- I will be voting in favor of this tonight because I worked hard on this. And I think a lot of people
- really do want to see this come forward too.
- So thank you. Thank you, Council Member Flaherty. Thank you. I appreciate the arrival of the conversation
- and that we're taking a vote on the veto. I know that the sponsors have suggested that based on their
- conversation with council members, they don't expect the veto to be overridden tonight. I think that's
- a disappointing outcome, in my opinion, if that's the case, but Council Member Rosemarie also noted
- that we've had council members change their minds about this. Perhaps they will change their minds again.
- Who knows?
- I do want to cover some things. First, just as I'll always keep saying with this about messaging, this
- is not a street closure. It is a street conversion. It is a temporary closure to motor vehicles and
- a corresponding opening to pedestrians, bicyclists, wheelchair users, pets, scooter users, skateboarders,
- shoppers, diners, sporting events, celebrators, et cetera. It is a public space conversion in probably
- the ideal place in Bloomington to do that.
- It's just, it makes so much sense. I think that's why there's such broad public buy-in for it. We're
- blessed with such a unique connector from the downtown and the courthouse square to Kirkwood. It's like
- the perfect context for this. We could have done it probably a half a century ago. And no mayor or council
- since has been able to figure this out. I'm sure plenty of people have thought about it. Maybe it'll
- be ours. Maybe it'll be 20 years from now, who knows?
- I do think, and hold out hope, that it will happen eventually when we have people with the right political
- will and vision for this, even if that's not right now. I think it's been noted this has had broad policy
- support from some of the bodies that we ask for their input on their area of expertise, in particular
- here, sustainability and transportation. It's been noted that the Commission on Sustainability and Resilience
- unanimously supported this with the resolution, and that the Transportation Commission
- Well, had some questions and some healthy discussion, did ultimately support the proposal with a vote
- of five to one. It was Bloomington Transit Director Connell, who was the no vote. And yeah, you know,
- I think there was a recognition that the proposed staff findings that this didn't align with city goals
- were incorrect in the commission's opinions. There was, you know, we were all aligned on that.
- Also just noting the climate action plan says that we are supposed to determine appropriate locations
- for car-free pedestrian zones in high density areas. This is the appropriate location. We're supposed
- to establish an implementation based on the Kirkwood pilot project observations. And again, I think
- that's what this sets the policy direction to do. Yes, there's work that would come yet or would come
- following this, but it takes the commitment for us to then do that because otherwise every conversation about it
- is plagued by uncertainty. Will we? Won't we? Is it going to happen next year, et cetera? Without policy
- certainty, we can't take the next steps around budgeting, around design, around making sure it is accessible
- and safe and equitable. And even the little kind of single issues that are unique to individual stakeholders,
- like First Christian Church that emailed us earlier this week concerned most significantly about their
- six angled parking spaces in the alley between Washington and Lincoln north of Kirkwood.
- That's a valid concern. They have limited parking. I get it. I've walked that space. It seems to me
- like 90 degree pull-in parking would be possible in that alley, even if tight. I asked them if they
- have talked to planning and transportation staff or explored that possibility. I haven't heard back
- yet. But the point more broadly is that these problems are solvable. Are there accessibility challenges
- potentially? Yes. Can we solve them? Also, yes. Are there accessibility challenges with car history?
- and safety challenges, yes. And those are hard to solve. I am concerned more broadly about some comments
- I've heard, relatively limited, but over time, about that essentially conflate direct motor vehicle
- access with accessibility for people with disabilities. Those are not the same thing. And to the extent
- that we're working against pedestrian safety,
- in the name of accessibility, but really you're just talking about car access. I think we're really
- missing the picture. I think this does happen. But more broadly, people with disabilities actually have
- the most to gain in a situation like this. About a third of people don't drive. That's about 10% of
- adults who don't drive. But among the disability community, that is dramatically higher. I've seen numbers
- cited around 60% of that population.
- And car-heavy cities and places are more dangerous to disabled people. They are based on extensive research
- and also expertise from accessibility advocates. So there's been studies that show vehicle pedestrian
- deaths among wheelchair users is 36% higher than the overall population. Our own data show in our Safe
- Streets for All action plan that Kirkwood Avenue from Walnut Street to India Avenue is part of the high-entry
- network for vulnerable road users. It is a dangerous place to be a pedestrian.
