Confusion over the vision of the city's tech park - the Trades District, I-69 construction delays, the difficult nature of regulating homeless people and vagrants in public space and recognizing Star Trek's Captain Kathryn Janeway in Bloomington.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, 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.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: From what I've been reading in the Herald-Times, it seems like there's confusion over the vision of Tech Park or the Trades District among city leaders, where do you feel the area is headed?
Hamilton: I decided a few months ago after a lot of discussion and interviews, not to spend a bunch of money to straighten 10th Street, but we're still making decisions on the street layout and getting engineers to make sure we can do what we want to do. It's a natural process, there's a lot of different viewpoints, you can't build a building by committee, you can't design everything by committee, but we're at a place I think we're going to be seeing some very exciting opportunities ahead.
Hren: So what comes first, that infrastructure and planning city blocks or the developer who may want a larger space to build on?
Hamilton: When the city bought the land, we created the opportunity to try and build a dynamic job focused new center in the community. So we have to be thinking, I have to be thinking, ten, twenty, thirty, forty years down the road, what do we do know to try and maximize the value for the community as a whole. So you have to make sure you have the water, the digital and the street infrastructure that's there that will work for decades to come.
Hren: Tech firms are creating a network Neighborhood Digital Alliance to help communicate with the city their needs, the article I read said Bloomington may not have enough space to do with what they need, is that an issue?
Hamilton: Well, the city bought 12 acres. I've said from the beginning, that needs to focus on jobs, not housing, we'll have some housing. The balance of open space versus productive or office space jobs if you will is important. I think we'll get that right. We're trying to create a neighborhood that will have the dynamic walkability, exciting urban feel today and 20 and 30 years from now.
Hren: You had a press conference last week regarding the issue of homeless people or vagrants downtown not creating a welcoming atmosphere. But homeless people and vagrants are very different and hard to address?
Hamilton: It's a complicated issue and sensitive for me. I was president of the Shalom board that works on issues like this. I've been committed to social justice. So you have to be really careful when you talk about this. Bloomington is a caring place, but as mayor, I get a lot of feedback on concerns of where the downtown is. Safety issues, perceptions of safety issues. I know some of my social service friends say they've seen much more activity this summer than even last summer in terms of people here in the community that don't have resources or on our streets more.
What I wanted to do last week, announce steps beginning needing to address this. We may not have tranquil public places, but we need to be safe. So we're going to try some different things. But remember, public parks are for the public. Anyone is welcome to be in a public park. Behaviors have to follow certain norms. And if illegal actions occur, we're going to take action.
Hren: I-69 is back in the news again about late or non-payments... you held a forum this last Friday, what is going on?
Hamilton: That was frustrating. I've driven back and forth like many people and it's taken too long, it's behind schedule. When the state does a big project like this, it has to be efficient. And when you're going to do a public private partnership, you're doing that to be efficient. Well, everybody that's driven through there know there were a lot of periods where they were not working on the road. And transparency, you've got to let us know what's going on. So we'll have another meeting in 60 days because they're behind schedule on their new schedule.
