JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

This final “Let’s Keep in Touch” message is simple: thank you!

Thank you for the consistent support and many kindnesses you have shown my family and me through these past eight years of service as Bloomington’s Mayor. From young ages both Dawn and I have been motivated toward public service. Dawn right now serves our nation in the highest echelons of the US Department of Justice – protecting the rule of law, democracy, freedom, and justice. I’ll look forward to spending more time with and supporting her in that effort. And more time with our two sons who grew up in the caring arms of the Bloomington community and now live on the East Coast.

Eight years as Mayor were a privilege. The best part was the people – extraordinary colleagues in city government, partners in the wider community, and all of you – supporters of Bloomington’s future. We’re blessed to have so many who worked and work so hard on behalf of the public. That makes Bloomington’s future bright.

Democracy isn’t a walk in the park. Decisions can be complicated, change contentious. Working toward true inclusion/belonging and real sustainability can challenge our patterns of living and acting. It can be politically fraught. It’s also essential. I’m passing the baton and will be cheering on our next set of local leaders to continue the momentum forward. 

In the meantime, I leave the Mayor’s chair very proud of what we’ve done together over the eight years. We set high expectations and accomplished a great deal I hope you’re proud of too:

• Diversifying and strengthening our local economy with higher wages and thousands more good jobs

• Expanding affordable housing by 1,400 homes

• Getting high speed fiber built to every premise, as an open-to-all, net-neutral system of infrastructure, with the country’s best digital equity program

• Upgrading and making even more progressive the best public safety departments in the state

• Realizing the “String of Pearls”: Switchyard Park open, the Trades District humming, Hopewell under construction, and the convention center (at last) underway

• Innovating as the nation’s first CDFI Friendly City and its first Sibling City pair with Palo Alto CA, and as Indiana’s first regional climate initiative, Project 46 with Columbus and Nashville

• Supporting public education in strong partnership, and with 3 essential referendums

• Winning national awards for parks, arts, digital equity, climate progress, inclusion, and more 

• Supporting our city workforce by tripling training investments, recognizing a new labor union, and establishing a $15/hour minimum wage for all 

• Maintaining strong fiscal reserves, upgrading our bond rating, and making unprecedented investments in civic infrastructure

• Surviving a pandemic, recession, and 45

Deciding not to seek a third term wasn’t easy but has felt right. Campaigning with a big agenda, doing our darndest and getting the great bulk of it done over eight years, then moving on to let the next folks pick up the effort feels good. All of that so because of all of you. 

So, thank you, for your personal and political support, and for your commitment to each other and our blessed community. Keep the faith and keep up the good work! 

Democratically and ever yours,

John Hamilton

P.S.  Please keep in touch! Reach out at johnmarkhamilton99@gmail.com; Dawn and I love to hear how you and yours are doing, what you’re hoping for and working on, or just what you’re thinking about. It’s been a joy sharing this ride together. Onward we go to 2024!

DECEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

Last month we talked about one big challenge in front of us: how Bloomington can respond to the climate emergency. This month, let’s confront a second big challenge: how our community can be a truly inclusive place where all can thrive.

A first observation about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) is the need for humility. It’s a complicated and long challenge, and all of us have a lot to learn. Certainly I do. Certainly our community does.

Improving DEIB requires public policies, resources, and energies. It requires the same from the private and nonprofit sectors. And perhaps most importantly, it requires cultural change. 

Bloomington’s government can and should do much. We can lead with policies that assure more people have affordable places to live in our city, that investments of public funds are equitable and not tilted to those with more power or voice, and that we identify and fix inherent biases or implicit inequities in existing policies. I want to commend our City Council for its past attention and evident commitment to these kinds of changes. They are not always easy or universally popular.

Fundamentally, our community must also consider our overall levels of public investments. Last year we increased the annual base city budget by about 10% better to invest in our future – including housing, climate, and equity, along with basic services. In part due to inadequate funding from our state, our community underinvests in public health and our safety net. We must instill DEIB deeply in our current criminal justice reform – that means at the county level investing substantially more in mental health and substance use disorder services, at least as much or more than we do in a new jail.

