Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren this week we're in Bloomington with Mayor John Hamilton. Hello, welcome, September in Bloomington.
Speaker 2
Good to be back to with you again. Joe. Good to see you again. Yeah, this is our rhythm when things really get cooking here.
Speaker 1
Yeah. For football students are back. Any last minute changes or things the city had to accommodate as classes got going. And you know, the 50,000 students back again,
Speaker 2
there's always a little bit of a pressure on new buildings to make sure they are ready because they need to be ready for the students. And that's been okay. There's always a few bumps in that and then trying to get all our infrastructure projects done before the before the students show up at both IU and then the school system to
Speaker 1
Yeah, a lot of streets back open again. You talk about new buildings. I know Monroe County Commissioners looking for feedback from local residents on the potential jail location. Now they're looking at the Thompson site. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2
Well, Joe, it's a complicated question. Look, I really actually have to start by saying we over incarcerate in this country, in this state in this community, to many people in jail compared to the rest of the world. So my approach to this actually is the first thing we ought to be doing is investing more money and effort in the decarceration. You know, I know we need jails, of course we do. And we need a good one as to what we have is not humane, but we ought to be investing a lot more in pre treatment and in in mental health services and substance use disorder and job placement, all those things. I wish we would lead with that and then and then do the jail. I'm an advocate for a jail close to downtown. We still don't know the size footprint. So there's a whole bunch of questions. But look, Thompson is a site that was previously identified for a correctional facility actually a juvenile correctional facility. So there's a lot of options options here, but I actually think we're, we're approaching it a little backwards. I think we ought to be starting with the prevention work.
Speaker 1
See, some Bloomington officers will start carrying tasers as part as a pilot program. How did this come about? And I guess I didn't realize that Bloomington officers did not have tasers.
Speaker 2
Many people don't know those kinds of details. Joe. It's interesting. It actually came about because right when I came in as mayor, I asked the board of public safety, which is our resident board overseeing police and fire to make sure we were complying with the best practices and that includes reviewing the 21st Century Policing Task Force. One of the the only recommendation in that that we did not implement immediately was tasers. We actually had already done most everything else. And the police department has been interested we've been looking at the option and they're going to do a pilot. Now here's here's the thing for tasers for Bloomington Police are meant to do basically two things one, help prevent officer injuries. Because if you do have to restrain an individual during an arrest, you can be injured and the second thing is to try to reduce suspect injuries as well. Knock on wood, our police department a fantastic group of people, we haven't had issues of wrongful shootings that tasers can rip, but these are to help restrain people safely. So it's going to be a pilot. Let's see if it works. And as you indicated, it's interesting. Everybody else in law enforcement has it in the county. Our police department just hasn't until now.
Speaker 1
Also, I believe, is it about 20 officers understaffed right now.
Speaker 2
We are understaffed. We're about 20, short of what we'd like to have ideally and that we funded. That's true. We're continuing to try to recruit. I've think I've told you before, anytime you get a bunch of mayors together, if you start asking them about police, they'll all say I don't have we can't fill our slots. So it's a common problem. It means we have to keep recruiting and retaining who we have. It also means we need to keep reforming how we do police and it's one of the reasons the budget coming up has more non sworn positions to help do things that sworn police officers may not need to do even though we asked them to do it today.
Speaker 1
Well, I have talked about the North gateway, the North gateway monolith project that Miller showers Park kind of blown up in meetings lately. Now. I've been gone for a couple of weeks. I'm trying to catch up. This all happened when I was away. But from what I understand this was approved and paid had funds for a year or so we'll go with that longer. And now recently at a public works meeting just to close the sidewalk so construction could begin some public members said let's let's stop this. What's going on? Good question. Yeah.
