A new study is shaping the future of west side transportation, the police department's response to an armed wanted man this past week and $34 million authorization for Switchyard Park.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: I think the thing everyone is talking about is road construction. The big issue is four main construction projects on the south side. There's talk of getting the bridge on Country Club Drive expedited? What's the latest efforts to help reduce traffic?
Hamilton: We work very closely with the county, with the school system, with the transit system... we really looked at the bridge project and the Grimes Lane project which is needed for sewer fix. Both of those projects we're going to put significant extra money to speed them up. The Grimes Lane project is going to do six, ten hour day construction and the Country Club bridge project we're also putting incentives in for the contractor to get it done quicker.
Hren: Metropolitan Planning Organization is conducting a study being done on traffic on the west side, are there plans for more?
Hamilton: Those studies get federal money, we match it some and those are long term studies to took at transit route optimization studies, to look at how living patterns change and commuting patterns as well as long term growth patterns. Those are looking ten or twenty years for the infrastructure we need.
Hren: We heard about the city's CIRT team – critical incident response team – for a wanted armed man this past week. So these incidents do pop up where an armored vehicle could be used?
Hamilton: I actually went out to that site and wanted to see how that team was deployed. This was a bad guy who tore down the street and wrecked police cars, he was armed, he could have done more damage. He shot himself after his car was disabled. But that's the kind of situation, that does happen and having the capacity to deal with it is really important.
I do think in this circumstance that vehicle would have been quite helpful.
I do think in this circumstance that vehicle would have been quite helpful. If the CIRT team have had that vehicle, it would have gone through the protocols to be deployed, that probably would have pulled up to that house and would have blocked him from leaving. Since the CIRT team didn't have the vehicle, they had to approach this house by foot from lots of different directions because they didn't have any protection.
Hren: Last Friday a presentation on the IU Health Bloomington Hospital reuse was made public. Plenty of housing and ideas for commercial and arts spaces, but it will really fall in the hands of a private developer now, correct?
Hamilton: We never expected the city to buy the land and hold it. What we wanted is for the city to buy this land and design the future of our community. I suspect the majority if not all of it will go back into private hands. The panel that looked at it loved the connectivity to the B-Line, they wanted to re-grid the streets a little bit because that's a huge mega-block right now. And a lot of housing saying this is a big opportunity to create affordable housing for people with very low income and to create starter homes for people who want to live in town.
