Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren this week. It's Bloomington. Mayor Kerry Thomson at City Hall. Hello and welcome to the show. Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 2
Thanks for being here again, Joe.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I was at the State of the City address, packed house there at the John Waldron Arts Center. First time we've been there in a while.
Speaker 2
It was great, really well. It went really well. You know, we just had so much to update the city on. Our team has really been busy for the last year, achieving some incredible things. And what I really loved was that the reception space and time to really be with people after the state of the city was warm and welcoming.
Speaker 1
You mentioned the smashed Windows downtown at that point? Have we heard anything more on that?
Speaker 2
No, there's an ongoing investigation. And you know anyone who knows anything about it, we would love to hear. But I continue to try to encourage people, if you have a problem, come talk about your problem, and let's let's solve it productively, and let's all commit to using our creative energy for the good of our community.
Speaker 1
You did mention moving the police department to the former I think it's a convalescent home there on Roger Street. What's the next step in that process?
Speaker 2
So we are, we're doing some due diligence right now, so we'll, we'll ask the RDC for just some base funding to do some studies there. We need, I mean, very basic things, the real measurements of the layout, scoping the project, what is this going to look like? And then as things check out, we'll get into design work and other feasibility pieces.
Speaker 1
Speaking of RDC, I think they had a meeting last night, following up on the Dora hospitality Convention Center hotel. I didn't get a gist of that whole meeting, but it sounds like things are moving forward slowly with Dora. They're looking at investing some money into finding out if that's the best spot for a hotel, and we're talking about that North spot would be kind of catty corner to the expansion.
Speaker 2
Dora has been, you know, again, doing their due diligence. This is really a significant investment for our community. It'll be a fairly upscale hotel going in, you know, with the convention center on in a really key spot, and at a time when we're using more and more hotel rooms. So so we're excited about the prospects and working hand in hand with Dora as they move through that process. Of course, this is not a city hotel. The only reason that the city is involved in any way with the hotel is because the property that was recommended by the CIB was that parcel on the north side there which the city, of course, owns the RDC does,
Speaker 1
and I could see door wanting to make sure the they can build on that right. Now, a lot of it is a parking lot they may need to go excavate deep into that area, and it's a little higher ground there, so there's probably a lot of kind of pre work they want to be sure that's right. They're investing into the right spot.
Speaker 2
That's right and and really, in terms of planning trends and hotel trends. You know, underground parking tends to be pretty popular now, underground parking in Bloomington can be very expensive with the amount of bedrock we have here, and so I'm sure that's going to be part of their due diligence, too. Parking on the whole for the convention center is still a need.
Speaker 1
you know, it's neat walking around, I see the boutique hotel going up at the former bank on Kirkwood. They're they're enveloping what was there. So that'll be an interesting addition to Kirkwood. And not far from the expansion project. Been a lot of talk about a boutique hotel just across the street here, but I haven't seen anything new on that in the trades district.
Speaker 2
That is progressing. And so you will see upcoming on council agenda. I'm not sure when, proposal for an alley vacation. And so again, John Fernandez is directing the trades district developments, and they've been working really hard, we're really excited about that hotel and also very needed targeted a different population. So we really anticipate that while we'll have some football goers, et cetera, in that hotel, it's really targeted towards the businesses that are going to be partnering there at at it, at the trades district, in the forge, in The Mill in particular.
Speaker 1
Have to talk a little bit about Senate Bill One, the governor signed $300 relief from property taxes for most Indiana residents, but schools are left millions to make up. How does this affect cities?
Speaker 2
Well, cities are being hit very hard, cities and counties alike, and it's a real concern for our community as it is for every community in Indiana. And so tomorrow, in fact, we have press availability together with our colleagues at the county we will have an assistant superintendent from the school system, as well as some business leaders here to talk about the impacts of SB one on our community cumulatively. The long and short of it, though, is that it's been sold as a bill to really alleviate taxes for especially for homeowners that anticipated tax savings that that has been quoted by the State House is about $250 per homeowner. Unfortunately, what that's going to mean in the in the redirection is, if we can't provide basic services in the city and county will have to make it up with local income tax and so on the ground, what this is going to mean is probably everybody is going to end up paying more taxes. This just a week after our county taxes came into our mailboxes, and many people already are really feeling the pinch around taxes. So I'm disappointed in the in SB one that's a vast understatement, where municipalities may be able to make some of this up and continue to provide some level of service that our residents are accustomed to our public schools don't have a mechanism to do that, and so I think you're going to hear at the school board tonight real reality check for what they're looking at as a result of SB one. And I just want to point out to our community that these impacts, impacts that directly hit our public school system that impact people's ability to to really prosper, because they're they're being so significantly taxed. This is a, this is an economic development challenge, and one of my goals is really to decrease the wage disparity that we have here and make Bloomington in particular, a place where everyone can economically prosper, but attracting new people here, if our public schools are tremendously underfunded, if our health care with the Medicaid cuts continue to be underfunded, that's going to be a hard sell, and so I want residents to know that it's really important to pay attention to bills like SB one, of course, has already passed. We are hearing that they're open to amending it next year. But it's, it's, it's quite concerning what's just happened.
