Documents

Speech about Downtown Issues

from "Celebrate Downtown" campaign reception at Jeanne Walters Real Estate
October 5, 2007

Good evening, and thank you all very much for being here. I want to especially thank our wonderful hostess, Jeanne Walters, for providing this fabulous space and delicious food. I really appreciate all the effort that she, as well as Mary Norman, put into this event. Thanks also go to our fabulous musical guest Curtis Cantwell Jackson.

Although I am running for City Council in District 5, the theme of tonight’s reception is Celebrate Downtown. Downtown Bloomington is the heart of our community, and it’s a neighborhood that we all share in common. Downtown is the home of the Farmers’ Market, the Lotus Festival, the 4^th Street Festival, the Arts Fair on the Square, and of course the GalleryWalks like the one taking place tonight. Downtown is the home of unique, locally-owned shops and restaurants, the public library, the courthouse and city hall, and the post office, which will hopefully stay downtown for many decades to come. The downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods is what makes Bloomington unique. No chain store at the mall is going to have a bathtub full of fish like the Runcible Spoon, and no fast food joint on the west side will feature locally grown organic produce prepared to perfection like Roots.  

But our downtown does face challenges. There is a perceived parking problem downtown which needs to be addressed. I think adding clear signs indicating where our parking garages are located could go a long way toward solving this dilemma. For some reason folks expect to be able to park right in front of the shop they want to go to when they drive downtown. You don’t expect this at the mall, so why should you expect it downtown? And certainly I would rather walk a few blocks in our interesting, pedestrian-friendly downtown than across the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I think a little education would solve many of the parking problems downtown.

We should also make it easier to bike and walk downtown from surrounding neighborhoods. I live on South Washington Street, and I would feel better about walking or biking downtown in the evenings if we just had a few more street lights. And a few more bike racks wouldn’t hurt either. Small improvements can go a long way toward making walking and biking more attractive.

Another issue facing downtown is poverty. This is, of course, a problem throughout Bloomington, but sometimes the contrast is greatest in our downtown. While new condos are built and sold for $400,000, and apartments are rented to 3 or 4 students for $1500 per month, we see the homeless gather at the Shalom Center in the hopes of using a computer for 10 minutes or getting a hot shower. The gap between the have’s and the have-not’s is growing larger everywhere in the country, including right here in Bloomington. One key to solving this problem is affordable housing. Housing prices in Bloomington are among the highest in the state, and many of our residents simply can’t afford to keep a roof over their heads. Even those working one or more jobs often can’t manage to pay the rent.

The city’s Housing and Neighborhood Development department has done a lot to help low-income residents afford housing, but we can do more. The city should enact more incentives for the development of affordable housing, and perhaps encourage developers to turn some of the older rental property into duplex homes that families can help refurbish and then purchase. Bloomington’s economic development incentives should be offered to employers only if they provide living wage jobs with benefits, thus enabling those who take those jobs to be self-sufficient. These are just a few ideas for addressing the income gap. The most important thing is to not ignore poverty issues and to keep seeking new ideas and new partnerships to help residents become self-sufficient.

On a positive note, there are great projects on the horizon for our downtown: The Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District will serve as a great tool to market the existing arts and cultural venues in the heart of Bloomington. The B-Line Trail will facilitate biking and walking to the downtown and serve as a recreational facility and public gathering place. Downtown Bloomington is thriving and will continue to do so. If elected, I will make preserving and enhancing our wonderful downtown a priority.

Thank you again for coming this evening. I wanted to end by reminding you that you don’t have to wait until November 6^th to vote. You can vote early starting October 9^th, and we have information about times and days in the front.

I’m Isabel Piedmont, and I ask for your vote to represent District 5 and all of Bloomington as a member of your City Council. Thank you.

Paid for by Isabel Piedmont-Smith