- Welcome, everyone. Please come in and find a seat. I want to be really respectful of people's time tonight.
- So come in and join us. There are plenty of seats in the front. Also, there are people who will welcome
- you to sit next to them, even, yeah, CM Zulek in the house. So we're going to get started here.
- slowly so people can keep trickling in. And I asked Councilmember Zulek to co-host with me tonight.
- And I'm going to say a few opening words. I don't know if you want to say anything. But just to get
- us warmed up and sort of set
- what I'm hoping for tonight. I was greeted when I came in by somebody who said, I heard you already
- made your decision, and we're just here to encourage you. And I want to assure you, I am here to listen,
- because where we are is in a place where we haven't had
- good public input, and by good, I mean anything that's not three minutes at the mic responding to a
- proposal. And so I want to be clear tonight. Kirkwood is just a community gem. It's not just a street.
- We all use it. We use it in different ways. It is a vibrant center for our city.
- And it is for a lot of people, it is some semblance of a third place. It's where you can go and see
- your friends. It's where you go and bump into people that aren't your friends yet, but they might be
- soon. And as you all
- You probably know we began closing Kirkwood during the pandemic in the last administration so that people
- could eat outside and so that there was sort of more space in a center gathering.
- My administration looked carefully into whether or not to close Kirkwood this year and decided that
- it was not in the best interest to close it this year. And we've drafted an extensive memo
- I am not going to outline those things for you tonight. That memo is available publicly. We'd be happy
- to provide you a link to it. And if you have computer accessibility issues, I'm happy to go print it
- for you. So tonight, I want to be clear is about your ideas and it's about your experiences.
- but it is not about lobbying the mayor to do something. I am really interested in what your experience
- of Kirkwood is and having this be a solution-oriented session for us. To that end, we have framed several
- questions that you may want to consider when you are making some comments.
- And those are up on the screen. You may not be able to see all of them right now. You're not required
- to answer one of these questions. But these questions are framed so that we can stay solution-oriented.
- This is a conversation, again, not actually a deliberation session. We're not co-deciding anything tonight.
- You are informing me before I make a decision, and Council Member Zulek represents this district. I'm
- really grateful for all the input that you have already secured from your constituents and for your
- active participation in the Kirkwood Community Association and Downtown Bloomington Incorporated, both
- of which have either officially or unofficially weighed in on this topic at times.
- So here are some things to know as we are moving forward. Our transportation plan calls for Kirkwood
- to be a shared street. And shared means that it's accessible and open to vehicles and to motorized vehicles
- and to bikes and pedestrians.
- We have on our agenda in the coming year a plan, a Kirkwood corridor plan, which seeks to engage
- professionals who are skilled at looking at places like this and getting the most out of them. And so,
- we will be offering whatever input that we get tonight to those professionals, because no matter what
- I decide about the Council's
- resolution, the council's ordinance, we will still be doing that plan. So your words are not wasted.
- Whether I end up vetoing or not, they've been heard. And we will continue to incorporate them. And our
- great team on city staff is taking copious notes tonight. And so is Sydney.
- I want to just sort of outline for you all, I am a pedestrian, I'm a cyclist, I also drive a car. I
- do all three things. I have a deep understanding for people-centered streets, and a very deep appreciation for
- how built environment leads us to either build community with one another or not. And that's an important
- piece of these decisions that we're making and the future plan for Kirkwood. My job as the mayor, obviously,
- is administration and implementation of ordinances such as these.
- 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
- we all have different experiences on Kirkwood and different things we treasure about that space. I am
- going to ask you all to speak from your own experience.
- Hopefully to stay solution-minded. I am interested in hearing what's good about Kirkwood already, what
- we need to keep, no matter what we do. I'm interested in what would make you more likely to use Kirkwood
- and what it'll take to get there. I know some of you are business owners or commercial property
- residents in some way, we're interested in your experience. So we are interested in hearing from you
- on the impacts of this. Kirkwood has been really full at times over the past five summers. Those tend
- to be event times. And we have contracted, Talia's here tonight, I think we contracted with Talia to do some
- some activation of Kirkwood. And so, you may be hearing tonight about how the activation is going, and
- we're eager to talk about how we can make Kirkwood the best it can possibly be. I'm also gonna encourage
- you to be really aware of how many people are in this room who want to offer their thoughts and their
- experiences.
- Sometimes in these rooms, we can hear, yeah, I want to agree with this. And then you repeat it. If the
- comments been heard, we will take it into consideration. And we're interested in everybody's ideas and
- just an awareness when you do have the mic of how many other people want to speak. And I'll also encourage
- people to speak just once until everybody who wants to has had a turn. Do you want to say anything?
- Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I'm really looking forward to learning more about your different
- perspectives. Some of the things that I am keeping in mind when we're making this decision is obviously
- I'm blessed to have Kirkwood in my district, but we do spend a lot of money on Kirkwood and I'm interested
- in better understanding how we might spread that love across the full city.
- The other thing is that I can't stop thinking about is we are in a time period where we do not have
- an abundance of financial resources. And so when we think about making this decision, is this the best
- use of the funds that we currently have available? And so I am hoping to learn more from you all on
- how we as a city feel about that. But yeah, thank you for being here, and I will be taking copious notes.
- So thanks.
- Awesome. You are done now hearing from elected officials tonight. We are interested in hearing from
- you all. I'm going to read some questions that are up on the screens right now for those who cannot see them.
- We were interested in what you love about Kirkwood and what problem the city should be trying to solve
- on Kirkwood. So if we have an ordinance, there's something we're trying to solve, right? What would
- make Kirkwood more vibrant during the summer? The last couple years, it's been pretty dead outside of
- events and especially during the day.
- So especially when IU students are not here, how can we make it a vibrant place? What should the city
- be careful not to lose about Kirkwood as it exists today? What would make you more likely to visit Kirkwood?
- How do we make sure a public space is truly public for people with different physical needs? What makes
- it easy or difficult for you, your family, or others to access Kirkwood?
- And what have you noticed during previous closures that worked well or did not work well? Please don't
- answer all of those questions. Those are just meant to help frame some thoughts. And again, not a lobbying
- session. We're really interested in solutions and what we wanna get out of Kirkwood. Desiree is gonna
- move around with the mic.
- It is important that you use the mic because we have friends at home who are listening and those friends
- are not going to have verbal comment time, they're gonna submit comments in writing. So who would like
- to, yes, over here Desiree. You could also use this mic too if Desiree doesn't get to you, okay?
- Hi, my name is Wayne Shepherd. I've lived in Bloomington most of my life. Kirkwood has been a part of
- my life since, well, for at least 55 years now. So it's very important to me. First off, I wanted to
- say that, you know, I'm a 69-year-old man with breathing issues. I have fairly serious lung issues.
