WEBVTT 00:00:00.898 --> 00:00:10.423 - Welcome, everyone. Please come in and find a seat. I want to be really respectful of people's time tonight. 00:00:10.423 --> 00:00:19.595 - So come in and join us. There are plenty of seats in the front. Also, there are people who will welcome 00:00:19.595 --> 00:00:28.062 - you to sit next to them, even, yeah, CM Zulek in the house. So we're going to get started here. 00:00:28.898 --> 00:00:37.979 - slowly so people can keep trickling in. And I asked Councilmember Zulek to co-host with me tonight. 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:47.060 - And I'm going to say a few opening words. I don't know if you want to say anything. But just to get 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:49.694 - us warmed up and sort of set 00:00:50.050 --> 00:01:00.752 - what I'm hoping for tonight. I was greeted when I came in by somebody who said, I heard you already 00:01:00.752 --> 00:01:11.989 - made your decision, and we're just here to encourage you. And I want to assure you, I am here to listen, 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:17.982 - because where we are is in a place where we haven't had 00:01:18.274 --> 00:01:27.963 - good public input, and by good, I mean anything that's not three minutes at the mic responding to a 00:01:27.963 --> 00:01:37.942 - proposal. And so I want to be clear tonight. Kirkwood is just a community gem. It's not just a street. 00:01:37.942 --> 00:01:45.790 - We all use it. We use it in different ways. It is a vibrant center for our city. 00:01:45.922 --> 00:01:54.324 - And it is for a lot of people, it is some semblance of a third place. It's where you can go and see 00:01:54.324 --> 00:02:02.810 - your friends. It's where you go and bump into people that aren't your friends yet, but they might be 00:02:02.810 --> 00:02:04.574 - soon. And as you all 00:02:04.770 --> 00:02:15.720 - You probably know we began closing Kirkwood during the pandemic in the last administration so that people 00:02:15.720 --> 00:02:24.190 - could eat outside and so that there was sort of more space in a center gathering. 00:02:24.322 --> 00:02:34.423 - My administration looked carefully into whether or not to close Kirkwood this year and decided that 00:02:34.423 --> 00:02:43.614 - it was not in the best interest to close it this year. And we've drafted an extensive memo 00:02:43.874 --> 00:02:52.817 - I am not going to outline those things for you tonight. That memo is available publicly. We'd be happy 00:02:52.817 --> 00:03:01.587 - to provide you a link to it. And if you have computer accessibility issues, I'm happy to go print it 00:03:01.587 --> 00:03:09.662 - for you. So tonight, I want to be clear is about your ideas and it's about your experiences. 00:03:10.274 --> 00:03:20.764 - but it is not about lobbying the mayor to do something. I am really interested in what your experience 00:03:20.764 --> 00:03:31.560 - of Kirkwood is and having this be a solution-oriented session for us. To that end, we have framed several 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:39.198 - questions that you may want to consider when you are making some comments. 00:03:39.298 --> 00:03:47.841 - And those are up on the screen. You may not be able to see all of them right now. You're not required 00:03:47.841 --> 00:03:56.552 - to answer one of these questions. But these questions are framed so that we can stay solution-oriented. 00:03:56.552 --> 00:04:05.598 - This is a conversation, again, not actually a deliberation session. We're not co-deciding anything tonight. 00:04:05.762 --> 00:04:13.584 - You are informing me before I make a decision, and Council Member Zulek represents this district. I'm 00:04:13.584 --> 00:04:21.254 - really grateful for all the input that you have already secured from your constituents and for your 00:04:21.254 --> 00:04:29.153 - active participation in the Kirkwood Community Association and Downtown Bloomington Incorporated, both 00:04:29.153 --> 00:04:35.518 - of which have either officially or unofficially weighed in on this topic at times. 00:04:35.618 --> 00:04:47.435 - So here are some things to know as we are moving forward. Our transportation plan calls for Kirkwood 00:04:47.435 --> 00:05:00.072 - to be a shared street. And shared means that it's accessible and open to vehicles and to motorized vehicles 00:05:00.072 --> 00:05:03.582 - and to bikes and pedestrians. 00:05:03.778 --> 00:05:12.273 - We have on our agenda in the coming year a plan, a Kirkwood corridor plan, which seeks to engage 00:05:12.273 --> 00:05:21.293 - professionals who are skilled at looking at places like this and getting the most out of them. And so, 00:05:21.293 --> 00:05:30.226 - we will be offering whatever input that we get tonight to those professionals, because no matter what 00:05:30.226 --> 00:05:32.766 - I decide about the Council's 00:05:32.898 --> 00:05:43.239 - resolution, the council's ordinance, we will still be doing that plan. So your words are not wasted. 00:05:43.239 --> 00:05:53.785 - Whether I end up vetoing or not, they've been heard. And we will continue to incorporate them. And our 00:05:53.785 --> 00:06:01.566 - great team on city staff is taking copious notes tonight. And so is Sydney. 00:06:02.018 --> 00:06:14.846 - I want to just sort of outline for you all, I am a pedestrian, I'm a cyclist, I also drive a car. I 00:06:14.846 --> 00:06:29.086 - do all three things. I have a deep understanding for people-centered streets, and a very deep appreciation for 00:06:29.314 --> 00:06:38.800 - how built environment leads us to either build community with one another or not. And that's an important 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:48.555 - piece of these decisions that we're making and the future plan for Kirkwood. My job as the mayor, obviously, 00:06:48.555 --> 00:06:54.462 - is administration and implementation of ordinances such as these. 00:06:54.594 --> 00:07:03.776 - It's my duty to decide what's in the best interest for the good of the whole of the city. And so I know 00:07:03.776 --> 00:07:12.782 - we all have different experiences on Kirkwood and different things we treasure about that space. I am 00:07:12.782 --> 00:07:17.726 - going to ask you all to speak from your own experience. 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:28.034 - Hopefully to stay solution-minded. I am interested in hearing what's good about Kirkwood already, what 00:07:28.034 --> 00:07:38.212 - we need to keep, no matter what we do. I'm interested in what would make you more likely to use Kirkwood 00:07:38.212 --> 00:07:47.518 - and what it'll take to get there. I know some of you are business owners or commercial property 00:07:47.874 --> 00:07:57.123 - residents in some way, we're interested in your experience. So we are interested in hearing from you 00:07:57.123 --> 00:08:06.464 - on the impacts of this. Kirkwood has been really full at times over the past five summers. Those tend 00:08:06.464 --> 00:08:16.446 - to be event times. And we have contracted, Talia's here tonight, I think we contracted with Talia to do some 00:08:16.738 --> 00:08:26.166 - some activation of Kirkwood. And so, you may be hearing tonight about how the activation is going, and 00:08:26.166 --> 00:08:35.776 - we're eager to talk about how we can make Kirkwood the best it can possibly be. I'm also gonna encourage 00:08:35.776 --> 00:08:45.112 - you to be really aware of how many people are in this room who want to offer their thoughts and their 00:08:45.112 --> 00:08:46.302 - experiences. 00:08:46.754 --> 00:08:54.199 - Sometimes in these rooms, we can hear, yeah, I want to agree with this. And then you repeat it. If the 00:08:54.199 --> 00:09:01.644 - comments been heard, we will take it into consideration. And we're interested in everybody's ideas and 00:09:01.644 --> 00:09:09.378 - just an awareness when you do have the mic of how many other people want to speak. And I'll also encourage 00:09:09.378 --> 00:09:16.606 - people to speak just once until everybody who wants to has had a turn. Do you want to say anything? 00:09:18.594 --> 00:09:24.928 - Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I'm really looking forward to learning more about your different 00:09:24.928 --> 00:09:31.143 - perspectives. Some of the things that I am keeping in mind when we're making this decision is obviously 00:09:31.143 --> 00:09:37.537 - I'm blessed to have Kirkwood in my district, but we do spend a lot of money on Kirkwood and I'm interested 00:09:37.537 --> 00:09:42.078 - in better understanding how we might spread that love across the full city. 00:09:42.210 --> 00:09:49.348 - The other thing is that I can't stop thinking about is we are in a time period where we do not have 00:09:49.348 --> 00:09:56.700 - an abundance of financial resources. And so when we think about making this decision, is this the best 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:03.838 - use of the funds that we currently have available? And so I am hoping to learn more from you all on 00:10:03.838 --> 00:10:11.405 - how we as a city feel about that. But yeah, thank you for being here, and I will be taking copious notes. 00:10:11.405 --> 00:10:12.190 - So thanks. 00:10:13.954 --> 00:10:22.562 - Awesome. You are done now hearing from elected officials tonight. We are interested in hearing from 00:10:22.562 --> 00:10:32.030 - you all. I'm going to read some questions that are up on the screens right now for those who cannot see them. 00:10:32.194 --> 00:10:39.669 - We were interested in what you love about Kirkwood and what problem the city should be trying to solve 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:46.926 - on Kirkwood. So if we have an ordinance, there's something we're trying to solve, right? What would 00:10:46.926 --> 00:10:54.328 - make Kirkwood more vibrant during the summer? The last couple years, it's been pretty dead outside of 00:10:54.328 --> 00:10:57.086 - events and especially during the day. 00:10:57.570 --> 00:11:05.283 - So especially when IU students are not here, how can we make it a vibrant place? What should the city 00:11:05.283 --> 00:11:13.526 - be careful not to lose about Kirkwood as it exists today? What would make you more likely to visit Kirkwood? 00:11:13.526 --> 00:11:21.390 - How do we make sure a public space is truly public for people with different physical needs? What makes 00:11:21.390 --> 00:11:26.910 - it easy or difficult for you, your family, or others to access Kirkwood? 00:11:27.490 --> 00:11:35.475 - And what have you noticed during previous closures that worked well or did not work well? Please don't 00:11:35.475 --> 00:11:43.771 - answer all of those questions. Those are just meant to help frame some thoughts. And again, not a lobbying 00:11:43.771 --> 00:11:51.678 - session. We're really interested in solutions and what we wanna get out of Kirkwood. Desiree is gonna 00:11:51.678 --> 00:11:53.694 - move around with the mic. 00:11:54.114 --> 00:12:03.399 - It is important that you use the mic because we have friends at home who are listening and those friends 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:12.508 - are not going to have verbal comment time, they're gonna submit comments in writing. So who would like 00:12:12.508 --> 00:12:21.086 - to, yes, over here Desiree. You could also use this mic too if Desiree doesn't get to you, okay? 00:12:25.986 --> 00:12:32.909 - Hi, my name is Wayne Shepherd. I've lived in Bloomington most of my life. Kirkwood has been a part of 00:12:32.909 --> 00:12:39.765 - my life since, well, for at least 55 years now. So it's very important to me. First off, I wanted to 00:12:39.765 --> 00:12:46.552 - say that, you know, I'm a 69-year-old man with breathing issues. I have fairly serious lung issues. 