City Politics – The Dissident Democrat

2023 has arrived. This is your moment.

The 2023 election should be about reality. But more often in Bloomington, elections are about idealistic aspirations.

Bad Cop, Good Cop

By Peter Dorfman Idon’t have facts to prove this objectively, but this is how I believe Bloomington will be run in 2023: As a bad-cop-good-cop, tag team cage match. “You know, he may get his way, if he’s a big enough bully to push people around and force the override not to work.” City CouncilContinue reading “Bad Cop, Good Cop”

On Don Griffin’s Candidacy for Mayor of Bloomington

By Peter Dorfman Access to the halls of power in the US remain stubbornly restricted for people of color — the brief, exceptional interlude of Barack Obama’s Presidency notwithstanding. But there has long been an exception to this pattern, at the level of municipal government. Black, Latinx and Asian-American mayors have served, often with greatContinue reading “On Don Griffin’s Candidacy for Mayor of Bloomington”

Hawthorne greenway: A new occasion to oppose Bloomington’s autocratic planning

The proposed greenway on Hawthorne and Weatherstone is basically about bicycle infrastructure — not pedestrian safety. It’s a component of a program to re-engineer neighborhoods to be more welcoming to bike traffic, and it seeks to impose that re-engineering, in top-down fashion, on residents of the affected streets whether they want it or not.

Does Opposition to Bloomington’s Upzoning Reflect Other Positions?

By Peter Dorfman The upzoning of Bloomington is going to be a high-profile issue in the citywide election campaigns for Mayor and Council in 2023. Opposition to the city’s revision of its Unified Development Ordinance to open single-family-zoned neighborhoods to duplex development was widespread and sparked a lot of anti-incumbent sentiment. But is there moreContinue reading “Does Opposition to Bloomington’s Upzoning Reflect Other Positions?”