WEBVTT 00:00:00.578 --> 00:00:08.884 - Hi, everyone. I am Mayor Carey, and I have with me tonight David Hiddle, who is the Director of our 00:00:08.884 --> 00:00:17.273 - Planning and Transportation Department. And welcome. I see some new faces to Traveling Town Hall. So 00:00:17.273 --> 00:00:25.828 - thank you for coming. We do usually start with a children's book. So I picked out hedgehogs don't wear 00:00:25.828 --> 00:00:29.150 - underwear, but they're my size tonight. 00:00:29.410 --> 00:00:37.086 - And we don't usually actually start by reading a book, but I will tell you there are great books here 00:00:37.086 --> 00:00:44.687 - to buy. And so when we're done with Town Hall, I encourage you to have a cup of coffee or peruse the 00:00:44.687 --> 00:00:52.213 - book selection and find something silly or serious to take home with you. We are really grateful to 00:00:52.213 --> 00:00:53.342 - Morgan Stearns 00:00:53.442 --> 00:01:01.039 - for having us tonight. Matt welcomed us well as did the rest of their staff. And these conversations 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:08.712 - are really meant to be conversations. So I'm gonna give sort of high level update on what I'm working 00:01:08.712 --> 00:01:16.460 - on in the city. And David's gonna tell you a few things he's been thinking about, but then we'd really 00:01:16.460 --> 00:01:17.438 - like to take 00:01:17.762 --> 00:01:25.719 - questions from you all so that we can target some of our comments and information to exactly what you're 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:33.751 - interested in. And we are doing a sociological test this evening. The most comfortable chairs were placed 00:01:33.751 --> 00:01:42.011 - right in the front, yet everybody still chose the wooden ones. So if you would like to blow the sociological 00:01:42.011 --> 00:01:43.678 - experiment instead of 00:01:43.842 --> 00:01:52.976 - confirming my bias here. You may sit in these comfy chairs. Oh, yes. See? Welcome. And you won't even 00:01:52.976 --> 00:02:02.290 - be on cats. I think you'll be out of the picture. Isn't it great? Yeah. If you had an ottoman, it would 00:02:02.290 --> 00:02:03.902 - be perfect. Yeah. 00:02:04.290 --> 00:02:10.912 - So thank you all for coming. I do these every other month, and we move around throughout the city so 00:02:10.912 --> 00:02:16.158 - that we can get into different neighborhoods, we can get into different places. 00:02:16.258 --> 00:02:23.458 - And that's all targeted not only to be close to you wherever you live, but also to provide comfort for 00:02:23.458 --> 00:02:30.449 - people who don't love to come to City Hall. So of course I meet with people at City Hall every day. 00:02:30.449 --> 00:02:37.720 - So does David. But these traveling town halls get us into different neighborhoods and hopefully meeting 00:02:37.720 --> 00:02:44.990 - different people. And I usually bring one of the members of my cabinet with me and we always invite the 00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:52.386 - the city council member from the district and unfortunately Dave Rallo whose district we're in tonight 00:02:52.386 --> 00:02:59.894 - wasn't able to join us this evening. He's at a Jack Hopkins meeting but he sends his he sends his regrets 00:02:59.894 --> 00:03:03.294 - and I'm sure he'd love to hear from all of you. 00:03:03.458 --> 00:03:11.771 - Let me talk a little bit about what's been going on in the city from my perspective. Last week, of course, 00:03:11.771 --> 00:03:19.928 - we had State of the City. If you want more statistics and a full rundown of everything we've been doing, 00:03:19.928 --> 00:03:28.086 - go onto CATS and watch that recording. It is good nighttime viewing. And I'm happy to go into more depth 00:03:28.086 --> 00:03:31.038 - on some things that we covered there. 00:03:31.202 --> 00:03:38.886 - high level. This year we have gotten fire fully staffed for the first time in a very long time. So we're 00:03:38.886 --> 00:03:46.203 - really proud of that. When I came into office I was wanting to work on three primary areas, housing 00:03:46.203 --> 00:03:51.838 - and homelessness, economic development, and public safety. So public safety, 00:03:51.938 --> 00:04:00.619 - Fires fully staffed. We anticipate being fully staffed in police by the end of this calendar year. So 00:04:00.619 --> 00:04:09.471 - we're really excited about that. We got unanimous union votes on those union negotiations, both in fire 00:04:09.471 --> 00:04:17.982 - and police. And we're back at those union tables now. We did a short round to do some catch up. So. 00:04:18.722 --> 00:04:28.499 - That's what's going on with fire and police. And I will talk about Seminary Point in a minute. We have 00:04:28.499 --> 00:04:38.846 - a sign holder. What did you say? Okay. Well, I will tell you honestly everything I know about it. Let's see. 00:04:38.978 --> 00:04:47.775 - So that's a good thing to talk about now, housing and homelessness. One of the big things that we're 00:04:47.775 --> 00:04:56.746 - talking about right now is the new state legislation, which is Senate Bill 285, which goes into effect 00:04:56.746 --> 00:05:05.630 - on July 1st. And that illegalizes sleeping outside on public property. And so we are working together 00:05:05.630 --> 00:05:08.766 - with Heading Home and the county to 00:05:08.834 --> 00:05:17.508 - work with people who are living in two remaining public encampments. One of them is on city property, 00:05:17.508 --> 00:05:26.097 - one of them is on county property. And so we've been working really hard on encampments since I came 00:05:26.097 --> 00:05:31.710 - into office. And the way we do that is that we approved a process 00:05:31.906 --> 00:05:38.787 - during my first couple of months in office where we reach out to people who are in encampments. And 00:05:38.787 --> 00:05:45.737 - we have somebody here tonight who knows a whole bunch about this process. We reach out to people who 00:05:45.737 --> 00:05:52.962 - are living there and we send outreach workers and then our own city staff is out there. We give at least 00:05:52.962 --> 00:05:57.022 - a 30 day notice before we set that date to clear the camp. 00:05:57.122 --> 00:06:05.280 - And lately we've been really successful in partnering with people who are living outside and the last 00:06:05.280 --> 00:06:12.638 - two camps that we've had to clear nobody's been living there by the time the date comes to. 00:06:13.378 --> 00:06:21.358 - to move so we are proud of the process that has been in place and we're also really grateful to all 00:06:21.358 --> 00:06:29.497 - of our partners that have outreach workers and health workers and housing partners along the way. The 00:06:29.497 --> 00:06:37.636 - other significant housing piece that we're working on is the Hopewell South neighborhood and Hopewell 00:06:37.636 --> 00:06:39.870 - South is the first phase of 00:06:40.098 --> 00:06:46.950 - the housing development that will be where the old hospital was and Hopewell South is now in front of 00:06:46.950 --> 00:06:50.846 - council. It got a unanimous support from Plan Commission. 