Hamilton says city high-speed internet construction begins next month, the city doesn't want to deal with forming a CIB if the county is not interested in the convention center expansion, and a new program tracks how the city is reducing its carbon footprint.
In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more during an interview Tuesday at City Hall. 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. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: Gigabit Now is the new service provider that will work with Meridiam throughout Bloomington for high speed internet. This is that next domino to fall. How do they define high-speed internet and cost?
Hamilton: That's a West Coast based internet service provider, we're very pleased. And Joe part of this that I'm most excited about probably is the digital equity component. I think as far as we know, we have the best digital equity program in the country, that's going to offer essentially zero cost, very good internet speed to a lot of our members of the community who have financial challenges.
I do warn people, there may be some construction beginning next month. And it'll be coming to your neighborhood but be patient and it's kind of like stringing up the first electric wires going all over the city.
READ MORE: Meridiam announces new internet service provider for Bloomington, Columbus
It will offer essentially any household that has food stamps, free and reduced lunch, Social Security disability. Other such means tested programs will be able to get $30 a month internet which is the exact amount that the federal government will subsidize under those programs and also a free drop to the house.
They will receive under the current program 250 megabit speed up and down - now that's faster than most of us get right now in our home under current services.
Hren: Why Gigabit Now and not competitors who may feel Gigabit is getting an unfair advantage with city tax dollars?
Hamilton: Well, it's, it's, it's really up to Meridiam, the owner of infrastructure to find the provider who wants to use it. It's certainly open to AT&T and Comcast to have sought to be that relationship. In our contract with Meridiam after a number of years, perhaps four or five years, those digital roadways, if you will, will be wide open to anybody who wants them. So Smithville, Comcast, Verizon, T-Mobile, and anybody who wants to can come in and use those and provide services to you, or to a business or to the city as a whole.
Hren: Let's move on to the convention center expansion, there was a meeting with a select government entities, but I think the only thing that maybe everyone agreed on is that the convention expansion needs to happen. And maybe return to the CIB (Capital Improvement Board). What now and what about a CIB?
Hamilton: There's public funding that's available to build an expansion right downtown, the city is ready to move forward. We're not sure if the county is ready to transfer the existing convention center into a new entity to do that. But we're talking and waiting for the next meeting. The county hasn't responded yet.
The issue with the CIB defined by the state law is that it's really a creature of county government and any CIB can only act if it's got approval from county bodies. I just think I'm not sure they're ready to move forward with that, to approve the kinds of things that need to be approved. I think there is a path forward one way or the other. If the transfer happens, it's really just a transfer from one government to another to manage the process will will charge ahead with that. If the county is not ready to do that, we'll try to identify another means.
READ MORE: Monroe convention expansion at stalemate while Terre Haute, Columbus find momentum
Hren: Any changes in the budget since the departmental hearings in August?
Hamilton: We will be having a formal budget hearing is September 28. The only change that was made and the numbers that were presented to the council are we have added $100,000 into that budget to support reproductive rights response. We know that the state has taken action with Senate Bill One that basically outlaws all abortions. And we want to indicate that's a huge challenge for the people of Bloomington.
Hren: We know about another scooter crash with two deaths now. And I know there is some some scooter lines in the new budget for maybe more enforcement, I just wanted your response to scooter safety.
Hamilton: Scooters are kind of a new thing that came to our city and many others across the country. In the last three or four years, we've actually had, I believe the latest date, I saw Joe was 1.2 million scooter rides in Bloomington since they've arrived. So they're hundreds being taken every day.
We have tragically had two deaths this year, just in the last six weeks from scooter riders, one was a scooter rider alone death, the most recent was really what we know from the in the in the criminal report, it was a hit and run based on somebody ran over a scooter rider and they died. So we're definitely looking at ways to of course, deal with impaired driving. That was what appeared to be the cause of the latest death.
READ MORE: IU freshman dies in e-scooter crash
We're doing some increased enforcement about scooters, we may be looking at some what they call corrals, where you park scooters. But for safety, too, I think Indiana University is going to take some safety training. And we may look at some of our controls. The two fatalities both happened very late at night, really early morning. And it may be that that's a more dangerous time that we should look at controlling their use.
Hren: I did want to ask you about this new initiative called "Zero in Bloomington." It tracks the progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But it's community wide. So how does that work? And how can people get involved?
Hamilton: Anybody who wants to log on to that " Zero in Bloomington" program, I've done it myself. And it's a way just to kind of track what you do - what we're doing as a community and individuals.
Climate change does not get resolved by individual actions alone, like this. Systemic and infrastructure, overall, changes are important. And we'll be actually having a first regional climate convening in a couple of weeks here in town. So I'll encourage people to look and participate and watch for that too.
But as individuals, it's helpful for us to know are you riding your bike more? Are you walking more? Are you composting? Are you using solar on your roof? So it helps us if people register for that and we can kind of keep track of that and help you know you're part of the solution.