00:12:46.552 --> 00:12:52.254 - That makes it hard for me to get around sometimes. And the other day I drove around 00:12:53.026 --> 00:13:00.185 - Between seventh and third and between Washington and Indiana and I counted and there's 22 handicapped 00:13:00.185 --> 00:13:07.414 - parking spaces in that 16 block area So what we're talking about doing tonight is getting rid of eight 00:13:07.414 --> 00:13:14.433 - of those handicapped parking spaces for seven months of the year it's already an issue for a lot of 00:13:14.433 --> 00:13:19.486 - people with with physical disabilities to get the areas of Kirkwood and 00:13:19.874 --> 00:13:26.619 - Especially when students are in town and there's like zero parking. So I just think that's something 00:13:26.619 --> 00:13:33.364 - that we need to keep keep in mind. But on the positive side I have friends who live in Ann Arbor and 00:13:33.364 --> 00:13:40.109 - I go to visit them quite often and I don't know who here knows about Ann Arbor but they have an area 00:13:40.109 --> 00:13:46.654 - very much like Kirkwood. It's called the Main Street District and they regularly close off roads. 00:13:46.850 --> 00:13:53.705 - there during the school year and during the summer. But they also have parking garages, I think four 00:13:53.705 --> 00:14:00.561 - major parking garages within two blocks of the area in each direction. And they also have petty cabs 00:14:00.561 --> 00:14:07.620 - that run continuously through the area. The petty cabs I'm particularly interested in because they have 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:13.118 - a partnership with the city. They use city garages to switch out the petty cabs. 00:14:13.314 --> 00:14:21.700 - The city makes a little bit of money off of it, the company makes money off of it, and it creates new 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:30.003 - jobs for people who want to drive people around. So it seems to work out really well. I've talked to 00:14:30.003 --> 00:14:38.306 - a few of the drivers, they say they make really, really good money doing it, so I don't see why it's 00:14:38.306 --> 00:14:42.910 - something we can't consider. Hi, my name's Jerry Hayes. 00:14:44.450 --> 00:14:51.725 - Closing certain blocks of Kirkwood could negatively impact our senior population with those with physical 00:14:51.725 --> 00:14:58.588 - disabilities, as the gentleman just said, by restricting people's access to businesses in the area. 00:14:58.588 --> 00:15:05.726 - Navigating around closed streets can be inconvenient and potentially unsafe for older adults and people 00:15:05.726 --> 00:15:10.942 - with disabilities. Closed streets may disrupt public transportation routes. 00:15:11.522 --> 00:15:17.638 - making it difficult for the seniors to reach these businesses, especially if they have mobility issues. 00:15:17.638 --> 00:15:23.577 - Street closures and parkless reduce availability of parking spaces, making it harder for seniors and 00:15:23.577 --> 00:15:29.458 - people with mobility issues to access the businesses. And I love to eat at an uptown cafe, Michael. 00:15:29.458 --> 00:15:35.456 - For many older adults, people with disabilities, visiting local businesses is a way to stay connected 00:15:35.456 --> 00:15:41.278 - with the community. Street closures can lead to increased isolation and reduce social interaction. 00:15:42.178 --> 00:15:50.403 - According to census.gov, the U.S. population is experiencing a shift toward an older demographic across 00:15:50.403 --> 00:15:58.390 - the nation. This demographic changes part of the long-term trend with projections suggesting that by 00:15:58.390 --> 00:16:06.536 - 2034, just nine years, there will be more people over 65 than under 18. It is estimated that there are 00:16:06.536 --> 00:16:10.174 - 10,000 people turning 65 each day in the U.S. 00:16:10.722 --> 00:16:18.026 - It's important to consider the needs of an aging population and people with disabilities when planning 00:16:18.026 --> 00:16:25.188 - street closures to ensure they can continue to access businesses and maintain their quality of life. 00:16:25.188 --> 00:16:32.350 - We shouldn't ignore our aging population. They are a growing segment of our population. Kirkwood was 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:37.598 - originally closed outside dining permit in response to COVID-19 pandemic. 00:16:37.986 --> 00:16:46.119 - When inside seeing was reduced due to social distancing, reducing inside seeing, that is no longer needed. 00:16:46.119 --> 00:16:53.720 - I was in Chicago a few years. When I checked in the hotel, the desk clerk, when she saw where I was 00:16:53.720 --> 00:17:01.473 - from, she said, she told me she graduated from Bayou, and she says, Nick's still there? So, you know, 00:17:01.473 --> 00:17:06.718 - Nick's, or Kirkroyd's a special place. It doesn't have to be closed, 00:17:06.818 --> 00:17:29.655 - special it already is. In the back by the door. Hello. My name is Sharlee Davis. I have retinitis pigmentosa 00:17:29.655 --> 00:17:35.102 - and I lost my eyesight in 00:17:36.290 --> 00:17:43.484 - I lived in Bloomington except for a year or two since 1974. What I'm having trouble with and what's 00:17:43.484 --> 00:17:51.254 - been very disheartening for me in listening to the meetings and the write-ups in the paper is the Americans 00:17:51.254 --> 00:17:58.737 - with Disabilities Act, the ADA, hasn't been talked about at all. And it's part of the Civil Rights Act. 00:17:58.737 --> 00:18:02.046 - People fought for decades to get this passed. 00:18:02.786 --> 00:18:10.977 - culminating in thousands of people at the Capitol sliding out of their wheelchairs, putting aside their 00:18:10.977 --> 00:18:19.325 - walkers, and crawling up the steps of the Capitol to get this passed. And now it seems some people aren't 00:18:19.325 --> 00:18:27.437 - even... they're ignoring it. Title II and Title III of the ADA says, it prohibits reducing or limiting 00:18:27.437 --> 00:18:32.478 - accessibility. It prohibits reducing or limiting accessibility. 00:18:33.346 --> 00:18:40.472 - How is this not reducing or limiting accessibility? Now, don't get me wrong, I think it'd be great if 00:18:40.472 --> 00:18:47.598 - Kirkwood could be closed and everybody could be accommodated. I just haven't heard this discussion at 00:18:47.598 --> 00:18:54.724 - all. Like I said, it makes me feel invisible. And if access were allowed, I don't know how ambulances 00:18:54.724 --> 00:18:59.614 - are gonna maneuver, but if access were allowed to take their clients, 00:18:59.906 --> 00:19:07.078 - It's not like they would enter at Indiana Avenue and go clear down Kirkwood. The most they would be 00:19:07.078 --> 00:19:14.250 - there would be one block. You'd enter from a side street, drop off your client, go to the next side 00:19:14.250 --> 00:19:21.710 - street. That's what I wanted. I just want to hear a discussion about it. I hope Kirkwood can be opened, 00:19:21.710 --> 00:19:27.806 - and I hope everybody can enjoy it. There is the ADA. Prohibits reducing or limiting. 00:19:28.258 --> 00:19:36.556 - That's my hope, is that this can just be part of the discussion, please. Thank you. Good evening. My 00:19:36.556 --> 00:19:44.854 - name is Mark Lockley. I am a local real estate developer here in Bloomington. I see that there are a 00:19:44.854 --> 00:19:53.235 - couple of us here. I've had the privilege of redeveloping places like the Smith Holden Music Building 00:19:53.235 --> 00:19:57.918 - and the corner of Hillside and Henderson, where FEDA is. 00:19:59.426 --> 00:20:06.094 - I support the vision of creating a more vibrant and pedestrian friendly downtown. However, I don't believe 00:20:06.094 --> 00:20:12.451 - that the current proposal to close Kirkwood to vehicular traffic is really well thought through right 00:20:12.451 --> 00:20:18.870 - now. A decision of this magnitude really requires a broader understanding of who the stakeholders are, 00:20:18.870 --> 00:20:25.165 - not just the businesses on Kirkwood, but especially the small businesses and on surrounding streets. 00:20:25.165 --> 00:20:29.278 - Downtown residents, students, visitors, people with disabilities, 00:20:29.410 --> 00:20:35.951 - who rely on convenient access. There are more important questions that still need answers. How will 00:20:35.951 --> 00:20:42.491 - businesses not located on Kirkwood compete if they don't have outdoor seating? Where will customers 00:20:42.491 --> 00:20:48.967 - park? How far would those people have to walk? And what will be the economic impact of permanently 00:20:48.967 --> 00:20:53.022 - eliminating almost 100, if not more than 100, parking spaces? 00:20:54.690 --> 00:21:01.774 - What makes Bloomington special isn't the national chains. It's businesses like the Uptown, Lenny's, 00:21:01.774 --> 00:21:09.000 - Hartzell's, Osterio Raggo, Soma, Greetings, Donor Kebab, Farm. Those are the businesses that give our 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:16.438 - downtown its identity. And we should be careful not to adopt a plan that unintentionally makes it harder 00:21:16.438 --> 00:21:19.838 - for them to survive. Before making this change, 00:21:19.938 --> 00:21:26.581 - I encourage the city to complete a comprehensive economic impact study and consider the alternatives 00:21:26.581 --> 00:21:33.291 - Maybe like a downtown trolley that connects parking garages with Kirkwood and the surrounding streets 00:21:33.291 --> 00:21:41.118 - Let's make a decision on data broad community input and a long-term vision that benefits all of Bloomington. Thank you 00:21:51.138 --> 00:21:57.818 - I'd like to speak to what the city should be careful not to lose. I'm Reverend Carmen Ray, I'm the senior 00:21:57.818 --> 00:22:04.624 - minister of First Christian Church and I speak for my congregation and also we are an umbrella organization 00:22:04.624 --> 00:22:09.918 - for many other organizations that operate out of our building at 205 East Kirkwood. 00:22:10.018 --> 00:22:16.884 - All congregations, we have people of a variety of ages and a variety of physical abilities. And so already, 00:22:16.884 --> 00:22:23.432 - being a downtown congregation is a struggle, can be hard for people to access the building. So there's 00:22:23.432 --> 00:22:29.979 - the obvious issue of parking and having to park further away from the church, which makes it difficult 00:22:29.979 --> 00:22:36.464 - for people to be able to get in, decreasing participation in our faith community from people who have 00:22:36.464 --> 00:22:39.070 - been part of this community for decades. 