Our city government must continue our energies and commitment to training and education as well. All of us have much to learn about DEIB. That training has been helpful already, I believe, to chart a better path for Bloomington, but much remains ahead.

Non-governmental actors must continue and expand their commitment of resources and energies to DEIB. Businesses, nonprofit providers, education and health institutions, all can do more to work together with government to make progress.

Finally, it is cultural. Do enough of us truly believe America and our community grow stronger and better as more people are finally welcomed as equals and brought to the tables of power? It feels that a great debate about that is playing out in front of our eyes. About persistent racism and sexism. About immigration. About our personal freedoms. About reproductive justice. About poverty. DEIB demands our culture lean into the better angels of our nature.

Personal experiences are crucial. Kids who grow up in communities and schools with healthy DEIB cultures will be changed. Even little things can teach us. Just one example, of so many: I vividly recall pushing my father in a wheelchair in the neighborhood I’d walked many times, including with strollers before. A wheelchair was different, and missing sidewalk ramps were a serious problem. I’m glad Bloomington has installed about 600 such ramps in recent years. 

I’m optimistic about our country and our community. We can seize the challenge and opportunity of DEIB to accelerate real progress. Toward a more perfect union, with more belonging. That’s been our story, haphazard and partial though it may be. It happens because we--through our institutions, through our personal lives, and through our activism and actions--make it happen. Let it be so.

Democratically yours,

John Hamilton

P.S.  Keep an eye out for city workers during these holidays. So many keep our city humming so all can enjoy the season. Thank you’s and smiles go a long way on cold days of patrolling or picking up refuse or responding to 911’s or clearing snow or fixing water leaks or driving buses or helping shut-ins or . . . . you get the picture. Thanks.

NOVEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

Former Los Angeles Mayor (now U.S. Ambassador to India) Eric Garcetti framed it well by outlining the two big challenges we need to meet in our communities and country: first, how to assure we have a planet and communities to live in – to protect and preserve our natural world with much more sustainable lives; and second, to assure that everyone has a place in that world – to be truly inclusive so all belong and can thrive. 

These are big ideas, big challenges, requiring global as well as local action. We know we can’t solve them ourselves of course, in Bloomington. Yet we also know we can make a difference and are obliged to do so. I’d like to focus on the first of those challenges this month.

Bloomington is very well positioned to achieve serious progress on climate. Start with our detailed, specific, Climate Action Plan (here). Add a dose of dedicated annual funding. Add the activism and passion of the people, especially the young. Add our new regional, bipartisan urban/rural task force, “Project 46” (here). And Bloomington can continue great progress on several key facets of this challenge:

Where people live. One’s carbon footprint is dramatically affected by where one lives. Bloomington is the most densely populated city in Indiana, and thereby we can do a lot of good things for our community and our planet. We need to continue expanding affordability – adding to the 1,400 units we’ve done lately. We need to keep making our buildings more efficient. Density helps all of that, and the thousands of new homes planned at Hopewell and Summit can boost that momentum. We need to do good regional planning for growth.

How people move around. Bloomington’s 23 square miles contain more than 30 miles of trails and side paths, with more miles on the way. We've opened protected bike lanes and invested millions in sidewalks. Most significantly, we’re in position to have the best transit system in any small American city. Funding is there. Plans are underway, including our first bus-rapid-transit line and new micro-transit options. Bloomington Transit is thinking big. We have the potential to make living in our small city as transit-friendly as America’s biggest cities like New York or Chicago. That can be a game changer for climate and quality of life.

Clean and efficient energy. We live in a primarily coal-powered state, crying for better energy options. We are supporting solar installations all over town. We support investments in more efficient buildings. Our federal government has enacted the strongest climate bill ever, to accelerate and finance the changes needed. And our regional taskforce of Project 46 will help us engage business, institutions, utilities, and the public to work together to get to net zero. 

Sustainable food, water, and work. We support local agriculture and healthy water systems. We protect open lands (note that living densely idea) and protect our water sources. We’re investing in long-term green water infrastructure to deal with harsher weather more naturally, and we hope to launch a major waste-to-energy system soon. We support good local jobs with higher wages, and we’ve partnered to assure best-in-class digital access for all, to improve access to education, health care, workplaces, and commerce from our homes. 

