As we look ahead to the upcoming budget hearings, where Mayor Kerry Thomson and her team will have the opportunity to present their goals for the coming year and related funding requests to the Bloomington City Council, it has occurred to me that the connections I see between our work and our community may not be obvious to others. In particular, I have heard questions about the viability of the Convention Center and Trades District as economic development strategies.
In short, they are not feasible. At least not on their own. But these initiatives, in the context of all our other efforts, represent critical steps to stabilizing and growing our overall economy. It is important to view these efforts as part of a larger, integrated plan. Why do we need a strong economy?
In short, when we get it right, it’s easier for you, the resident, to live, work and play here. When our economy is robust, you can live in Bloomington without worrying about whether your paycheck will arrive before your rent is due. And with a robust economic foundation, we, the City, have the tax revenue we need to support transit, parks, public art, climate action, homeless shelters and services, maintenance of our public spaces, and policing, among other things. The Mayor’s vision for Bloomington is that of a thriving, inclusive and sustainable community with the opportunity for prosperity for all residents.
Living in Bloomington can present challenges, especially given the low wages, high cost of living, and high income inequality. For example, Bloomington’s Gini coefficient of 0.53 represents “high” income inequality. While Bloomington does not have the highest coefficient in the state, coupled with our high cost of living and lack of available housing, our community is quickly becoming less competitive as a place to live. For example, Bloomington’s homeownership rate is 35%, compared to the national average of 70%. And as anyone who lives here knows, that’s not because Bloomington residents don’t want to own a home. These challenges have been evident in our gradual population decline since a brief recovery from a major pandemic-induced dip in 2020.
But back to the Convention Center, the Trades District, and Hopewell—each of these projects addresses one of our critical economic constraints. Hopewell will alleviate the overall housing shortage by creating up to 850 units of “dense, urban form” within walking distance of downtown and on Bloomington Transit’s East-West Bus Rapid Transit Line. Hopewell is slowly taking shape: construction on Kohr Community Flats is set to begin later this year; Hopewell Commons is set to open to the public in the fall; the call for developers for Hopewell South (the area closest to McDoel Gardens) will be issued next month, and feedback is being sought on proposals for public art at Hopewell Commons. Hopewell will add nearly 800 homes, townhomes, condos, and apartments, and this increase in housing stock will lower the overall cost of housing in Bloomington and help alleviate the housing shortage.
Sector development refers to a community’s ability to have multiple baskets of economic eggs (sorry, agriculture metaphors work better for me than tires). Bloomington has some really big baskets – like higher education and life sciences manufacturing. Diversifying baskets makes our economy more resilient to macroeconomic pressures (like a pandemic, for example). The work being done to spur development in the Trades District, with two buildings coming online this fall, the Kiln and the Forge, and a new grant to accelerate development through partnerships with IU, the Mill, and the city, our community is making incredible progress in expanding the tech sector in Bloomington. Through Bloomington Remote, the Mill is working to grow our local talent by bringing remote workers to Bloomington. And they’re building an incredible community in the process.
The development of the convention center is another economic benefit that involves a few important steps. First, it helps protect Bloomington from quiet periods when IU is not operating, and second, it brings outside money to support our local service businesses. That is, the convention center functions more as a commercial sector business — a business that sells its goods and services outside the community. The convention center’s market size will not be limited by our population size, and our residents will not be responsible for generating the revenue that fuels its activities. Instead, Bloomington businesses will benefit from these off-cycle (and in-cycle) visitors to our city. In fact, we will all benefit. It will contribute to the overall sense of vibrancy in our downtown and beyond.
More: Expansion of Monroe Convention Center progresses with site and architect selection
As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all solution that addresses all aspects of these problems. Instead, we are working to remove barriers to growth by building on our incredible assets, such as our walkable downtown, IU’s incredible campus and community, our many wonderful restaurants, cafes, breweries, food trucks, intercollegiate sports, Monroe County’s great natural beauty, mountain biking opportunities, road biking opportunities, Little 5, our many art galleries, the largest lake in Indiana, our Hoosier hospitality, our farmers markets, our community orchard, the Hub, our quarries, our dog parks, our skate parks, our neighborhood parks, Cascades, Switchyard, the B-Line, our incredible schools and educators, our many pickleball opportunities, Western Skateland, QueerTonk, the Back Door, Fourth Street, Limestone Comedy, our performing arts opportunities, our glass studio, our public art, our local hardware stores and donut shops, and of course all of our other super fun year-round events.
With compassion and determination, our collective efforts will help ensure Bloomington remains a dynamic and resilient community.
Jane Kupersmith is the director of economic and sustainable development for the city of Bloomington.