00:22:39.298 --> 00:22:45.233 - But one of the greatest challenges for our church location is our very limited proprietary parking. 00:22:45.233 --> 00:22:51.227 - If you have visited our church, you'll notice we own six parking spaces. Those spaces are located in 00:22:51.227 --> 00:22:57.222 - the alley between our church building and the Campbell House, which is also owned by First Christian 00:22:57.222 --> 00:22:59.774 - and currently houses Habitat for Humanity. 00:22:59.874 --> 00:23:06.226 - parking spaces must be accessed from the alley that runs in a north-south direction from Kirkwood to 00:23:06.226 --> 00:23:12.640 - 6th Street. And since those spaces are angled and the alley is super narrow, that parking can only be 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:14.590 - accessed from Kirkwood Avenue. 00:23:15.138 --> 00:23:20.734 - Back in February of 2025, when the outdoor dining program was being considered, Representative Zulek 00:23:20.734 --> 00:23:26.274 - and members from the Economic and Sustainable Development Department visited our site and we walked 00:23:26.274 --> 00:23:32.202 - them through those logistics and they were able to see for themselves the hardships that would be created. 00:23:32.202 --> 00:23:34.750 - We would lose all of our proprietary parking. 00:23:35.522 --> 00:23:41.440 - In addition to housing, the activities of our congregation, First Christian, shares its building with 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.648 - a number of community partners, including Stages Bloomington Theater, Narcotics Anonymous Recovery Groups, 00:23:47.648 --> 00:23:53.740 - Lotus Festival, Traveling University, the American Red Cross, the Mobility AIDS Lending Library or mall, 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:59.657 - a group that would be extremely negatively impacted by the accessibility issues that would be created 00:23:59.657 --> 00:24:01.630 - if cars can't travel on Kirkwood. 00:24:01.826 --> 00:24:08.015 - All of our partners will suffer by increased difficulties of accessing our building and accessing parking. 00:24:08.015 --> 00:24:13.914 - That's a change that creates negative consequences for dozens and in many weeks hundreds of people in 00:24:13.914 --> 00:24:14.782 - a week's time. 00:24:15.906 --> 00:24:21.129 - Our church has consistently shown up to promote health, safety, and compassion for our neighbors and 00:24:21.129 --> 00:24:26.403 - with the greater Bloomington community. Our welcome table breakfast continues to feed over 125 people 00:24:26.403 --> 00:24:31.574 - in poverty, including many who are unhoused every Sunday morning. We're one of the two founders and 00:24:31.574 --> 00:24:36.744 - one of the three current hosts of the Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter, which provides a 00:24:36.744 --> 00:24:42.122 - safe place for sleep when weather conditions are life-threatening. Those programs have made life better 00:24:42.122 --> 00:24:42.846 - in this city. 00:24:43.042 --> 00:24:48.967 - for people who are suffering and for the city to now encumber our ability to conduct our day-to-day 00:24:48.967 --> 00:24:54.951 - operations and limiting parking seems to me to fly in the face of the spirit of community that we've 00:24:54.951 --> 00:25:00.876 - striven so hard to foster. We've been a good neighbor to the city. First Christian asks the city to 00:25:00.876 --> 00:25:03.838 - be a good neighbor to us and the people we serve. 00:25:17.186 --> 00:25:45.662 - I think it's me. 00:25:46.338 --> 00:25:51.327 - So I'm not going to repeat everything. I've been at multiple City Council meetings, and I've said a 00:25:51.327 --> 00:25:56.365 - lot. I'm not going to repeat everything I've already said. I do want to say, though, that the notion 00:25:56.365 --> 00:26:01.404 - that we haven't had enough public comment on this seems a little bit silly to me. We've been talking 00:26:01.404 --> 00:26:06.792 - about this ad nauseum for six years straight. We've had plenty of public comment, I think. But nonetheless, 00:26:06.792 --> 00:26:11.830 - I appreciate the opportunity to speak again. One thing I did want to mention is that Bloomington has 00:26:11.830 --> 00:26:15.422 - roughly 240 miles of streets, city streets. 100% of those right now are 00:26:15.906 --> 00:26:22.019 - cars are allowed on them. We're talking about moving that from 100% to 99.86% by making Kirkwood car 00:26:22.019 --> 00:26:28.071 - free. I don't really think that's a huge astronomical amount to make one pedestrian car free street 00:26:28.071 --> 00:26:34.123 - that's a tiny percentage of the city's overall network. I think that's a small thing. Another thing 00:26:34.123 --> 00:26:40.296 - I wanted to mention is, Mayor Thompson, I've heard you mention multiple times about how you'd like to 00:26:40.296 --> 00:26:43.262 - bring more young professionals into Bloomington. 00:26:43.394 --> 00:26:49.652 - A car-free street is exactly the sort of thing that attracts more young professionals to a city. So 00:26:49.652 --> 00:26:56.036 - building something like that, a well-designed car-free street is exactly the sort of thing that would 00:26:56.036 --> 00:27:02.607 - attract the people that you say you want to bring. And I think that's all I want to say for now. Thanks. 00:27:02.607 --> 00:27:09.116 - Hi, my name is Ducky. I am 25 years old. I am not originally from Bloomington. I came here in 2019 just 00:27:09.116 --> 00:27:10.430 - before the pandemic. 00:27:11.522 --> 00:27:22.767 - I started my life here as a Circle K employee. And once the pandemic hit, I lost my job. And I had to 00:27:22.767 --> 00:27:34.453 - turn to DoorDash and Uber for a few years until somebody totaled my car. And then so on, so forth. That's 00:27:34.453 --> 00:27:40.958 - not important. As a delivery driver for a couple of years, 00:27:42.114 --> 00:27:50.682 - found a lot of struggle on Kirkwood even when it was open because parking is not adequate period. We 00:27:50.682 --> 00:27:59.845 - are already investing in more parking garages. I think we should continue and expand that further. Somebody 00:27:59.845 --> 00:28:08.328 - mentioned another city having multiple parking garages. I think that would benefit us greatly and I 00:28:08.328 --> 00:28:10.110 - think it could still 00:28:10.434 --> 00:28:18.721 - be accommodating for people with disabilities. And something I think we should really consider, I know 00:28:18.721 --> 00:28:26.848 - it is kind of a cost, but we're already moving towards it anyways. We need to really consider making 00:28:26.848 --> 00:28:35.296 - it more of an open-air mall space. Consider Denver, Colorado, or my home city, Portland, Oregon. They've 00:28:35.296 --> 00:28:37.790 - thrived off of walking cities. 00:28:38.370 --> 00:28:46.688 - They've found plenty of ways to make it accommodating for people, both driving, walking, cycling, whatever 00:28:46.688 --> 00:28:54.773 - the case may be. Somebody else mentioned a trolley system and that was really validating for me because 00:28:54.773 --> 00:29:02.625 - I also was thinking people can still ride somewhere and not have to walk. And we can keep it simple. 00:29:02.625 --> 00:29:08.222 - Trolley's aren't that hard to keep up. And if we're gonna close it for, 00:29:08.802 --> 00:29:16.199 - the majority of the year anyways and only leave it open during like the worst time weather-wise of the 00:29:16.199 --> 00:29:23.525 - year when nobody's out anyways? Why are we spending the money to keep opening and closing it? It kind 00:29:23.525 --> 00:29:30.922 - of seems like a waste of our time and money and resources. I also think we need to install more public 00:29:30.922 --> 00:29:38.750 - restrooms that are available for everybody. Not only would that help the students, but I think it would help 00:29:39.202 --> 00:29:46.872 - home population of Bloomington because to use a restroom in Kirkwood, you usually have to go and buy 00:29:46.872 --> 00:29:54.921 - something somewhere. And I don't think that's really fair. People got to use the bathroom. I think that's 00:29:54.921 --> 00:30:03.123 - most of what I have to say. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Elliot Lewis and we've been in business 00:30:03.123 --> 00:30:08.894 - for over 50 years. We're the third largest provider of parking in downtown. 00:30:09.346 --> 00:30:17.485 - Next to the city, of course, and I you we rent to over 20 commercial tenants of all types of businesses 00:30:17.485 --> 00:30:25.312 - and sizes What I'm going to tell you is very fact driven If you go back a little over 20 years, and 00:30:25.312 --> 00:30:33.138 - I'm not trying to make everybody hungry at 6 o'clock by mentioning McDonald's but McDonald's is one 00:30:33.138 --> 00:30:36.190 - example of what happened when we had a 00:30:37.570 --> 00:30:47.500 - a lengthy closure to Kirkwood when the infrastructure was redone to assist the Jordan River to continue. 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:57.335 - And if McDonald's can't make it, what's that gonna say about other restaurants and their survival rate? 00:30:57.335 --> 00:31:07.454 - A more recent example would be the unfortunate situation of a couple months ago, the night of Little Five. 00:31:08.002 --> 00:31:18.240 - we ended up closing and locking our front doors to posh on Kirkwood because we were just taking extra 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:28.779 - precautions. So if we can't handle a large crowd on Kirkwood, why would we be inviting more of the same? 00:31:28.779 --> 00:31:37.310 - I'm not suggesting that we didn't do a good job, but it's very, very hard to contain 00:31:37.634 --> 00:31:46.013 - certain situations, and I don't know that we're equipped to do so. Let's go to more facts. Let's go 00:31:46.013 --> 00:31:54.393 - to Ontario, Canada. And there, a study was done five years ago of the economic impact of what would 00:31:54.393 --> 00:32:02.940 - happen for a lengthy closure like what is being proposed. And all the businesses in downtown Hamilton 00:32:02.940 --> 00:32:06.878 - participated. It was a lengthy, lengthy study. 00:32:07.810 --> 00:32:18.220 - like the kind of study you'd expect from Mayor Thompson. And the results were that revenue was down 00:32:18.220 --> 00:32:28.838 - 27% to 38% across the board of all the businesses from a lengthy closure. And when you look at 27% to 00:32:28.838 --> 00:32:37.374 - 38% of a decline in revenue for any kind of business, let alone small businesses, 00:32:38.306 --> 00:32:46.327 - Most of them won't survive. We all know how to get to Bloomington. We all know how to get out of Bloomington. 00:32:46.327 --> 00:32:53.910 - And I'm really puzzled by this question. Why would we have all of the traffic that comes to Bloomington 00:32:53.910 --> 00:33:01.566 - because we reside here, all the other traffic that we're trying to generate with tourism or other things 00:33:01.566 --> 00:33:07.326 - that go on in our fine town, and only let them drive on Kirkwood for one block 00:33:07.810 --> 00:33:17.917 - before we direct them out of town on Walnut. I just don't see the merit in it. With the council's decision, 00:33:17.917 --> 00:33:27.557 - it just seems like it's short-sighted. They're not taking into account a lot of the things. And I know 00:33:27.557 --> 00:33:37.758 - Kerry said not to repeat anything, but I wholeheartedly repeat the ADA concerns. My mom was in a wheelchair. 