- or a wheelchair user or a bicyclist. That's the data. Those are the facts. The National League of Cities
- also notes that pedestrian zones in cities result in a more accessible, efficient, and cleaner city
- for all residents. That's their view. Also, there's a fair amount for disability advocates about this.
- Anna Zeverts is a disability advocate and author of the book, When Driving is Not an Option. She is
- a low vision person and a non-driver and also a leader in mobility equity.
- She's worked with the National Safety Council's Mobility Safety Advisory Group and has lamented that
- accessibility sometimes becomes a political football in the discussion of pedestrian zones
- and how unfortunate that is. But the car-free zones, when designed properly with accessibility in mind,
- provide far greater autonomy for disabled non-drivers than traditional vehicle-only spaces do. So again, I think
- If we really prioritize accessibility and collaboration here, we can get that right. I have high confidence
- in that. I think former council member Volin, transportation commissioner, commission chair Volin made
- some great points about parking meter revenues in addition to, you know, budgeted funding that we have
- for this that council member Daly noted. The last point I did want to reiterate is the broad public
- support for this.
- I think there's also some like sample bias selection, but you know, kind of like self selection bias
- pieces. I would imagine that the folks, the mayor hears from our people who are opposed because they
- know that she is supposed so they know that she is the receptive audience for their opposition. That's
- probably I wasn't able to attend the listening session. I was out of town. But my guess is that it was,
- you know, mostly that kind of kind of perspective there. She had already made the decision earlier in
- the year. If you had a ladder early,
- not to go through with the conversion this year, even though it was passed by ordinance last year by
- this council. So she'd already made the decision. In my mind, the veto was a given, but I appreciate
- that she did have a listening session prior to doing it. But again, she'd already made the decision
- earlier in the year. The best data we have is what, well, the best data we now have, the best data that
- the Mayor's administration had, but didn't share with us previously, was from pop-up events on Kirkwood.
- asking people how they interact. This is, by the way, a good analog was Cascades, which we never did
- convert to a non-car park space. But similarly, we asked people when they interacted with it, asked
- hundreds of people during that trial what they preferred. And actually, the strong majority wasn't in
- favor of converting that space. Obviously, we never did it. Similarly here, we asked people interacting
- with Kirkwood, not to show up to a meeting like this, but we're just, what do you think? And that 90%
- of the people wanted
- some type of conversion of Kirkwood to a non car space in favor of being a public space for people.
- That's pretty, pretty wild. Those are, those are very impressive numbers. And, and, you know, only 7%
- favored no closure to cars at all. So that's quite striking. Again, I think it's the best data we have
- on this. Also among council members, probably 90% of the emails we've received have been in support
- and in favor of this.
- It's hard to get perfect data. But if we really wanted to, we probably could through hiring a survey
- firm or something. Lastly, I know there's been some discussion about, oh, we can continue the conversation
- from here. Sure. We've kind of been down this path. Previously, I brought a UDO resolution a couple
- of years ago. The mayor made some calls, got folks to vote no on introduction. That was disappointing.
- Notionally, we were supposed to have a lot of collaboration that followed from that.
- planning and transportation staff did conduct some sessions. We had a, you know, a deliberation session
- with the council. It actually wasn't all that collaborative. Ultimately, there wasn't really any action.
- So I brought back that resolution, the same resolution, and we passed it. So the track record there
- isn't very good. Again, I think the mayor's made very clear that she is opposed to this. So I'm not
- putting a lot of faith in, you know, collaboration to follow. I think it's up to the city council to
- lead here.
- The one other recent experience there was with the snow removal on sidewalks, which by the way is a
- significant accessibility issue and a pedestrian safety issue. I led a deliberation session on that,
- invited all of the relevant department heads from city staff and the mayor told them not to come because
- they had been spending too much time on the Hopewell PUD process. So Tim Street showed up anyway, bless
- him and thank you, but the others did not because that was the order from above.
- Again, not a great track record on collaboration on things related to pedestrian safety, accessibility,
- transportation sustainability. So it's up to us to lead. I hope we do. If we don't, hopefully the next
- term, the council will or a mayor will. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any others? Well, I'll make my
- quick plea for those of you still considering in hopes that two people will join us.