- That makes it hard for me to get around sometimes. And the other day I drove around
- Between seventh and third and between Washington and Indiana and I counted and there's 22 handicapped
- parking spaces in that 16 block area So what we're talking about doing tonight is getting rid of eight
- of those handicapped parking spaces for seven months of the year it's already an issue for a lot of
- people with with physical disabilities to get the areas of Kirkwood and
- Especially when students are in town and there's like zero parking. So I just think that's something
- that we need to keep keep in mind. But on the positive side I have friends who live in Ann Arbor and
- I go to visit them quite often and I don't know who here knows about Ann Arbor but they have an area
- very much like Kirkwood. It's called the Main Street District and they regularly close off roads.
- there during the school year and during the summer. But they also have parking garages, I think four
- major parking garages within two blocks of the area in each direction. And they also have petty cabs
- that run continuously through the area. The petty cabs I'm particularly interested in because they have
- a partnership with the city. They use city garages to switch out the petty cabs.
- The city makes a little bit of money off of it, the company makes money off of it, and it creates new
- jobs for people who want to drive people around. So it seems to work out really well. I've talked to
- a few of the drivers, they say they make really, really good money doing it, so I don't see why it's
- something we can't consider. Hi, my name's Jerry Hayes.
- Closing certain blocks of Kirkwood could negatively impact our senior population with those with physical
- disabilities, as the gentleman just said, by restricting people's access to businesses in the area.
- Navigating around closed streets can be inconvenient and potentially unsafe for older adults and people
- with disabilities. Closed streets may disrupt public transportation routes.
- making it difficult for the seniors to reach these businesses, especially if they have mobility issues.
- Street closures and parkless reduce availability of parking spaces, making it harder for seniors and
- people with mobility issues to access the businesses. And I love to eat at an uptown cafe, Michael.
- For many older adults, people with disabilities, visiting local businesses is a way to stay connected
- with the community. Street closures can lead to increased isolation and reduce social interaction.
- According to census.gov, the U.S. population is experiencing a shift toward an older demographic across
- the nation. This demographic changes part of the long-term trend with projections suggesting that by
- 2034, just nine years, there will be more people over 65 than under 18. It is estimated that there are
- 10,000 people turning 65 each day in the U.S.
- It's important to consider the needs of an aging population and people with disabilities when planning
- street closures to ensure they can continue to access businesses and maintain their quality of life.
- We shouldn't ignore our aging population. They are a growing segment of our population. Kirkwood was
- originally closed outside dining permit in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
- When inside seeing was reduced due to social distancing, reducing inside seeing, that is no longer needed.
- I was in Chicago a few years. When I checked in the hotel, the desk clerk, when she saw where I was
- from, she said, she told me she graduated from Bayou, and she says, Nick's still there? So, you know,
- Nick's, or Kirkroyd's a special place. It doesn't have to be closed,
- special it already is. In the back by the door. Hello. My name is Sharlee Davis. I have retinitis pigmentosa
- and I lost my eyesight in
- I lived in Bloomington except for a year or two since 1974. What I'm having trouble with and what's
- been very disheartening for me in listening to the meetings and the write-ups in the paper is the Americans
- with Disabilities Act, the ADA, hasn't been talked about at all. And it's part of the Civil Rights Act.
- People fought for decades to get this passed.
- culminating in thousands of people at the Capitol sliding out of their wheelchairs, putting aside their
- walkers, and crawling up the steps of the Capitol to get this passed. And now it seems some people aren't
- even... they're ignoring it. Title II and Title III of the ADA says, it prohibits reducing or limiting
- accessibility. It prohibits reducing or limiting accessibility.
- How is this not reducing or limiting accessibility? Now, don't get me wrong, I think it'd be great if
- Kirkwood could be closed and everybody could be accommodated. I just haven't heard this discussion at
- all. Like I said, it makes me feel invisible. And if access were allowed, I don't know how ambulances
- are gonna maneuver, but if access were allowed to take their clients,
- It's not like they would enter at Indiana Avenue and go clear down Kirkwood. The most they would be
- there would be one block. You'd enter from a side street, drop off your client, go to the next side
- street. That's what I wanted. I just want to hear a discussion about it. I hope Kirkwood can be opened,
- and I hope everybody can enjoy it. There is the ADA. Prohibits reducing or limiting.
- That's my hope, is that this can just be part of the discussion, please. Thank you. Good evening. My
- name is Mark Lockley. I am a local real estate developer here in Bloomington. I see that there are a
- couple of us here. I've had the privilege of redeveloping places like the Smith Holden Music Building
- and the corner of Hillside and Henderson, where FEDA is.
- I support the vision of creating a more vibrant and pedestrian friendly downtown. However, I don't believe
- that the current proposal to close Kirkwood to vehicular traffic is really well thought through right
- now. A decision of this magnitude really requires a broader understanding of who the stakeholders are,
- not just the businesses on Kirkwood, but especially the small businesses and on surrounding streets.
- Downtown residents, students, visitors, people with disabilities,
- who rely on convenient access. There are more important questions that still need answers. How will
- businesses not located on Kirkwood compete if they don't have outdoor seating? Where will customers
- park? How far would those people have to walk? And what will be the economic impact of permanently
- eliminating almost 100, if not more than 100, parking spaces?
- What makes Bloomington special isn't the national chains. It's businesses like the Uptown, Lenny's,
- Hartzell's, Osterio Raggo, Soma, Greetings, Donor Kebab, Farm. Those are the businesses that give our
- downtown its identity. And we should be careful not to adopt a plan that unintentionally makes it harder
- for them to survive. Before making this change,
- I encourage the city to complete a comprehensive economic impact study and consider the alternatives
- Maybe like a downtown trolley that connects parking garages with Kirkwood and the surrounding streets
- Let's make a decision on data broad community input and a long-term vision that benefits all of Bloomington. Thank you
- I'd like to speak to what the city should be careful not to lose. I'm Reverend Carmen Ray, I'm the senior
- minister of First Christian Church and I speak for my congregation and also we are an umbrella organization
- for many other organizations that operate out of our building at 205 East Kirkwood.
- All congregations, we have people of a variety of ages and a variety of physical abilities. And so already,
- being a downtown congregation is a struggle, can be hard for people to access the building. So there's
- the obvious issue of parking and having to park further away from the church, which makes it difficult
- for people to be able to get in, decreasing participation in our faith community from people who have
- been part of this community for decades.
- But one of the greatest challenges for our church location is our very limited proprietary parking.
- If you have visited our church, you'll notice we own six parking spaces. Those spaces are located in
- the alley between our church building and the Campbell House, which is also owned by First Christian
- and currently houses Habitat for Humanity.