Fortunately, these different ways Bloomington addresses climate change and protects our community and our planet all work together in synergy. They feed off each other in a virtuous cycle, making our quality of life better, less expensive, and less carbon intensive. 

It’s easy to get discouraged by news around the world, whether violence or poverty, authoritarianism or climate. We have real and big challenges indeed. But know that our Bloomington is heading in the right direction, in all these areas listed above. Keep the momentum, and stay or get involved. Keep the faith in how Democrats are advancing all of these policies and projects, locally, nationally, and globally. It’s up to us. And yes we can. 

Democratically yours,

John Hamilton

P.S.  Election Day is tomorrow! Vote for our Democrats, and also, please be sure to VOTE YES and support the school referendum. MCCSC can do some truly transformative work to improve early education and child care, and build more equity in our system. Polls open 6am to 6pm, and you can find your polling place at Indianavoters.in.gov

OCTOBER 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

As the weather and leaves turn toward fall, with weekend crowds and busy calendars, I’m thinking about our community.

Humans have gathered in communities since our farthest past. Clans in caves. Tribes roaming forests or plains. We live in groups. 

Yes, today’s communities typically dwarf past clans or tribes – in modestly sized Bloomington, most community members are strangers to us personally. And yet, doesn’t something about belonging to a community like Bloomington feel right?

More than a nation or a state, isn’t a community really our home, where we connect with and emotionally relate to fellow residents? A community fills our daily lives -- who we see at the stores or on the sidewalks, eat with or walk with, work with or play with.

My eight years as mayor have given me a front row seat to see so many Bloomingtonians doing wonderful things every day to make our community better. Helping a neighbor. Going the extra mile volunteering for an organization. Donating money. Doing hard things.

I’ve also had a front seat watching trust and civility erode. Seeing hostility rise, mistrust or malignant rumors spread, and character aspersions and divisive feuds grow. Conspiracy theories sprout like weeds.

Some of that is media – local and national, traditional and social – that thrive on negatives. Some of it is national politics, I think. It’s hard for humans to look away from the salacious or scandalous.

But we do need to look away – often and deeply – to focus instead on what holds our community together, and how to move forward together. 

Communities are built on trust and respect, and a sense of common purpose. Ancient clans didn’t last long if riven by mistrust, rumors, or feuds. We don’t need to agree on everything; indeed, we are better with real diversity. But we do need to agree on mutuality. And we have to nurture the precious asset of trust. 

Someone suggested that every interaction between two people either builds or erodes the trust between them. I think that’s true, whether in a workplace, a family, or a community. Even in small things. A smile to a stranger on the street. A pleasant exchange with a merchant. A polite act on a roadway. 

And it’s true in big and difficult things too. As a community, are we building trust in how we make our community livable for all who reside here? Do we recognize how many people are working hard to improve living conditions for all? Do we notice how many people work so hard daily to keep us all safe?

Two caveats:

First, it’s fundamental to acknowledge that trust, in the past, very often derived from exclusive groups – mostly white men – who trusted each other and wielded power to protect highly damaging and unjust ideologies and ways of life. Thankfully that is changing, bit by bit, with growing diversity and commitments to more just empowerment.

Second, trust does NOT mean complacency. Advocacy for change and justice and better outcomes is essential. We must welcome challenges to power structures and old ways of doing things.

Trust does mean recognizing that many well-intentioned people can disagree. Or come from such disparate backgrounds that common understanding is difficult and can take time and work to achieve. And it means that a bedrock mutuality, our sense of relationship and a shared future, must underlie our community.

Healthy human communities have to manage the complex balance between a culture of advocacy and agitation for change, with a sense of common purpose and shared destinies. Like most communities, Bloomington tries to manage that balance. Some days we do it better than others.

One of our local songwriters, Carrie Newcomer, reminds us “you can do this hard thing. It’s not easy I know but I believe that it’s so, you can do this hard thing.” (Link to song.) I agree. Bloomington can do hard things. We have, and we will.