00:33:38.114 --> 00:33:45.619 - and I used to drop her off all the time, or my dad would drop her off in front of Uptown, and lots of 00:33:45.619 --> 00:33:53.124 - people in those situations can't make it to the next block. And we have to be very cognizant of that, 00:33:53.124 --> 00:34:00.630 - because we have lots of people coming to town that are physically challenged, lots of people that are 00:34:00.630 --> 00:34:05.118 - here physically challenged, and that is just a huge concern. 00:34:05.602 --> 00:34:22.962 - I'm very appreciative of those here tonight that are echoing that so thank you very much So Can you 00:34:22.962 --> 00:34:33.726 - hear me okay Mitchell farmer speaking as just private citizen 00:34:33.922 --> 00:34:39.043 - I want to go back to the questions, because it seems to me the choice whether it's open or closed this 00:34:39.043 --> 00:34:44.312 - year is binary, right? So if we're looking at a future direction, which is what the question's addressed, 00:34:44.312 --> 00:34:49.483 - I want to call out two things. What doesn't work right now when it's closed? There's no infrastructure. 00:34:49.483 --> 00:34:54.603 - It is hot. There's no place to sit. There's no place to go to the bathroom, get a drink. Any plan like 00:34:54.603 --> 00:34:59.575 - this only works with infrastructure and investment. So it needs a plan. There's lots of really good 00:34:59.575 --> 00:35:02.110 - points that have been raised, but it needs a plan. 00:35:02.818 --> 00:35:07.754 - I would also say don't shy away from it because it has complexity. I'm hearing a lot of don't do it 00:35:07.754 --> 00:35:12.790 - because type reasons. These are solvable things. There are examples across the country of cities that 00:35:12.790 --> 00:35:17.726 - have implemented things like this, including Indianapolis around the Super Bowl. But the thing that 00:35:17.726 --> 00:35:22.712 - I want to point out is actually bullet point number three, which I think is an assumption that needs 00:35:22.712 --> 00:35:27.846 - to be addressed. Bloomington summers are not the way that they were. They're not the way that they were 00:35:27.846 --> 00:35:32.190 - 20 years ago when I moved to town. They're not the way they were in 2019. This idea of, 00:35:32.546 --> 00:35:38.282 - Just making due until the students get back is a long-term strategic problem for the city that I think 00:35:38.282 --> 00:35:43.963 - is solvable by acknowledging that we are probably, and I'm a resident, I've lived here, this is gonna 00:35:43.963 --> 00:35:49.533 - be a loaded statement, we are increasingly becoming a resort town for the university, right? We are 00:35:49.533 --> 00:35:55.158 - looking like cities that have traffic for nine months out of the year or six months out of the year. 00:35:55.158 --> 00:36:00.894 - Infrastructure development and compelling public spaces will help us move through that because it will 00:36:01.090 --> 00:36:06.689 - augment and complement the convention center, which has been decided it's going forward, it's being 00:36:06.689 --> 00:36:12.456 - built. So really downtown needs a plan. We need to stop operating on the assumption that we just gotta 00:36:12.456 --> 00:36:18.112 - make it till the IU students get back. We need to be able to bring in a broad base into the city all 00:36:18.112 --> 00:36:23.879 - points during the year. And my last thing is IU should be at the table for this. Kirkwood is the front 00:36:23.879 --> 00:36:30.206 - door to the campus. So I believe public private partnership, the foundation owns buildings up and down Kirkwood, 00:36:30.562 --> 00:36:37.228 - Like, if they care, they should be involved in this discussion. I made a similar point about the convention 00:36:37.228 --> 00:36:43.462 - center. IU was oddly quiet about that. But they benefit from the infrastructure, too. Bring them in. 00:36:43.462 --> 00:36:49.880 - So if you want to know what elements would make a successful future plan, I think that's essential that 00:36:49.880 --> 00:36:56.052 - they be a part of it. That's all. I just want to say, we do have somebody from the university here. 00:36:56.052 --> 00:37:00.126 - I don't know where she went, but I saw Rachel Jones McAfee today. 00:37:00.354 --> 00:37:10.690 - They're here, they're an active part of the conversation. I just want to acknowledge, not absent at 00:37:10.690 --> 00:37:21.233 - this point. Yeah, I just wanted to clarify. I get around town on my bicycle almost all the time. When 00:37:21.233 --> 00:37:28.158 - Kirkwood is closed, it's much more difficult for me to get through 00:37:28.322 --> 00:37:35.964 - than when it's open to vehicles. As a biker, I much prefer it to be open. It's more complicated to have 00:37:35.964 --> 00:37:43.827 - it closed. Before I came to Bloomington over 50 years ago, I lived in Evansville. Evansville, many decades 00:37:43.827 --> 00:37:51.249 - ago, decided to try closing Main Street, which is their equivalent of our Kirkwood. It was great for 00:37:51.249 --> 00:37:53.086 - about a year, maybe two. 00:37:53.762 --> 00:38:02.505 - Then things went downhill and they eventually were losing businesses and they had to open it up again. 00:38:02.505 --> 00:38:10.993 - Thank you. Yeah, I wanna speak a little bit to the IU, or sorry, Bloomington as like a tourist town 00:38:10.993 --> 00:38:19.566 - or whatever. This close? Okay. I think that I've been here for 30 years and I think that dynamic has 00:38:19.566 --> 00:38:22.622 - definitely increased over the last, 00:38:22.754 --> 00:38:29.317 - maybe 10 years or so, but I want to dispel the myth that it is a resort town. There are kids here in 00:38:29.317 --> 00:38:35.620 - the summer. The city just, I think, struggles to engage them. I think even looking at this room, 00:38:35.620 --> 00:38:42.182 - you know, the largest cohort of this town, which is 40% of the population between the ages of 20 and 00:38:42.182 --> 00:38:45.886 - 30, are rarely represented or engaged in this community. 00:38:45.986 --> 00:38:52.974 - We employ about 60 of them in town. And I've taught at IU. We have a ton of interns of that age. And 00:38:52.974 --> 00:39:00.170 - many of them want to see it close. And they want to be engaged. The infrastructure isn't great. I think 00:39:00.170 --> 00:39:07.297 - we come up with funds and resources when we want to. We're paying for a $71 million convention center. 00:39:07.297 --> 00:39:14.078 - We have a $35 million park and switch yard. There's a talk of a quarter of a billion dollar jail. 00:39:14.274 --> 00:39:24.489 - You know, we can get creative with funding. I'm a believer in that. And while the mobility issues do 00:39:24.489 --> 00:39:35.614 - need to be resolved, I think it would be just so sad to just retrench ourselves and have it in open Kirkwood. 00:39:45.570 --> 00:39:54.415 - Yes, Chris Sturbaum. You know, the shocking statistic is since 1977, 400 of these have been experimented 00:39:54.415 --> 00:40:03.428 - with in this country. 12 have survived. And I've been to Pearl Street in Boulder, and people go to Boulder 00:40:03.428 --> 00:40:11.936 - for great reasons. They had a four block, one of the 12 that succeeded. And they recently, just last 00:40:11.936 --> 00:40:15.390 - year, were going to keep two more blocks 00:40:15.586 --> 00:40:24.177 - The designer of Pearl Street was against closing off permanently the other two blocks of Pearl Street. 00:40:24.177 --> 00:40:32.768 - All of the merchants were against closing it off to automobiles. And it was going to be on the ballot, 00:40:32.768 --> 00:40:41.275 - but it was withdrawn because of the opposition, people who knew these the best. And the designer said 00:40:41.275 --> 00:40:44.862 - the longer these are, the worse they fail. 00:40:45.090 --> 00:40:54.092 - We're proposing a five block one in a much smaller community. So That's those are those aren't good 00:40:54.092 --> 00:41:03.094 - odds folks. Thank you Okay, I may have residential seniority in this room I've lived in Bloomington 00:41:03.094 --> 00:41:12.096 - for 70 years I was operations manager of Bloomington Transit for 10 years. I am now retired. I want 00:41:12.096 --> 00:41:14.526 - to make it very clear that 00:41:14.882 --> 00:41:22.837 - that I'm stating my opinions and observations, I don't know what those of Bloomington Transit are. But 00:41:22.837 --> 00:41:30.484 - when Kirkwood was, when they began closing Kirkwood, it created significant routing and scheduling 00:41:30.484 --> 00:41:39.134 - discrepancies for Bloomington Transit, forced bypassing five or six of the most well-used stops in Bloomington, 00:41:39.554 --> 00:41:51.947 - Specifically, you can't get to the Monroe County Public Library on Bloomington Transit anymore. Kirkwood 00:41:51.947 --> 00:42:03.868 - was built as a city street, not as an outdoor food court, and I think it should serve its purpose as 00:42:03.868 --> 00:42:09.534 - a thoroughfare. Hello, my name's Colin Nielsen. 00:42:09.730 --> 00:42:15.937 - I wanted to start out by saying that I want to echo the person over here who talked about investing 00:42:15.937 --> 00:42:22.267 - in infrastructure like water fountains, benches. I also want to add trees as well to that list. I did 00:42:22.267 --> 00:42:29.033 - some research prior to coming here about some successful pedestrian malls in cities like Madison, Wisconsin. 00:42:29.033 --> 00:42:35.426 - I think there's Burlington, Vermont. There was Charlottesville, Virginia. All of them were some of the 00:42:35.426 --> 00:42:37.598 - few cities that did not have their 00:42:38.018 --> 00:42:44.864 - pedestrian malls to convert it back into streets like like the gentleman over here mentioned it is about 00:42:44.864 --> 00:42:51.449 - about 400 cities tried this for the past several decades and For my research has had about 30 remain 00:42:51.449 --> 00:42:58.100 - or so I think what all those towns that I mentioned have in common is that they are all college towns 00:42:58.100 --> 00:43:04.750 - and they have Dense downtowns and they do range in population from 45 to like a hundred and thirty or 00:43:04.750 --> 00:43:07.358 - so thousand for Madison but they became 00:43:08.194 --> 00:43:15.538 - these pedestrian malls became very important hubs for their communities, and while they received initial 00:43:15.538 --> 00:43:22.673 - pushback from business owners, like for parking, accessibility, eventually, they did... the increased 00:43:22.673 --> 00:43:30.227 - pedestrian activity did support them. And for cities like, say, Kalamazoo, Michigan, or Rockford, Illinois, 00:43:30.227 --> 00:43:37.502 - which did convert their pedestrian malls back into thoroughfares because they considered them failures, 00:43:37.602 --> 00:43:44.444 - Those downtowns were already dying by the time that they introduced the pedestrian malls, and they were 00:43:44.444 --> 00:43:51.483 - trying to make a... there was a last-ditch effort, essentially. And I think with Bloomington, the downtown 00:43:51.483 --> 00:43:58.062 - is very vibrant, and I think Kirkwood could support a pedestrian mall, because I don't consider the 00:43:58.062 --> 00:44:04.707 - downtown dying. I consider it very vibrant. There is a large student population that do not own cars 00:44:04.707 --> 00:44:06.878 - and that do not rely on parking. 