Speaker 2
Well, you know this, I mean, I've been in this seat a little while this can happen as you indicate aided the plans for gateways, they were part of the Bicentennial bonds, which were passed in 2018. So, five years ago, the COVID interrupted some of the planning. But in the last year, 14 months, there's been quite intensive public planning on a gateway. And the gateway is just a way for Bloomington to say welcome to town. You know, we're proud of who we are, we hope you have a good time here are saying goodbye. And it's kind of promotional, right for a city. This gateway has been in development, there's been a lot of public input, the Bloomington Arts Commission worked on it, the parks department has been intensively focused on it, we've had public sessions, but regardless how much you reach out, we got dozen scores, I think of feedback, regardless how much you do when somebody notices it, or hits the newspaper or TV show or some people go, Wait a minute, I didn't get to weigh in on it. So some people are trying to weigh in on we welcome that. But this has been long vetted, it's a it's funded, it's planned, and I'm excited about it. And I'm actually confident that when it's done, people will get used to it, love it, and actually take a lot of pictures by it, I think.
Speaker 1
So it's kind of right now up in the air as far as what happens next. I mean, they they did not allow for the public or the right away for construction to begin. So what I guess what happens now? Yeah, I
Speaker 2
think there was a tabling a postponement is too late and people express themselves. Okay. And I expect that to be resolved very shortly. We've already got a contract to build it. We've there's actually I think the the the actual gateway is under construction or done. Now the physical piece that's going to stand there, those are all under contract. It's going to be great. We're looking forward to it. Everybody take a deep breath. And I know some people view it as not, you know, what a beauty in the eye of the beholder, I guess that kind of thing. But I think it's really good for Bloomington to have a gateway presence like that. And we hope to do one or two more as well.
Speaker 1
I see an IU student hit recently on an E scooter and heard of at least one another student with the injuries as well. And I know that's something that we've talked about a lot on this on this show. And we head into a new school year that you really nice news is
Speaker 2
poignant. Yeah. You know, Joe, we get pedestrians, bicyclists, Scooter, riders, car drivers, we have accidents in the city, and every one of them's a concern. And we work really hard to make our city as safe as we can with protected bike lanes, and good sidewalks and good signage and good speed limits and all those things. And still, accidents can happen. I'm sure there'll be litigation about this, I reviewed the footage, it was you know, really not responsible behavior. But the tragedy is what the tragedy is, I know we're working very closely with Indiana University to try to make sure people get good messaging about how to be safe on these scooters or on bicycles or walking to we're we're continuing to review that we want everybody to be able to get around Bloomington in all the different ways you do and do it safely.
Speaker 1
And I know it's been haven't been a month yet since the students have gotten back and some of these East scooters have have returned any early indication that some of those new implementation rules that have gone into effect are helping.
Speaker 2
We think we think things are continuing to improve Joe's you know, there's been a kind of a process of learning as we go, this is a new way to move. We've got corrals downtown, that are parking crowds of 60 or 70 of those that are trying to remove the clutter, keep our sidewalks available for everybody to use. We have new agreements with more electric bikes sit down bikes compared to scooters to see if those are going to be a better mix. But mainly it's just everybody be responsible when you do it. And be careful when you're driving through town. I mean, it's there. They're young kids there other college people there. There's a lot of people around and just be careful. It's a busy place.
Speaker 1
So you were pointed to members of the CIB that will move forward with the expansion of the convention center. What what what was your strategy there?
Speaker 2
Well, you know, Joe, we've been talking about the convention center a lot a long time. The Capital Improvement Board is now in formation. There's I think one more seat that gets filled by the current members. I wanted to get to excellent members. I'm very proud mccrane ISON and Adam Teece, I think are excellent. members of that group. I'm hopeful that we still we still have some things to work out in an inter local agreement between the city and the county to make sure that CIB that board can work effectively and we're negotiating that I've always wanted an expanded convention center. I want to make sure it's high quality, really an excellent addition to downtown and I think we're close to being able to make make that happen. There's a little more little more work to be done, but we Appreciate all the people who work on those kinds of boards.