- parking spaces must be accessed from the alley that runs in a north-south direction from Kirkwood to
- 6th Street. And since those spaces are angled and the alley is super narrow, that parking can only be
- accessed from Kirkwood Avenue.
- Back in February of 2025, when the outdoor dining program was being considered, Representative Zulek
- and members from the Economic and Sustainable Development Department visited our site and we walked
- them through those logistics and they were able to see for themselves the hardships that would be created.
- We would lose all of our proprietary parking.
- In addition to housing, the activities of our congregation, First Christian, shares its building with
- a number of community partners, including Stages Bloomington Theater, Narcotics Anonymous Recovery Groups,
- Lotus Festival, Traveling University, the American Red Cross, the Mobility AIDS Lending Library or mall,
- a group that would be extremely negatively impacted by the accessibility issues that would be created
- if cars can't travel on Kirkwood.
- All of our partners will suffer by increased difficulties of accessing our building and accessing parking.
- That's a change that creates negative consequences for dozens and in many weeks hundreds of people in
- a week's time.
- Our church has consistently shown up to promote health, safety, and compassion for our neighbors and
- with the greater Bloomington community. Our welcome table breakfast continues to feed over 125 people
- in poverty, including many who are unhoused every Sunday morning. We're one of the two founders and
- one of the three current hosts of the Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter, which provides a
- safe place for sleep when weather conditions are life-threatening. Those programs have made life better
- in this city.
- for people who are suffering and for the city to now encumber our ability to conduct our day-to-day
- operations and limiting parking seems to me to fly in the face of the spirit of community that we've
- striven so hard to foster. We've been a good neighbor to the city. First Christian asks the city to
- be a good neighbor to us and the people we serve.
- I think it's me.
- So I'm not going to repeat everything. I've been at multiple City Council meetings, and I've said a
- lot. I'm not going to repeat everything I've already said. I do want to say, though, that the notion
- that we haven't had enough public comment on this seems a little bit silly to me. We've been talking
- about this ad nauseum for six years straight. We've had plenty of public comment, I think. But nonetheless,
- I appreciate the opportunity to speak again. One thing I did want to mention is that Bloomington has
- roughly 240 miles of streets, city streets. 100% of those right now are
- cars are allowed on them. We're talking about moving that from 100% to 99.86% by making Kirkwood car
- free. I don't really think that's a huge astronomical amount to make one pedestrian car free street
- that's a tiny percentage of the city's overall network. I think that's a small thing. Another thing
- I wanted to mention is, Mayor Thompson, I've heard you mention multiple times about how you'd like to
- bring more young professionals into Bloomington.
- A car-free street is exactly the sort of thing that attracts more young professionals to a city. So
- building something like that, a well-designed car-free street is exactly the sort of thing that would
- attract the people that you say you want to bring. And I think that's all I want to say for now. Thanks.
- Hi, my name is Ducky. I am 25 years old. I am not originally from Bloomington. I came here in 2019 just
- before the pandemic.
- I started my life here as a Circle K employee. And once the pandemic hit, I lost my job. And I had to
- turn to DoorDash and Uber for a few years until somebody totaled my car. And then so on, so forth. That's
- not important. As a delivery driver for a couple of years,
- found a lot of struggle on Kirkwood even when it was open because parking is not adequate period. We
- are already investing in more parking garages. I think we should continue and expand that further. Somebody
- mentioned another city having multiple parking garages. I think that would benefit us greatly and I
- think it could still
- be accommodating for people with disabilities. And something I think we should really consider, I know
- it is kind of a cost, but we're already moving towards it anyways. We need to really consider making
- it more of an open-air mall space. Consider Denver, Colorado, or my home city, Portland, Oregon. They've
- thrived off of walking cities.
- They've found plenty of ways to make it accommodating for people, both driving, walking, cycling, whatever
- the case may be. Somebody else mentioned a trolley system and that was really validating for me because
- I also was thinking people can still ride somewhere and not have to walk. And we can keep it simple.
- Trolley's aren't that hard to keep up. And if we're gonna close it for,
- the majority of the year anyways and only leave it open during like the worst time weather-wise of the
- year when nobody's out anyways? Why are we spending the money to keep opening and closing it? It kind
- of seems like a waste of our time and money and resources. I also think we need to install more public
- restrooms that are available for everybody. Not only would that help the students, but I think it would help
- home population of Bloomington because to use a restroom in Kirkwood, you usually have to go and buy
- something somewhere. And I don't think that's really fair. People got to use the bathroom. I think that's
- most of what I have to say. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Elliot Lewis and we've been in business
- for over 50 years. We're the third largest provider of parking in downtown.
- Next to the city, of course, and I you we rent to over 20 commercial tenants of all types of businesses
- and sizes What I'm going to tell you is very fact driven If you go back a little over 20 years, and
- I'm not trying to make everybody hungry at 6 o'clock by mentioning McDonald's but McDonald's is one
- example of what happened when we had a
- a lengthy closure to Kirkwood when the infrastructure was redone to assist the Jordan River to continue.
- And if McDonald's can't make it, what's that gonna say about other restaurants and their survival rate?
- A more recent example would be the unfortunate situation of a couple months ago, the night of Little Five.
- we ended up closing and locking our front doors to posh on Kirkwood because we were just taking extra
- precautions. So if we can't handle a large crowd on Kirkwood, why would we be inviting more of the same?
- I'm not suggesting that we didn't do a good job, but it's very, very hard to contain
- certain situations, and I don't know that we're equipped to do so. Let's go to more facts. Let's go
- to Ontario, Canada. And there, a study was done five years ago of the economic impact of what would
- happen for a lengthy closure like what is being proposed. And all the businesses in downtown Hamilton
- participated. It was a lengthy, lengthy study.
- like the kind of study you'd expect from Mayor Thompson. And the results were that revenue was down
- 27% to 38% across the board of all the businesses from a lengthy closure. And when you look at 27% to
- 38% of a decline in revenue for any kind of business, let alone small businesses,
- Most of them won't survive. We all know how to get to Bloomington. We all know how to get out of Bloomington.
- And I'm really puzzled by this question. Why would we have all of the traffic that comes to Bloomington
- because we reside here, all the other traffic that we're trying to generate with tourism or other things
- that go on in our fine town, and only let them drive on Kirkwood for one block
- before we direct them out of town on Walnut. I just don't see the merit in it. With the council's decision,
- it just seems like it's short-sighted. They're not taking into account a lot of the things. And I know
- Kerry said not to repeat anything, but I wholeheartedly repeat the ADA concerns. My mom was in a wheelchair.