Speaker 1
It's a continuing theme on this show. I mean, for years and years, when we talk about cutting taxes, there was a lot about the business, personal property tax cuts too. And Mayor, I remember Mayor Bennett in Terre Haute saying, If I don't care if you cut taxes, but where is it coming from? We need it from someplace else. Because it's not like he can just go in and just cut half of his budget, I mean, and I assume that's the true that's true everywhere.
Speaker 2
Yes, I mean, we we need clean drinking water and wastewater systems that work. We need roads to drive on, you know, you want those plowed et cetera, et cetera. And so we have to provide these basic city services, and I am all for an efficient government, but people should know this is this has bipartisan opposition from mayors and county commissioners. So it really these are serious cuts that are going to have tangible impacts where we live.
Speaker 1
Well, then you read the state has a projected more than $2 billion deficit the next couple of years. So could this get worse for cities and schools?
Speaker 2
My hope is that it won't. And you know, I will note that Indiana had had had too much money to deal with for several years, so we were living in excess, and it does seem appropriate that we would ask our legislators to just simply balance that budget. We don't need a deficit, and we don't need. Excess revenue, and so this, this ride that they're taking taxpayers on is it's jarring, and it's concerning.
Speaker 1
The city's fiber broadband project needed to relaunch. We reported on some of the problems, delays, damage to resident and public infrastructure, you mentioned violation of city codes and a press release that you sent out last week, I talked with Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon, the same issues there in Columbus, and this is not something just happening in Bloomington. So where is the city right now with that project?
Speaker 2
So we are so this can be very confusing to our residents, but Meridium is the is the organization that committed to getting all of this done. And then there are contractors that work for meridian. One of those contractors was responsible for putting in the infrastructure, of course, and so meridium is looking for the next long term contractor to finish that work. In the meantime, they have contracted with someone to do the repairs of sidewalks and other things that may have been damaged, but we're looking forward to getting the project done. We just want it done in a way that really respects our residents and the property.
Speaker 1
Part of our story is that we're talking about $8 million in fines. Is this something the city is going to be able to recoup from that subcontractor?
Speaker 2
to be determined? Of course, they that subcontractor is no longer in business, but it is, you know, this was not a short term challenge, and my administration was very serious about getting that contractor to really respect people's property and and To do well by our residents.
Speaker 1
And to be fair, from what I learned that that 8 million wasn't didn't happen in increments over a period of years. There was one big fine of more than 7 million so it was like the city was letting that those fines accumulate. Is that? Am I correct to say that? Yes, okay
Not sure if you've seen our story on the Malibu House in Bloomington, I have have you okay? So it's a for-profit, addiction, recovery, housing, we've been questioning the businesses, transparency. There's some criminal records, their housing standards. I was just curious your reaction to that story.
Speaker 2
My My reaction to the story is, of course, that I am grateful when local media can cover our very important local issues, and my administration has been checking into what we legally can do about in particular, the living conditions there, because That, that, of course, we have city rental code, and we are taking action to to enforce that rental code. It was, frankly, a little tricky, because recovery organizations are not covered under our definition of family. They're protected, and so we we had to have a reason to go in, but we have, we have found a way to get that those properties, hopefully into compliance very shortly here.
Speaker 1
And I don't want to take a lot of time today on that, because I know you're doing another interview, I believe, with the reporter. Yes, this week on that, but I felt like it was worth mentioning on this show to to get your reaction and just see what where you thought that was going.
Speaker 2
Yes, you know, housing has been my top priority, and that means and our residents have heard a lot from me about people who are experiencing homelessness. It is true that we don't want anybody to be experiencing homelessness, and when you're living in Unit, we also need that unit to be safe, habitable and healthy for you to live in, and when that is not the case, then we really have concerns, because, of course, an unhealthy living space can do long term damage.
