Friends,
Tomorrow is municipal election day. Be sure to vote if you haven’t already!!
For Bloomington and for our future, I urge you to support Don Griffin as our next mayor.
A mayor should bring the right vision for the future: what should Bloomington look like in 10 years? 30 years?
A mayor should bring an optimism and persistence to tackle hard challenges, even when we don’t all agree or the answers are themselves daunting.
A mayor should bring a deeply caring attitude toward all of our residents – current AND future – and our city workforce.
Don Griffin brings all of that and more. I have known him for 25 years, and we worked shoulder to shoulder while he was Deputy Mayor for two years.
Don knows Bloomington needs to lean into climate resilience and more affordable housing. He has the vision to lean into true inclusion and diversity and the understanding that we have to welcome new families to our city, with new ideas and new energy. He will dream big and help us continue to excel.
Don also is an irrepressible optimist. A mayor can’t get deterred by negativity or depressed by personal criticism – those tend to come with the territory. Don has spent his entire life in Bloomington overcoming all kinds of challenges and doubters. He’s never lost his smile or his hopeful nature. He’s never lost his belief in Bloomington, and he will help grasp our bright future.
And Don is among the most caring people I know. He cares about co-workers deeply and visibly. He cares about every one of our community residents. He has known loss and prejudice and disappointments himself, and he embodies empathetic leadership.
Don inspires people around him, as he did for 20 plus years leading a wonderful local real estate company, for two years as Deputy Mayor, and on countless community boards. He will fill his administration with wonderfully talented, committed, and diverse department heads and personnel.
I’ve served as our mayor for the past seven plus years. Through a global pandemic, a Trump Presidency, a regressive state government, and a rising climate emergency. Through all of that Bloomington has thrived, with our City Council and my administration collaborating strongly with many partners to meet challenges head on and seize opportunities. Not everyone has agreed with every step we took – that’s natural. But I hope you’ll agree Bloomington has taken great strides into a brighter future.
We have achieved new levels of excellence in our city departments, from police and fire to sanitation and parks to utilities and housing and much more. Our economy is strong and modernizing. Our affordable housing stock is 1,400 units bigger and growing. Our quality of life is unsurpassed in Indiana. And fiber internet will soon connect every home.
Don helped all of this happen and our momentum is only building. It is not time to slow down or look backward – we have to keep meeting the new challenges.
These days can tempt us to succumb to negativity. That’s a mistake. Leaders must be positive and willing to do hard things. That’s Don Griffin. I truly believe he will be a great mayor for Bloomington’s future. I hope you’ll join me in voting for Don and helping usher in an historic and vibrant next chapter for Bloomington.
Democratically yours,
John Hamilton
P.S. Get out to vote!! It’s democracy time. And progress time. It’s time to chart our future, with votes for mayor, city clerk and city council. Thanks for all that you do to care for our city.