00:44:07.970 --> 00:44:15.491 - Also, for the matter of, like, say, handicap accessibility parking spaces being removed, like the eight 00:44:15.491 --> 00:44:22.722 - parking spaces, I think the solution is to add eight, to convert other street parking into handicap 00:44:22.722 --> 00:44:29.953 - parking rather than throwing out the idea entirely about pedestrianizing Kirkwood. In fact, I would 00:44:29.953 --> 00:44:36.606 - be supportive of even more than eight being added. I think that people who can walk should, 00:44:36.770 --> 00:44:43.145 - walk further distances in order to help the people who are with disabilities. I think, and I am willing 00:44:43.145 --> 00:44:49.458 - to walk those further distances, and many people are in order to accommodate that. I'm willing to walk 00:44:49.458 --> 00:44:55.649 - long distances in Walmart to pick up my groceries. I'm willing to walk long distances in the college 00:44:55.649 --> 00:45:01.900 - mall in order to go to the shops I want to go to, and I would rather not have cars running in between 00:45:01.900 --> 00:45:03.678 - the stores than in the mall. 00:45:03.810 --> 00:45:10.311 - and I think because it makes for a more pleasant experience. However, right now, the way the curcuit 00:45:10.311 --> 00:45:17.070 - is configured, it is configured like a thoroughfare, but that is because right now, the road is designed 00:45:17.070 --> 00:45:23.571 - to be like one. I think as a stopgap measure for closing it every summer and just leaving it the way 00:45:23.571 --> 00:45:30.201 - it is, I think it isn't really very effective long-term. I wouldn't really be supportive of continuing 00:45:30.201 --> 00:45:31.038 - it. However, 00:45:31.362 --> 00:45:38.933 - I would want the city to look into actually pedestrianizing the street, and thinking of long-term solution, 00:45:38.933 --> 00:45:46.083 - and investing in infrastructure such as trees to increase shade, to help people who are vulnerable to 00:45:46.083 --> 00:45:53.584 - heat, and water fountains, benches, placemaking, things like that, so that it can actually attract people. 00:45:53.584 --> 00:45:57.790 - Because right now, even in the previous years, when I would 00:45:57.922 --> 00:46:03.953 - to Kirkwood, I would still stick to the sidewalks, even when the street was open to pedestrians. I'd 00:46:03.953 --> 00:46:10.282 - only go in the street to, say, eat on outdoor dining, mainly because of two things, because the buildings 00:46:10.282 --> 00:46:16.671 - provide shade, so I'd stick close to them, and two, just because the street of asphalt is pretty inviting, 00:46:16.671 --> 00:46:22.881 - uninviting compared to brick pavers. And all of the cities I mentioned that have successful things such 00:46:22.881 --> 00:46:26.046 - as Madison, they all use brick pavers, they all have 00:46:26.210 --> 00:46:34.321 - Trees going through the center as well. They all have trees planted in the center to provide shade for 00:46:34.321 --> 00:46:42.196 - people and I think that introducing elements like that could make it so that It'd make it easier to 00:46:42.196 --> 00:46:50.229 - walk there more pleasant to walk there that it isn't a heat island And yeah Hi, I'm Tristana you that 00:46:50.229 --> 00:46:52.670 - was pedestrianized in 1987 and 00:46:53.090 --> 00:47:00.256 - which is from Indiana East to Maxwell Hall, maybe two weeks ago, and people were taking all kinds of 00:47:00.256 --> 00:47:07.350 - graduation photos in front of the gates, but also in front of the IUD buildings and Dunwoods. And I 00:47:07.350 --> 00:47:14.445 - don't think there's a single person who said when Bloomington pedestrianized Kirkwood that that was 00:47:14.445 --> 00:47:21.540 - anything less than a success. We've already pedestrianized Kirkwood. That block is great. I want to 00:47:21.540 --> 00:47:22.462 - expand that. 00:47:23.010 --> 00:47:31.518 - I'm all for pedestrianizing Kirkwood. And in my experience, my family lives in Burlington, Vermont. 00:47:31.518 --> 00:47:40.535 - I've spent a lot of time on Church Street visiting my family during Christmas when it's snowing on Church 00:47:40.535 --> 00:47:49.043 - Street. Any problem that anybody now, Burlington's already dealt with. Their ADA compliance of door 00:47:49.043 --> 00:47:52.446 - openings is up to, I think there's only 00:47:52.610 --> 00:48:00.563 - The last I looked was like three businesses. These are not issues. If you look and you actually go where 00:48:00.563 --> 00:48:08.895 - it worked, they've already dealt with it. My brother, he's part owner of a camping supply store in Burlington 00:48:08.895 --> 00:48:15.863 - and the outdoor gear exchange. It started in 93, about two blocks off of Church Street, off 00:48:15.863 --> 00:48:20.862 - the pedestrianized area. And then they moved and they moved again 00:48:21.378 --> 00:48:30.316 - And then they moved a fourth time consecutively closer and closer and closer to the pedestrianized area 00:48:30.316 --> 00:48:38.995 - where the last time they went from a block off onto Church Street and they bought their building. It 00:48:38.995 --> 00:48:47.761 - was always their goal as a business to be on Church Street and they succeeded at it and it worked for 00:48:47.761 --> 00:48:49.566 - him and it was like, 00:48:50.850 --> 00:49:00.853 - 30-year project for them to get to Church Street. And they did. On Kirkwood, or rather, I've been, like, 00:49:00.853 --> 00:49:10.380 - some of the better experiences are more exceptional, like that Grand Faloon that was downtown, that 00:49:10.380 --> 00:49:20.574 - was fantastic. The other side of the coin is I went on a bike, I've been hit by cars twice in Bloomington. 00:49:21.186 --> 00:49:28.770 - One's on Kirkwood in Indiana and the other on Ninth in Indiana. And, you know, what's the median age 00:49:28.770 --> 00:49:36.429 - in Bloomington 25? Not even old enough to rent a car because you can't insure it because people under 00:49:36.429 --> 00:49:43.938 - 25 are just categorically bad drivers. And that's my experience. It would be much safer if we had a 00:49:43.938 --> 00:49:48.894 - transportation system that moved people and not just automobiles. 00:49:49.410 --> 00:50:00.193 - And granted, Kirkwood is not, the downtown mall isn't gonna be anything but one facet in that transportation 00:50:00.193 --> 00:50:10.778 - system, but the more you get people out of cars and into society, the better we'll all be, and the happier 00:50:10.778 --> 00:50:15.230 - people are gonna be. Hi, I'm Jeff Meese, 45. 00:50:15.330 --> 00:50:24.235 - year resident of Bloomington Cyclist, had a business on Kirkwood that we sold to some employees, Lenny's. 00:50:24.235 --> 00:50:32.804 - I can imagine years down the road, Kirkwood being a pedestrian mall, I think it's bad timing. I think 00:50:32.804 --> 00:50:41.710 - we have to get there organically, just the way IU lays paths down after they've discovered where students 00:50:41.710 --> 00:50:44.062 - walk, I think, when we have 00:50:44.418 --> 00:50:52.645 - a dozen or more popular festivals on the street happening in the summer, that it's gonna be obvious. 00:50:52.645 --> 00:51:00.871 - I think it'll be obvious, and it's clearly not obvious now, which is why it's so contentious, so I'm 00:51:00.871 --> 00:51:09.342 - against it. Hello. Hi, I am Mark Fraley, and I've lived in Bloomington for about 17 years now. And just 00:51:09.342 --> 00:51:13.822 - to answer the question, what do I love about Kirkwood? 00:51:14.114 --> 00:51:20.722 - Pretty much everything. I absolutely adore the places to eat, to dine, to see music and plays at the 00:51:20.722 --> 00:51:27.264 - Buskirk Chumley. It is an absolute gem and an absolute treasure. And so I really appreciate Council 00:51:27.264 --> 00:51:33.872 - Member Zuluk and Mayor Thompson for holding this meeting and allowing us to be able to express this. 00:51:33.872 --> 00:51:35.966 - When I saw about right after it 00:51:36.386 --> 00:51:42.365 - Kirkwood was open, I ran into Councilmember Rosenberger on the street and she was asking people's opinions 00:51:42.365 --> 00:51:47.953 - about keeping it over longer than past COVID and at that time I thought, you know what, that sounds 00:51:47.953 --> 00:51:53.876 - like a really nice idea. Since that time I've developed a progressive neuropathy condition which actually 00:51:53.876 --> 00:51:59.464 - makes it really difficult to walk. So if I can't get access to one of the handicap spots, then that 00:51:59.464 --> 00:52:03.934 - means other handicap spots are being taken. I'm walking two, three, four blocks 00:52:04.002 --> 00:52:09.520 - to be able to access a lot of the city services. By the time that I'm getting to my destination, I have 00:52:09.520 --> 00:52:15.251 - sharp pains that are gonna be rooting up from the arches of my foot up into the lower extremities, creating 00:52:15.251 --> 00:52:20.770 - a much more difficult position for me to enjoy the third spaces that we have. My condition is something 00:52:20.770 --> 00:52:26.235 - that I, you know, God willing, is temporary, and by the time that this goes into effect, it won't even 00:52:26.235 --> 00:52:32.019 - be an issue and I'll be walking it along. But I know that for many people in our community, what's temporary 00:52:32.019 --> 00:52:33.982 - for me is permanent for many others. 00:52:34.082 --> 00:52:40.095 - And my hope is that we can protect these spaces for those folks while looking over the long term to 00:52:40.095 --> 00:52:46.168 - increase pedestrian spaces, to be able to create third spaces and create a vibrant Kirkwood. I think 00:52:46.168 --> 00:52:52.181 - that the goal is beautiful. We're not there. And I hope that we can really take into account people 00:52:52.181 --> 00:52:58.014 - with mobility issues while we're thinking about these situations over the short term. Thank you. 00:53:06.402 --> 00:53:11.961 - with their hands up for a long time that are waiting. But I tell you... I'll be super quick, because 00:53:11.961 --> 00:53:17.795 - I don't like talking in front of people. I've written many letters. You know how I feel about everything. 00:53:17.795 --> 00:53:23.409 - I'm gonna talk two things. I'm gonna go to the second bullet point that says, what problem should the 00:53:23.409 --> 00:53:29.243 - city be trying to solve on Kirkwood? And I'm going to say, there is no problem that we need to be solving 00:53:29.243 --> 00:53:32.766 - on Kirkwood. To my knowledge, those businesses are doing great. 