Members of Bloomington City Council hear testimony from members of the public on a possible conversion of Old State Road 37. (Lucas González, WFIU/WTIU News)
Correction: A previous version of this article stated Greg Alexander was the only attendee to speak in support of Hamilton's plan Wednesday. One other person spoke favorably of the plan over Zoom.
Members of the public opposed to a potential restriction of driver access to part of Old State Road 37 that goes through Lower Cascades Park appeared before the Bloomington City Council to express their opinions.
The council chambers were packed late Wednesday with people who came to hear a city staff report on Mayor John Hamilton’s plan to convert a half-mile stretch of the road to a biker-pedestrian trail.
Planning and Transportation Director Scott Robinson presented four options for the council to consider: convert the road to a trail; keep the road as it is; make it part one-way for drivers and part multi-purpose trail; or build a new, separated path.
Hamilton wants to partially convert a 0.6-mile stretch of the road between Clubhouse Drive and North College Avenue at Miller-Showers Park. It’s part of his administration’s goal to establish a multipurpose path connecting the city’s major parks. That goal is laid out in the city’s Transportation Plan adopted by the council in 2019.
Council member Stephen Volan said one of the Transportation Plan’s tenets is that there should be a safe route to Bloomington North High School — especially for children not of driving age.
“This debate has come down to which population we prefer to favor because it seems like we can't accommodate both,” Volan said. “Either that, or we can't do it within the constraints of the dollars that we have available to us.”
The Transportation Plan does not, however, say how multimodal access to various parks should be accomplished. That was a point made by council member Ron Smith.
“It’s not really in the Transportation Plan to close, specifically, Lower Cascades,” Smith said. “There’s nothing in the plan that says the road shall be closed.”
Many opponents to Hamilton’s plan expressed support for building a separated multipurpose path. The city estimates that option would cost about $3 million. It says a road conversion would cost significantly less, though it has not given a cost estimate.
The council meeting came four days after a rally organized by residents who oppose Hamilton’s plan. Several of the points made Wednesday were the same as those expressed then.
Some described the idea for a road conversion as ageist and ableist. Those who frequent the road say it’s their primary access point to the park and main way of navigating through the city during major sporting events.
Bonnie Maxwell said Old State Road 37 is the only feasible way many residents get to their homes on game days. She says people often drive on the part of the road underneath the Interstate 69 bypass to get home.
“It’s the only road you have going north from the city,” Maxwell said. “You block off that (road), we have no way to get home easily.”
Others fear Hamilton’s plan would impede first responders’ ability to quickly get to emergencies on the city’s north side.
David Canfield lives in that area with his wife, who organized the Saturday rally. He said it often takes first responders longer to respond to emergencies in that area already — and making part of the road inaccessible to drivers would exacerbate that issue.
“On game days or graduations (…) emergency services will take considerably more time — when precious seconds count — to get ambulances to anyone who has suffered a heart attack or stroke; a choking child; a home that’s on fire; or any other emergency where time is of essence,” Canfield said.
Canfield also suggested the possibility of a lawsuit if Hamilton’s plan moves forward.
“It’s only a matter of time that someone is going to become seriously ill,” he said. “I’m sure there are many lawyers in town that would salivate at the opportunity to bring a case of a plaintiff against the City of Bloomington — which has pretty deep pockets — to collect a large sum of money from a wrongful death that was caused by the delay in the time of getting an emergency vehicle to us.”
Some are also concerned about possible homeless encampments at Lower Cascades, saying they don’t feel safe at other city parks.
Joe Davis, who had been collecting signatures to run as an independent candidate for mayor, touched on that point. Like others, he said he prefers a separated path.
“Let’s spend the $3 million; I mean, everybody gets what they want,” Davis said. “It wasn’t all that long ago that it was before the city council to allow permanent camping in our public parks. Fortunately, that didn’t pass; but as a default, whether unintended or not, we did have a taking of our public parks.”
Certain attendees took a different approach, instead appealing to emotion.
Bloomington resident Al Carpenter, known locally for his involvement with the Indiana Hoosier football team, has cerebral palsy and travels using a motorized wheelchair. He pleaded with the council to reject Hamilton’s plan.
“We’ve had enough things taken away and history vanish because we didn’t look ahead,” Carpenter said. “A lot of people, such as myself, remember that road. I played in that park when I was 10 years old. It means something to me. It means something to everyone in this room, that tradition and history. We can’t let things like this go away, because if you don’t remember your roots, you lose a lot of things.”
Opponents also feel like Hamilton’s plan ignores the results of a community survey and recommendation from city staff to keep the road fully open to drivers. Both were connected to a 15-month pilot study to examine the effects of restricting driver access to the stretch of road Hamilton wants to convert.
Only one attendee in council chambers spoke in support of Hamilton’s plan: Greg Alexander, a member of the city’s traffic commission. He was also one of three people to speak favorably of that option Saturday. Alexander also made a personal appeal to the council.
“The opposition and I agree on one thing: nothing is as important as your childhood,” Alexander said. “The pilot was fantastic for my children. It opened the park to them. The park was more beautiful, more peaceful, more natural. All you heard were birds, cicadas and the creek.
Alexander continued, “I want to give something better to my children. They need this route and the connections that come next. If not now, when?”
One other person — Jeremy Herhusky-Schneider — spoke favorably of Hamilton's plan, but over Zoom. He said he attended Bloomington North High School and wishes the road had been accessible for him then.
"That would have been great as someone who did walk around and couldn't have a car at all times," he said. "When you do have an opportunity like this, I think you really should take it."
To date, Hamilton has not submitted a formal proposal to the council. When asked by the council whether it should expect one, city staff did not give a definitive yes or no.
Hamilton or the council itself may get the wheels turning on a vote; Hamilton by submitting a proposal, or a council member by sponsoring an ordinance or resolution.
Either way, draft legislation proposed either by Hamilton or by a council member would have to be introduced in a first reading at a later meeting.
Mayor's Memo.lower Casc... by Indiana Public Media News
