By Peter Dorfman Iam cautiously optimistic that the administration that takes over Bloomington’s city government in January will at least tap the brakes on its predecessor’s lust for growth. Incoming Mayor Kerry Thomson has repeatedly taken the position that we can have a better city without necessarily making it bigger. Until further notice, I’m takingContinue reading “Another Voice of Sanity: More Housing ≠ Cheaper Housing”
Category Archives: Housing Politics
It’s On.
We’ll be hearing a lot about Sandberg’s bona fides as the election season gets underway. What matters today is that John Hamilton has a serious, committed primary challenger with a team and an infrastructure forming to conduct a credible campaign. Perhaps now that the ball is officially rolling, candidates with similar objectives will feel comfortable jumping into the races for City Council seats — especially those held by the ideologues who imposed the upzoning on the city.
The Mayor’s Denial
One can accept the administration’s denial that this proposal aims to fund plex development, but remain wary about the mayor’s dancing around what the missing housing type language really means. To those of us who have heard Hamilton use this phrase again and again over the last three years, it has one clear connotation, and it’s not co-ops.
Should Bloomington Be Using Your Money to Pay for Its Annexation Lawsuits?
If you object to the annexation in the first place, you should object to the allocation of funds for litigation to enforce it.
What Was the Rush?
As expected, Scanlan told the City Council that since duplex development was authorized (through an ordinance signed by Hamilton in August), no one has applied to build a duplex in a formerly single family neighborhood.
Remonstration Campaign Leader: “Can You Hear Us?”
In eight out of nine of the originally proposed annexation areas, we are confident that the annexation will be voided or has already been cancelled due to overwhelming public opposition because we have worked to secure more than the 65% of the necessary signatures to void annexation. We are still kindling hopes that the largest annexation area, 1B, will also be voided. We were encouraged that in many of the areas, 80% or more of the property owners signed petitions.
Must Bloomington Grow?
It’s too late to avoid the eventual responsibility of maintaining the new parks, bike infrastructure and other amenities Bloomington has created over the last decade. But we can consider alternative strategies for managing the city’s assets and future liabilities. We can stop blindly accepting that urban growth is an inherent good.
Bloomington’s Annexation: The Suburbs Don’t Need Rescuing
By Thomas A. Schwandt, Ph.D. Two significant flaws characterize efforts of the Office of the Mayor of Bloomington to promote the annexation of the city’s suburbs: The absence of legitimate arguments for the annexation of specific subareas within a given proposed larger annexation area, and the use of hyperbolic characterizations of alleged benefits of theContinue reading “Bloomington’s Annexation: The Suburbs Don’t Need Rescuing”
It’s Not Partisan
By Peter Dorfman This blog came into existence as a protest against the Hamilton Administration, aided and abetted by a thin (and, I hope, temporary) majority on the City Council, buying into a fad theory about housing density and foisting it on a town that widely rejects it. It became “The Dissident Democrat” because itsContinue reading “It’s Not Partisan”
Homewashing
By Peter Dorfman I learned a new word the other day: “Workwashing.” According to Stowe Boyd, who I consider one of America’s most astute observers of trends in the workplace and the economy, workwashing is a verb meaning: “Providing a plausible and positive cover story by a business or industry to conceal the actual reasoningContinue reading “Homewashing”
The Dissident Democrat 