My Commitment

I will continue my commitment to:

Fund high quality basic services and infrastructure
I supported doubling capital investment in basic infrastructure over the past 3 years. Fire/police protection, the quality of drinking water, streets, sidewalks, and storm/wastewater infrastructure are key responsibilities for the City Council and Administration. More hires in public safety is a priority for the coming term.

Protect, preserve and enhance neighborhoods
I’ve worked to implement sidewalks, trails, traffic calming, pedestrian crossings, and storm water improvements. For example, I helped secure $2.1 million for a side path on Sare between Rogers and Moore’s Pike, allowing Spicewood, Renwick, Hyde Park and Hyde Park Village neighbors to walk and bike to College Mall.

Implement our Comprehensive Plan
Working with a variety of groups, I amended the plan and rewrote the Executive Summary to reflect that simple aggregate growth measures are inadequate indications of well-being. Growth can be harmful to our community. My amendments require that development decisions consider quality of life measures such as human health and fulfillment, wages and benefits, equity, and community resilience.

Oppose poor quality and out-of-context development
I championed developments that enhance our community character, such as the South Dunn Street PUD. But I opposed developments that would have created sprawl, such as the Century Village PUD, or whose mass and scale are out of place, such as the Graduate Hotel. I repeatedly proposed to halt large-scale downtown development until our Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance were in place. I count as a success the 2017 City Council adoption of a downtown height reduction and building articulation standards limiting out-ofscale development.

Assist our most vulnerable citizens with Council support of social service agencies and affordable housing
I supported increases in social service funding that have added over 600 low income housing units to help the economically vulnerable.

Become a net-zero carbon community
We have a moral obligation to act on Climate Change, and Bloomington reduced carbon emissions by 13% over the past ten years. Buildings are a significant contributor to carbon emissions and I co-authored the City’s Green Building Ordinance. With Council support, the Administration added 5 mW of public solar photovoltaic production and applied energy cost savings to add 1 mW of private solar photovoltaic production.

Add high wage/quality jobs for local employment
I co-sponsored the 2003 City’s Living Wage Ordinance and work to support a diverse economy that retains wealth for residents. I supported public-private cooperation to expand targeted economic sectors, such as the life sciences, information technologies, and the arts/ cultural development, that added hundreds of living wage jobs.

Promote race, gender and LGBTQ equality
Our strength is in our diversity as a community. As Council President, I signed and supported a letter to the Governor and State Legislature urging passage of strong hatecrimes legislation. I advocated for and supported a 2006 City Ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.

Keep the downtown vibrant, unique, diverse and pedestrian-scale
I will continue to work on our Transportation Plan and Unified Development Ordinance to protect the heart and soul of Bloomington by preventing demographic imbalance of student development and out-of-scale buildings. I support hiring an Architect to join the city planning staff to ensure higher aesthetic quality of our built environment.

Promote a resilient local economy
Locally generated goods and services are integral to economic vitality. Supporting local business creates strong social networks and generates wealth by a multiplier effect. I advocated for expanding our local food economy and the Administration responded by declaring 2019 as the Year of Food for Bloomington. Local food has the potential for millions of dollars of wealth creation while protecting farmland and providing food security and jobs for our community.

Protect and expand our natural areas and promote green infrastructure
During my tenure, my goal of greenspace acquisition has led to the protection of over 100 acres of greenspace for our community. Greenspace helps to regulate stormwater, clean air and water, and beautify our city. It is as vital to our community as our built infrastructure.