On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton talks about a recent meeting with the Governor Eric Holcomb and affordable housing Bloomington.
Listen to the full conversation with WFIU/WTIU Reporter J.D. Gray 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.
Hamilton met with the Gov. Eric Holcomb last week. Among the topics they discussed was the recent state takeover of I 69 construction.
Hamilton: I've been a voice in his ear, yelling or whispering at varying times to encourage the state to step in, and I'm glad they did, and I thank them for that. I told them I wish they did it a year earlier, but better late than never. He had the Commissioner of Transportation there, Joe McGuinness, and we talked. Joe's been down here one day a week in the office here for their efforts. I think they're taking it very seriously. I continue to just express on behalf of all of our residents and all the people that travel here: 'Get this thing done.'
You know, on the crisis of opioids and addiction, that's a complex issue. I expressed some of the facts on the ground in Bloomington that we see in terms of overdoses, in terms of impact on children, in terms of impact on our public safety officals and such. And then talked about how they can help us and work with us.
I asked him to, and he agreed, to send down the Commissioner of Corrections, the head of the Indiana Corrections Department, to meet with us to talk about about how people come out of prison and go into parole and how that affects Bloomington and whether we really plan for that well or not. I think we need to do better. I asked him to and he agreed to ask his Secretary of Family and Social Services Administration to meet with us to talk about the new clinic that's coming here and all the challenges that that's going to propose.
Gray: The state announced earlier this month that opioid treatment centers would be opening in more counties and that includes Monroe County. Do you think that will have an impact on the ongoing substance abuse issues here?
Hamilton: Well, it will have an impact. We're trying to figure out exactly how. That was - and the governor agreed- they did not handle that well because they didn't talk to us before that announcement. So that's not a good start, but we'll make up for that I hope. They will, and we will.
Having a methadone clinic or a clinic that provides medical treatment for addicts can be very helpful. It's got to be done right though. It's got to be done well. It's got to be coordinated with our providers, our systems, our capacities and the fact that it was announced without any of that discussion means we've got to take a breath, take a pause, and let's talk again from the beginning. 'OK, what are you trying to do with this, state? What's your goal?" So that's what I expect the meeting with state officials is going to be focused on.
Gray: Let's move now from the state to the city council, and we'll talk about something that you have said you are in favor of which is the accessory dwelling units. Could you tell me a little bit about why you're in favor of these and why you want to see this implemented?
Hamilton: Sure. I've spent a lot of time, energy and focus on affordable housing which is super important for our community. We've done some good things. We've got some projects underway. We've got the first ever senior housing that's going to accept Medicaid, which is really important. We've got some tax credit housing for low income people. We've got a Crawford Center being built and other things like that for disabled homeless.
And one of the things I've talked about and have been urging are tiny homes or accessory dwelling units, also known as 'granny flats' or 'in-law flats.'
And the council approved pocket neighborhoods, where we'll allow multiple dwellings be built that might share a common space and have smaller homes, could be tiny homes, and that's good- those pocket homes.
They balked at the accessory dwelling units. So the council and some other people are concerned about whether this might allow too many students or others to be in owner occupied space. I continue to believe strongly we have to keep trying this stuff. I'm going to keep advocating to the council that they allow 30 units to be tried around the city. 30 total. We have about 30,000 housing units so it's a very small percentage scattered around the city to see if this works.