00:53:33.122 --> 00:53:39.379 - there's a problem of a shooting during Little 500, which is a huge issue, but that's not gonna be solved 00:53:39.379 --> 00:53:45.398 - by this. And so, I just wanna say, I don't think that anything's wrong with Kirkwood that we need to 00:53:45.398 --> 00:53:51.715 - be solving. My second thing, as Downtown Activation Coordinator, I've been doing programming on Kirkwood, 00:53:51.715 --> 00:53:57.853 - and I believe in it. I 100% believe that someday, just like Jeff said, we could have a pedestrian mall 00:53:57.853 --> 00:54:03.038 - in Bloomington. I don't think we're there yet. We need tons and tons of infrastructure 00:54:03.202 --> 00:54:12.469 - everyone here has talked about. We need bathrooms, we need shade, we need electricity, we need tables, 00:54:12.469 --> 00:54:21.646 - we need all kinds of things, and I think we could get there. I think it's premature to close the road 00:54:21.646 --> 00:54:30.732 - down now. Yeah. Is it on? Okay. So I'm Lisa Orr, my own lowland company downtown. I've been there 18 00:54:30.732 --> 00:54:31.902 - years, and I 00:54:32.514 --> 00:54:40.831 - Everybody's kind of circled around this, but it's kind of like if you build all of this infrastructure 00:54:40.831 --> 00:54:48.986 - on Kirkwood and put all these beautiful bathrooms in and park benches and trees, it is just going to 00:54:48.986 --> 00:54:56.414 - explode our unhoused community even more. And I really don't, until we can implement a plan 00:54:56.546 --> 00:55:04.405 - to get that under wraps and to control it a little bit better. It's just going to continue growing. 00:55:04.405 --> 00:55:12.736 - You can't really sit down on Kirkwood right now when it's closed and enjoy an evening with young children 00:55:12.736 --> 00:55:20.752 - without watching someone pee in front of you or smoking whatever they're smoking to the other side of 00:55:20.752 --> 00:55:25.310 - the street or yelling, screaming at people. It's just not 00:55:25.442 --> 00:55:31.966 - pleasant place to be when it's closed until we control that problem. And I don't have that answer. 00:55:44.866 --> 00:55:50.326 - My name is Martha shed I'm going to respect the idea that we're not going to duplicate what other people 00:55:50.326 --> 00:55:55.526 - said but I want to just kind of piggyback on that what Jeff said about You know the path of the way 00:55:55.526 --> 00:56:00.830 - that the students go creates where they put a sidewalk We've got a convention center coming which may 00:56:00.830 --> 00:56:06.030 - dictate Kind of there's going to be traffic patterns. They're gonna be shopping patterns I think so 00:56:06.030 --> 00:56:11.646 - I think to the point of is it too soon Do we need to do more we wait till that kind of thing happens and I? 00:56:11.778 --> 00:56:26.519 - I waited to speak until this late because I kept thinking maybe somebody's gonna say what problem this 00:56:26.519 --> 00:56:38.398 - is gonna solve and I haven't heard it. Hi, I'm, oh sorry, please. So, J.T. Forbes, 00:56:38.530 --> 00:56:44.844 - live in the McDole, love it there. Don't ask me how I know it's exactly one mile from my front door 00:56:44.844 --> 00:56:51.348 - to Nick's. Okay, not every joke lands, sorry folks. Lenny's isn't far away, I love your pizza and your 00:56:51.348 --> 00:56:57.663 - stuff there. I want Bloomington to be a how can we community, and I think it shows glimmers of that 00:56:57.663 --> 00:57:04.040 - a lot. But we're gonna have to earn our place. If we wanna be a place people visit, we're gonna have 00:57:04.040 --> 00:57:04.798 - to earn it. 00:57:05.346 --> 00:57:11.809 - It's not just granted because this is an extraordinary community that we love. When I look at how we 00:57:11.809 --> 00:57:18.208 - do that sustainably in this particular issue, I don't know that I really have a position of open or 00:57:18.208 --> 00:57:24.607 - close. I think we gotta start looking deeper. We gotta look past the surface and solve for at least 00:57:24.607 --> 00:57:31.007 - three issues that I see. The summer population cliff, the people of Bloomington go on vacation, the 00:57:31.007 --> 00:57:35.294 - students that populate the year that drive a lot of this activity, 00:57:35.970 --> 00:57:43.079 - aren't gone, and the number that stay in the summer is reduced from what I observe. I don't have facts 00:57:43.079 --> 00:57:49.981 - for you today, but we've got a summer population cliff that impacts the current proposal. Also, the 00:57:49.981 --> 00:57:57.365 - unique physical layout of Kirkwood needs to be something we look at practically. There are areas adjacent, 00:57:57.365 --> 00:58:03.646 - and this is not a new idea. This is stuff I learned from listening to the council meeting. 00:58:03.874 --> 00:58:10.365 - The council members that oppose this had some good ideas and they noted that 4th Street already has 00:58:10.365 --> 00:58:17.310 - the tree canopy and so maybe we're getting in a functional fixedness fixedness Approach this it's Kirkwood 00:58:17.310 --> 00:58:24.255 - or nothing So I think we have to address this unique physical layout and then the unglamorous and everyday 00:58:24.255 --> 00:58:31.070 - operational costs for this to work it has to be cleaned it has to be staffed it has to be programmed and 00:58:31.490 --> 00:58:39.447 - We ought to all be proud to live in a community that's invested in so many amazing spaces. We have this 00:58:39.447 --> 00:58:47.557 - amazing park, like Martha Shedd, my wife, who's wise and awesome, noted the convention center, Switchyard 00:58:47.557 --> 00:58:55.209 - Park, the new urban park we've created at Hopewell, and other spaces that have been enhanced. And I 00:58:55.209 --> 00:59:01.406 - think we need to think about this in a way where we realize those all cost money 00:59:01.922 --> 00:59:08.477 - And for us to do what we might want to do, it's going to compete against jails that will also need to 00:59:08.477 --> 00:59:15.225 - be addressed, vulnerable people on our streets that's costly to address. And I'm not saying we shouldn't 00:59:15.225 --> 00:59:22.102 - do it, but I'm saying we're going to have to make choices. And the thing I see lacking in the city council 00:59:22.102 --> 00:59:28.722 - debate and discussion and in the bigger picture is a clear plan. It's not just about opening Kirkwood. 00:59:28.722 --> 00:59:31.678 - It's about having a plan and being pragmatic. 00:59:31.906 --> 00:59:38.602 - What can we afford? What can we expect from people in terms of their own choices of whether they're 00:59:38.602 --> 00:59:45.298 - going to show up on the streets in one condition or another? And also, what is our long-term vision 00:59:45.298 --> 00:59:52.128 - of how we're going to earn this? Because what we've been granted is a legacy that has to be preserved 00:59:52.128 --> 00:59:58.959 - and sustained. And so I just want to keep that all bigger picture stuff in mind as we make a decision 00:59:58.959 --> 01:00:00.030 - about a street. 01:00:00.386 --> 01:00:06.965 - It's more about whether we're a how can we community. I would say I agree. I think it's an incredible 01:00:06.965 --> 01:00:13.544 - oversight to say that you're going to close Kirkwood for eight months without a promise of investment 01:00:13.544 --> 01:00:20.187 - in infrastructure, in accessibility, in maintenance. But if we're going to sit here and complain about 01:00:20.187 --> 01:00:26.637 - watching people use the restroom on the sidewalks, I think that's what you need is an investment in 01:00:26.637 --> 01:00:28.894 - public restrooms, an investment in 01:00:29.122 --> 01:00:36.974 - places to sit in a third place. That being said, as a pedestrian and as a cyclist, I love when Kirkwood 01:00:36.974 --> 01:00:44.826 - is closed to cars. I feel much safer. I don't have to consistently be looking over my shoulder. I, too, 01:00:44.826 --> 01:00:52.527 - have been hit by a car while cycling on Kirkwood. It's already not really a safe space. And so, yeah, 01:00:52.527 --> 01:00:58.718 - I support the closure. And I think if you want to do it well, you do need a plan. 01:00:59.010 --> 01:01:10.642 - you do need to invest. I'm going to acknowledge that it is 6.30. We planned this last minute, and I 01:01:10.642 --> 01:01:19.134 - planned it, and Council Member Zulek was kind enough to co-host with me. 01:01:19.394 --> 01:01:26.218 - She is going to have to depart in about 10 minutes. Would you still vote to extend council, to extend 01:01:26.218 --> 01:01:33.041 - comment even in your absence? Okay. I will just say if anyone wants to chat about this, I'm more than 01:01:33.041 --> 01:01:39.196 - happy to just from the council perspective. My email is sydney.zulik at bloomington.in.gov. 01:01:39.196 --> 01:01:43.678 - Shoot me a note, happy to meet. So thank you all for coming today. 01:01:45.090 --> 01:01:53.530 - I will stay and listen and we are taking good notes. So if you still have a comment, raise your hand 01:01:53.530 --> 01:02:02.136 - pretty well so we can see you and get you a mic. First of all, I want to thank you for your vision for 01:02:02.136 --> 01:02:10.910 - opening Kirkwood this summer. It's nice to have Kirkwood back. This is the most alive I've seen downtown 01:02:10.910 --> 01:02:12.414 - in several years. 01:02:13.058 --> 01:02:21.288 - I also thank you for your transparency as mayor, especially on this topic and many others. I really 01:02:21.288 --> 01:02:29.765 - appreciate that. I don't have a horse in this race. I've been here 40, 50 years. I walk. I ride an old 01:02:29.765 --> 01:02:38.571 - Schwinn bike. I drive a Harley, and I drive a car. And I'm constantly downtown daily. I eat lunch downtown 01:02:38.571 --> 01:02:41.534 - probably four or five times a week. 01:02:42.242 --> 01:02:51.523 - and have for many years. Maybe this is something that nobody's addressed specifically, but as we all 01:02:51.523 --> 01:03:01.172 - know, Kirkwood's the heartbeat of downtown Bloomington. I love this city. I'm gonna support the downtown 01:03:01.172 --> 01:03:10.270 - businesses as long as I live here, regardless of the outcome of this. My personal belief though is 01:03:11.426 --> 01:03:20.181 - With all due respect to City Council a five to four decision is certainly not a mandate And if you think 01:03:20.181 --> 01:03:28.603 - about it only one vote One vote Determines the outcome unless this is vetoed and I think that a more 01:03:28.603 --> 01:03:37.192 - representative way to approach this as it affects not only Bloomington's future for many years to come 01:03:37.192 --> 01:03:41.278 - But also the residents the people that live here 01:03:42.082 --> 01:03:51.561 - Whether you're in town or you're in the county, it affects us all. My proposal is to open this up and 01:03:51.561 --> 01:04:01.040 - let the people speak, not a select few. And by doing so, I would propose having this voted for by the 01:04:01.040 --> 01:04:11.262 - people during an election at a referendum. I think that is clearly the way to go and let the voices be heard. 01:04:11.554 --> 01:04:21.047 - And I will live with either result. But I have a lot greater feeling that the community would truly 01:04:21.047 --> 01:04:30.731 - be best represented if we allowed everyone input. Thank you. So this is coming from someone who wants 01:04:30.731 --> 01:04:40.414 - a walkable downtown street and came in wanting to go that way. And after hearing a lot of really good 01:04:40.578 --> 01:04:47.232 - opinions and ideas. I do think we'll see a time when it should happen. And the biggest issues I'm hearing 01:04:47.232 --> 01:04:53.823 - are parking and accessibility. Personally, from my perspective, the best way to solve that is to always, 01:04:53.823 --> 01:05:00.289 - if we want to increase the density, we're not going to get any more land. We have to build vertically. 