UDO – The Dissident Democrat

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.

We Endorse: Susan Sandberg (Mayor)

For mayor of Bloomington, we endorse At Large City Council Member Susan Sandberg.

We Endorse: Lois Sabo-Skelton and Isak Nti Asare (City Council At Large)

For City Council At Large, alongside Andy Ruff, we endorse Lois Sabo-Skelton and Isak Nti Asare.

We Endorse: Ron Smith (City Council District 3)

For the District 3 City Council seat, we endorse Ron Smith for re-election.

We Endorse: Joe Lee (City Council District 1)

For the District 1 City Council seat, we endorse the challenger, Joe Lee.

We Endorse: Andy Ruff (City Council At Large)

For one of the three City Council At Large seats, we endorse Andy Ruff.

Okay, if you insist: We’re a PAC

On February 28, I took a walk down to Election Central to turn in a CFA-2 form, officially registering Bloomington Dissident Democrats as an Indiana Political Action Committee. Silly but true.

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”

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.

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.