Speaker 1
So you talked about the interlocal agreement is that where this process is right now. So that's something you, the city is working with the county and coming up with some, some type of strategy for that new CIB to work with
Speaker 2
exactly my goal. And I think a lot of us want to be sure that when we create this new effort to build a convention center, that it's not too hampered by too many cooks in the kitchen or too many people kind of saying no, or Yes, or maybe along the way that they can actually do their job, right, create a great product, it's going to take a lot of hard work. It's complicated. costs are higher now than they were five years ago when we were talking about it. So that's what I'm focused on and trying to make sure we can set them up for success.
Speaker 1
Let's head to another big story I had been working on a lot. Of course, with the annexation, I what I feel is a very interesting strategy where the city wants to dismiss a much larger lawsuit to allow for a more recent lawsuit to be heard about sections one A and one B, which had enough valid petitions to not be excluded from the annexation, but to have a court hearing, what's the strategy behind that?
Speaker 2
Well, Joe, it's a complicated picture. It's a little frustrating, as you know, for all of us who've been working so hard to right size the city and just reflect the growth that's happened around us. And we've had the state illegally intervene in it back in 2017. And we think they illegally intervened again in 2019. So we've it's been been struggling to get through the normal process. So we have two lawsuits going and because of the way they proceeded, we ultimately have to say what's most important for the city. And I think fundamentally, that West Side annexation, which is where one A and one br They're the largest areas, they're the most populated. They're also the areas where the city and growth is happening the most, those are the most important with this strategy where we drop a piece of the constitutional litigation and say, let's just go to trial on one A and one B, we're confident that the court will say yes, it makes sense to annex so so we did have to make a choice, either we're going to wait three or four more years for litigation because of what the state did in 2019. Or we can split that apart. Let's just go to trial on the west side. Let that other thing work its way through. So that's what we decided to do not not easy, I will say but but just kind of trying to think about what's most important for the city that felt like the right thing to do.
Speaker 1
I think the Bloomington City Council rejected a draft piece of legislation widely seen as an effort to prevent homeless individuals from camping on sidewalks, streets, roads, public works passed the ordinance. Park commissioners passed something for the parks but I but City Council has to also approve it to take effect. So is this something that an ordinance that that you're behind or you think that is needed? Or is this something that is hurting those experiencing homelessness?
Speaker 2
We work every day Joe to try to help make everybody have a great opportunity in the city. There are definitely people who are experiencing difficulty here, whether it's from housing costs, or very dramatically, we see overdoses up over 150% and fatalities in this in this community. We see mental health issues. So there's a lot of things we're all working on together. I think we should do more on those things to public health. I think we need more investment in that. But the the cleanup or is almost an ordinance to clean up what was a legal issue. It turned out that in the Bloomington code, if somebody just blocked a sidewalk, put up a table, or set put up, erected a bench and said I'm going to sit and block the sidewalk. Under current code. We the Police tell us we're not allowed to remove it unless we had more clarity. Now, this has not been a rash of these issues. And I think that's one thing the city council said, Well, how often is this happening? Not a lot. We were trying to be ready in case but I think it can be handled on a case by case basis with a court order. It could cause some delays in dealing with some things but look, no, nobody, nobody is trying to do here. I think in our community, anything other than trying to help make sure our public rights of way are available for people to use whether you are in a wheelchair or a stroller or a bike, you know, make sure that's available pedestrians, but also make sure that all of our residents can have a humane way to live in our community. So it's complicated, but the council made that decision. I think we can move on and if it becomes an issue, it could come back or maybe it won't be an issue in the future.
Speaker 1
I know we're just about out of time but I would like to leave the last minute to you any big announcements or things you'd like to let us know Joe I so appreciate
Speaker 2
you doing these. He's the session Just keep checking up. I don't have any big announcements. I would just say it's that time of year in Bloomington when things pick up in energy level and speed and, and density as more people around. So I do think it's a good reminder, this is one of the things that energizes Bloomington the most it's a great time to beautiful weather. But it also means try to be careful, try to be helpful with your neighbors, you got new neighbors, 1000s of them in our community, people who don't know our streets as well as some of us do. So try to be patient, careful and enjoy the fall weather.
Speaker 1
Thanks so much and hope to see you next month October. See you then Joe. Thanks a lot. Thank you
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren this week we're in Bloomington with Mayor John Hamilton. Hello, welcome, September in Bloomington.