01:05:00.289 --> 01:05:06.880 - Many people were unhappy seeing the high rises and the hotels. But all that did was increase the density 01:05:06.880 --> 01:05:10.270 - and number of people who could access downtown areas. 01:05:10.402 --> 01:05:18.880 - So any parking lots, and there aren't many downtown, it should be built vertical, like more parking 01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:27.442 - garages to make it more accessible, get more people downtown. Then we'll see the density increase to 01:05:27.442 --> 01:05:36.344 - its, okay, maybe now we should consider closing it off just for pedestrians. Hi, my name is Bill Mackey. 01:05:36.344 --> 01:05:38.718 - I'm a resident of 52 years. 01:05:38.914 --> 01:05:47.137 - few years here and there where I was gone. I'm in an odd position in that I have parents who have lived 01:05:47.137 --> 01:05:55.517 - here not quite 70 years, so the gentleman that had the 70 year tenure has got him beat, but not terribly, 01:05:55.517 --> 01:06:03.740 - not by a ton. My mother is now legally blind, has mobility issues due to a broken leg that she suffered 01:06:03.740 --> 01:06:04.926 - at some point. 01:06:05.154 --> 01:06:12.527 - She would be thrilled to know that Jeff Meese was here because Lenny's has been one of her favorite 01:06:12.527 --> 01:06:20.120 - restaurants indefinitely. She suffered a very lengthy departure from being able to attend that because 01:06:20.120 --> 01:06:27.567 - walking further than maybe 200, 300 feet is an extreme challenge for her. And my father and her were 01:06:27.567 --> 01:06:34.718 - thrilled this summer to be able to make it back to Lenny's during the summertime when it's open. 01:06:34.914 --> 01:06:42.550 - Of course, then I also have children who are on the other end of the age spectrum, senior at Indiana 01:06:42.550 --> 01:06:50.262 - University, who probably is seen on Kirkwood about 12 hours apart from the time that my parents would 01:06:50.262 --> 01:06:58.654 - normally be there. And I think that when the road was closed, it was failing both segments of that population. 01:06:59.138 --> 01:07:05.854 - It was failing my elderly parents. Their favorite restaurants were largely inaccessible. 01:07:05.986 --> 01:07:12.385 - Due to parking, of course, if the road is open, my father could simply drop my mother off with somebody 01:07:12.385 --> 01:07:18.600 - else. Discussions about their being, is there parking right in front? Well, there are people who are 01:07:18.600 --> 01:07:24.937 - able to be dropped off in convenient locations near those types of things. Those restaurants certainly 01:07:24.937 --> 01:07:31.213 - lost my family's business for a lengthy time. Again, apologies to Mr. Meese for that loss of business 01:07:31.213 --> 01:07:35.582 - when he owned those restaurants. And likewise, with my older daughter, 01:07:36.162 --> 01:07:42.254 - In the times that the road has been closed, it has absolutely attracted an element of the community, 01:07:42.254 --> 01:07:48.466 - which has been mentioned a few times earlier. My daughter, generally speaking, has not been approached 01:07:48.466 --> 01:07:54.739 - in the middle of the road when the road is open, but she certainly has been propositioned in the middle 01:07:54.739 --> 01:08:01.072 - of the road when the road is closed, because you have a lot of people who basically don't have any place 01:08:01.072 --> 01:08:04.510 - to hang out who decide that's a great place to hang out. 01:08:04.642 --> 01:08:10.525 - They're not really doing anything productive and of course they're not necessarily doing anything criminal, 01:08:10.525 --> 01:08:16.245 - but they are harassing a lot of our young people. And I think that we can't overlook the fact that while 01:08:16.245 --> 01:08:21.747 - yes, some of us have some animosity towards the college students, some of those college students are 01:08:21.747 --> 01:08:27.304 - our students as well. Some of those are the students of residence that have been here for a very long 01:08:27.304 --> 01:08:29.374 - time. And I think we need to consider 01:08:29.506 --> 01:08:36.045 - Both of those groups of people, when we're making decisions like this, I also want to just briefly address 01:08:36.045 --> 01:08:42.583 - the idea of safety in the cycling community that we've had in here. I don't believe that the only solution 01:08:42.583 --> 01:08:48.878 - to making it cycling safe is by closing the road altogether. I mean, this is being made out as if it's 01:08:48.878 --> 01:08:54.622 - well if we want to protect people. The only way to protect people and to make them safe is by 01:08:54.978 --> 01:09:01.476 - closing the road completely. I think that's creating a binary choice, which is a false choice. I don't 01:09:01.476 --> 01:09:07.847 - believe that's actually the only way to do that. I do appreciate you giving us a chance to speak our 01:09:07.847 --> 01:09:12.894 - minds on this today, and your courage to address this issue head on. Thank you. 01:09:26.274 --> 01:09:46.490 - Hi, my name is Alex York I am a young professional with two young children, so I'm gonna first speak 01:09:46.490 --> 01:09:51.294 - from that perspective I 01:09:51.682 --> 01:09:59.001 - Maybe I'm not there quite as late with my young children or something, but I can say that when the street 01:09:59.001 --> 01:10:05.976 - is closed, I am much more likely to bring my family there. I am much more likely to be there. I feel 01:10:05.976 --> 01:10:12.950 - like my children are safer. We visit the businesses there more often. You know, it's so wonderful to 01:10:12.950 --> 01:10:20.338 - go to that outdoor seating. And while we wait for food to let kids just very safely wander in the streets, 01:10:20.338 --> 01:10:21.374 - it is magical. 01:10:22.306 --> 01:10:31.300 - That type of infrastructure change, it attracts me to stay. It attracts me to go to downtown more. The 01:10:31.300 --> 01:10:40.207 - other perspective I'd like to bring in is a much longer view, climate change. I believe that of every 01:10:40.207 --> 01:10:49.463 - level of government, local governments have the hardest challenge when it comes to climate change because 01:10:49.463 --> 01:10:51.646 - we fundamentally need to 01:10:52.194 --> 01:11:01.749 - remake the fabric of our communities. We need our communities to be more sustainable, which means denser, 01:11:01.749 --> 01:11:11.575 - which means more walkable, less card dependent. And that is difficult. There's no one project in Bloomington 01:11:11.575 --> 01:11:21.310 - that accomplishes that goal. But this project would go a long way. It would be a big one towards that goal. 01:11:23.266 --> 01:11:32.939 - I am hearing a lot of valid concerns today, and I do want to own that. I think that the heart of most 01:11:32.939 --> 01:11:42.517 - of those concerns is something called car bias. Something called car bias. We have lived in American 01:11:42.517 --> 01:11:52.190 - cities that are so car dependent for so long, we can't imagine what it's like to move away from that. 01:11:52.322 --> 01:12:00.170 - problems that have to be solved. Accessibility, parking spots, there's lots of problems that have to 01:12:00.170 --> 01:12:07.940 - be solved. But that just means we need a smart plan. And it is my belief that if we don't have that 01:12:07.940 --> 01:12:15.788 - political leadership and push it forward and decide to do it, that plan will never materialize. So I 01:12:15.788 --> 01:12:20.606 - hear the people who are saying that they think that this is a 01:12:20.930 --> 01:12:27.988 - good future thing and that it's inevitable but we're not ready, I think if we don't decide to do it, 01:12:27.988 --> 01:12:35.116 - we will never be ready. And that when we decide to do it and we start doing it, we'll figure out what 01:12:35.116 --> 01:12:42.315 - a lot of those problems are. We can't right now say, if we close Bloomington to vehicle traffic, where 01:12:42.315 --> 01:12:47.486 - and how many bathrooms do we need? But if we close it to vehicle traffic, 01:12:47.586 --> 01:12:55.016 - we can then start adding the bathrooms and figure out where they need to be. So the current system that 01:12:55.016 --> 01:13:02.446 - we've had of closing it part year, I think, is a half measure. And it does no favors to anyone. We need 01:13:02.446 --> 01:13:09.804 - to close it, invest in the infrastructure, and move forward in that direction if we're going to do it. 01:13:09.804 --> 01:13:10.590 - Thank you. 01:13:17.666 --> 01:13:26.408 - On this side, really quick, my name is Roberta. I am representing Goodfellas Pizzeria on Kirkwood. I've 01:13:26.408 --> 01:13:35.150 - been the GM there for four years, so I have seen when we've had the roads closed and open, the position 01:13:35.150 --> 01:13:43.640 - of our company is that we like it open. I can give you some examples, not just from our company, but 01:13:43.640 --> 01:13:46.078 - from myself, what I noticed. 01:13:46.370 --> 01:13:54.972 - this gentleman behind me was talking about when it's closed, that the people that come to Kirkwood, 01:13:54.972 --> 01:14:03.231 - it brings people just in that center lane where we are, or the center of Kirkwood, a different, 01:14:03.231 --> 01:14:11.919 - let's see, I just wanna word it correctly, just a different type of, just people hanging out and not 01:14:11.919 --> 01:14:15.102 - really doing anything, there's only, 01:14:15.202 --> 01:14:23.521 - two restaurants that utilize the parking spaces for restaurants. So basically, for deliveries, we can't 01:14:23.521 --> 01:14:31.680 - get deliveries. Well, we can, but it's much harder. There's 95 spots that end up being gone. And I've 01:14:31.680 --> 01:14:39.919 - seen that when we've had stuff going on during the winter, they just put no parking signs up. So we're 01:14:39.919 --> 01:14:43.998 - still able to close Kirkwood on a whim if you want 01:14:44.258 --> 01:14:53.209 - do something local and have a fun event going on. But basically, it's just very hard when the road is 01:14:53.209 --> 01:15:02.335 - closed. And one last point is I live on the other side of town near Walmart, and I tell everybody about 01:15:02.335 --> 01:15:08.478 - our store. And I can tell you a lot more people come down to Kirkwood 01:15:08.642 --> 01:15:15.626 - when it's open and when the students are gone, they like it, there's more parking, they can run up, 01:15:15.626 --> 01:15:22.750 - grab a bite of different places to eat that they've never tried before because they're scared to come 01:15:22.750 --> 01:15:29.944 - down to Kirkwood when there are so many people there. So yeah, that's my point, thank you. Hi, my name 01:15:29.944 --> 01:15:37.138 - is Hillary Martel. I'm a local downtown business owner and I have been to several of the City Council. 01:15:37.138 --> 01:15:38.046 - Super close. 