- Just a handful of things. First, I'd like to add to the list that Councilmember Rosenberger started
- off with in terms of the people that we've heard from. And one additional stakeholder that I think is
- relevant to add here are those who spoke against closing Kirkwood, but for this reason. They made arguments
- like, it would be awesome if
- But...you all won't, right? Wouldn't it be cool if we had that? We would love to live in a city that,
- but we're not that city. And I think that it's important for us to realize that that in itself is an
- analysis of what people are thinking of their local government. That they don't think that we can deliver
- or follow through with our own vision and our own plan.
- And I'd like to echo what councilmember Flaherty has been saying throughout this process and so many
- others This is a thing that's written fairly clearly in a bunch of city plans and again that that we've
- got a lot of momentum around and every single time
- We stopped short of doing something along these lines, and that does not breed confidence. It doesn't
- breed confidence in those who would think to move here, doesn't breed confidence in those who would
- invest, doesn't breed confidence in the local business community, and that has downstream effects on
- other things that we do. The second thing that I'd like to note is we should remember why this was before
- us in the first place.
- In collaboration, we brought forth a piece of legislation that, again, within the whereas clauses and
- within our debate and within the request that we received from significant stakeholders, our constituents,
- was that we wanted to give some certainty, at least for a period of time, to downtown business. That's
- what was requested. And then going into season two of what was supposed to be the full-throated,
- properly backed version of this where people supposedly had already invested two days before we were
- to continue with that. We're told that actually we're not going to do it this year. This echoes a lot
- of other things where I think it's important for us to assert the fact
- that we too are elected officials who represent the city of Bloomington. We too receive feedback. We
- too have a responsibility to those who, to our constituents. And I think that it's not fair that we
- would pass an ordinance that could immediately be just turned in another direction and not with appropriate
- data points as well.
- I think that we also need to note that there's this ongoing theme where we're talking about things like
- economic development. And one of the areas that is throughout most arguments for economic development
- in the city is that we must attract a different demographic or at least cultivate a particular demographic
- to be in our city. And that includes making sure that we have more workforce, that we have more young people.
- Realistically, I have advocated for this. I'm not saying that this is not a zero sum question. You don't
- do that at the expense of people who are retirees. I think that we have to make the city great for everybody
- who lives here. But the point here is that I do think, as it relates to economic development, that people
- within that target demographic are remarkably excited about what a city looks like with a closed Kirkwood.
- Students are excited about that. Alums are excited about that.
- And so that does tie to a lot of other things that we're trying to do. Finally, I'll say that a lot
- of problems were brought up, and I think that we have a, I don't know, a culture here of if we can state
- a problem, and I guess I just throw a problem out there, and so because I've said it,
- There it is. It's a problem. But all problems are opportunities for innovation. Every single thing that
- was brought up, whether it's, well, what are we going to do about, that's the conversation that we should
- be having. And we don't have that conversation until somebody brings forth some type of a piece
- of legislation. We also brought up, and I think this is a really valid argument, which it's like, look,
- at the end of the day, why are we investing in Kirkwood instead of, I think that's a
- very strong argument. It's one that resonates a lot with me. But the reality is that we're now no closer
- to doing that investment either. And so I'm concerned with the fact that we're just going to cycle around
- having deliberation about what we might do. We're paying some consultants to come and tell us what we
- already know about the street. And that path dependency matters an awful lot. And so to me, what was
- really exciting about
- putting forth this resolution, this ordinance, is that it addresses those issues of council's place
- in governance, yes, but it also gives a clear mark. Now, we can amend. We can go back to it and say,
- look, actually, as we started to do this design, we realized some things that we hadn't thought about.
- But it gives us a direction to go towards, instead of just going around and around the mountain and
- not coming to any type of real solution. So that's why I would urge you, I beg you, colleagues, please
- join us, because again,
- If this isn't working, we have a year, we have a whole year to design this right, to fund this right,
- to put all of the efforts into making this work. And if not, then we can take it back. But not doing
- anything, I don't think gets us any closer to the Bloomington that we're trying to become. So with that,
- I'll pass to anybody else. Council Member Stossberg. Thank you.