- and I used to drop her off all the time, or my dad would drop her off in front of Uptown, and lots of
- people in those situations can't make it to the next block. And we have to be very cognizant of that,
- because we have lots of people coming to town that are physically challenged, lots of people that are
- here physically challenged, and that is just a huge concern.
- I'm very appreciative of those here tonight that are echoing that so thank you very much So Can you
- hear me okay Mitchell farmer speaking as just private citizen
- I want to go back to the questions, because it seems to me the choice whether it's open or closed this
- year is binary, right? So if we're looking at a future direction, which is what the question's addressed,
- I want to call out two things. What doesn't work right now when it's closed? There's no infrastructure.
- It is hot. There's no place to sit. There's no place to go to the bathroom, get a drink. Any plan like
- this only works with infrastructure and investment. So it needs a plan. There's lots of really good
- points that have been raised, but it needs a plan.
- I would also say don't shy away from it because it has complexity. I'm hearing a lot of don't do it
- because type reasons. These are solvable things. There are examples across the country of cities that
- have implemented things like this, including Indianapolis around the Super Bowl. But the thing that
- I want to point out is actually bullet point number three, which I think is an assumption that needs
- to be addressed. Bloomington summers are not the way that they were. They're not the way that they were
- 20 years ago when I moved to town. They're not the way they were in 2019. This idea of,
- Just making due until the students get back is a long-term strategic problem for the city that I think
- is solvable by acknowledging that we are probably, and I'm a resident, I've lived here, this is gonna
- be a loaded statement, we are increasingly becoming a resort town for the university, right? We are
- looking like cities that have traffic for nine months out of the year or six months out of the year.
- Infrastructure development and compelling public spaces will help us move through that because it will
- augment and complement the convention center, which has been decided it's going forward, it's being
- built. So really downtown needs a plan. We need to stop operating on the assumption that we just gotta
- make it till the IU students get back. We need to be able to bring in a broad base into the city all
- points during the year. And my last thing is IU should be at the table for this. Kirkwood is the front
- door to the campus. So I believe public private partnership, the foundation owns buildings up and down Kirkwood,
- Like, if they care, they should be involved in this discussion. I made a similar point about the convention
- center. IU was oddly quiet about that. But they benefit from the infrastructure, too. Bring them in.
- So if you want to know what elements would make a successful future plan, I think that's essential that
- they be a part of it. That's all. I just want to say, we do have somebody from the university here.
- I don't know where she went, but I saw Rachel Jones McAfee today.
- They're here, they're an active part of the conversation. I just want to acknowledge, not absent at
- this point. Yeah, I just wanted to clarify. I get around town on my bicycle almost all the time. When
- Kirkwood is closed, it's much more difficult for me to get through
- than when it's open to vehicles. As a biker, I much prefer it to be open. It's more complicated to have
- it closed. Before I came to Bloomington over 50 years ago, I lived in Evansville. Evansville, many decades
- ago, decided to try closing Main Street, which is their equivalent of our Kirkwood. It was great for
- about a year, maybe two.
- Then things went downhill and they eventually were losing businesses and they had to open it up again.
- Thank you. Yeah, I wanna speak a little bit to the IU, or sorry, Bloomington as like a tourist town
- or whatever. This close? Okay. I think that I've been here for 30 years and I think that dynamic has
- definitely increased over the last,
- maybe 10 years or so, but I want to dispel the myth that it is a resort town. There are kids here in
- the summer. The city just, I think, struggles to engage them. I think even looking at this room,
- you know, the largest cohort of this town, which is 40% of the population between the ages of 20 and
- 30, are rarely represented or engaged in this community.
- We employ about 60 of them in town. And I've taught at IU. We have a ton of interns of that age. And
- many of them want to see it close. And they want to be engaged. The infrastructure isn't great. I think
- we come up with funds and resources when we want to. We're paying for a $71 million convention center.
- We have a $35 million park and switch yard. There's a talk of a quarter of a billion dollar jail.
- You know, we can get creative with funding. I'm a believer in that. And while the mobility issues do
- need to be resolved, I think it would be just so sad to just retrench ourselves and have it in open Kirkwood.
- Yes, Chris Sturbaum. You know, the shocking statistic is since 1977, 400 of these have been experimented
- with in this country. 12 have survived. And I've been to Pearl Street in Boulder, and people go to Boulder
- for great reasons. They had a four block, one of the 12 that succeeded. And they recently, just last
- year, were going to keep two more blocks
- The designer of Pearl Street was against closing off permanently the other two blocks of Pearl Street.
- All of the merchants were against closing it off to automobiles. And it was going to be on the ballot,
- but it was withdrawn because of the opposition, people who knew these the best. And the designer said
- the longer these are, the worse they fail.
- We're proposing a five block one in a much smaller community. So That's those are those aren't good
- odds folks. Thank you Okay, I may have residential seniority in this room I've lived in Bloomington
- for 70 years I was operations manager of Bloomington Transit for 10 years. I am now retired. I want
- to make it very clear that
- that I'm stating my opinions and observations, I don't know what those of Bloomington Transit are. But
- when Kirkwood was, when they began closing Kirkwood, it created significant routing and scheduling
- discrepancies for Bloomington Transit, forced bypassing five or six of the most well-used stops in Bloomington,
- Specifically, you can't get to the Monroe County Public Library on Bloomington Transit anymore. Kirkwood
- was built as a city street, not as an outdoor food court, and I think it should serve its purpose as
- a thoroughfare. Hello, my name's Colin Nielsen.
- I wanted to start out by saying that I want to echo the person over here who talked about investing
- in infrastructure like water fountains, benches. I also want to add trees as well to that list. I did
- some research prior to coming here about some successful pedestrian malls in cities like Madison, Wisconsin.
- I think there's Burlington, Vermont. There was Charlottesville, Virginia. All of them were some of the
- few cities that did not have their
- pedestrian malls to convert it back into streets like like the gentleman over here mentioned it is about
- about 400 cities tried this for the past several decades and For my research has had about 30 remain
- or so I think what all those towns that I mentioned have in common is that they are all college towns
- and they have Dense downtowns and they do range in population from 45 to like a hundred and thirty or
- so thousand for Madison but they became
- these pedestrian malls became very important hubs for their communities, and while they received initial
- pushback from business owners, like for parking, accessibility, eventually, they did... the increased
- pedestrian activity did support them. And for cities like, say, Kalamazoo, Michigan, or Rockford, Illinois,
- which did convert their pedestrian malls back into thoroughfares because they considered them failures,
- Those downtowns were already dying by the time that they introduced the pedestrian malls, and they were
- trying to make a... there was a last-ditch effort, essentially. And I think with Bloomington, the downtown
- is very vibrant, and I think Kirkwood could support a pedestrian mall, because I don't consider the
- downtown dying. I consider it very vibrant. There is a large student population that do not own cars
- and that do not rely on parking.