00:06:51.138 --> 00:07:01.030 - That is proposed to be 98 homes and the price range starts well anticipated if we could build them this 00:07:01.030 --> 00:07:10.828 - year but now it's been delayed. The anticipated starting price was $83,000 for an owner occupied place 00:07:10.828 --> 00:07:19.198 - and those go all the way up and those are small studio homes. It goes all the way up to 00:07:19.362 --> 00:07:26.532 - a home that we anticipate costing about $600,000 and is more of a four bedroom larger home. So those 00:07:26.532 --> 00:07:33.631 - are right on the beeline. We're really proud of what we've proposed there and we're really happy to 00:07:33.631 --> 00:07:40.943 - have that in front of council. Council has a number of things they'd like to see in that neighborhood. 00:07:40.943 --> 00:07:46.622 - We are working through that with council and I really believe we'll get to some 00:07:46.754 --> 00:07:55.753 - some kind of common ground there and I'm committed to working towards a neighborhood that actually works 00:07:55.753 --> 00:08:04.495 - well. The affordability is the most important thing to me though because we increasingly have people, 00:08:04.495 --> 00:08:05.438 - especially 00:08:05.570 --> 00:08:13.839 - younger folks in Bloomington who move here and they can't find a place that is affordable for them to 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:22.108 - live. So this is a way into home ownership where you can buy something small that's within your price 00:08:22.108 --> 00:08:30.377 - range and then you can move up as your household expands or as your finances expand or both. So we're 00:08:30.377 --> 00:08:34.430 - really excited about Hopewell and I'll say just a 00:08:35.170 --> 00:08:44.697 - Just to note about Seminary Point, we've had some folks talking about the very affordable units that 00:08:44.697 --> 00:08:54.507 - are sort of near the corner of Second and College. They are part of the county-owned property. The city 00:08:54.507 --> 00:09:00.638 - is not involved in that land deal, but they are scheduled to be, 00:09:00.994 --> 00:09:13.059 - vacated because the county is giving that land to the capital improvement board as part of the convention 00:09:13.059 --> 00:09:25.351 - center project. So that's a county land deal and the commissioners are working on that. I'll take questions 00:09:25.351 --> 00:09:30.814 - later but I actually didn't hear what you said. 00:09:32.834 --> 00:09:40.291 - question, you were asked what you thought about that and you said you wanted to speak positively of 00:09:40.291 --> 00:09:48.045 - your colleagues and say they were just doing their business. So in the in the Herald Times I was quoted 00:09:48.045 --> 00:09:55.502 - as saying that I was supportive of my county colleagues. What is what is my understanding of the of 00:09:55.502 --> 00:09:59.454 - their dealings with that building is that since they 00:10:00.098 --> 00:10:09.300 - Since the convention center was planned and since they acquired that property, it's always been their 00:10:09.300 --> 00:10:18.593 - intention to take that building down and that's been communicated for a long time to folks surrounding 00:10:18.593 --> 00:10:26.622 - that building. So that's, thanks for your comments. Public safety, economic development. 00:10:27.074 --> 00:10:35.219 - So economic development, we are a number of things happening on the economic development front. We've 00:10:35.219 --> 00:10:43.443 - been working really hard with folks at the trades district, which is our tech park and trades district 00:10:43.443 --> 00:10:51.588 - has really been filling up the mill and the forge opened recently. It's a class A office building and 00:10:51.588 --> 00:10:54.942 - that is getting filled up pretty quickly. 00:10:55.330 --> 00:11:03.727 - That is really our center for entrepreneurship and startups in the city. And that's going really well. 00:11:03.727 --> 00:11:12.205 - Partnerships with IU and with Crane happening, as well as many, many different startups being incubated 00:11:12.205 --> 00:11:21.009 - there. And that's important because as IU is really paving the way towards commercialization and innovation 00:11:21.009 --> 00:11:22.558 - in their research, 00:11:23.266 --> 00:11:29.987 - Students and faculty alike need a place to do business and a place to incubate those businesses. And 00:11:29.987 --> 00:11:37.308 - so that's gonna be great for Bloomington. And that is part of our strategy to grow wages here in Bloomington, 00:11:37.308 --> 00:11:43.962 - which is critically important. We also are thrilled that the Convention Center's finally coming out 00:11:43.962 --> 00:11:50.750 - of the ground and really excited about various redevelopment pieces that are gonna go on on the South 00:11:50.750 --> 00:11:52.414 - College and South Walnut 00:11:52.546 --> 00:12:01.590 - corridors and what else do I need to talk about? I think that covers it and I know you all are gonna 00:12:01.590 --> 00:12:10.813 - ask more questions of me, but I will hand things off to David and let him talk for a few minutes about 00:12:10.813 --> 00:12:19.230 - all of the very exciting things that are happening in planning and transportation. Thank you. 00:12:20.450 --> 00:12:26.454 - Yeah, my world is all about housing, housing and housing right now and probably will be for a while. 00:12:26.454 --> 00:12:32.635 - One of the things that we're in the planning world, the world of urban planners realizing is that we've 00:12:32.635 --> 00:12:38.817 - spent, and I'm speaking about Bloomington, but really everywhere, is that we've spent the last 60 years 00:12:38.817 --> 00:12:44.702 - just making our ordinances bigger and bigger and adding layers of rules on top of layers of rules. 00:12:44.834 --> 00:12:51.867 - And they don't really make the place that they serve better necessarily, but they do make it a lot more 00:12:51.867 --> 00:12:58.696 - expensive and a lot more hard, a lot more difficult to build things. So we're taking a close look at 00:12:58.696 --> 00:13:05.729 - our ordinance to see what we can reasonably take out, for lack of a better phrase, just to make it more 00:13:05.729 --> 00:13:09.854 - friendly, more intuitive, and more useful and more valuable. 00:13:09.954 --> 00:13:16.293 - We need to be able to allow for more types of housing to be built. Right now, it's pretty easy to build 00:13:16.293 --> 00:13:22.509 - a house, a conventional house, and it's pretty easy just to build a big student housing mega complex. 00:13:22.509 --> 00:13:28.665 - And everything in between has kind of been lost in the wind over the last decade. So we kind of want 00:13:28.665 --> 00:13:34.820 - to restore our ordinance to be able to allow for that. So that's a change to ordinance. We also want 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:38.782 - to change our processes, which have kind of taken the same tack. 00:13:38.914 --> 00:13:44.946 - In the past decades, they've just become more complex. Rules on top of rules, my department, 00:13:44.946 --> 00:13:51.431 - other departments, the utilities, really everybody having to do with development. There's a lack of 00:13:51.431 --> 00:13:58.371 - coordination and it's just really tough to build things here. So we've commissioned a third party external 00:13:58.371 --> 00:14:02.846 - audit of our department and utilities department, other departments. 