Speaker 1
We have a question and email come in related to housing. And this email states, why isn't there affordable housing for older individuals downtown so to attract more working, retired adults in the downtown area, she says, we're interested in new neighborhoods that are safe, attractive for walkability and a mature crowd as empty nesters who live in a larger home, we look to downsize but not get a 7% plus Mortgage. Ideally, 2020 500 square feet. What's your reaction to that?
Speaker 2
Yes. Well, I think many people would love that and and in fact, those are the kinds of things that many of us Bloomingtonians would love. And importantly, many of the people who aren't able to live in Bloomington because of our cost of housing and the unavailability of it. And so as we look to do our UDO changes, it's a unified, unified development ordinance. I'm really interested in finding ways to incentivize the kind of housing where we have people who can live close to downtown, really a spectrum of people and and how we get those driven towards our the residents who are not here to go to university, because we've spent a lot of a lot of resources and invited a lot of new development for student housing, and I think we've satiated that now, and so I'm really looking for, how do we drive upcoming developments to the folks who are living here long term?
Speaker 1
How do you what's the strategy for an older retired people who want to live downtown?
Speaker 2
Well, there's, you know, there's, we have to do. We have to really balance things. And so, you know, we would love to move some folks out of large houses that they no longer need and enable them to live in more modest homes. I'd love to be one of those people as my kids start to move out as well, but we also have new, you know, young professionals that are just starting families that also would love to live downtown. So I think we need a mix. And of course, we have many people who need the truly affordable housing as well. So we're looking at the spectrum for how we how we provide the housing that that really serves Bloomington needs.
Speaker 1
Did I hear is the city looking at a DORA district? Is it switch yard, park, or thinking about it? We're
Speaker 2
thinking about it in a few different places, and so there's no tangible plan for it yet, but we think there are a few practical places that that might do well with Dora, and we just want to pick a winner first,
Speaker 1
which is a designated outdoor refreshment area. That's right, so you can move around. You have to have a special cup, and you can grab a beer and kind of move around to different areas.
Speaker 2
And so our our teams are looking at it and looking at what might be best for Bloomington to drive that kind of activity. You know, the activation of a district that that would bring
Speaker 1
Hopewell Commons opens Wednesday the city's newest Park, there's some temporary pickleball courts. I hear what right? Why are they temporary?
Speaker 2
They're temporary because they're on land that's slated to be housing eventually. And so I do want to tell the community, because we hear a lot about pickleball, but we also hear about other things. Those are temporary pickleball courts. They will be picked up and moved when we need that land back. So this is just a warning to our Pickleball lovers that we're happy to activate those we are looking at other places that we might, might put them in the future, even for little pop up pickleball courts, because they are a tile based system, so they can be moved. Isn't that cool? Yeah, it's but you know what I really love about having them there, and about having Hopewell Commons is the more activation we can do along the B line, the more interesting it becomes for people, and the more people are going to really be on the Beeline. And as humans, we're sort of incentivized to walk to the next interesting thing. And so love having those pickleball courts there. They're as fun for spectators, as they are for the people playing pickleball. And so come on down to Hopewell Commons. We are doing the official opening tomorrow afternoon. That's April 23 and all are welcome to help us celebrate our newest park.
Speaker 1
And this really kind of kicks off something a little bit bigger. And that's that entire neighborhood, that's right. So what's next?
Speaker 2
Well, next is, next is probably a tandem play of really next steps on this police station and the first housing coming in. So of course, we, we have the core building that's already. Being renovated. And then we'll, we'll start building some more units there.
Speaker 1
Well, I we're over time. Sorry about that, but I just want to leave the last thing to you, anything you'd like to announce? I hear, yes, Godzilla is coming to Bloomington.
Speaker 2
We're gonna have Godzilla day in Bloomington. We're all thrilled about that. And I just, I want to just make a note that with all of this rain that we've had, I am just so proud of our engineering teams and and planning teams at both here at the actual city and at CBU for all of this storm water mitigation that we've been doing, it really has had an impact, and we actually were able to send crews over to help in ellisville when they were flooding, because our storm water was so well managed here. And so for those who wonder why we're doing smaller storm water projects in neighborhoods, this is exactly why, because all of these small projects lead to well managed water.
Speaker 1
If you think about it, between Columbus and Ellettsville underwater, calling it a 10 year flood, if not longer, I don't think that Kirkwood was back up to through Nicks again? Nope.
Speaker 2
That's right, yeah. And so, yeah, I'll knock wood on that. But, but we do know that there's been major improvements. And you know, as we look at climate change and this, the water coming faster and intermittently as it does, mitigating that storm water is really critical.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. See you next time you.
