The Bloomington City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt the latest amendments to the Safe Streets for All action plan. The goal of the ambitious plan is to reduce deaths and injuries on Bloomington roads to zero by 2039.
By creating a comprehensive Safe Streets plan, Bloomington becomes eligible for federal funding to support and implement the plan.
Previous coverage: Bloomington seeks to eliminate fatal, serious crashes in city by 2039
Councilmember Andy Ruff wanted to postpone the vote, which he said would benefit council members and the public, “to provide a little more time to digest, study, review and consider the plan.”
Council president Isabel Piedmont-Smith felt postponement would bog down the Safe Streets plan in arguments and amendments.
“It’s already gone through a steering committee process, and I feel like it would just open it up to taking another two months if we brought it to the ATC (advisory transportation committee) and then we would miss those federal grant application deadlines,” said Piedmont-Smith.
Council attorney Lisa Lehner clarified that certain process rules would complicate postponement, so councilmember Ruff withdrew his motion. The council’s next meeting is Tuesday night at 7:30.
The purpose of Tuesday’s meeting is to discuss the pay raise proposal for all elected city officials for the city of Bloomington in 2025.
The last regular council meeting of the year will be the following evening. The Safe Streets for All action plan and pay raise proposal are expected to be discussed.