English philosopher F.H. Bradley, paraphrasing Goethe, once said “you cannot be a whole, unless you join a whole.” (Link to essay.) I hear that to mean that no one of us can be a whole person without being a part of a larger assembly of people. I think that’s true, and it’s reflected in humanity’s deep pattern of living in communities.

Indeed, could we adapt that adage about how to be a decent person: “Everything I needed to learn, I learned in kindergarten”? Could we say, everything we need to learn about how to be a part of a whole, we learn in our community?

Look for the helpers and the doers. Communities are full of them. Bloomington is full of them. Build up trust with and among them. And don’t be overwhelmed or distracted by the latest splash or slurry of negativity. Progress is possible. It’s happening. And you are helping make it so.

Democratically yours,

John Hamilton

P.S.  An exciting next step in activating our Trades District and accelerating our thriving tech sector happens this Thursday, October 5th at 4pm: the groundbreaking of the new Tech Center, across from The Mill. Part of Innovation Week at the Mill (link to this week’s events). I recommend attending any or all of the events!

P.P.S.  If you want a dose of young local helpers and doers, check out the S.W.A.G.G.E.R. awards coming up. “Students Who Act Generously, Grow, and Earn Respect” will be recognized this Friday, October 6th at 7pm (reception at 6) in the atrium at City Hall. Always a good time.

SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend–time to honor what organized labor has meant for America and our people. 

Some weeks ago, dozens of mayors met in Scranton, PA for a conference. On a tour of a closed anthracite coal mine, we were told that 30,000 men and boys died in the area’s mines over the 50 most active years – averaging almost two killed per day. Not to mention deaths from black lung disease.

Unions and organized labor confronted these and many related issues. They changed America. Protected child labor. Brought us workplace safety laws, eight-hour days, forty-hour weeks, and overtime pay. The weekend. Workers compensation and unemployment insurance and pensions. The middle class.

Unions made brutal, deadly, exploitative jobs into safe, middle-class jobs.

It’s encouraging that national support for unions is higher than it’s been for 60 years. Still, we have more to do: national paid family leave; a living minimum wage; universal health care. And anti-union politicians and corporations keep making it harder to organize effectively. Only 10% of all US workers and 6% of private-sector employees are unionized (compared to 35% in the 1950s). That compares to about 33% of public-sector employees.

In our city government, we work closely with three strong and active unions representing police, fire, and front-line city workers – a total of about 30% of our employees. A fourth group of 911-dispatch employees recently unionized. We negotiate multi-year labor contracts covering wages, retirements, and more. I meet regularly with union leaders to discuss issues.

Organized labor’s efforts and policies help inspire continued progress for all workers. Our city employees, for example, all now enjoy a new paid family leave pilot program as well as an education tuition benefit. We instituted a minimum wage of $15 for all city employees several years ago – now it’s at $17.75 an hour. We’ve increased matching money for retirement and health savings accounts. We’ve tripled our investment in employee training in recent years, now at least 1.5% of payroll expenses. We’re opening a new employee health clinic downtown soon, to provide convenient, inexpensive wellness visits, prescriptions, vaccinations and the like. 

Labor continues to organize. Note the recent successful organizing campaign at a local Starbucks. Graduate students at IU continue their efforts to organize. 

A labor professor visiting IU a few years ago at a conference Dawn hosted put it in a way I’ve never forgotten: “there are no inherently ‘good’ jobs. Manufacturing jobs weren’t always good jobs. Organized labor made them good jobs. We can do that for all our jobs if we choose.” That seems spot on. We could make every job one of dignity and decent pay and benefits. Organized labor shows the way.

Thank organized labor for forging the backbone of America, our middle class. Let’s keep working to make every job one of dignity and decent pay.

Democratically yours,

John Hamilton

P.S. – some quotes for the weekend: 

“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.” - Abraham Lincoln

“Join the union, girls, and together say ‘Equal Pay for Equal Work.’” - Susan B. Anthony

“I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.” - Eugene V. Debs

“Think of the thousands who are killed every year and there is no redress for it. We will fight until the mines are made secure and human life valued more than props.” - Mother Jones

“Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people’s masters.” - Grover Cleveland

“¡Sí se puede!” - Dolores Huerta

AUGUST 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

What would FDR do?