00:14:03.010 --> 00:14:08.718 - to help us figure out where we've just put in one step too many, where we have communication 00:14:08.718 --> 00:14:14.918 - gaps, redundancies, bottlenecks, things like that. So again, make those processes easier. It'll make 00:14:14.918 --> 00:14:21.056 - it less expensive to build, more predictable. And those are costs that eventually find their way or 00:14:21.056 --> 00:14:27.256 - a lack of costs that find their way to the consumer. And it should have a positive effect on housing 00:14:27.256 --> 00:14:28.606 - prices down the road. 00:14:28.802 --> 00:14:35.549 - I've worked other places and Bloomington, everybody has this problem, everybody has issues with their 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:42.362 - zoning ordinances, everybody has issues with their processes, but Bloomington has a big issue. We just 00:14:42.362 --> 00:14:48.382 - have lots of rules, lots of invested in engaged people with lots of projects and concerns. 00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:55.461 - Those get written into the rule book and you have those coming from five, six, seven, eight, nine different 00:14:55.461 --> 00:15:02.122 - types of special interests and it just makes things really tough. So that's one of the things that we're 00:15:02.122 --> 00:15:08.593 - working on right now. We also following, interestingly enough, a big, big bucket of state legislation 00:15:08.593 --> 00:15:10.686 - that kind of came into February. 00:15:11.298 --> 00:15:17.712 - really big and kind of breathing fire and promising to change things really significantly. It would 00:15:17.712 --> 00:15:24.126 - have compelled every Indiana city, town, and county to dramatically loosen how they handle housing, 00:15:24.126 --> 00:15:31.054 - a lot of it in a good way, some of it not so much. But by the time that bill got enacted, as House Enrolled 00:15:31.054 --> 00:15:38.366 - Act 1001, it had been completely gutted and all of the juice taken out of it. So a little bit of a letdown there. 00:15:38.466 --> 00:15:44.740 - The upshot is that we have to report to the state now every year on our housing activities, our efforts 00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:50.832 - to make housing more accessible, efforts to change the zoning ordinance, things like that. So it's a 00:15:50.832 --> 00:15:56.865 - reporting mechanism that came from that, not too much more. What's interesting though is that other 00:15:56.865 --> 00:16:03.138 - states, coastal states, blue states, and increasingly red states have kind of gone down this preemptive 00:16:03.138 --> 00:16:05.310 - state legislation road in the past. 00:16:05.570 --> 00:16:11.059 - This is Indiana's first year trying to get some legislation moved. And what happens is typically the 00:16:11.059 --> 00:16:16.494 - first one, the second one, maybe the third, they get shot down or they get dramatically gutted like 00:16:16.494 --> 00:16:22.091 - ours was, and then they come back year after year with something more meaningful. So like a state like 00:16:22.091 --> 00:16:28.015 - Montana, which is ruby red, but which has a very engaged governor and housing issues, has really progressive 00:16:28.015 --> 00:16:32.254 - zoning reform and they've been working at it for about five years, six years. 00:16:32.418 --> 00:16:39.787 - So that, I think, if we're all hopeful that that is something that might happen in Indiana, next year 00:16:39.787 --> 00:16:47.227 - there'll be another package. Might go a little bit further and have a little bit more teeth to it. But 00:16:47.227 --> 00:16:54.668 - for this year, it was a big puddle of, big puddle and nothing at the end of the day. So anyway, that's 00:16:54.668 --> 00:17:02.398 - what's exciting. If you can call that exciting in the world of planning these days. Did we open it up now? 00:17:03.042 --> 00:17:11.370 - I think, you know, I think, David, you've been a star of evening reality TV lately. So I think that 00:17:11.370 --> 00:17:20.031 - means that planning is, it is exciting, right? It is entertaining. If you watch Board of Zoning Appeals 00:17:20.031 --> 00:17:28.775 - hearings or Plan Commission hearings, it's reality TV. So much fun. So we will open it up for questions. 00:17:28.775 --> 00:17:32.606 - And just to make space for lots of questions, 00:17:32.898 --> 00:17:36.382 - It's best if you really do ask a question. 00:17:36.578 --> 00:17:42.883 - that you want to hear about. I am happy to hang out afterwards and hear about issues or talk to people 00:17:42.883 --> 00:17:49.065 - about issues if you have an opinion to share. But we'd really like to hear from you about what you'd 00:17:49.065 --> 00:17:55.309 - like to hear from us about so that we can share information that's targeted to your interests. And if 00:17:55.309 --> 00:18:01.491 - you are not somebody who loves to raise their hand in public and speak, there are some note cards on 00:18:01.491 --> 00:18:04.062 - the back table. And I can't see Jennifer. 00:18:04.386 --> 00:18:12.382 - Jennifer's back there. There's Jennifer. If you just slip your note card to Jennifer, she can read questions 00:18:12.382 --> 00:18:20.305 - from people who don't want to speak them. Additionally, another reason that it's hard to take long comments 00:18:20.305 --> 00:18:27.641 - is because Katz is recording this on TV. And so I will repeat your question back so that the camera 00:18:27.641 --> 00:18:33.950 - can take it in and people at home can know what's being asked. So who has a question? 00:18:34.530 --> 00:18:45.310 - Oh, lots. Okay, let's take this one first. Hot topic at the moment is the Bloomington Iron and Metals 00:18:45.310 --> 00:18:56.513 - property there on Rogers, let's call it Rogers and 10th, that is just kind of a dirty field at the moment 00:18:56.513 --> 00:19:03.806 - or, you know, open space, but is supposed to be something monstrous. 