A summer of progress
Friends,
Summer moves far too quickly here. Between concerts, festivals, farmers' markets, and all the things that make Bloomington special, it can be easy to overlook the progress happening across our city, and I'll admit, some weeks it's easy for me to lose track of it too.
As we officially enter fall, and what we all hope will be another national championship football season, I want to take a moment, as your neighbor as much as your mayor, to share some things you may have missed.
Safer neighborhoods
I've spent a lot of this year on porches and sidewalks, at town halls and doorsteps, listening to what residents want for this city. Safety comes up in almost every one of those conversations, so I'm proud to say crime is down across Bloomington because we've invested in the people, training, and resources needed to serve our community. The Fire Department achieved full staffing for the first time in a decade, and the Police Department welcomed its largest recruit class in more than 30 years. Every time I meet one of our recruits, I'm reminded why this work matters.
We've also been working to make our streets safer, including nearly $1 million in federal funding for pedestrian, bicycle, and roadway improvements designed to reduce serious and fatal crashes, and a $2.3 million federal grant to help protect our water supply against cyberattacks, extreme weather, and natural disasters.
Homes people can afford
From young families priced out of neighborhoods they grew up in to longtime residents worried about what's next, housing remains one of Bloomington's biggest challenges, and one I hear about constantly. Now, with the City Council's help, the first phase of the long-awaited Hopewell Neighborhood is underway. Hopewell South will soon offer 98 new affordable homes, with many more to come. These homes are in addition to the Summit District, which will provide thousands of new homes for residents.
The city has also been working to make housing easier to build. A recent audit identified unnecessary delays and duplications in our permitting process. Using those findings, we're streamlining the process to make permitting faster and more predictable, and to reduce construction costs. We've also strengthened housing-code enforcement and targeted negligent landlords because in Bloomington, we believe everyone deserves a safe place to live. That belief is personal to me—no one should have to choose between paying rent and living somewhere safe.
With the help of our community partners, Bloomington has made real progress addressing long-established encampments—going from more than a dozen in January 2024 to zero today. I've met many of the people affected by this work, and their stories stay with me. Through outreach, service connections, reunification efforts, and humane closure protocols, we're making progress, with more to come.
Streets & city services
As we head into fall, residents may also notice the completion of several road projects. In our first two years, Bloomington Public Works paved more than 32 miles of streets — more than in the previous four years combined. Crews have filled more than 8,300 potholes so far this year, on top of significant investments in sidewalks, trails, accessibility, and public spaces in neighborhoods across the city. Residents may also notice quicker turnarounds in the city's uReport system, as we've reduced the backlog of service requests, filled vacancies faster, and improved long-term planning and budgeting.
What comes next
Looking ahead, I'll keep holding town halls, hosting office hours, and knocking on doors in neighborhoods across the city, because I'd rather hear directly from you than guess at what you need.
At the same time, I owe you honesty about what's ahead. When I took office, Bloomington faced an operating deficit of approximately $16 million, a number that kept me up at night. My team and I have worked hard to improve the city’s financial position while continuing to invest in essential services and our community. But changes to Indiana's property-tax system will reduce the revenue available to cities like Bloomington in the near future, and I won't pretend that won't require some hard conversations. We're preparing now. Our proposed 2027 budget takes a conservative approach, prioritizing essential services, public safety, housing, and economic opportunity—but difficult choices lie ahead, and I'll be straight with you every step of the way.
So as we look forward to another amazing football season and the changing colors of the leaves, know that progress continues in Bloomington. It's an honor to serve this community, and what makes it special hasn't changed—people who care, neighbors who show up, and residents willing to work together. That's still how we'll keep moving forward and building a better Bloomington for everyone.