Many of us admire Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party for the great accomplishments of the 1930s and 40s when they reimagined and remade America amid the Depression and WWII. 

FDR would remind us: “taxes, after all, are the dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in organized society.” The progress recovering from the Depression and winning WWII depended upon financial wherewithal.

The same is true locally. We need financial resources to tackle our problems. (And remember our very conservative state government has low per capita state and local public investment compared nationally, with the USA as a whole itself having low public investments compared to other advanced countries.)

I think FDR would applaud several recent local decisions: 

• Our 2016 public safety local income tax supporting police and fire services

• Our 2018 Bicentennial $10 million bonds to build 4 new trails and plant hundreds of trees

• Our 2022 $10 million bonds (planned for every five years) to maintain and improve parks and sidewalks and side paths.

• Our 2022 economic development local income tax ($16 million annually) to expand transit, affordable housing, climate responses, and equity, and support outstanding public servants across all city government.

And friends I believe FDR would support three more important steps locally:

• Pass a critical MCCSC school referendum to fund pre-school for all 4-year-olds and income-constrained 3-year-olds in our community. (Plus cover fees that can deter opportunity, for materials and certifications and qualifying exams)

• Allocate millions of one-time dollars (federal and local) in the 2024 city budget to make Bloomington more equitable, affordable, and sustainable

• Commit to significant new local public health investments, so that as we invest in needed new county jail facilities and programs, we also commit at least as much to new supports for mental health, addiction, and other services that help our neighbors avoid the criminal justice system altogether

Great opportunities lie ahead. We should continue our momentum of making wise, focused public investments that help our community thrive and improve equity. (For a powerful, accessible survey of how important smart public investments are historically and globally, check out Thomas Piketty’s A Brief History of Equality, a great read I highly recommend.)

While much of national and state politics seems intractable or worse, lean into the practical work of improving lives – that’s what President Biden and Vice President Harris have been doing to great effect nationally. And what we’ve been doing locally. Thanks for all you do to keep our eyes on that prize, a constantly improving Bloomington, day by day and step by step.

Democratically yours, 

John Hamilton

P.S. FDR made a striking pronouncement during WWII: “In these days, when every available dollar should go to the war effort, I do not think that any American citizen should have a net income in excess of $25,000 per year after payment of taxes.” That’s about $500k in today’s dollars. What a bold call! Should not today’s climate emergency and equity needs awake similar sentiments to focus our collective resources on addressing existential threats? 

JULY 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

Nothing is more fundamental to city government than assuring and protecting the safety of our public. Bloomington is exceptionally well served by our public safety professionals. 

The resident-led Board of Public Safety that oversees our police and fire departments has since 2016 comprised 100% women and people of color, to help assure diverse perspectives are embodied in our public safety policies and programs. This board coordinated a deep review of policing practices in light of standards like the 21st Century Policing and 8 Can't Wait resources. 

We have embraced transparency. Since 2017 we’ve provided an annual report on the State of Public Safety every February to share data and statistics. Every month our public safety board reviews performance. Monthly internal meetings coordinate among police, fire and community and family resources departments to assure alignment.

Our community and city council strongly support public safety. In 2016 we enacted a Public Safety Local Income Tax to fund critical county-wide investments in 911-dispatch and police and fire equipment and staffing. In 2022 we passed an Economic Development Local Income Tax that in part further supports better public safety pay and facilities. (And federal pandemic relief has been essential too.)

In addition, this funding let us purchase the Showers Building west side to create a state-of-the-art shared police headquarters and fire administration facility, positioning us for even greater coordination and improvements. The funding also supports unprecedented housing support -- $750/month rental subsidies and $100k forgivable down-payment assistance to help police officers and firefighters live in the city they serve.

We embrace innovation and reform. Our police department was among the first in the state to adopt body-worn cameras. We were the first in the state to embed social workers in our department and have just added one to 911-dispatch as well. We’ve established Downtown Resource Officers and Community Service Specialists to expand beyond what traditional officers do. We’ve established a special taskforce to address gun violence, embraced technology and federal partnerships to solve gun crimes, and added a new neighborhood grant program to strengthen grass-roots efforts.