00:19:06.530 --> 00:19:14.154 - That's the iron fail property. Yeah, gray star is a developer that's they had some variances they went 00:19:14.154 --> 00:19:21.778 - for and I think they have to go for major site plan approval for apartment complex to pretty much fill 00:19:21.778 --> 00:19:22.814 - up that site. 00:19:35.490 --> 00:19:43.272 - of the plans for the hotel for the convention center? Yes, so the question is asking for an outline 00:19:43.272 --> 00:19:51.442 - of the development of plans for the hotel for the convention center. Right now, there are no plans drawn 00:19:51.442 --> 00:19:59.301 - for the hotel for the convention center. The CIB, which is the Capital Improvement Board, which is a 00:19:59.301 --> 00:20:04.126 - shared board, county and city appointees, but it's outside of 00:20:04.642 --> 00:20:13.762 - elected officials, so it's meant to be non-political, which is a genius move. So they manage this, and 00:20:13.762 --> 00:20:22.705 - they selected a hotelier. The hotelier selected a site that is owned by the city. And that hotelier, 00:20:22.705 --> 00:20:30.142 - in order to get their vision accomplished, needed some incentives to get that done. 00:20:31.138 --> 00:20:39.134 - there wasn't an incentive package that ended up working for them for that site. They moved to a different 00:20:39.134 --> 00:20:46.677 - site and then they ultimately have moved on. The CIB is putting a new request for proposals out. So 00:20:46.677 --> 00:20:54.672 - there is no plan yet and I just wanna just take an opportunity to explain to folks that convention center 00:20:54.672 --> 00:20:57.086 - hotels operate differently than 00:20:57.314 --> 00:21:05.896 - other hotels. They have to guarantee reduced rate room blocks. That's part of their contract. And so 00:21:05.896 --> 00:21:14.562 - their financing mechanisms are a little bit different. And it is pretty typical for convention center 00:21:14.562 --> 00:21:23.144 - hotels to receive some kind of incentive package from somewhere because they're going to be bringing 00:21:23.144 --> 00:21:25.438 - in a bunch of visitors and 00:21:25.602 --> 00:21:34.042 - essentially tourists who are going to spend money in the community. So CIB has put that back out for 00:21:34.042 --> 00:21:42.398 - bid, and I actually can't remember the timeline for selecting the new hotelier, but then they'll go 00:21:42.398 --> 00:21:50.922 - back to selecting a site. So no drawn plans. I have take it outside, and then the person right behind 00:21:50.922 --> 00:21:55.518 - him will be next, and then we'll get to the very back. 00:21:56.866 --> 00:22:04.325 - You're taken outside. Is it all right if I ask each of you all a question? Is that all right? OK, so 00:22:04.325 --> 00:22:11.857 - I'll ask you first. My sister, she sometimes needs a wheelchair. And I'll go around town. I'll notice 00:22:11.857 --> 00:22:19.316 - my sister would have a hard time getting around this or around that. Is your administration going to 00:22:19.316 --> 00:22:25.150 - improve the ability of people in wheelchairs to get around town without a car? 00:22:28.418 --> 00:22:37.640 - Yeah, that's a very good question. One of the things that, oh yeah, Mr. Take It Outside's sister is 00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:46.954 - in a wheelchair and has trouble navigating the city, getting to where she needs to go in a nutshell, 00:22:46.954 --> 00:22:57.374 - right? And what are our intentions to try to ease that burden? So we have an awareness that the universal design 00:22:57.474 --> 00:23:06.512 - regulations in our ordinance are pretty primitive. They touch on the idea of making the world accessible 00:23:06.512 --> 00:23:15.119 - to as many people as possible, but it's not done in a very thoughtful way. And so one of the things 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:23.038 - that we've committed to looking at is examining some places that are doing it a lot better. 00:23:23.362 --> 00:23:29.351 - Bullingbrook, Illinois is a city that does it wonderfully. And so we're gonna update our ordinance. 00:23:29.351 --> 00:23:35.401 - And with that, then new development, the way that the front doors are situated and arranged relative 00:23:35.401 --> 00:23:41.390 - to the sidewalk, the way the sidewalks are arranged, the way that you're able to get from one place 00:23:41.390 --> 00:23:47.499 - to the next is intended to be just a much more accessible environment for everybody. So accessibility 00:23:47.499 --> 00:23:50.494 - has been a big topic of conversation on Hopewell. 00:23:50.594 --> 00:23:58.450 - And the development consultants have pledged to do really quite a bit more than what the ordinance requires 00:23:58.450 --> 00:24:05.724 - right now and make a good number of the homes accessible. We're learning from that and I think what 00:24:05.724 --> 00:24:12.926 - we're putting in place there is going to look a lot like what we do when we improve our ordinance. 00:24:13.090 --> 00:24:20.193 - number of things in the pipeline for ordinance amendments this year that is still on the table is something 00:24:20.193 --> 00:24:26.968 - we want to get done in twenty twenty six. But beyond the ordinance amendment I think there's just sort 00:24:26.968 --> 00:24:33.545 - of a need for awareness what we have the CCA the Community Council Community on accessibility. Very 00:24:33.545 --> 00:24:39.070 - very active in town and they make sure that their voices are heard whenever there's 00:24:39.618 --> 00:24:46.677 - amendments to ordinances whenever there's a development and we've engaged them and are committed to 00:24:46.677 --> 00:24:53.877 - work with them as we improve our ordinance. So that's kind of the nutshell answer. And I want to give 00:24:53.877 --> 00:25:01.500 - just another little bit of an answer there. Outside of our official planning and transportation department, 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:07.006 - of course, Bloomington Transit is not a city department, but it's affiliated. 00:25:07.138 --> 00:25:17.149 - And they have been taking lots of steps to try to serve people better, including a pilot that we did 00:25:17.149 --> 00:25:27.061 - last summer called Blink, and it was microtransit. So you could arrange for the bus to come, and it 00:25:27.061 --> 00:25:32.414 - was a small bus, and literally take you door to door. 00:25:32.514 --> 00:25:42.749 - When Bloomington Transit does these kinds of pilots, it's so important that people help us get the word 00:25:42.749 --> 00:25:49.342 - out because we can fund programs like that and our normal transit. 00:25:49.602 --> 00:25:56.943 - by ridership and that's how all the federal dollars are attracted as well. And so would be interested 00:25:56.943 --> 00:26:04.140 - to hear barriers that your sister or others that people know of are having to accessing Bloomington 00:26:04.140 --> 00:26:11.409 - Transit. And we have a really forward thinking director there and he's always open to hearing how we 00:26:11.409 --> 00:26:18.174 - can do better. So would love to hear from you. And I'm looking forward to your next question. 