01:15:38.242 --> 01:15:45.185 - I've been to several of the City Council meetings that have addressed this issue, and the thing that 01:15:45.185 --> 01:15:52.059 - I found find frustrating is making Kirkwood carless does not make it a pedestrian mall. Closing off 01:15:52.059 --> 01:15:59.070 - Kirkwood for five blocks of traffic, in my personal opinion as a downtown business owner, really just 01:15:59.070 --> 01:16:06.494 - create, what I've seen has created a concrete desert. People are not able to park, they're not coming down. 01:16:06.658 --> 01:16:13.121 - And there are certain people that do enjoy coming down and being able to hang out in the streets and 01:16:13.121 --> 01:16:20.032 - have their kids play in the street. One important factor that has never been talked about is any successful 01:16:20.032 --> 01:16:26.559 - pedestrian mall, from Charlottesville to Burlington to Iowa City to Boulder, all of those cities that 01:16:26.559 --> 01:16:33.022 - have created successful pedestrian malls, they have a strict no bike riding policy in place in their 01:16:33.022 --> 01:16:34.174 - pedestrian areas. 01:16:34.242 --> 01:16:39.702 - It is a strict dismount and walk your bike. I know people that are proponents of closing Kirkwood. A 01:16:39.702 --> 01:16:45.271 - big factor of that is making Kirkwood more bike friendly, when in reality, in my opinion, if it's done 01:16:45.271 --> 01:16:50.677 - properly, if you are having kids play in the street while their parents are a few feet away sitting 01:16:50.677 --> 01:16:56.138 - at a picnic table not observing them, and especially with e-bikes and people going 30 miles an hour. 01:16:56.138 --> 01:17:01.760 - Last summer I saw numerous e-bikes with teenagers, and I see it on the city streets as well, but that's 01:17:01.760 --> 01:17:03.166 - a totally separate issue. 01:17:03.458 --> 01:17:11.070 - If you are allowing these closed blocks open to e-bike traffic with no zero control, no lanes, and you're 01:17:11.070 --> 01:17:18.323 - allowing children to openly wander around, people freely walking, and it's open to bicycles that are 01:17:18.323 --> 01:17:26.078 - capable of going over 30 miles an hour, that is certainly a pedestrian safety issue. So that's a big thing. 01:17:26.466 --> 01:17:35.204 - that people are proponents of closing Kirkwood that I think that they don't realize any successful city 01:17:35.204 --> 01:17:43.857 - that has a pedestrian mall, you are not allowed to ride a bicycle on those areas. Hi, my name is Scott 01:17:43.857 --> 01:17:47.806 - Coffin. I came here for school and my partners 01:17:48.450 --> 01:17:55.558 - in the grad program at IU, but Kirkwood and Bloomington in general has become so important to who I 01:17:55.558 --> 01:18:02.665 - am and how I participate in our community. I think that closing Kirkwood would be beneficial to the 01:18:02.665 --> 01:18:10.199 - community of Bloomington. I think some things that some people have said here today are really important. 01:18:10.199 --> 01:18:17.662 - Kirkwood, a portion of it has been closed to cars and it has not reopened to cars. Something that Jenny, 01:18:17.794 --> 01:18:24.681 - Jeanette has said in New York City is that once you close it, people won't want it to come back. They 01:18:24.681 --> 01:18:31.636 - closed Times Square to cars, cars aren't coming back. Cars don't buy things as well. If we incentivize 01:18:31.636 --> 01:18:38.658 - people on the street, people go to businesses. I think that the changes on Kirkwood can be incremental. 01:18:38.658 --> 01:18:45.410 - I think that there have been a lot of concerns with accessibility and those are very real concerns, 01:18:45.410 --> 01:18:46.558 - but we can learn 01:18:46.754 --> 01:18:55.156 - through the closure of Kirkwood, how we can make it better and better and better and better. I think 01:18:55.156 --> 01:19:03.808 - that closing it is beneficial right now, and I think that we should continue to do that moving forward. 01:19:03.808 --> 01:19:12.293 - Thank you. Hello. I've been an Uber driver in this town since Uber started, and it's getting more and 01:19:12.293 --> 01:19:15.454 - more and more difficult in that area. 01:19:16.002 --> 01:19:24.106 - And when Kirkwood is closed, it creates, if you're down there at nighttime, an incredible traffic problem. 01:19:24.106 --> 01:19:31.680 - And it keeps the flow of traffic, and I know it's just, it's so much easier to find the people that 01:19:31.680 --> 01:19:39.329 - are looking for you when Kirkwood's open, because when Kirkwood's closed, you have to literally call 01:19:39.329 --> 01:19:43.646 - the person that's trying to find you, and they might be, 01:19:44.098 --> 01:19:52.159 - at Raising Canes and you're at KOK, or right there at Dun and Fifth, you gotta find your people. And 01:19:52.159 --> 01:20:00.380 - that creates a long line of traffic as the night wears on. And it creates, it makes it very difficult. 01:20:00.380 --> 01:20:08.920 - I think Kirkwood's a great place. I think that the way we've been doing it, where we close it for specific 01:20:08.920 --> 01:20:13.150 - festivals works fine. I just don't think that we can 01:20:13.666 --> 01:20:22.628 - Right now, closing Kirkwood creates an incredible difficult situation, especially in the evening from, 01:20:22.628 --> 01:20:31.415 - say, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. It's inconvenient, and I'm not just saying for me, but I'm probably for other 01:20:31.415 --> 01:20:40.638 - door dashers or people like that that have to park their car somewhere and walk a quarter mile to pick up 01:20:41.122 --> 01:20:47.445 - their order and then walk back to their car. It just, the flow is so much better when Kirkwood's open. 01:20:47.445 --> 01:20:53.585 - That's all. My name's Karen Diggle. Many of the issues that I was concerned about have been touched 01:20:53.585 --> 01:20:59.847 - on already, so I won't repeat those. But I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the impact on Fourth 01:20:59.847 --> 01:21:05.986 - Street. So when, if Kirkwood doesn't have parking, those cars try to move elsewhere. Fourth Street, 01:21:05.986 --> 01:21:07.582 - with a small city lot and 01:21:07.746 --> 01:21:19.311 - Whole area in front of the restaurants is already a very difficult place to park and we'll be adding 01:21:19.311 --> 01:21:31.219 - more cars to that Hi, this is this on hello I'm Paul Russo I I welcome the opportunity to open Kirkwood 01:21:31.219 --> 01:21:34.654 - to more pedestrian access and 01:21:35.842 --> 01:21:44.371 - I think the language around calling it closing it is biased framing. I like the suggested questions 01:21:44.371 --> 01:21:53.241 - you have up there. What's the problem to be solved? Underused public space. A street filled with adults 01:21:53.241 --> 01:22:01.941 - and children is a street that is used more than one that has a few motor vehicles. What would make it 01:22:01.941 --> 01:22:04.414 - more vibrant? More children. 01:22:06.498 --> 01:22:14.074 - There's been people tonight who have, well frankly, scared us with predictions of no access for those 01:22:14.074 --> 01:22:22.096 - who did not walk well. I understand this in one way because I'm over 60. But I wish they had been listening 01:22:22.096 --> 01:22:30.119 - to the testimony of the gentleman who spoke early on who told us about pedicabs or bicycle taxis. Solutions 01:22:30.119 --> 01:22:35.838 - are out there. We need to expand non-motorized transit to solve the problem. 01:22:37.762 --> 01:22:44.892 - Other comment I would make is that, in my opinion, the organic evolution of increased pedestrian access 01:22:44.892 --> 01:22:51.817 - is actually a myth. Because when one mode of transit has the potential to easily kill or maim others 01:22:51.817 --> 01:22:58.811 - with other modes of transit, then the dominant mode will continue to dominate. That's what we see all 01:22:58.811 --> 01:23:05.667 - over the country. I also doubt that the relevance of data of unsuccessful pedestrian malls from the 01:23:05.667 --> 01:23:06.558 - 20th century 01:23:08.290 --> 01:23:14.923 - And I'd like to remind everybody that we're building a pedestrian mall here, not a bicycle mall. But 01:23:14.923 --> 01:23:21.950 - I think other people have said that. Final comment would be, the vision I have is that there is a expanded 01:23:21.950 --> 01:23:28.846 - convention center. And two blocks from the convention center would be the start of this pedestrian mall. 01:23:28.846 --> 01:23:35.545 - And that would be a gateway to the university. With pedicabs running back and forth, let's think long 01:23:35.545 --> 01:23:38.238 - term. This is really a huge opportunity. 01:23:38.562 --> 01:23:48.688 - Thank you for holding this. We're not gonna take any comments, at least not yet, and we're gonna try 01:23:48.688 --> 01:23:58.814 - to wrap things up, but I will happily receive comments after this or in writing. Yes. Thank you. I'm 01:23:58.814 --> 01:24:00.318 - concerned that 01:24:00.674 --> 01:24:07.106 - I guess I'd start and ask the question, what is the desired outcome? What's the end game? What are we 01:24:07.106 --> 01:24:13.222 - trying to achieve? And if we look at it just, we want either an open or closed road. And that's, 01:24:13.222 --> 01:24:20.032 - to me, a missed opportunity, especially with the creative people we have at the city and at the university, 01:24:20.032 --> 01:24:26.401 - and I would even say some county people might be involved with this, certainly all the stakeholders, 01:24:26.401 --> 01:24:28.734 - but I think we should really unleash 01:24:29.218 --> 01:24:35.279 - our minds and think about all of the possibilities that we can do there. And it may mean more parking 01:24:35.279 --> 01:24:41.221 - garage, it may mean more petty cabs, it may mean whatever, but it should not, the beginning and end 01:24:41.221 --> 01:24:47.222 - shouldn't be is it open or closed. I think there's so much that we can do with that. And people have 01:24:47.222 --> 01:24:52.749 - said before, it's a gateway to the university and a gateway to downtown. I think it could be 01:24:52.749 --> 01:24:59.166 - transformational, not just for Bloomington, but we could be really a model for other communities to follow. 01:24:59.266 --> 01:25:12.612 - I'd like to give permission to think big, not big dollar-wise, but think very open-minded about all 01:25:12.612 --> 01:25:26.358 - the possibilities, not just open or closed. Thank you. Any final comments? OK. No, he said good night. 01:25:26.358 --> 01:25:28.894 - OK. And that's it. 01:25:28.994 --> 01:25:39.571 - Thank you, again, all for coming. We have taken lots of notes. I have a process, listen, discern, and 01:25:39.571 --> 01:25:50.045 - then decide. So you will be hearing from me and really appreciate your participation tonight. If you 01:25:50.045 --> 01:25:57.822 - have things you forgot to say, send an email, and I'm reading all of them. 01:25:58.146 --> 01:26:08.216 - So appreciate your presence tonight. This is a community treasure. And I will just echo Jeff's sentiment. 01:26:08.216 --> 01:26:17.716 - We limit our creativity when we say yes or no. And so we can live in the freedom of and. And I hope 01:26:17.716 --> 01:26:22.846 - you all have a great night. Thanks for being with us.