https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=170618 Closed by Alex Crowley Emailed Wendy

https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=170618 Alex Crowley contacted Alex Crowley Hi Wendy, Thanks for your uReport question, which is a good one. Let me try to respond within this space, but I'm happy to discuss further with you if you would like. As you know, retail nationally is weakening as a result of online purchasing options -- e.g., Amazon. So there's a national/global trend that is affecting us and there isn't much we can do about that. What we can do, and are doing, is to take a look at the smaller/local players and locations in Bloomington to determine what can be done to support those that are already in place, streamline the process of new businesses starting up (see a tool we have online at https://bloomington.in.gov/business/start, for example), and facilitate activation of empty spaces. On the last point, Downtown Bloomington Inc. (see https://www.downtownbloomington.com/) is engaging with a IU SPEA Capstone in the spring to get underneath our local retail/commercial activity and analyze our performance vs. comparable cities. That process will also help us better understand what opportunities exist here. All this to say, we're involved in this issue and working to improve the situation. Let me know if you have any questions. My email address is: crowleya@bloomington.in.gov and my phone number is 812.349.3477. Thanks again, Alex

https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=170618 Mackenzie Austin assigned this case to Alex Crowley You can use the link to follow progress on this case.