- I want to start by saying I appreciate the research country member Rosenberger dead on the grants and
- and those options and the input from mr. Bowlin regarding using parking meter fees as a way to fund
- this and I just appreciate that those thoughts and while the ultimate cost of activation and redesign
- as a piece of my initial vote at this point I have
- kind of a slightly different primary motivation driving it. I agree with nearly everything that Councilmember
- Flaherty and Asari just said about the challenges with the mayor and the general importance of the power
- of the legislative body. And that's like the most that's that's the thing that tempts me most right
- now to change my vote. Honestly, is it's not about the issue. It's about saying like the majority of
- us like thought this thing like figure it out. Right. But
- What is still gonna end up being a no vote for me this evening is really feeling like the success of
- this closure depends on this collaboration between council and the administration and city departments.
- And without that buy-in from the administration and city departments, it won't be successful. And it's
- really clear that we don't have that buy-in right now. And I appreciate that sentiment that we have
- to force that to make it happen.
- I'm not sure that that's the approach that, I'm just not on board with that approach at this point.
- And maybe it's because I'm still relatively new here and I'm still, you know, I'm gonna give this chance
- or maybe it's because I have just a more like ingrained sense of I would rather have this collaborative
- consensus sort of thing as opposed to this adversarial debate.
- Because despite how it might look sometimes, I would much rather have a nice collaborative conversation
- that results in consensus than have to debate somebody in my soul. But I think that we can still give
- it time. I don't think that this is an issue that is going to die. I said to somebody who emailed me
- over the last couple of days, if
- this ordinance looks slightly different than maybe I would support it if it wasn't five blocks, if it
- was only one block, if we start with a smaller bite of the apple to figure out how to make this truly
- successful in one block and then move it on to more block. And those, I think, are maybe some of the
- conversations that Council Member Asari was just referring to in this idea. And I do think that those
- can still happen, that those still need to happen even without this ordinance
- forcing that 2027 hand, because ultimately, we do still have what otherwise was on the books last year
- in terms of saying, hey, barring some real, you know, whatever thing, these should be closed. And that
- is something to bring up again. So I am gonna continue the same vote that I did.
- Last time, and if anybody is interested, I spoke extensively in the June meeting about that. And I also
- have some of those same concerns still moving forward in terms of what it would mean to make this a
- vibrant, successful pedestrian space and the real redesign and activation kind of potential. And if
- anybody is interested in hearing those, I wrote out those comments. And I would be happy to send them
- to you and just let me know.
- I do want to thank everybody who's emailed and had conversations with me about this over the last several
- weeks. I read them all, I swear, and I consider them. I did go to that meeting that the mayor had, and
- there was a diverse set of folks there advocating for different things. The vision is really beautiful.
- The vision is really really beautiful and creating that vision on Kirkwood or somewhere would be really
- beneficial to Bloomington and hopefully we can make that happen. Thanks Yeah, I very good comments and
- I want to say that I really appreciate the sponsors for bringing the ordinance forward Because we need
- to have this discussion debate
- So it's been very helpful. And I supported it last time because I wanted this to be taken seriously.
- It has merit. I am aware of many streets that have been closed that have failed. Some have succeeded.
- But I don't see it succeeding, especially in such an iconic, important public space as Kirkwood without
- community buy-in. Gotta have people
- All sorts of people come and have their say and envision what could be. Was it optimal last summer when
- it was closed? I don't think so. I visited it several times. I found it rather trashed. It wasn't an
- optimal place to be. We can close the street, sure, but we can't administrate the operation of the space.
- So we need a collaborative approach, as Councilmember Stasberg says. So I would like to, and to tag
- as a corollary, I think that that requires collaboration. I don't see an adversarial act of overriding
- a veto as helpful in moving this forward. I didn't like the adversarial relationship in Hopewell,
- We finally hammered out up. I think a better product in the end So it takes two obviously I do recognize
- that the mayor issued a letter stating that She wanted the council administration to engage in a process
- she said to envision what would be the best outcome for Kirkwood with community input I take her at
- her word that that's what she intends to do and
- We have the means to do it in deliberation sessions here, and we can have multiple deliberation sessions
- to that end. I would say, I've detected we have divided opinions in the community. I don't think anybody
- can say, yes, this is a no-brainer, the majority support this. I don't see it. In fact, I see a lot
- of merchants very nervous about what the outcome might be,
- And Mias may be being conservative, small c conservative, and just wanting to maintain what they can
- predict. And I don't presume to know how to run those businesses, so I take it very seriously. So since
- we have divided opinions, I think it's incumbent on us to have those deliberation sessions, bring in
- all sorts of different considerations about
- the businesses, the churches, the library, accessibility concerns, public safety, cleanliness, the design
- of the street, how we can optimize it, and of course there's gonna be trade-offs, there's gonna
- be opportunity costs and trade-offs to consider, and the expense involved, which is part of it too.