00:26:19.490 --> 00:26:26.380 - So I value my privacy. I mean, we're Americans, we all do. But I've been noticing a lot of these new 00:26:26.380 --> 00:26:33.339 - Flock AI cameras. And I mean, they track so much. I mean, where you're going, who you are, who you're 00:26:33.339 --> 00:26:40.365 - with. And according to the website DFlock, there's a couple around town. I mean, just on the way here, 00:26:40.365 --> 00:26:46.846 - Third Street's got a few. But anyway, some of those are even monitored and maintained by IUPD. 00:26:47.234 --> 00:26:58.828 - Should we expect more flock cameras? And what do you say to concerned citizens about that amount of 00:26:58.828 --> 00:27:10.653 - surveillance? Yeah, so the question is about flock cameras, but specifically flock AI cameras. And it 00:27:10.653 --> 00:27:16.798 - was noted that IUPD. OK. OK, what you said was IUPD. 00:27:16.898 --> 00:27:24.286 - but okay so it was noted that BPD has some there are actually so. 00:27:24.450 --> 00:27:33.327 - What BPD has are license plate readers, not the AI cameras. And so there are 11 of those that are owned 00:27:33.327 --> 00:27:42.034 - by BPD. And I want to thank, there's been a number of people involved with raising flock awareness to 00:27:42.034 --> 00:27:48.606 - us over the past several months. And I want to thank you for bringing it up. 00:27:48.866 --> 00:27:57.533 - folks have had one-on-one conversations with me, with our police chief, with others. And as you may 00:27:57.533 --> 00:28:06.808 - know, I don't know if you do know, we have a report that we'll be giving to council that's to be delivered 00:28:06.808 --> 00:28:15.562 - by April 15th, and then they'll take it into their discussion on the 22nd of April, I believe. So we 00:28:15.562 --> 00:28:16.862 - are looking at 00:28:17.314 --> 00:28:25.675 - at all kinds of things with flock, but I wanna be clear that the cameras that you see up on streets 00:28:25.675 --> 00:28:34.036 - are not the AI cameras, they're just the license plate reading cameras, still privacy concerns. And 00:28:34.036 --> 00:28:42.481 - so my job as mayor, obviously, is to help keep our community safe and we are very carefully weighing 00:28:42.481 --> 00:28:43.902 - people's privacy 00:28:44.002 --> 00:28:53.970 - and how those flock cameras have been used in other places with our ability to solve crimes as well. 00:28:53.970 --> 00:29:04.036 - And so we're in the middle of the study that we will be producing for council in a couple weeks. Yes. 00:29:04.036 --> 00:29:13.214 - I also have two questions, if that's allowed. One is directly related to flock. Okay, great. 00:29:21.346 --> 00:29:28.230 - what extent, and if you can name people, I would love to hear it, are you working with privacy or security 00:29:28.230 --> 00:29:34.728 - experts in figuring out what your policy is? Because it seems that universally the public is against 00:29:34.728 --> 00:29:41.226 - this. Like the general public, I haven't met a single person who's in favor of being surveilled like 00:29:41.226 --> 00:29:47.660 - this. So I would imagine there must be a good reason to outweigh the security and privacy concerns. 00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:51.070 - But I'm wondering what those conversations are like. 00:29:51.650 --> 00:30:00.222 - if there's any, I guess, very good reason that you would have for going against what the majority think 00:30:00.222 --> 00:30:08.628 - of it, what the majority are concerned about. I know the report's forthcoming, so I know I'll have to 00:30:08.628 --> 00:30:16.952 - sit tight for a little bit, but I'm just curious. So the question is, who's involved in consultation 00:30:16.952 --> 00:30:20.414 - as we go through this process, et cetera? 00:30:20.546 --> 00:30:29.673 - and a statement that the majority are against FLOC. We have a number of different folks that have been 00:30:29.673 --> 00:30:38.888 - consulted and are still being consulted. That's why you don't have a report yet. And I'll just say that 00:30:38.888 --> 00:30:47.749 - I don't, I just wanna be clear that we are getting both kinds of feedback in the mayor's office. So 00:30:47.749 --> 00:30:48.990 - it's not 100% 00:30:49.282 --> 00:30:59.748 - against flock and I would say may not be even a majority. Nonetheless, our job is to take everybody's 00:30:59.748 --> 00:31:10.111 - concerns seriously and to see what we can do to protect privacy, but also there are serious concerns 00:31:10.111 --> 00:31:19.038 - related to our immigrant populations, trans populations, all of the frequently already 00:31:19.170 --> 00:31:26.194 - at risk populations, especially with the federal government we have right now. And so we are taking 00:31:26.194 --> 00:31:33.289 - it really seriously and I can tell you that no decision's been made yet because we really do want to 00:31:33.289 --> 00:31:40.524 - do a good job with this decision. And yet another question. Yes, this one's related to seminary point. 00:31:40.524 --> 00:31:43.966 - I know you mentioned that this is a county issue 00:31:44.258 --> 00:31:50.231 - Largely, the county is selling the property to the CIB, and the CIB wants to make it a part of this 00:31:50.231 --> 00:31:56.204 - convention center development. But I don't know if you've been made aware, people have talked about 00:31:56.204 --> 00:32:02.535 - this to you personally, but especially some of the people who live in those homes have expressed concern, 00:32:02.535 --> 00:32:08.747 - people in the community have expressed concern about just getting rid of 29 units of affordable housing 00:32:08.747 --> 00:32:12.510 - at a time where everyone agrees that there's a housing crisis. 00:32:12.802 --> 00:32:20.052 - And there actually seems to be a decent plan that's within the city's power to promote and to act on, 00:32:20.052 --> 00:32:27.373 - to have the CIB, once they receive the land, to then sell it to the city. And the city can spin it off 00:32:27.373 --> 00:32:34.765 - into whatever, what have you, to be a cooperative, a land trust, details aside. But is there any reason 00:32:34.765 --> 00:32:42.654 - why that plan is unworkable? Well, first time you heard about it. Is there any reason that plan is unworkable? 00:32:42.914 --> 00:32:54.084 - of why alternatives are not being considered. So this is a question about Summit Point and an acknowledgement 00:32:54.084 --> 00:33:04.339 - that, sorry, I'm sorry, Seminary Point. Summit is a different housing project that we're working on. 00:33:04.339 --> 00:33:12.158 - And question about the loss of 29 units of affordable housing and, you know, 00:33:12.674 --> 00:33:22.619 - is a city considering intervening essentially and taking on that project. That is not under our consideration 00:33:22.619 --> 00:33:31.750 - right now partially because, partially because first of all, it's county owned and they already have 00:33:31.750 --> 00:33:34.462 - something going with the CIB. 00:33:34.754 --> 00:33:45.713 - I have not looked at the details of that building, but from talking to others that have, it is prohibitively 00:33:45.713 --> 00:33:56.169 - expensive to get those apartments even up to code. They don't meet our rental code now. And so it would 00:33:56.169 --> 00:34:01.598 - cost some significant money to bring them up to code. 00:34:01.698 --> 00:34:09.573 - I hope that the people who are living there have reached out to our housing and neighborhood development 00:34:09.573 --> 00:34:17.297 - department to see if they can help them with housing resources. I don't know what the timeline is with 00:34:17.297 --> 00:34:24.797 - those either, but I would encourage you to talk to your county commissioners who have this in their 00:34:24.797 --> 00:34:29.822 - hands at this point. Can I just have one follow-up question? Sure. 00:34:30.274 --> 00:34:36.905 - Is the main reason why you're not considering it because this hasn't been brought to your attention? 