- Also, for the matter of, like, say, handicap accessibility parking spaces being removed, like the eight
- parking spaces, I think the solution is to add eight, to convert other street parking into handicap
- parking rather than throwing out the idea entirely about pedestrianizing Kirkwood. In fact, I would
- be supportive of even more than eight being added. I think that people who can walk should,
- walk further distances in order to help the people who are with disabilities. I think, and I am willing
- to walk those further distances, and many people are in order to accommodate that. I'm willing to walk
- long distances in Walmart to pick up my groceries. I'm willing to walk long distances in the college
- mall in order to go to the shops I want to go to, and I would rather not have cars running in between
- the stores than in the mall.
- and I think because it makes for a more pleasant experience. However, right now, the way the curcuit
- is configured, it is configured like a thoroughfare, but that is because right now, the road is designed
- to be like one. I think as a stopgap measure for closing it every summer and just leaving it the way
- it is, I think it isn't really very effective long-term. I wouldn't really be supportive of continuing
- it. However,
- I would want the city to look into actually pedestrianizing the street, and thinking of long-term solution,
- and investing in infrastructure such as trees to increase shade, to help people who are vulnerable to
- heat, and water fountains, benches, placemaking, things like that, so that it can actually attract people.
- Because right now, even in the previous years, when I would
- to Kirkwood, I would still stick to the sidewalks, even when the street was open to pedestrians. I'd
- only go in the street to, say, eat on outdoor dining, mainly because of two things, because the buildings
- provide shade, so I'd stick close to them, and two, just because the street of asphalt is pretty inviting,
- uninviting compared to brick pavers. And all of the cities I mentioned that have successful things such
- as Madison, they all use brick pavers, they all have
- Trees going through the center as well. They all have trees planted in the center to provide shade for
- people and I think that introducing elements like that could make it so that It'd make it easier to
- walk there more pleasant to walk there that it isn't a heat island And yeah Hi, I'm Tristana you that
- was pedestrianized in 1987 and
- which is from Indiana East to Maxwell Hall, maybe two weeks ago, and people were taking all kinds of
- graduation photos in front of the gates, but also in front of the IUD buildings and Dunwoods. And I
- don't think there's a single person who said when Bloomington pedestrianized Kirkwood that that was
- anything less than a success. We've already pedestrianized Kirkwood. That block is great. I want to
- expand that.
- I'm all for pedestrianizing Kirkwood. And in my experience, my family lives in Burlington, Vermont.
- I've spent a lot of time on Church Street visiting my family during Christmas when it's snowing on Church
- Street. Any problem that anybody now, Burlington's already dealt with. Their ADA compliance of door
- openings is up to, I think there's only
- The last I looked was like three businesses. These are not issues. If you look and you actually go where
- it worked, they've already dealt with it. My brother, he's part owner of a camping supply store in Burlington
- and the outdoor gear exchange. It started in 93, about two blocks off of Church Street, off
- the pedestrianized area. And then they moved and they moved again
- And then they moved a fourth time consecutively closer and closer and closer to the pedestrianized area
- where the last time they went from a block off onto Church Street and they bought their building. It
- was always their goal as a business to be on Church Street and they succeeded at it and it worked for
- him and it was like,
- 30-year project for them to get to Church Street. And they did. On Kirkwood, or rather, I've been, like,
- some of the better experiences are more exceptional, like that Grand Faloon that was downtown, that
- was fantastic. The other side of the coin is I went on a bike, I've been hit by cars twice in Bloomington.
- One's on Kirkwood in Indiana and the other on Ninth in Indiana. And, you know, what's the median age
- in Bloomington 25? Not even old enough to rent a car because you can't insure it because people under
- 25 are just categorically bad drivers. And that's my experience. It would be much safer if we had a
- transportation system that moved people and not just automobiles.
- And granted, Kirkwood is not, the downtown mall isn't gonna be anything but one facet in that transportation
- system, but the more you get people out of cars and into society, the better we'll all be, and the happier
- people are gonna be. Hi, I'm Jeff Meese, 45.
- year resident of Bloomington Cyclist, had a business on Kirkwood that we sold to some employees, Lenny's.
- I can imagine years down the road, Kirkwood being a pedestrian mall, I think it's bad timing. I think
- we have to get there organically, just the way IU lays paths down after they've discovered where students
- walk, I think, when we have
- a dozen or more popular festivals on the street happening in the summer, that it's gonna be obvious.
- I think it'll be obvious, and it's clearly not obvious now, which is why it's so contentious, so I'm
- against it. Hello. Hi, I am Mark Fraley, and I've lived in Bloomington for about 17 years now. And just
- to answer the question, what do I love about Kirkwood?
- Pretty much everything. I absolutely adore the places to eat, to dine, to see music and plays at the
- Buskirk Chumley. It is an absolute gem and an absolute treasure. And so I really appreciate Council
- Member Zuluk and Mayor Thompson for holding this meeting and allowing us to be able to express this.
- When I saw about right after it
- Kirkwood was open, I ran into Councilmember Rosenberger on the street and she was asking people's opinions
- about keeping it over longer than past COVID and at that time I thought, you know what, that sounds
- like a really nice idea. Since that time I've developed a progressive neuropathy condition which actually
- makes it really difficult to walk. So if I can't get access to one of the handicap spots, then that
- means other handicap spots are being taken. I'm walking two, three, four blocks
- to be able to access a lot of the city services. By the time that I'm getting to my destination, I have
- sharp pains that are gonna be rooting up from the arches of my foot up into the lower extremities, creating
- a much more difficult position for me to enjoy the third spaces that we have. My condition is something
- that I, you know, God willing, is temporary, and by the time that this goes into effect, it won't even
- be an issue and I'll be walking it along. But I know that for many people in our community, what's temporary
- for me is permanent for many others.
- And my hope is that we can protect these spaces for those folks while looking over the long term to
- increase pedestrian spaces, to be able to create third spaces and create a vibrant Kirkwood. I think
- that the goal is beautiful. We're not there. And I hope that we can really take into account people
- with mobility issues while we're thinking about these situations over the short term. Thank you.
- with their hands up for a long time that are waiting. But I tell you... I'll be super quick, because
- I don't like talking in front of people. I've written many letters. You know how I feel about everything.
- I'm gonna talk two things. I'm gonna go to the second bullet point that says, what problem should the
- city be trying to solve on Kirkwood? And I'm going to say, there is no problem that we need to be solving
- on Kirkwood. To my knowledge, those businesses are doing great.
