WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, September 9th, 2024.
Later in the program, local journalist Dave Askins of the B Square Bulletin provides an editorial on the Bloomington City Council. More in today’s feature report.
That’s Ximena Martinez, the City of Bloomington Latino Outreach Coordinator. She’s organizing a pair of diversity festivals happening this weekend and next. Get all the details later in the show on a new episode of Activate!
But first, your daily headlines:
Bloomington City Council
At the September 5th meeting of the Bloomington City Council, the council discussed the Convention Center project.
A representative from the Capital Improvement Board for the Convention Center Project, Doug Bruce, showed the council the project goals, including building out east and creating a space not only for concerts and exhibitions, but sports events, too.
Council Member Dave Rollo asked the Board to make the convention center civic-centric, to utilize local builders and materials as much as possible, and to consider the wages and benefits for employees to be bumped up.
Council Member Matt Flaherty noted that the council had previously provided feedback that they were not in support of there being a skywalk placed above the street connecting the old and new convention center. Bruce responded as to why they are still considering the skywalk after receiving the council’s guidance.
Council Member Kate Rosenbarger added to Flaherty’s opinion, stating that if the reason for a skywalk is because crossing the street is unsafe then we need to consider changing the structure of the street.
Bruce shared that there will be a community input meeting on September 16th at 6 p.m. at the Convention Center regarding all questions and concerns. Council Member Sydney Zulich also stated that she will be holding a Zoom constituent meeting on September 12th over the new Center and all of the information surrounding it.
Next, Council President Isabel Piedmont-Smith proposed a grant that has been applied for by the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County to the Lily Foundation. The grant is meant to help fight homelessness in Monroe County and Bloomington. A letter of support was read aloud and was approved by the council.
During the public comment period, a camp leader for the homeless community, James Bernard, was the first to bring up the issue. Specifically, how the homeless and nomadic people have been forced to move from one location to another three times this past month.
Seven other community members also spoke out against the relocation of the camps, and asked for more support for the people experiencing homelessness.
Later in the meeting, the Mayor’s 2025 Budget Proposal was considered.
Many council members expressed that they are unsatisfied with the current plan. They were most concerned about budgets being cut for projects such as public safety, transportation, and infrastructure initiatives.
Council President Isabel Piedmont Smith said that she thinks the budget is in dire need of additions for these initiatives in order to win her vote.
Mayor Kerry Thomson responded that all the councils’ initiatives are important, but she mentioned that the budget is finite and the proposed plan already has the City operating at a deficit. She emphasized the importance of looking into a variety of funding methods for the Council’s priorities.
Thomson explained that the proposed plan, as is, would not affect tax rates on Bloomington residents. Instead, the plan would rely on Bloomington’s debt capacity by using bonds.
She said that the safety and infrastructure initiatives can all be covered with these bonds and grants. Government salaries have to be covered through the operating budget, so the proposal allocates more to personnel than to the council’s initiatives.
Thomson said that the budget cannot fully pay for everything the Council is proposing without raising Bloomington taxes more.
The council members and the mayor agreed to schedule a meeting to further discuss the budget plan.
The next Bloomington City Council meeting will be held on September 11.
Feature Report:
Up next, local journalist Dave Askins of the B Square Bulletin provides an editorial on the Bloomington City Council. For more, we turn to Dave Askins.
This Saturday is the Black y Brown Arts Festival in Switchyard Park, showcasing arts and culture of Bloomington’s Black Hispanic, and Asian communities. Next Saturday is Fiesta del Otoño, our local celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The brains behind both events is Ximena Martinez, Latino Outreach Coordinator for the City of Bloomington. She’s here with all the details on a new episode of Activate!, coming your way right now on the WFHB Local News.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Elyse Perry, Jasmine Wright and Noelle Herhusky-Schneider, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our features were produced by Jasmine Wright and Dave Askins.
Chad Carrothers and Michelle Moss produced Activate!
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