00:34:36.905 --> 00:34:43.732 - Or is it because you have looked at it and you've just considered it prohibitively expensive, even with 00:34:43.732 --> 00:34:50.362 - the affordable housing fund? We have not looked at it. We simply haven't looked at it. And I'll tell 00:34:50.362 --> 00:34:57.059 - you, we don't have capacity to take on another project right now. We simply don't. If you're tracking 00:34:57.059 --> 00:34:59.422 - what's happening at the State House 00:34:59.554 --> 00:35:07.459 - Senate Enrolled Act 1 has significantly cut the income that Bloomington will have. HUD has made cuts, 00:35:07.459 --> 00:35:15.286 - et cetera, et cetera. And so financially, we don't have the means to take on another project at this 00:35:15.286 --> 00:35:23.500 - point. Our TIF is maxed out. I mean, we're just, we're at a point in the city where we really are looking 00:35:23.500 --> 00:35:26.910 - at how do we maintain what we already have? 00:35:27.010 --> 00:35:36.056 - and do a really good job with that and try to meet people's expectations with the basic city services 00:35:36.056 --> 00:35:45.102 - that we must provide. And so I've been talking for a year now about we're not taking on new projects. 00:35:45.102 --> 00:35:54.237 - We don't have any capacity to do it, unfortunately. Yeah, you had a question in the back? So from your 00:35:54.237 --> 00:35:55.390 - perspective, 00:35:55.682 --> 00:36:04.320 - What is the single biggest barrier for Bloomington to becoming a top tier hub for entrepreneurship and 00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:12.874 - innovation? And if you have to design one single initiative for Bloomington to overcome this barrier, 00:36:12.874 --> 00:36:21.428 - what is it? So the question is, what is the number one barrier for Bloomington to become the top tier 00:36:21.428 --> 00:36:25.118 - center for innovation and entrepreneurship? 00:36:25.314 --> 00:36:34.907 - If I were going to design an initiative, what would that be? I'll tell you, the top barrier to any business 00:36:34.907 --> 00:36:44.056 - development right now, honestly, is housing. What you're hearing about from several people, that's the 00:36:44.056 --> 00:36:50.718 - answer. People can't move here and they can't grow businesses here because 00:36:50.850 --> 00:36:59.742 - there aren't places for them to live and afford. Now, more directly, what levers in the entrepreneurship 00:36:59.742 --> 00:37:08.210 - world can we pull? I think the most obvious one is how are we incentivizing or allowing student and 00:37:08.210 --> 00:37:17.694 - faculty research to come to market and have them own their own IP? That is a resource that we have here that we 00:37:18.114 --> 00:37:26.819 - you know, unlike most other communities, we have that here in spades. And I think we, you know, the 00:37:26.819 --> 00:37:35.524 - administration at the university has been trying to move to commercialization. So I think we have a 00:37:35.524 --> 00:37:44.926 - moment, but we haven't totally pivoted that. And so that IP is really a critical barrier from incentivizing 00:37:44.926 --> 00:37:47.102 - the growth that we need. 00:37:47.330 --> 00:37:56.532 - We do have amazing, are you involved already with Amplify? Yeah, okay. So I'm just gonna give a commercial, 00:37:56.532 --> 00:38:05.052 - this is not for you, but Amplify Bloomington's doing an amazing job. They're over at the mill, used 00:38:05.052 --> 00:38:14.083 - to be the mill, they've expanded what they're doing. And they're really becoming a fairly magnetic center 00:38:14.083 --> 00:38:17.150 - of entrepreneurship and innovation. 00:38:17.314 --> 00:38:25.336 - There's really no reason why Bloomington should not be the leader in the Midwest in innovation 00:38:25.336 --> 00:38:33.865 - and entrepreneurship. The state of Indiana is among the bottom of all states in entrepreneurship and 00:38:33.865 --> 00:38:42.563 - innovation. And if we could get that right, again, that's where our wage growth is going to come from. 00:38:42.563 --> 00:38:47.038 - And so we really need to nurture those entrepreneurs 00:38:47.170 --> 00:38:54.994 - help them keep working out of the box to generate some awesome things that come from Bloomington. Yes? 00:38:54.994 --> 00:39:02.969 - You mentioned earlier, I think it was Montana, that do push through some bails in their state that made, 00:39:02.969 --> 00:39:10.641 - I don't know if it was easier or better for transportation and building and stuff. Is there anything 00:39:10.641 --> 00:39:15.806 - that's in their bills that we should be trying to push through here 00:39:16.194 --> 00:39:22.870 - Because you said ours got gutted, but what did they get through that we didn't? Yeah, I don't know that 00:39:22.870 --> 00:39:29.675 - they did it this year, but it's been in recent years that they've done it. Oh, I'm sorry. I had mentioned 00:39:29.675 --> 00:39:36.223 - earlier that the state of Montana is, as a red state, kind of leading the pack of red states in terms 00:39:36.223 --> 00:39:42.836 - of zoning reform for housing, kind of following on the heels of what a lot of blue states have already 00:39:42.836 --> 00:39:46.174 - done, especially in the coasts. And he asked, what? 00:39:46.338 --> 00:39:55.485 - did Montana do with regards to their housing reform. And they required, certainly required, they required 00:39:55.485 --> 00:40:04.631 - that different types of housing be allowed, specifically in single family zoning districts. They required 00:40:04.631 --> 00:40:11.966 - that ADUs or accessory dwelling units, also known as in-laws quarters, granny flats, 00:40:12.290 --> 00:40:18.181 - that they be allowed in all residential zoning districts. We allow them here. Most of the rest of the 00:40:18.181 --> 00:40:24.014 - state of Indiana doesn't, but in Montana, that law compelled every city, every town, every county to 00:40:24.014 --> 00:40:29.790 - allow them by right in residential zoning districts. They put in place different incentive programs 00:40:29.790 --> 00:40:35.681 - with regards to funding so that if you're a city that has made modifications to your zoning ordinance 00:40:35.681 --> 00:40:41.630 - to be more housing friendly, then you're eligible for certain streams of funding. I believe that they, 00:40:42.018 --> 00:40:50.538 - They dramatically decreased the minimum lot sizes, minimum structure sizes that the zoning ordinance 00:40:50.538 --> 00:40:59.818 - usually imposes. We've done a lot of that here. We can still do a little bit more of that. But it essentially 00:40:59.818 --> 00:41:09.182 - cut out the things that were driving sprawl, especially residential sprawl. Yeah, so those are the big things. 00:41:09.794 --> 00:41:17.641 - 10 minutes to think about it. I'd probably come up with some more, but that's kind of the lion's share. 