- Regarding the poll, yes, I think that there is, as I said, this really deserves merit. I mean, it could
- be an amazing space closed off
- and it deserves to be done appropriately and right. And I don't want to just barrel through and say,
- we're gonna close it, and you figure it out, I think we need to meet. I think that we, with
- the administration, you know, during safety week, 271 respondents, yes, they responded at pop-up events
- during welcome week. So that's probably a pretty selective and biased poll.
- Yeah, I take it as information, but I can't say that's the community opinion. So we really need to drill
- down on that. So I'm not going to attempt to overwrite the vote. I'm going to actually reverse my vote
- this evening, but I'm going to go into this process expecting that we're gonna have a better Kirkwood
- than we have now going forward, and I'm open to all sorts of different input on how we can maximize
- pedestrian use of that space.
- Yeah, speaking as one of the old fart farts no old guard Along along with Councilmember Pimo Smith's
- who probably also rode her bike down here today and one of the old old guard who for the however many
- thousandths of times I I rode my bike down to City Hall again and
- Tonight and I'll write home again tonight Maybe on Kirkwood You know, I I feel like I Agree with a lot
- of what I've agreed with some of what almost everyone said tonight on both sides of this But I particularly
- agree with a lot of what Councilman Rallo said We don't know where the community is out on this and I
- in the enthusiasm of a lot of supporters with this vision for this, I just feel like in that zeal and
- enthusiasm, which I appreciate and I understand if this is something you really aspire and really think
- is going to be such a game-changing quality of life amenity in Bloomington, I understand that excitement,
- but I just feel a lot of it is exaggerated.
- Like when we first all voted about for the season closure before like last year when we first did It
- was a 90 voter or whoever was unanimous who all was here It's partly in part because since then I have
- heard from a lot of businesses and residents in opposition They caused me to step back and reevaluate
- I Sort of assumed there was just large wide-scale enthusiasm for the idea
- Initially and I found that that's in my experience over the past several months. That's That's not the
- case. You can't say that clearly I can't say there's dominant opposition either right But I think the
- burden is on demonstration that it's very
- Favored to make a change like this to brush forward of overturn To go against and not be collaborative
- with the administration to take the step to do that and and We're not I'm not there You know and The
- arguments have been made. I just want to make a few anecdotal points, you know again, I have been riding
- my bike downtown in Bloomington for 55 years and
- Literally used to ride in McCullough school as an elementary school kid I raised my two kids here riding
- up and down Kirkwood coming to the farmers mark on a Saturday mornings zoom as young kids I have experience
- here one of the notes we got tonight from one the supporters literally says I Love having a beeline
- which means I can walk from my apartment to food truck Fridays at switchyard park Well, yeah, it makes
- it a nice one, but you could walk there without the beeline. It's it's
- It's this, again, it's an exaggerated enthusiasm that leads to statements that I don't think are helping
- the careful consideration and weighing in all the costs. The sustainability argument. I've been thinking
- long and hard about this and trying to research it a little bit.
- I'm not sure I get or understand how this proposal automatically reduces a carbon footprint of Bloomington
- and creates and is more sustainable. I mean, if people are riding their bikes or walking to Kirkwood
- because it's safe, well, they're walking from all where they live and they're going where there's not
- pedestrian
- closed roads or roads that are closed to cars Traffic's moving over to set 4th Street where the restaurants
- are people are walking all over 4th Street You're gonna have more traffic on a closed Kirkwood They're
- gonna go to 7th Street 6th Street You know the assumption I'm trying to think about what is that that
- automatically makes this a big sustainability Game-changer and I'm just not sure
- I'm just not sure I get it. When I drive, I said I was gonna give some anecdotes. You know, when I ride
- my bike down Crookwood on the closed, during closed periods, I actually feel it's not, it's less safe.