- there's a problem of a shooting during Little 500, which is a huge issue, but that's not gonna be solved
- by this. And so, I just wanna say, I don't think that anything's wrong with Kirkwood that we need to
- be solving. My second thing, as Downtown Activation Coordinator, I've been doing programming on Kirkwood,
- and I believe in it. I 100% believe that someday, just like Jeff said, we could have a pedestrian mall
- in Bloomington. I don't think we're there yet. We need tons and tons of infrastructure
- everyone here has talked about. We need bathrooms, we need shade, we need electricity, we need tables,
- we need all kinds of things, and I think we could get there. I think it's premature to close the road
- down now. Yeah. Is it on? Okay. So I'm Lisa Orr, my own lowland company downtown. I've been there 18
- years, and I
- Everybody's kind of circled around this, but it's kind of like if you build all of this infrastructure
- on Kirkwood and put all these beautiful bathrooms in and park benches and trees, it is just going to
- explode our unhoused community even more. And I really don't, until we can implement a plan
- to get that under wraps and to control it a little bit better. It's just going to continue growing.
- You can't really sit down on Kirkwood right now when it's closed and enjoy an evening with young children
- without watching someone pee in front of you or smoking whatever they're smoking to the other side of
- the street or yelling, screaming at people. It's just not
- pleasant place to be when it's closed until we control that problem. And I don't have that answer.
- My name is Martha shed I'm going to respect the idea that we're not going to duplicate what other people
- said but I want to just kind of piggyback on that what Jeff said about You know the path of the way
- that the students go creates where they put a sidewalk We've got a convention center coming which may
- dictate Kind of there's going to be traffic patterns. They're gonna be shopping patterns I think so
- 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?
- I waited to speak until this late because I kept thinking maybe somebody's gonna say what problem this
- is gonna solve and I haven't heard it. Hi, I'm, oh sorry, please. So, J.T. Forbes,
- live in the McDole, love it there. Don't ask me how I know it's exactly one mile from my front door
- to Nick's. Okay, not every joke lands, sorry folks. Lenny's isn't far away, I love your pizza and your
- stuff there. I want Bloomington to be a how can we community, and I think it shows glimmers of that
- a lot. But we're gonna have to earn our place. If we wanna be a place people visit, we're gonna have
- to earn it.
- It's not just granted because this is an extraordinary community that we love. When I look at how we
- do that sustainably in this particular issue, I don't know that I really have a position of open or
- close. I think we gotta start looking deeper. We gotta look past the surface and solve for at least
- three issues that I see. The summer population cliff, the people of Bloomington go on vacation, the
- students that populate the year that drive a lot of this activity,
- aren't gone, and the number that stay in the summer is reduced from what I observe. I don't have facts
- for you today, but we've got a summer population cliff that impacts the current proposal. Also, the
- unique physical layout of Kirkwood needs to be something we look at practically. There are areas adjacent,
- and this is not a new idea. This is stuff I learned from listening to the council meeting.
- The council members that oppose this had some good ideas and they noted that 4th Street already has
- the tree canopy and so maybe we're getting in a functional fixedness fixedness Approach this it's Kirkwood
- or nothing So I think we have to address this unique physical layout and then the unglamorous and everyday
- operational costs for this to work it has to be cleaned it has to be staffed it has to be programmed and
- We ought to all be proud to live in a community that's invested in so many amazing spaces. We have this
- amazing park, like Martha Shedd, my wife, who's wise and awesome, noted the convention center, Switchyard
- Park, the new urban park we've created at Hopewell, and other spaces that have been enhanced. And I
- think we need to think about this in a way where we realize those all cost money
- And for us to do what we might want to do, it's going to compete against jails that will also need to
- be addressed, vulnerable people on our streets that's costly to address. And I'm not saying we shouldn't
- do it, but I'm saying we're going to have to make choices. And the thing I see lacking in the city council
- debate and discussion and in the bigger picture is a clear plan. It's not just about opening Kirkwood.
- It's about having a plan and being pragmatic.
- What can we afford? What can we expect from people in terms of their own choices of whether they're
- going to show up on the streets in one condition or another? And also, what is our long-term vision
- of how we're going to earn this? Because what we've been granted is a legacy that has to be preserved
- and sustained. And so I just want to keep that all bigger picture stuff in mind as we make a decision
- about a street.
- It's more about whether we're a how can we community. I would say I agree. I think it's an incredible
- oversight to say that you're going to close Kirkwood for eight months without a promise of investment
- in infrastructure, in accessibility, in maintenance. But if we're going to sit here and complain about
- watching people use the restroom on the sidewalks, I think that's what you need is an investment in
- public restrooms, an investment in
- places to sit in a third place. That being said, as a pedestrian and as a cyclist, I love when Kirkwood
- is closed to cars. I feel much safer. I don't have to consistently be looking over my shoulder. I, too,
- have been hit by a car while cycling on Kirkwood. It's already not really a safe space. And so, yeah,
- I support the closure. And I think if you want to do it well, you do need a plan.
- you do need to invest. I'm going to acknowledge that it is 6.30. We planned this last minute, and I
- planned it, and Council Member Zulek was kind enough to co-host with me.
- She is going to have to depart in about 10 minutes. Would you still vote to extend council, to extend
- comment even in your absence? Okay. I will just say if anyone wants to chat about this, I'm more than
- happy to just from the council perspective. My email is sydney.zulik at bloomington.in.gov.
- Shoot me a note, happy to meet. So thank you all for coming today.
- I will stay and listen and we are taking good notes. So if you still have a comment, raise your hand
- pretty well so we can see you and get you a mic. First of all, I want to thank you for your vision for
- opening Kirkwood this summer. It's nice to have Kirkwood back. This is the most alive I've seen downtown
- in several years.
- I also thank you for your transparency as mayor, especially on this topic and many others. I really
- appreciate that. I don't have a horse in this race. I've been here 40, 50 years. I walk. I ride an old
- Schwinn bike. I drive a Harley, and I drive a car. And I'm constantly downtown daily. I eat lunch downtown
- probably four or five times a week.
- and have for many years. Maybe this is something that nobody's addressed specifically, but as we all
- know, Kirkwood's the heartbeat of downtown Bloomington. I love this city. I'm gonna support the downtown
- businesses as long as I live here, regardless of the outcome of this. My personal belief though is
- With all due respect to City Council a five to four decision is certainly not a mandate And if you think
- about it only one vote One vote Determines the outcome unless this is vetoed and I think that a more
- representative way to approach this as it affects not only Bloomington's future for many years to come
- But also the residents the people that live here
- Whether you're in town or you're in the county, it affects us all. My proposal is to open this up and
- let the people speak, not a select few. And by doing so, I would propose having this voted for by the
- people during an election at a referendum. I think that is clearly the way to go and let the voices be heard.
