Bloomington Democratic mayoral candidates John Hamilton, John Linnemeier and Darryl Neher will appear in a broadcast debate Thursday, April 23 at 8 p.m. Learn more about the debate here.
We asked each of the Democratic candidates five questions about community issues. Responses have been edited for style only.
1. What is Bloomington's greatest economic need, and how would you meet it?
We must work to create an environment conducive to strong economic development for everyone. Over the past 12 years, the city has built up a strong sense of place. As mayor, I will continue to cultivate our community's wonderful quality of life by investing in our parks, bike/pedestrian infrastructure, sustainable energy infrastructure, arts and social services. These amenities are attractive both to Bloomington residents and potential employers.
We must also pursue a sustainable economy committed to local businesses, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship that attracts and retains the young professionals who are our next generation of business, community and neighborhood leaders. The mayor serves as an ambassador for Bloomington to attract businesses that are good community partners, fit with our values and pay living wages. The execution of the Certified Tech Park is important, and cultivating employers who offer our citizens living wage jobs will be our biggest challenge.
2. The debate over what to do with Bloomington's deer population has been going on for several years and the plan at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve did not come to fruition. How would you handle this issue moving forward?
I support only the use of non-lethal measures within the urban environment of Bloomington. Specifically, the Deer Task Force Report proposed non-lethal approaches (including fence height, feeding ban, etc.) that should be considered by City Council. Additionally, Ball State researchers are collecting data concerning urban deer migration that will help guide future policy decisions - which could include working with the Humane Society of the United States on a non-lethal deer management plan.
After thoroughly researching approaches to managing deer population growth and reviewing the research and arguments of advocates supporting and opposing a deer cull, I supported a lethal strategy for Griffy. However, I will base future actions on available data. The cancellation is one data point, as is the subsequent research on plant regeneration research within Griffy. This information will provide guidance on how to move forward with the Griffy policy to preserve this critical local ecosystem.
3. What, if anything, needs to be changed about parking in downtown?
The current use of meters has increased turnover, reduced vehicle warehousing on the street and increased the overall use of our parking garages – all desired outcomes from the policy. But we know parking pressures in our downtown will continue due to surface lots being developed, increased economic activity and the uncertainty of how Indiana University may decide to manage its own lots.
These pressures require that we regularly re-evaluate our parking policy. Council member Volan and I recently introduced legislation that changed our hours of parking from 9am to 9pm and added three-free hours to the Morton Street garage.
As we move forward with our Growth Policies Plan and zoning code updates, we must carefully review our comprehensive parking policy -- including neighborhood zones, possible structured parking in projects with increased density and meters.
4. What do you want Bloomington's downtown to look like 10 years from now? How do you make that happen?
Downtown should keep its unique character, with added economic vitality, sustainable design and a multi-generational and more affordable housing mix. These goals are achieved by:
- Strengthening our Growth Policies Plan and zoning ordinances to establish stronger standards of design, green building and strict height standards for our downtown square and Kirkwood corridor.
- Developing clear expectations for affordable, low-income, workforce and multi-generational housing options. We must consider ways to use the tools we currently have available to incentivize affordable housing: tax abatements, non-financial incentives and possible use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars. The combination of incentives encourages the development and/or inclusion of affordable housing units from developers in exchange through financial incentives, city investment in infrastructure and possible tradeoffs such as increased density, modified use restrictions, changes to parking requirements and expedited permitting.
5. How would you balance the needs of Bloomington's homeless population while not allowing the city to become overwhelmed by people who come here seeking services?
We are a regional economic center, a regional arts center and a regional social services center. This will not change, regardless of the policies we pursue. As mayor, I would commit to executing the South Central Housing Network's "Heading Home" plan - a collaboration with the City of Bloomington, the Community Foundation, the South Central Housing Network (SCHN) and other social service agencies.
Specifically, the plan makes sense to reconvene the original partners who collaborated on the report and "Heading Home" plan to develop a clear strategy for gaining broad community support. No one person or organization has the answer to homelessness, which is why my foremost priority is to use my position as mayor to bring together key stakeholders so we can find a shared solution to a shared problem. It's critical we develop broad community buy-in and move forward toward a collaborative solution.
Click here to read our Q&A with John Linnemeier. Our Q&A with John Hamilton will be published Wednesday.