Speaker 2
Good to be back to with you again. Joe. Good to see you again. Yeah, this is our rhythm when things really get cooking here.
Speaker 1
Yeah. For football students are back. Any last minute changes or things the city had to accommodate as classes got going. And you know, the 50,000 students back again,
Speaker 2
there's always a little bit of a pressure on new buildings to make sure they are ready because they need to be ready for the students. And that's been okay. There's always a few bumps in that and then trying to get all our infrastructure projects done before the before the students show up at both IU and then the school system to
Speaker 1
Yeah, a lot of streets back open again. You talk about new buildings. I know Monroe County Commissioners looking for feedback from local residents on the potential jail location. Now they're looking at the Thompson site. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2
Well, Joe, it's a complicated question. Look, I really actually have to start by saying we over incarcerate in this country, in this state in this community, to many people in jail compared to the rest of the world. So my approach to this actually is the first thing we ought to be doing is investing more money and effort in the decarceration. You know, I know we need jails, of course we do. And we need a good one as to what we have is not humane, but we ought to be investing a lot more in pre treatment and in in mental health services and substance use disorder and job placement, all those things. I wish we would lead with that and then and then do the jail. I'm an advocate for a jail close to downtown. We still don't know the size footprint. So there's a whole bunch of questions. But look, Thompson is a site that was previously identified for a correctional facility actually a juvenile correctional facility. So there's a lot of options options here, but I actually think we're, we're approaching it a little backwards. I think we ought to be starting with the prevention work.
Speaker 1
See, some Bloomington officers will start carrying tasers as part as a pilot program. How did this come about? And I guess I didn't realize that Bloomington officers did not have tasers.
Speaker 2
Many people don't know those kinds of details. Joe. It's interesting. It actually came about because right when I came in as mayor, I asked the board of public safety, which is our resident board overseeing police and fire to make sure we were complying with the best practices and that includes reviewing the 21st Century Policing Task Force. One of the the only recommendation in that that we did not implement immediately was tasers. We actually had already done most everything else. And the police department has been interested we've been looking at the option and they're going to do a pilot. Now here's here's the thing for tasers for Bloomington Police are meant to do basically two things one, help prevent officer injuries. Because if you do have to restrain an individual during an arrest, you can be injured and the second thing is to try to reduce suspect injuries as well. Knock on wood, our police department a fantastic group of people, we haven't had issues of wrongful shootings that tasers can rip, but these are to help restrain people safely. So it's going to be a pilot. Let's see if it works. And as you indicated, it's interesting. Everybody else in law enforcement has it in the county. Our police department just hasn't until now.
Speaker 1
Also, I believe, is it about 20 officers understaffed right now.
Speaker 2
We are understaffed. We're about 20, short of what we'd like to have ideally and that we funded. That's true. We're continuing to try to recruit. I've think I've told you before, anytime you get a bunch of mayors together, if you start asking them about police, they'll all say I don't have we can't fill our slots. So it's a common problem. It means we have to keep recruiting and retaining who we have. It also means we need to keep reforming how we do police and it's one of the reasons the budget coming up has more non sworn positions to help do things that sworn police officers may not need to do even though we asked them to do it today.
Speaker 1
Well, I have talked about the North gateway, the North gateway monolith project that Miller showers Park kind of blown up in meetings lately. Now. I've been gone for a couple of weeks. I'm trying to catch up. This all happened when I was away. But from what I understand this was approved and paid had funds for a year or so we'll go with that longer. And now recently at a public works meeting just to close the sidewalk so construction could begin some public members said let's let's stop this. What's going on? Good question. Yeah.