Our fire department introduced a smaller, more nimble Squad Car team of two firefighters to respond to some medical calls (replacing four-person fire engine responses), and developed a Mobile Integrated Health team of health professionals to deal with chronic 911 callers more proactively.

Both police and fire personnel are extensively trained, far beyond state requirements, to be highly skilled, to de-escalate, and to prevent problems before they occur. We’re just finishing a review of our 911-dispatch protocols, to find better ways to respond to emergencies – reducing demand on sworn personnel and delivering more effective responses to events like mental health or family crises. 

And you should know, we are the ONLY community in Indiana with a nationally accredited (CALEA) police department, and a nationally top-ranked (ISO Class 1) fire department. I’m very proud that our very progressive Bloomington so strongly supports, and is so well served by, simply outstanding public safety departments.

All this makes a difference. Our overall crime rate continues to decline (though gun violence is rising, tragically). Our fire department has cut the fire fatality rate by 90% and saved nearly a dozen lives from fires in the past several years. 

When you see one of the 300+ members of our (union-represented) public safety departments, I hope you will thank them for their service, and be proud of the community’s strong support of innovative, effective public safety.

Democratically yours, 

John Hamilton

P.S. Remember Democrats deliver. Our most progressive city in the state also has, in my view, the finest public safety services in the state. We believe in government and excellent services, starting with public safety. Don’t fall for political attacks – progressives in Bloomington walk the walk and invest in effective, fair, transparent, strong, and always-improving public safety services. 

JUNE 2023 NEWSLETTER

Friends,

Recently, hundreds of U.S. mayors gathered in Columbus, Ohio to share ideas and advocate for progress. For eight years, I have attended these national U.S. Conference of Mayors meetings, and they consistently remind me of the deep resilience that cities give America.

Do we at times get discouraged watching state legislatures or Congress? Not only what happens or doesn’t – like ravaging women’s rights or perpetuating economic disparities or ignoring basic public safety steps – but also how things happen – with such vitriol and partisanship and posturing. 

City governments led by mayors of course include their own challenges, but I do believe they reflect the truth that most people, most of the time, mostly just want their governments to work in partnerships to make lives better, day by day, for as many of us as possible. 

America is much more resilient in dealing with big challenges because we have hundreds of communities full of people of good will trying to improve things for our neighbors and families – to grow the middle class and make life easier for all. Yes, cities are subject to state preemption or national and international forces we don’t control. But still, the resilience is palpable. American cities and their leaders are persistent and tenacious about fighting for progress.

A couple of recent books are good introductions to cities’ roles: The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism, by Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak, urges that cities are specially positioned to advance justice and well-being, and to address big challenges. The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World, by Rahm Emanuel, argues that this oldest political form, the city, is resurgent and should be recognized as the engine of progress we need and are seeing arise.

A few months back, I asked another two-term Indiana mayor what surprised them most about city government as they led their community. They said they were most struck by the competence, professionalism, and public commitment they saw in their hundreds of city employees. Simply, that so many people came to work every day doing excellent work, trying hard to make their city better. That struck me as true. And something I truly wish all of our community members could personally see and feel directly.

Mayors are practical people just trying to get things done for their communities. And by the way, you know who else is a practical, tenacious leader? President Joe Biden! With Vice President Harris, they have done an historic job bringing tangible, real progress to Americans: building our future from the bottom up and the middle out -- investing in our people, lowering costs of prescriptions and college and housing, and securing retirements and dignity. While also fighting for democracy at home and abroad, and for freedom and dignity that some are taking away. 

Mayors make me hopeful about our resilience and our path ahead. So do President Biden and Vice President Harris. And so do you, in all the ways you make Bloomington better. Thank you!

Democratically yours,

John Hamilton

P.S. One of the funny things about mayor conferences is you often can’t tell, listening to a mayor talk about their cities and their issues and efforts, whether they are a Republican, Democrat, or Other. (Most are Democrats, it’s true, but by no means all.) But most sound like Democrats anyway: using the power of government to invest in people and make lives better. That’s what we do, and I’m so proud of how Bloomington continues to do that. Watch for the 2024 city budget to continue the progress.