- And I will live with either result. But I have a lot greater feeling that the community would truly
- be best represented if we allowed everyone input. Thank you. So this is coming from someone who wants
- a walkable downtown street and came in wanting to go that way. And after hearing a lot of really good
- opinions and ideas. I do think we'll see a time when it should happen. And the biggest issues I'm hearing
- are parking and accessibility. Personally, from my perspective, the best way to solve that is to always,
- if we want to increase the density, we're not going to get any more land. We have to build vertically.
- Many people were unhappy seeing the high rises and the hotels. But all that did was increase the density
- and number of people who could access downtown areas.
- So any parking lots, and there aren't many downtown, it should be built vertical, like more parking
- garages to make it more accessible, get more people downtown. Then we'll see the density increase to
- its, okay, maybe now we should consider closing it off just for pedestrians. Hi, my name is Bill Mackey.
- I'm a resident of 52 years.
- few years here and there where I was gone. I'm in an odd position in that I have parents who have lived
- here not quite 70 years, so the gentleman that had the 70 year tenure has got him beat, but not terribly,
- not by a ton. My mother is now legally blind, has mobility issues due to a broken leg that she suffered
- at some point.
- She would be thrilled to know that Jeff Meese was here because Lenny's has been one of her favorite
- restaurants indefinitely. She suffered a very lengthy departure from being able to attend that because
- walking further than maybe 200, 300 feet is an extreme challenge for her. And my father and her were
- thrilled this summer to be able to make it back to Lenny's during the summertime when it's open.
- Of course, then I also have children who are on the other end of the age spectrum, senior at Indiana
- University, who probably is seen on Kirkwood about 12 hours apart from the time that my parents would
- normally be there. And I think that when the road was closed, it was failing both segments of that population.
- It was failing my elderly parents. Their favorite restaurants were largely inaccessible.
- Due to parking, of course, if the road is open, my father could simply drop my mother off with somebody
- else. Discussions about their being, is there parking right in front? Well, there are people who are
- able to be dropped off in convenient locations near those types of things. Those restaurants certainly
- lost my family's business for a lengthy time. Again, apologies to Mr. Meese for that loss of business
- when he owned those restaurants. And likewise, with my older daughter,
- In the times that the road has been closed, it has absolutely attracted an element of the community,
- which has been mentioned a few times earlier. My daughter, generally speaking, has not been approached
- in the middle of the road when the road is open, but she certainly has been propositioned in the middle
- of the road when the road is closed, because you have a lot of people who basically don't have any place
- to hang out who decide that's a great place to hang out.
- They're not really doing anything productive and of course they're not necessarily doing anything criminal,
- but they are harassing a lot of our young people. And I think that we can't overlook the fact that while
- yes, some of us have some animosity towards the college students, some of those college students are
- our students as well. Some of those are the students of residence that have been here for a very long
- time. And I think we need to consider
- Both of those groups of people, when we're making decisions like this, I also want to just briefly address
- the idea of safety in the cycling community that we've had in here. I don't believe that the only solution
- to making it cycling safe is by closing the road altogether. I mean, this is being made out as if it's
- well if we want to protect people. The only way to protect people and to make them safe is by
- closing the road completely. I think that's creating a binary choice, which is a false choice. I don't
- believe that's actually the only way to do that. I do appreciate you giving us a chance to speak our
- minds on this today, and your courage to address this issue head on. Thank you.
- Hi, my name is Alex York I am a young professional with two young children, so I'm gonna first speak
- from that perspective I
- Maybe I'm not there quite as late with my young children or something, but I can say that when the street
- is closed, I am much more likely to bring my family there. I am much more likely to be there. I feel
- like my children are safer. We visit the businesses there more often. You know, it's so wonderful to
- go to that outdoor seating. And while we wait for food to let kids just very safely wander in the streets,
- it is magical.
- That type of infrastructure change, it attracts me to stay. It attracts me to go to downtown more. The
- other perspective I'd like to bring in is a much longer view, climate change. I believe that of every
- level of government, local governments have the hardest challenge when it comes to climate change because
- we fundamentally need to
- remake the fabric of our communities. We need our communities to be more sustainable, which means denser,
- which means more walkable, less card dependent. And that is difficult. There's no one project in Bloomington
- that accomplishes that goal. But this project would go a long way. It would be a big one towards that goal.
- I am hearing a lot of valid concerns today, and I do want to own that. I think that the heart of most
- of those concerns is something called car bias. Something called car bias. We have lived in American
- cities that are so car dependent for so long, we can't imagine what it's like to move away from that.
- problems that have to be solved. Accessibility, parking spots, there's lots of problems that have to
- be solved. But that just means we need a smart plan. And it is my belief that if we don't have that
- political leadership and push it forward and decide to do it, that plan will never materialize. So I
- hear the people who are saying that they think that this is a
- good future thing and that it's inevitable but we're not ready, I think if we don't decide to do it,
- we will never be ready. And that when we decide to do it and we start doing it, we'll figure out what
- a lot of those problems are. We can't right now say, if we close Bloomington to vehicle traffic, where
- and how many bathrooms do we need? But if we close it to vehicle traffic,
- we can then start adding the bathrooms and figure out where they need to be. So the current system that
- we've had of closing it part year, I think, is a half measure. And it does no favors to anyone. We need
- to close it, invest in the infrastructure, and move forward in that direction if we're going to do it.
- Thank you.
- On this side, really quick, my name is Roberta. I am representing Goodfellas Pizzeria on Kirkwood. I've
- been the GM there for four years, so I have seen when we've had the roads closed and open, the position
- of our company is that we like it open. I can give you some examples, not just from our company, but
- from myself, what I noticed.
- this gentleman behind me was talking about when it's closed, that the people that come to Kirkwood,
- it brings people just in that center lane where we are, or the center of Kirkwood, a different,
- let's see, I just wanna word it correctly, just a different type of, just people hanging out and not
- really doing anything, there's only,
- two restaurants that utilize the parking spaces for restaurants. So basically, for deliveries, we can't
- get deliveries. Well, we can, but it's much harder. There's 95 spots that end up being gone. And I've
- seen that when we've had stuff going on during the winter, they just put no parking signs up. So we're
- still able to close Kirkwood on a whim if you want
- do something local and have a fun event going on. But basically, it's just very hard when the road is
- closed. And one last point is I live on the other side of town near Walmart, and I tell everybody about
- our store. And I can tell you a lot more people come down to Kirkwood
- when it's open and when the students are gone, they like it, there's more parking, they can run up,
- grab a bite of different places to eat that they've never tried before because they're scared to come
- down to Kirkwood when there are so many people there. So yeah, that's my point, thank you. Hi, my name
- is Hillary Martel. I'm a local downtown business owner and I have been to several of the City Council.
- Super close.