- I'm dodging people that are unpredictably moving all over the street if I'm riding my bike down there.
- Scooters, skateboarders, people walking, cars are much more predictable. When I ride down Crookwood
- with their cars, I feel
- Less safe and more likely that I'm gonna hurt somebody else When it is closed so there's just all these
- assumptions that I'm not I'm skeptical of in a lot of ways and one of my one of my most honored new
- urbanist planners and thinkers that I personally have known Was not in favor of this and said told me
- that he watched Louisville
- in their closed area, be hurt. The downtown businesses and the liveliness of the area be hurt by this,
- by similar type of projects. So I'm more than willing to look at this and work at it. And seasonal closure,
- or certainly event closures for big major events. And I'm totally open to that. And maybe it is a good thing.
- The way to do it is take our time, be collaborative with the administration, because as has been pointed
- out, they control the mechanisms, the machinery of implementing this and making it work and making it
- good. So we've got to play ball together on this. And so I'm completely open to it, visiting the idea.
- And I don't mean to be poo-pooing it, but I did want to counter
- with some of my own personal experience. Some of the assumptions and enthusiasm that this is
- just automatically just a fantastic thing that's just gonna rain down mainly primarily benefits to the
- community. So thanks for indulging me for a few minutes. Appreciate it. Well, a lot of
- Good points have been brought up by members of the public and by my colleagues. I spent the last three
- weeks in Germany, where my parents are from, and where I spent a lot of time as a child. And the pedestrian
- zones there are fabulous. Unless you try to bike through them, then really you have to dismount because
- they are filled with people.
- It's a little different in the United States, where cities were built for cars, including our city,
- largely. Kirkwood is one of the widest streets we have. It's much wider than it needs to be for cars.
- Anyway, so I can appreciate the vibrancy of a pedestrian zone, and I would love to see that on Kirkwood.
- I think that most people can agree on that.
- I appreciated what councilmember Volin said, councilmember, it's old habits, parking commissioner Volin
- about using increased parking meter fees to implement the activation of a pedestrian zone on Kirkwood.
- That is one of the several reasons why I think we should
- take our time with this. If we can put through parking meter rate increases and tie the increased revenues
- to Kirkwood activation, I think that would be a great way to move forward on this. I'm sorry, my thoughts
- are a little jumbled because there's so many things to think about here.
- We are facing reduced revenues as are all local governments in the state of Indiana thanks to the actions
- of the Indiana General Assembly, the increased property tax deductions, and the mess of what has become
- our local income tax structure.
- We're going to have to cut something. We have grandiose visions. We want to do this and that and revitalize
- South Wall. That is what I said a month ago. There are a lot of good ways to spend limited taxpayer
- dollars. Something's got to give. We can't keep adding more programs. We're going to struggle to keep
- up with funding the programs and projects we already have. So this is a reality.
- I try to be bold. I praised BHA, we did tonight, for being bold and heading in a new direction. But
- I also need to be a steward of taxpayer dollars and recognize our limits in that respect. And that is
- a reason why I voted no on this and why I will not be changing my vote. I think that, you know,
- the Suggestions from councilmember Rosenberger. Those are all great things that we can pursue. I mean
- if there is a crowdfunding mechanism But this is going to take ongoing financial commitment ongoing
- staffing storage of the the shade structures It's not of course one the first time we invest in
- Permanent structures that that'll be the biggest investment, but there will be ongoing costs So even
- a crowdfunding thing is not going to really carry us forward As far as what the public wants I I agree
- with councilmember rough and councilmember Rallo's we don't really know I mean we got probably biased
- input at the listening session that the mayor held because I
- It was 48-hour advance notice on a Tuesday evening in the summer. And I think a lot of her friends were
- there. But I also think we got the input on the planning and transportation safety survey
- That's biased, too, because you're asking people who are enjoying a car-free Kirkwood whether they would
- like a car-free Kirkwood. Well, they're going to say yes. They're out there enjoying it right now. You're
- not asking the people who maybe didn't come because they couldn't drive or whatever other reasons. So
- I'm sorry I'm a little disjointed here.