00:41:17.641 --> 00:41:25.185 - And North Carolina's doing it. Tennessee has made some progress. So it's kind of spreading out from 00:41:25.185 --> 00:41:32.957 - Montana to do what? California and Washington, Oregon, and some other more progressive or blue states, 00:41:32.957 --> 00:41:38.238 - Minnesota. Minnesota's made some big changes, have already done. Sir? 00:41:40.866 --> 00:41:50.132 - The population of Bloomington is affiliated with the university, possibly. And we have a housing shortage, 00:41:50.132 --> 00:41:59.137 - yet the university isn't building dormitories and hasn't for years. Are you working in conjunction with 00:41:59.137 --> 00:42:06.238 - the university to try to get the university to pick up some of that housing need? 00:42:08.322 --> 00:42:18.477 - I'll take that one. The question was, you know, we're talking a lot about housing tonight, and yet the 00:42:18.477 --> 00:42:28.533 - university is not actively building dorms. And are we talking to them and putting pressure on to help 00:42:28.533 --> 00:42:34.942 - with the housing need? We do talk to them frequently about this. 00:42:37.282 --> 00:42:48.711 - Where they are with it is that they already are exceeding the percentage of undergraduates that are 00:42:48.711 --> 00:43:00.597 - housed on campus. The challenge that we have in Bloomington is that we have so many undergraduates that 00:43:00.597 --> 00:43:01.854 - are really 00:43:02.562 --> 00:43:10.200 - ending up driving the cost of housing here. And the way that housing has been developed really since 00:43:10.200 --> 00:43:18.065 - 2009, and it has to do with the lending markets and things like that, are that student housing has been 00:43:18.065 --> 00:43:25.704 - some of the most reliably funded housing, because it's secure. The people who live in that house, by 00:43:25.704 --> 00:43:32.510 - and large, do not source the income in the community that they use to pay for that house. 00:43:33.090 --> 00:43:40.871 - And so as David spoke to earlier, our UDO, unfortunately, has made it really easy to build these large 00:43:40.871 --> 00:43:48.501 - student buildings. And those are marketed directly to students. They have amenities, you know, pools 00:43:48.501 --> 00:43:50.238 - and volleyball courts. 00:43:50.402 --> 00:43:57.593 - weight rooms and the things that undergraduates really want. And it's really a lifestyle place to live. 00:43:57.593 --> 00:44:04.992 - And so you wouldn't want to put a single mom with a couple of kids in there if you want your baby sleeping 00:44:04.992 --> 00:44:11.975 - through the night, right? And so our challenge in Bloomington, and especially if we're not gonna get 00:44:11.975 --> 00:44:17.438 - more on campus and we can talk to the university about providing more housing, 00:44:17.762 --> 00:44:25.598 - but we have no significant lever to compel them to do this. And so where we are at the city is how do 00:44:25.598 --> 00:44:33.358 - we incentivize housing for people who live here long-term and how do we get that built and how do we 00:44:33.358 --> 00:44:41.886 - make sure that it's available at a price point that the people who are sourcing their incomes here can afford. 00:44:42.626 --> 00:44:50.238 - So while we are working with entrepreneurship and innovation and business to try to drive wages up. 00:44:50.238 --> 00:44:58.231 - We also need to really manage the cost of housing both rental and ownership and that's part of the great 00:44:58.231 --> 00:45:00.286 - pilot project at Hopewell. 00:45:00.386 --> 00:45:08.945 - And our hope is that it'll really set a pattern so that other folks can develop in that way, in a way 00:45:08.945 --> 00:45:17.419 - that really magnetizes the people who live and work here long-term to want to stay. Other questions, 00:45:17.419 --> 00:45:25.726 - Carol? Yes. So my first question is, keep talking about growing the region, but since the hospital 00:45:35.234 --> 00:45:43.840 - Any discussion with the hospital about expanding that at all? So there's more room. So the question 00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:52.877 - is that the hospital is over capacity. Is there any conversation about expanding the hospital? IU Health 00:45:52.877 --> 00:45:59.934 - is very aware that they are over capacity. And so I know that they are looking at 00:46:00.546 --> 00:46:08.619 - They have a floor that they can expand into. I know that they're looking at that very seriously. And 00:46:08.619 --> 00:46:16.932 - for a community to be whole and healthy and thriving, we do need a health care system that is the same. 00:46:16.932 --> 00:46:23.166 - And so I know those conversations are happening. I am sometimes part of them. 00:46:23.266 --> 00:46:32.052 - But we've been clear and the hospital leadership is very aware that the model that was set for this 00:46:32.052 --> 00:46:41.453 - hospital, which was that we get people in and that the new healthcare is that people don't stay overnight, 00:46:41.453 --> 00:46:45.758 - right? We know that that's not necessarily true. 00:46:45.890 --> 00:46:53.329 - And so, and we're a regional hub. And with the way that Medicaid and Medicare have gone, the regional 00:46:53.329 --> 00:47:01.206 - hospitals are closing very quickly. And so more and more people are coming to hospitals like Bloomington's. 00:47:01.206 --> 00:47:08.938 - So we're really seeing an evolution in healthcare that is concerning, not just in Bloomington, but across 00:47:08.938 --> 00:47:13.022 - the nation. And so yes, that conversation is happening. 00:47:15.522 --> 00:47:25.604 - on Crawford? Yeah, I actually am getting an update on Crawford. The question was, can I have an update 00:47:25.604 --> 00:47:35.589 - on Crawford? I'm getting an update on Crawford, I think, on Thursday. So no status change on Crawford 00:47:35.589 --> 00:47:45.182 - as of yet. Other questions? Are there any note card questions? Yes. Maybe you can clear up those. 00:47:46.434 --> 00:47:56.690 - understandings or something. The state legislature moved to keep us from subsidizing low-cost housing, 00:47:56.690 --> 00:48:02.366 - and at the same time, it seems that there are incentives 00:48:15.650 --> 00:48:24.631 - So the question, and then I'm gonna have to ask a clarifying question to be able to answer the question, 00:48:24.631 --> 00:48:33.270 - but the question is that there's confusing information out there about housing and that there's some 00:48:33.270 --> 00:48:41.824 - state legislation that prohibits, prohibits what? Low income housing. Low income housing? The state 00:48:41.824 --> 00:48:45.502 - legislature said that we couldn't do that. 00:48:47.458 --> 00:48:55.722 - So, okay, so the question is there's something in the state legislature that prohibits low-income housing 00:48:55.722 --> 00:49:03.597 - and yet we also have something that is incentivizing vacancies in apartments. Okay, I'm not familiar 00:49:03.597 --> 00:49:11.549 - with the state legislation prohibiting low-income housing. Are you talking about a decrease in levels 00:49:11.549 --> 00:49:13.342 - of federal assistance? 00:49:16.738 --> 00:49:44.030 - There's a thing called inclusionary zoning, which is the state does not allow and has never allowed 00:49:44.418 --> 00:49:51.470 - That is a situation where when you're building something, you have to build a certain amount of affordable 00:49:51.470 --> 00:49:58.323 - units in it. Right now, we have those as incentives. So we don't say you have to include these. We say, 00:49:58.323 --> 00:50:04.914 - if you want an extra floor or if you want a bigger building, then include some affordable units. So 00:50:04.914 --> 00:50:11.636 - that's not really changed. The other thing that maybe came to mind, maybe not though, is that Fishers 00:50:11.636 --> 00:50:14.206 - and Carmel just passed laws that limit 00:50:14.562 --> 00:50:22.039 - rentals in certain neighborhoods. So you can have, in a given subdivision, like a maximum of 15% are 00:50:22.039 --> 00:50:29.590 - not owner occupied but are rented. The state did strike those down. Now the prohibition of those laws 00:50:29.590 --> 00:50:36.993 - doesn't go into effect for another two years. The state has essentially said you cannot say in this 00:50:36.993 --> 00:50:43.582 - house there must be an owner occupant. There cannot be a renter, which is pretty common. 