- I've been to several of the City Council meetings that have addressed this issue, and the thing that
- I found find frustrating is making Kirkwood carless does not make it a pedestrian mall. Closing off
- Kirkwood for five blocks of traffic, in my personal opinion as a downtown business owner, really just
- create, what I've seen has created a concrete desert. People are not able to park, they're not coming down.
- And there are certain people that do enjoy coming down and being able to hang out in the streets and
- have their kids play in the street. One important factor that has never been talked about is any successful
- pedestrian mall, from Charlottesville to Burlington to Iowa City to Boulder, all of those cities that
- have created successful pedestrian malls, they have a strict no bike riding policy in place in their
- pedestrian areas.
- It is a strict dismount and walk your bike. I know people that are proponents of closing Kirkwood. A
- big factor of that is making Kirkwood more bike friendly, when in reality, in my opinion, if it's done
- properly, if you are having kids play in the street while their parents are a few feet away sitting
- at a picnic table not observing them, and especially with e-bikes and people going 30 miles an hour.
- Last summer I saw numerous e-bikes with teenagers, and I see it on the city streets as well, but that's
- a totally separate issue.
- If you are allowing these closed blocks open to e-bike traffic with no zero control, no lanes, and you're
- allowing children to openly wander around, people freely walking, and it's open to bicycles that are
- capable of going over 30 miles an hour, that is certainly a pedestrian safety issue. So that's a big thing.
- that people are proponents of closing Kirkwood that I think that they don't realize any successful city
- that has a pedestrian mall, you are not allowed to ride a bicycle on those areas. Hi, my name is Scott
- Coffin. I came here for school and my partners
- in the grad program at IU, but Kirkwood and Bloomington in general has become so important to who I
- am and how I participate in our community. I think that closing Kirkwood would be beneficial to the
- community of Bloomington. I think some things that some people have said here today are really important.
- Kirkwood, a portion of it has been closed to cars and it has not reopened to cars. Something that Jenny,
- Jeanette has said in New York City is that once you close it, people won't want it to come back. They
- closed Times Square to cars, cars aren't coming back. Cars don't buy things as well. If we incentivize
- people on the street, people go to businesses. I think that the changes on Kirkwood can be incremental.
- I think that there have been a lot of concerns with accessibility and those are very real concerns,
- but we can learn
- through the closure of Kirkwood, how we can make it better and better and better and better. I think
- that closing it is beneficial right now, and I think that we should continue to do that moving forward.
- Thank you. Hello. I've been an Uber driver in this town since Uber started, and it's getting more and
- more and more difficult in that area.
- And when Kirkwood is closed, it creates, if you're down there at nighttime, an incredible traffic problem.
- And it keeps the flow of traffic, and I know it's just, it's so much easier to find the people that
- are looking for you when Kirkwood's open, because when Kirkwood's closed, you have to literally call
- the person that's trying to find you, and they might be,
- at Raising Canes and you're at KOK, or right there at Dun and Fifth, you gotta find your people. And
- that creates a long line of traffic as the night wears on. And it creates, it makes it very difficult.
- I think Kirkwood's a great place. I think that the way we've been doing it, where we close it for specific
- festivals works fine. I just don't think that we can
- Right now, closing Kirkwood creates an incredible difficult situation, especially in the evening from,
- 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
- door dashers or people like that that have to park their car somewhere and walk a quarter mile to pick up
- their order and then walk back to their car. It just, the flow is so much better when Kirkwood's open.
- That's all. My name's Karen Diggle. Many of the issues that I was concerned about have been touched
- on already, so I won't repeat those. But I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the impact on Fourth
- Street. So when, if Kirkwood doesn't have parking, those cars try to move elsewhere. Fourth Street,
- with a small city lot and
- Whole area in front of the restaurants is already a very difficult place to park and we'll be adding
- more cars to that Hi, this is this on hello I'm Paul Russo I I welcome the opportunity to open Kirkwood
- to more pedestrian access and
- I think the language around calling it closing it is biased framing. I like the suggested questions
- you have up there. What's the problem to be solved? Underused public space. A street filled with adults
- and children is a street that is used more than one that has a few motor vehicles. What would make it
- more vibrant? More children.
- There's been people tonight who have, well frankly, scared us with predictions of no access for those
- who did not walk well. I understand this in one way because I'm over 60. But I wish they had been listening
- to the testimony of the gentleman who spoke early on who told us about pedicabs or bicycle taxis. Solutions
- are out there. We need to expand non-motorized transit to solve the problem.
- Other comment I would make is that, in my opinion, the organic evolution of increased pedestrian access
- is actually a myth. Because when one mode of transit has the potential to easily kill or maim others
- with other modes of transit, then the dominant mode will continue to dominate. That's what we see all
- over the country. I also doubt that the relevance of data of unsuccessful pedestrian malls from the
- 20th century
- And I'd like to remind everybody that we're building a pedestrian mall here, not a bicycle mall. But
- I think other people have said that. Final comment would be, the vision I have is that there is a expanded
- convention center. And two blocks from the convention center would be the start of this pedestrian mall.
- And that would be a gateway to the university. With pedicabs running back and forth, let's think long
- term. This is really a huge opportunity.
- Thank you for holding this. We're not gonna take any comments, at least not yet, and we're gonna try
- to wrap things up, but I will happily receive comments after this or in writing. Yes. Thank you. I'm
- concerned that
- I guess I'd start and ask the question, what is the desired outcome? What's the end game? What are we
- trying to achieve? And if we look at it just, we want either an open or closed road. And that's,
- to me, a missed opportunity, especially with the creative people we have at the city and at the university,
- and I would even say some county people might be involved with this, certainly all the stakeholders,
- but I think we should really unleash
- our minds and think about all of the possibilities that we can do there. And it may mean more parking
- garage, it may mean more petty cabs, it may mean whatever, but it should not, the beginning and end
- shouldn't be is it open or closed. I think there's so much that we can do with that. And people have
- said before, it's a gateway to the university and a gateway to downtown. I think it could be
- transformational, not just for Bloomington, but we could be really a model for other communities to follow.
- I'd like to give permission to think big, not big dollar-wise, but think very open-minded about all
- the possibilities, not just open or closed. Thank you. Any final comments? OK. No, he said good night.
- OK. And that's it.
- Thank you, again, all for coming. We have taken lots of notes. I have a process, listen, discern, and
- then decide. So you will be hearing from me and really appreciate your participation tonight. If you
- have things you forgot to say, send an email, and I'm reading all of them.
- So appreciate your presence tonight. This is a community treasure. And I will just echo Jeff's sentiment.
- We limit our creativity when we say yes or no. And so we can live in the freedom of and. And I hope
- you all have a great night. Thanks for being with us.