Speaker 2
Well, you know this, I mean, I've been in this seat a little while this can happen as you indicate aided the plans for gateways, they were part of the Bicentennial bonds, which were passed in 2018. So, five years ago, the COVID interrupted some of the planning. But in the last year, 14 months, there's been quite intensive public planning on a gateway. And the gateway is just a way for Bloomington to say welcome to town. You know, we're proud of who we are, we hope you have a good time here are saying goodbye. And it's kind of promotional, right for a city. This gateway has been in development, there's been a lot of public input, the Bloomington Arts Commission worked on it, the parks department has been intensively focused on it, we've had public sessions, but regardless how much you reach out, we got dozen scores, I think of feedback, regardless how much you do when somebody notices it, or hits the newspaper or TV show or some people go, Wait a minute, I didn't get to weigh in on it. So some people are trying to weigh in on we welcome that. But this has been long vetted, it's a it's funded, it's planned, and I'm excited about it. And I'm actually confident that when it's done, people will get used to it, love it, and actually take a lot of pictures by it, I think.
Speaker 1
So it's kind of right now up in the air as far as what happens next. I mean, they they did not allow for the public or the right away for construction to begin. So what I guess what happens now? Yeah, I
Speaker 2
think there was a tabling a postponement is too late and people express themselves. Okay. And I expect that to be resolved very shortly. We've already got a contract to build it. We've there's actually I think the the the actual gateway is under construction or done. Now the physical piece that's going to stand there, those are all under contract. It's going to be great. We're looking forward to it. Everybody take a deep breath. And I know some people view it as not, you know, what a beauty in the eye of the beholder, I guess that kind of thing. But I think it's really good for Bloomington to have a gateway presence like that. And we hope to do one or two more as well.
Speaker 1
I see an IU student hit recently on an E scooter and heard of at least one another student with the injuries as well. And I know that's something that we've talked about a lot on this on this show. And we head into a new school year that you really nice news is
Speaker 2
poignant. Yeah. You know, Joe, we get pedestrians, bicyclists, Scooter, riders, car drivers, we have accidents in the city, and every one of them's a concern. And we work really hard to make our city as safe as we can with protected bike lanes, and good sidewalks and good signage and good speed limits and all those things. And still, accidents can happen. I'm sure there'll be litigation about this, I reviewed the footage, it was you know, really not responsible behavior. But the tragedy is what the tragedy is, I know we're working very closely with Indiana University to try to make sure people get good messaging about how to be safe on these scooters or on bicycles or walking to we're we're continuing to review that we want everybody to be able to get around Bloomington in all the different ways you do and do it safely.
Speaker 1
And I know it's been haven't been a month yet since the students have gotten back and some of these East scooters have have returned any early indication that some of those new implementation rules that have gone into effect are helping.
Speaker 2
We think we think things are continuing to improve Joe's you know, there's been a kind of a process of learning as we go, this is a new way to move. We've got corrals downtown, that are parking crowds of 60 or 70 of those that are trying to remove the clutter, keep our sidewalks available for everybody to use. We have new agreements with more electric bikes sit down bikes compared to scooters to see if those are going to be a better mix. But mainly it's just everybody be responsible when you do it. And be careful when you're driving through town. I mean, it's there. They're young kids there other college people there. There's a lot of people around and just be careful. It's a busy place.
Speaker 1
So you were pointed to members of the CIB that will move forward with the expansion of the convention center. What what what was your strategy there?
Speaker 2
Well, you know, Joe, we've been talking about the convention center a lot a long time. The Capital Improvement Board is now in formation. There's I think one more seat that gets filled by the current members. I wanted to get to excellent members. I'm very proud mccrane ISON and Adam Teece, I think are excellent. members of that group. I'm hopeful that we still we still have some things to work out in an inter local agreement between the city and the county to make sure that CIB that board can work effectively and we're negotiating that I've always wanted an expanded convention center. I want to make sure it's high quality, really an excellent addition to downtown and I think we're close to being able to make make that happen. There's a little more little more work to be done, but we Appreciate all the people who work on those kinds of boards.