- The last thing I want to say is that I agree that a collaborative approach with the administration and
- with the community with Council on Community Accessibility with perhaps a consultant who has worked
- with other cities that have thriving pedestrian zones. I think that's the way to go. And I do share
- the hesitation that some in the community and maybe also on this body have as far as
- Collaboration with this mayoral administration because that administration has fallen short on Collaborating
- on other things. I mean they asked us to approve Hopewell, you know with a rubber stamp Which was not
- particularly collaborative But I still I still think and I talked with the mayor briefly yesterday on
- the phone. I think that collaboration is possible and should be the route that we pursue so I
- That's it for me. Thank you. All right. Councilmember is embargo. You're going to redeem your time.
- Go everybody grab a glass of wine or tea and settle in. Okay. It was a little long and then you know
- you get all those comments to comments. All right. So councilmember is sorry and clarity went first.
- And wow my comments were incredible. I want to say
- Thank you, Council Members Asari and Flaherty. I want to live in a city where you two lead because I
- teared up. I got excited. It made sense. You say, let's do it. Let's try it. You know, let's do our
- goals. Let's do our plans. Like seriously, I just appreciate your comments so much. And I think so many
- made sense that, um,
- A lot of council members talked about this as some kind of potentially like dead end or a rushed start
- when we have talked about this a lot as being the start that have a lot of notes about the mayor's failure
- to collaborate with us. And I will bring those up in a minute, but like it is true that we have not
- seen this mayor collaborate with us and
- This was brought because the 2025 ordinance was unilaterally decided by the mayor to not open Kirkwood,
- right? That was a little messed up the way I said it. The point of this was just to encourage and pressure
- the mayor to work with this city council. I have a lot of confidence in my colleagues that the nine
- of us can and do work really well together. And I think in a way, some of us had a rough start,
- I truly value all of you and your opinions and your perspective and your experiences and your skills
- and your talents and I would love to also say that about a mayor who works with their city council but
- like so far this term two and a half years in like I can't say that and it does make me sad it's not
- really a professional feeling but it does make me sad because hearing from
- council members Asari and Flaherty, I really was, you know, again, excited that, heck yeah, we can do
- this. Like it's true. And I think one council member mentioned, we put the start date as April, 2027,
- and that maybe if things were a little different, they would vote for it. We can amend this forever.
- It's our code to amend. We can shorten the months. We can shorten the streets. We can decide it actually
- needs to wait until 2028 to start.
- We can do that. Without this ordinance, we cannot do that. I think it's true that the momentum is now,
- and I want to believe that we can keep the momentum. But a lot of times when we alienate the public
- or, you know, like, don't listen, they stop showing up.
- I used to speak, right, as a public commenter. And after a while, I felt insane. Like, how many times
- can I come and talk about the 4th Street parking garage, right? Like, that was nuts. That was nuts.
- I think there were three main fears about this. There was money. And I think we showed that this can
- be funded for free. It can actually be activated space for free in Bloomington. And maybe that looks
- like something a council member said. Maybe it's not all the blocks.
- Accessibility can also be tackled. That was a fear. We've got awesome folks in our community to talk
- to. We've got websites that are useful, as Councilmember Flaherty said. And the fear that I think is
- the toughest to get by is the fear that the mayor won't play along. And some people call it buy-in,
- I think, which is potentially nicer, or collaboration. But it's really hard that we have one person
- who is in charge who you know well is an equal body of government that does not want this. If this wasn't
- detailed we would be doing it so if we had a six vote we would be doing this and we've done it for years
- already and you know some council members talked about last year not being successful. People down there
- apparently thought it was. People down there said they would like to see this so
- If there is trash, that's also an easy problem. We have public works. There was a project, a Creating
- Places project that just bought extra trash cans. Again, I looked at all of them. So I really do,
- you know, I think most of you are pretty set, but with the first two final comments, I just want to
- say I really was like, can we just do this? And can we trust each other that we will amend this ordinance?