00:50:44.002 --> 00:50:54.234 - So the state did strike that down, two things that Fishers and Carmel did, which presumably because 00:50:54.234 --> 00:51:04.875 - it's for renters would be people with lower incomes, but that's the only thing that really came to mind 00:51:04.875 --> 00:51:13.982 - based on your questions. And I don't know of incentives to keep units vacant, but there, 00:51:14.690 --> 00:51:25.549 - But I think what happens and what I've heard people talking about is that, especially in large developments, 00:51:25.549 --> 00:51:35.512 - the landlords, it's more profitable for them to keep their rents very high, even if they have a few 00:51:35.512 --> 00:51:44.478 - vacancies, than to drop the rent to get those filled. So I think it's mostly in economics 00:51:45.250 --> 00:51:53.617 - discussion and that's why, and I do believe anecdotally that there are starting to be some vacancies, 00:51:53.617 --> 00:52:01.819 - okay? Now, IU is increasing their enrollment and so they may get filled, but we believe anecdotally 00:52:01.819 --> 00:52:11.006 - that there are some vacancies now. We've built a lot of housing that's specifically targeted to undergraduates. 00:52:16.418 --> 00:52:24.119 - Yeah, you have another question? Yeah, I have questions for days. My question is that, given that we're 00:52:24.119 --> 00:52:31.597 - in an election year and there is at least 10 Democrats running around for state house seats, for the 00:52:31.597 --> 00:52:39.150 - win we get rid of the super minority status, which might stem the tide of terrible legislation coming 00:52:39.150 --> 00:52:46.110 - from the state house, I'm wondering if in your conversations with Democrats around the state, 00:52:46.850 --> 00:52:54.901 - If these conversations happen, is there some sort of plan for if you should reduce the single majority? 00:52:54.901 --> 00:53:03.261 - What sort of steps that can be had at the state house that would affect places like Bloomington? Leveraging 00:53:03.261 --> 00:53:11.157 - that non-super minority status to allow regulating landlord-tenant relationships, for example, or all 00:53:11.157 --> 00:53:12.318 - sorts of other 00:53:14.754 --> 00:53:24.100 - Yeah, I think that the, I think many of us dream of lots of things we could get done at the State House. 00:53:24.100 --> 00:53:33.179 - And I won't say that there's a cohesive plan around that at this point. Most of the planning is going 00:53:33.179 --> 00:53:38.430 - into how do we get people to vote? And that's the root of, 00:53:39.202 --> 00:53:48.229 - a lot of problems that we have. We have very, very low voter turnout. And what that means, and I used 00:53:48.229 --> 00:53:57.433 - to think that voting was like the minimum engagement in the democratic process, but it's actually, it's 00:53:57.433 --> 00:54:06.460 - sort of up here now. People are so disengaged. And so I think if we got people voting, then no matter 00:54:06.460 --> 00:54:08.318 - what party you were, 00:54:08.770 --> 00:54:16.021 - you would probably be more representative of the people. And so that's where I think we should be working. 00:54:16.021 --> 00:54:23.068 - We need people to get to the polls. And we need them to know that it matters. And you know that because 00:54:23.068 --> 00:54:30.116 - you show up at all of these meetings and hold electeds accountable. But when I go knocking doors, which 00:54:30.116 --> 00:54:37.366 - I do once a month, I hear from so many people that they just don't even vote because they think it doesn't 00:54:37.366 --> 00:54:38.654 - make a difference. 00:54:39.970 --> 00:54:47.843 - They literally tell me that. I didn't vote for you and I haven't voted in years and I'm not going to 00:54:47.843 --> 00:54:55.793 - because it doesn't make a difference. Well, I'm showing up at their door to figure out how I can make 00:54:55.793 --> 00:55:03.666 - a difference, right? But I need those folks to vote. We all need them to vote because that's how our 00:55:03.666 --> 00:55:09.278 - communities are gonna get represented. Okay, we're running out of time. 00:55:09.666 --> 00:55:20.228 - Is anybody waiting to be the last question? Somebody wants to be the anchor question tonight. I'm gonna 00:55:20.228 --> 00:55:30.892 - ask the last question then. I want somebody, maybe multiple people, to tell me one thing they love about 00:55:30.892 --> 00:55:36.478 - Bloomington. Yeah, what do you love about Bloomington? 00:55:37.058 --> 00:55:45.018 - I like the small town feel and its proximity to both Indianapolis and national parks. Nice. Small town 00:55:45.018 --> 00:55:52.979 - feel and proximity to both Indy and national parks. Yes? Wilmington Speedway has been here since 1923. 00:55:52.979 --> 00:56:01.326 - It's one of about 10 of the oldest tracks that continuously operate and crash in the world. Wow. Wilmington 00:56:01.326 --> 00:56:04.958 - Speedway has been here since 1943? 1923. 1923. 00:56:05.058 --> 00:56:13.030 - one of the 10 longest continuously running tracks in the world. Apparently in the world. And I will 00:56:13.030 --> 00:56:21.162 - say one more thing. I'm a race fan. You might have heard that. I have personally seen 24 people drive 00:56:21.162 --> 00:56:29.294 - at Bloomington and driving the 500. I don't mean I saw 24 people drive here that did. I saw 24 people 00:56:29.294 --> 00:56:33.918 - drive other places. This track is, I mean, it's national. 00:56:35.970 --> 00:56:44.859 - OK, I want an invite to go to the track with you. I've never been. He's seen 24 drivers that have driven 00:56:44.859 --> 00:56:53.325 - at Bloomington Speedway and up in Indy. Any Friday night? OK, awesome. I've heard it for years, but 00:56:53.325 --> 00:57:02.384 - I've never been. Yes, Jeff. I love the Arts and Griffey Reservoir, a hidden gem. Yes, the Arts and Griffey 00:57:02.384 --> 00:57:04.670 - Reservoir with new trails. 00:57:06.946 --> 00:57:16.106 - Any other, why do we love Bloomington? We have fantastic teachers. Yes, we have fantastic teachers in 00:57:16.106 --> 00:57:25.536 - Bloomington. Such great schools. Any last thoughts? Katz is gonna cut us off. Okay, I'll be here hanging 00:57:25.536 --> 00:57:34.517 - out if you want to talk afterwards. Thank you for being here at Morgensterns. Thank you to our cafe 00:57:34.517 --> 00:57:35.774 - crew who has, 00:57:36.130 --> 00:57:43.548 - kept us caffeinated and well-hosted. And thank you to Morgan Stearns for hosting us. And thank you, 00:57:43.548 --> 00:57:47.998 - David, for even more of your time by joining the town hall.