upzoning – Page 2 – The Dissident Democrat

We Endorse: Andy Ruff (City Council At Large)

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

We Endorse: Sue Sgambelluri (City Council District 2)

For the District 2 City Council seat, we endorse Sue Sgambelluri for re-election.

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.

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”

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.

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.

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.

The Penny Drops: Evidence for Upzoning Benefits is Full of Holes

By Peter Dorfman Ever since the beginning of the upzoning controversy in Bloomington, ideologues in the community and on the City Council have touted published research that purports to show eliminating single family zoning brings down housing costs. So-called “Supply Advocates” argue that allowing developers to densify core neighborhoods will eventually create enough new apartmentsContinue reading “The Penny Drops: Evidence for Upzoning Benefits is Full of Holes”