Hamilton says he doesn't read too much into the Cook job cut announcement as economies change. A city commission is proposing a ban on feeding deer, and a look at the May primary election.
In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more during a visit to city hall Tuesday afternoon. 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: So we know we're going to have a new mayor, but now a lot of new city council members as well. How do you feel about the outcome of the May primary election?
Hamilton: It was different. I hadn't not having a role in this one the same way. So that was watching from the sidelines. But I it was more turnout than the last time I ran. So that was good to see. And we still need to see more people getting out to vote in municipal elections, but a couple thousand more. So that was good. And as you indicated, the big shift is probably five new council members, at least. And I think they'll be younger, more diverse than we've ever had in our council history. And that's a terrific thing. A lot of new talent, good people and of course, the new mayor. The election is not till November, and we'll see if the Republicans feed a candidate for that.
Hren: The big news this week, Cook Medical is cutting 500 jobs about 125 in Indiana75 in Bloomington. We saw this with Catalent laying off 400 jobs last November. Is this a trend that we're seeing here?
Hamilton: Well, let's hope not. There's always churn in in our employment markets. I mean, one of the things I always remind people when you hear a stat that says the economy added 200,000 jobs last month, that's not actually true. What actually happened is the economy added something like 3 million jobs and lost 2.8 million jobs.
Overall, we've seen a lot of job growth in the area with Catalent, with Cook. I think big companies can go through transitions. We know Catalent had to change in the immunization and the vaccine that they were doing. The world has changed a lot since the pandemic. So I haven't gotten a chance to talk to CEO Pete Yonkman yet. We're confident there are thousands of employees that will be active here. But you know, it's tricky to see a company have to trim a little bit like that.
Hren: Have to mention Baxter sold it's Bloomington company, are you worried about the future of that company as well?
Hamilton: We're always watching that. But, let me remind you Cook Pharmica was sold to Catalent five or six years ago for a billion dollars with 750 employees. They now have 3000 employees here in the area. So those kinds of transactions we want to watch and work with them. But from a mayor's seat, the most important thing you can do, I think, is trying to make sure you have a great city, high quality of life, a wonderful place to be good schools, great parks, great living conditions, and that's what we focus on, and I think then the economy will kind of take care of itself.
Hren: The city Animal Control Commission wants council to approve a proposed ban on deer feeding - no doubt to limit the increase in deer. It's been such a hot topic here over the years. But I read in our report, city council has yet to receive a formal proposal?
Hamilton: Well, Joe, they don't really need a formal proposal. I mean, the animal commission made that recommendation and any council member can bring forward a piece of legislation and will encourage them to do so. I think I will be looking at it. And I think it's very appropriate to do - I will support it.
It is not good to feed deer, we've recommended that people not to do that. The science tells us urban deer are very happy. They have a good life compared to life outside the environment of our city. But it does cause stress, it causes stress with traffic and causes stress with people's gardens. But we really think it's kind of a neighborhood by neighborhood issue. From my perspective, it's not currently a health issue. Science tells us, hey, these are animals that are feeding on what you've got around you.
Hren: I want to get a little bit about the corridor study, because we're starting to report on that a little bit more. It includes Walnut Street and College Avenue. Most of what catches people's attention is turning those two main thoroughfares into two-way streets that are now one-way streets.
Hamilton: Don't get ahead of us now, turning them into two-way we do not know. Yeah, one of the issues is to study that question. And that was a recommendation from some work a couple years ago. Doing a corridor study for main arteries like that is important to do every once in a while. We haven't done it for quite a number of years.
It's really to look at the physical layout of the of the roadways. How do people navigate them: pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, buses, emergency vehicles, commerce, all that stuff. And we want a lot of public input. The study will consider do we like the one-way alignment of those streets or would two way make sense there? Definitely cities around the state and around the country that have switched from one-way which is primarily to help move vehicular traffic to two-way which is primarily to try to activate the streets and the streetscapes more, but it's a big question. I doubt if that'll be decided while I'm in this seat. But it will be studied and recommendations and ultimately, that's the City Council vote determination of that.