Speaker 1
So you talked about the interlocal agreement is that where this process is right now. So that's something you, the city is working with the county and coming up with some, some type of strategy for that new CIB to work with
Speaker 2
exactly my goal. And I think a lot of us want to be sure that when we create this new effort to build a convention center, that it's not too hampered by too many cooks in the kitchen or too many people kind of saying no, or Yes, or maybe along the way that they can actually do their job, right, create a great product, it's going to take a lot of hard work. It's complicated. costs are higher now than they were five years ago when we were talking about it. So that's what I'm focused on and trying to make sure we can set them up for success.
Speaker 1
Let's head to another big story I had been working on a lot. Of course, with the annexation, I what I feel is a very interesting strategy where the city wants to dismiss a much larger lawsuit to allow for a more recent lawsuit to be heard about sections one A and one B, which had enough valid petitions to not be excluded from the annexation, but to have a court hearing, what's the strategy behind that?
Speaker 2
Well, Joe, it's a complicated picture. It's a little frustrating, as you know, for all of us who've been working so hard to right size the city and just reflect the growth that's happened around us. And we've had the state illegally intervene in it back in 2017. And we think they illegally intervened again in 2019. So we've it's been been struggling to get through the normal process. So we have two lawsuits going and because of the way they proceeded, we ultimately have to say what's most important for the city. And I think fundamentally, that West Side annexation, which is where one A and one br They're the largest areas, they're the most populated. They're also the areas where the city and growth is happening the most, those are the most important with this strategy where we drop a piece of the constitutional litigation and say, let's just go to trial on one A and one B, we're confident that the court will say yes, it makes sense to annex so so we did have to make a choice, either we're going to wait three or four more years for litigation because of what the state did in 2019. Or we can split that apart. Let's just go to trial on the west side. Let that other thing work its way through. So that's what we decided to do not not easy, I will say but but just kind of trying to think about what's most important for the city that felt like the right thing to do.
Speaker 1
I think the Bloomington City Council rejected a draft piece of legislation widely seen as an effort to prevent homeless individuals from camping on sidewalks, streets, roads, public works passed the ordinance. Park commissioners passed something for the parks but I but City Council has to also approve it to take effect. So is this something that an ordinance that that you're behind or you think that is needed? Or is this something that is hurting those experiencing homelessness?
Speaker 2
We work every day Joe to try to help make everybody have a great opportunity in the city. There are definitely people who are experiencing difficulty here, whether it's from housing costs, or very dramatically, we see overdoses up over 150% and fatalities in this in this community. We see mental health issues. So there's a lot of things we're all working on together. I think we should do more on those things to public health. I think we need more investment in that. But the the cleanup or is almost an ordinance to clean up what was a legal issue. It turned out that in the Bloomington code, if somebody just blocked a sidewalk, put up a table, or set put up, erected a bench and said I'm going to sit and block the sidewalk. Under current code. We the Police tell us we're not allowed to remove it unless we had more clarity. Now, this has not been a rash of these issues. And I think that's one thing the city council said, Well, how often is this happening? Not a lot. We were trying to be ready in case but I think it can be handled on a case by case basis with a court order. It could cause some delays in dealing with some things but look, no, nobody, nobody is trying to do here. I think in our community, anything other than trying to help make sure our public rights of way are available for people to use whether you are in a wheelchair or a stroller or a bike, you know, make sure that's available pedestrians, but also make sure that all of our residents can have a humane way to live in our community. So it's complicated, but the council made that decision. I think we can move on and if it becomes an issue, it could come back or maybe it won't be an issue in the future.
Speaker 1
I know we're just about out of time but I would like to leave the last minute to you any big announcements or things you'd like to let us know Joe I so appreciate
Speaker 2
you doing these. He's the session Just keep checking up. I don't have any big announcements. I would just say it's that time of year in Bloomington when things pick up in energy level and speed and, and density as more people around. So I do think it's a good reminder, this is one of the things that energizes Bloomington the most it's a great time to beautiful weather. But it also means try to be careful, try to be helpful with your neighbors, you got new neighbors, 1000s of them in our community, people who don't know our streets as well as some of us do. So try to be patient, careful and enjoy the fall weather.
Speaker 1
Thanks so much and hope to see you next month October. See you then Joe. Thanks a lot. Thank you