- if and because we need to. And that we've had and we've asked the mayor to collaborate with us on multiple
- occasions. Council member Flaherty talked about snow removal where she disallowed staff from coming
- to that deliberation session. This ordinance was inspired by a lack of collaboration. Other council
- members mentioned that. I have a list, but I don't want to go through all of them. I think the main
- one is that the mayor brought a PUD
- And we weren't first we weren't engaged with that from the start, which is like okay like you can do
- that. But the mayor and her staff threatened to sue us for two weeks because we wanted to impose reasonable
- conditions on the PD. That isn't even a lack of collaboration that is obstructing
- City Council from doing its job. So I guess kudos to those who are still hoping that the mayor will
- collaborate. I think that we can still follow the same timeline. Council Member Aralo, I think, talked
- about deliberation sessions this year. Let's do it, right? Like, if you all don't want to pass this,
- we don't have to. There is the ordinance that is in existence that says,
- April 2027, of course, like we won't be a part of that decision, right? And okay, another council member
- talked about the Kirkwood puffballs, okay. Also, everybody got two puffballs. So if they really used
- to, it was 130 whatever people, okay. So I wanna correct that as well as the Transportation Commission.
- We have no scientific data on this. We have no scientific data for anything in the city of Bloomington.
- I worked at an evaluation.
- social enterprise and it costs a lot of money to hire that and it takes a lot of time to do that. Here's
- a little bit about what the internet says about how often and how long we study things. Studies stall
- controversial decisions, they pacify those opposed, they defer accountability, they maintain the status
- quo and they add costs to make projects financially unfeasible.
- I am understanding this is a council that also wants to study things. And if one here would like to
- stop studying things and start doing, I would like to partner with you and collaborate on some ordinances.
- Someone mentioned 4th Street in Louisville. I am, you know, I was born in Southern Belle. I'm from there.
- I've been there many times. The longest time I spent on 4th Street was a Congress for New Urbanism conference
- because they booked up the hotels on 4th Street.
- as an example of something cool cities do. And I think many council members are new urbanists, especially
- the old guard. Someone talked about this being very adversarial. It doesn't have to be, and it's not
- us making it. It's the mayor. We're not up here saying anything crazy or
- Harsh, right? We're up here being like, let's go. I guess it takes two to tango, but I think we could
- also just be talked to like regular people sometimes. Someone else used the word exaggerated. Someone
- talked about, I don't want to bike there. This really isn't for biking. We do have streets and bike
- lanes for that. This is social interaction, and most likely this would
- be a dismount zone like the sidewalks of Kirkwood and the square. Kirkwood was platted literally 100
- years ago before the automobile. So the width of it took pedestrians, it was about pedestrians and horses
- and stuff. So it wasn't planned for cars. I think a council member talked about it being really wide.
- Businesses being opposed, the ESD packet from 2026 had 20,
- 54 businesses surveyed, 26 strongly supported or supported, 20 opposed or strongly opposed, eight were
- neutral, which means like they could be on either side, right? I mean, you can add it to either side,
- but that means 32 are like, yay, okay. I think that's about it. I think it is a bummer. I think that,
- I think I mostly hope this council, yes votes, no votes,
- Really mean what you say they, you know, you're really interested in this and you want to do more work
- on it. This has happened before. Last time, you know, we tried to make it legal to sleep in parks and
- council members opposed said they were going to do something and You can see what's been done there.
- I guess that's it. You know, thanks for entertaining me and letting me Yeah, do this. Nothing. Maybe
- you really had a choice, but
- I am disappointed, I would say, in my colleagues. And I would love to think more about a council that
- leaves and has a vision than what we are now. Thanks. Thank you so much. Now, if there's no opposed,
- I'd like to ask the clerk to call the roll, please. All right. Clerk, will you please call the roll?
- Councilmember Flaherty? Yes.
- Sasberg no Piedmont Smith. No, sorry. Yes daily. Yes Rallo no Rough no Rosenberger. Yes Thank you very
- much. That motion does not carry
- All right, we are now at the final period of additional public comment. If you did not comment at the
- first one and would like to make a comment on something that is not on the agenda, now is your time
- to do that. Is there anybody in chambers? Who would you like to make a comment on? Anybody online?
- All right, move on to questions of council schedule.
- Important. Yes, please I'll just say that we have a fiscal committee meeting on Friday at 830 in the
- morning and as a reminder usually those are an hour this one's gonna be an hour and a half because Reedy
- is coming to Talk about financial planning stuff. So thank you The committee on council processes will
- meet tomorrow at 4 o'clock till 530 in the Allison conference room Thank you All right with that
- We are adjourned. Thank you.