Tag Archives: Core neighborhoods

Hamilton and his planners propose to take another shot at densification this year

The winner of the 2023 Democratic Primary, and the runner-up, both publicly opposed further densification of the core. Tweaking the UDO, again, to push his poorly rationalized agenda to defy the Comprehensive Plan and densify Bloomington’s neighborhoods should not be the prerogative of a lame duck mayor whose handpicked successor came in a weak third.

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.

The BEDC “Economic Vitality Project” Needs to Hear from You

By Peter Dorfman The Bloomington Economic Development Corporation is launching an initiative to involve citizens in the formulation of ways to promote “economic vitality” in the region. “The Economic Vitality Project (EVP) convenes partners across sectors to prioritize and collaboratively address shared economic development challenges,” the BEDC website declares. They’ve created a survey to inviteContinue reading “The BEDC “Economic Vitality Project” Needs to Hear from You”

Where Do We Put the New Catalent Workers? It’s a Trick Question

It’s tempting to point out that proposing tax abatements worth more than $29 million for a large corporation and then immediately turning around and hitting the rest of us poor suckers up for another local income tax hike (all of this immediately on the heels of the Mayor’s unpopular and still-very-iffy annexation of the suburbs) is a very bad look.

Matt Flaherty Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

By Peter Dorfman A couple of weeks on from the disheartening finish of the City Council debate on upzoning, with annexation hanging in the cicada-thick atmosphere over the suburbs, Bloomingtonians are waiting for the next shoe to drop. Our local NPR affiliate, WFIU, organized a May 27 Noon Edition panel discussion, hoping for fresh perspectivesContinue reading “Matt Flaherty Says the Quiet Part Out Loud”

League of Women Voters Urges the City to Slow Its Roll on Upzoning

At the end of 2020, the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County wrote to Mayor John Hamilton, the Common Council, and the Plan Commission urging a slower, more transparent, thoughtful, and considered process in evaluating the proposal of plexes in core neighborhoods. Ann Birch, president of the League, called on the administration to involveContinue reading “League of Women Voters Urges the City to Slow Its Roll on Upzoning”

Put the Brakes on the Latest Round of Misguided Modernizing

By Lori Hoevener I’ve spent many hours, during these months of the pandemic, walking in Bloomington’s lovely old core neighborhoods near where I reside. I’ve always felt immensely lucky that our small city still has that increasingly rare connection with the past that makes present-day Bloomington such an attractive place to live.  The term “core neighborhood”Continue reading “Put the Brakes on the Latest Round of Misguided Modernizing”

Two Houses: A Thanksgiving Reflection

By Jean Simonian I like houses.  I like everything about planning, building, styling and living in houses.  Pre-COVID, when life seemed normal, I liked going to Open Houses – just to look.  I used to spend hours as a child building entire neighborhoods out of Legos.  I grew up in a house.  My parents, likeContinue reading “Two Houses: A Thanksgiving Reflection”

Liberalism and real estate reality: The long view

I am an older person. This means I learned about climate change 50 years ago. Since then we have had the Vietnam War, Nixon and Watergate, Carter (who took fuel conservation seriously), Reagan (who did not), Bush the Elder, and Clinton, who worried out loud about the climate before his Vice President Al Gore lostContinue reading “Liberalism and real estate reality: The long view”