In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson addresses this issue and more 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: City council passed a resolution asking the city to show contracts and information on how the city is using Flock. Some are asking why it got to this point, or why wasn't it taken care of before city council?
Thomson: I'm not sure that it's accurate that something could have been taken care of before city council got involved. What is true is that we worked in partnership with city council to say, how can we improve things while we're investigating how we can both respect civil liberties and protect safety.
We know there are some practices we can put into place, like internal audits on who is looking at our data online, who's producing requests and making sure that we have the control set as tightly as possible, which we already did
We are, we are in full agreement with what council has just asked for, so regular reporting and we will produce a report for them by the deadline that they have requested. It is an issue that we are really grateful that the public has brought to our attention, and it has caused us to have very serious conversations with Flock and internally. We are not surveilling or observing folks, and we're not letting others do that.
Read more: City of Bloomington seeking public input on Rogers to Kinser corridor
Hren: A number of people spoke out against Flock at the city council meeting. Many noted that you left before they were able to talk, did you hear them?
Thomson: I had been at council for a long time already, and I usually watch council, and so I heard the public comments and appreciate the public getting involved. And I've also met with people, one on one about Flock. So the great thing about our city council is that it's a publicly broadcast meeting.
Hren: How do you feel about the situation with the far south parcels of the convention center campus losing affordable housing and four businesses?
Thomson: The county is dealing with that southern property as they will. Just to be fair, that property, when it was acquired by the county, it has been known that it would be part of this convention center deal for a long, long time. So this is not a sudden move on their part. I just want to sort of speak about our partners fondly. They are just carrying out the business that they have to carry out.
I'm not sure what the plan is for that property at this point. I do know that those apartments have been very affordable, and part of that is, frankly, they're not great apartments. They have failed inspection before, and I know during part of our very cold snap this past winter, they were without heat.
When we talk about affordable housing, I think it's really important that we clarify that people need to live in decent, affordable housing, and that there is a difference between just a roof over your head and something that's really adequate.
I'm always pushing for more affordable housing. And HAND has resources and I hope they're reaching out to get rehoused with the various resources that we have.
Read more: Redevelopment Commission closer to closing agreements for Trades District Hotel
Elaine from e-mail about Kirkwood Avenue: The fewer cars allowed to park on the street, the more accessible it is to people. We have made everything free and easy for machines, but difficult for pedestrians and people. So please consider people and cyclists and permanently close Kirkwood from sample gates to Walnut. Temporary closures are difficult on everyone.
Also Ray from e-mail about Kirkwood: just disappointed, hopefully we can have a government in the future that will be more progressive in terms of having less automobile traffic on Kirkwood.
Thomson: The good news is we won't have a temporary closure this year. We studied the data and how it was working. Kirkwood serves many, many purposes. It serves as, obviously, business thoroughfare. Those businesses need deliveries. We have to provide safe access, parking, et cetera.
As we studied it, the Board of Public Works decided no temporary closure this year, and that we would do parklets and I understand that some people may be disappointed to not have that sort of Parisian feel of eating in the middle of the street. I too, enjoy that, and we have to balance the needs of everyone in the community.
I think there's a lot of energy for figuring out how to make Kirkwood sort of the even more of the gateway tourist experience and quality of life experience that many of us treasure about it, and I think that we really need to look at it from Sample Gates all the way to the B-Line and see how we can improve the pedestrian experience, but also all of the other pieces of Kirkwood. That may mean a permanent closure. That's not off the table entirely, but there may be other solutions too.
Read more: West Second St. to undergo safety improvements
Keith from e-mail, if the county or city has the property where the old hospital stood, why not use it for the homeless? The parking garage isn't being used for anything, maybe that could be a solution.
Thomson: The parking garage, of course, is currently gated off. It needs some significant repairs, and that is part of the plan to make those repairs. And we are actively working on a development plan that is called the Hopewell neighborhood, and that'll be in front of council on Wednesday.
Morgan from e-mails: My wife and I have been homeless for well over a year and we sought off help. We've been on list, then we check constantly, and then all of a sudden we are not on the list. So how does the city help?
Thomson: I am glad to know about this, and if you have contact information for Morgan, we will happily personally follow up with her. The city doesn't maintain that list, but the CAC does and we'd be happy to connect them. You should be on the list and stay on the list, and you should have a case worker that is able to work with you.
The great news is because of a generous grant from the Lilly Foundation, Heading Home now has seven new caseworkers working throughout the city, and they are embedded at different organizations, and they are now serving a larger number of people. So we are working towards a city that can say to everyone, we have a roof for you to sleep under tonight, and so you don't need to sleep outside.
Hren: This is a social media comment about leaf pickup wondering if that could be restarted. All the leaves clog the drains. Causes problems for snow melting and heavy rain in the spring. It creates a big mess.
Thomson: We don't plan to reinstate the curbside leaf service. There are many contractors that will come do it for you, we are picking up the bagged leaves, of course, and so we encourage you to bag your leaves or compost them. That's what we do at my house.
I know that some people are still raking their leaves into the street. Nobody is going to pick them up, so it will cause a big mess if you do that. But we also have the utility department that comes around with a street sweeper that helps to clear up those drains. But you could be a great neighbor by keeping your own drains clear.
Read more: New veterinary urgent care opening Sunday, ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday
