uReport

City of Bloomington, Indiana

closed: Resolved #172269

Parks & Playgrounds:

Other: Seminary Park -- need I say more? I work at the Post Office right beside this park. I have worked at this location since the Post Office took over the old Ponderosa. Daily when I get to work at 7:15 until when I leave around 5:00 pm there is a steady stream of people who are using this park as a shanti (I know the parks dept. along with the police dept. know all about the issues and the police even know most of them by name). I first submitted my complaint in May 2013 and have all copies of my correspondence --along with Mick Renneisen's responses. There are regularly large groups of people going back & forth to Big Red Liquors and taking their booze back to the park to drink openly all day long. There is filthy language, shouting cuss words, fighting, loud boom-box music that we can hear inside the Post Office, stumbling through our parking lot, leaving trash everywhere in the park and through our parking lot, they hang a hammock, (twice this month), last week they hung a large green tarp (it was raining), and cars coming and going all day long. Those cars park in our parking lot (that entire lot is leased by the Post Office--it IS NOT for Seminary Park and they should not be using it) mainly at the northwest end. As these cars come to park people come from all through the park to come up to the window of the car and surround it doing, well, you can guess at that! Then, they go back to the park and the car leaves, only to come back later in the day with, again, people flocking to surround the car. I have come to work on a morning after one of their big parties and there is trash everywhere. You know this because you send your employees several times/week to clean up after them--sometimes more than once/day. Is the cost to clean up that park made public? A couple of years ago there was "supposedly" a camera installed on the pole at the northwest corner of the Post Office parking lot that you were to use to monitor this park. Obviously that is not happening. When I 1st submitted a complaint and Mick Renneison responded I had witnessed a man urinating on a tree--around 1:30 in the afternoon as I was stuck trying to get out of our lot on my lunch break on a busy day. You could not miss this man as he was stumbling while holding his privates to try to pee. Mick's response was that the only time anything could be done is if skin showed! There's no doubt I saw skin! Just last week it happened again and I witnessed it, and so have my co-workers and customers who visit our business. In May 2013 a question I asked was about loitering in public parks and Mick's response was that it's hard to determine if someone is loitering in a park, or just enjoying it. Please!! When they set up camp before I get to work at 7:15 and stay all day drinking--seems like loitering to me. What will it take to clean up this park? I work right beside this park and cannot enjoy a lunch outside there. What about the rights of the citizens who work within a couple of blocks of this park and wish to walk there for their lunch? I am having to call the police frequently on issues involving that park. With the current COVID-19 issue it does not appear that Blgtn. Parks and Rec is enforcing any of the social distancing rules--except to put up signs in the park! Obviously that isn't working. When I left work tonight I counted 5 cars and 2 trucks (and a tan Lincoln SUV that is there every day!) -- all parked at that northwest corner with one truck parked sideways--not in a parking spot. There were large crowds all over this park along with crowds surrounding the parked vehicles. There was about maybe 1 week early in the COVID-19 stay-at-home and social distancing rules that we observed police coming through the park to spread people out of their crowds. Now just signs that they ignore--or take up completely. This park is at a major north/south and east/west intersection. This is not a pretty picture for the mayor who wants to tout Bloomington as a beautiful city. This is not a beautiful sight and something we should be ashamed of when we have out-of-town visitors driving by that spot. It seems to me that that crowd of people KNOW that nothing will be done to them.

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History

2/1/2022 11:39:46 Closed by Tim Street

Hello - I am reviewing some remaining open uReports related to this situation. The Parks Department remains committed to working with all City departments to provide safe parks while also ensuring resources are available to those in need. Since last year, we have hired Park Security to help maintain safety in the parks. Thank you for reporting this concern.

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=172269 Closed by Tim Street Hello - I am reviewing some remaining open uReports related to this situation. The Parks Department remains committed to working with all City departments to provide safe parks while also ensuring resources are available to those in need. Since last year, we have hired Park Security to help maintain safety in the parks. Thank you for reporting this concern.

4/20/2020 18:50:54 Anonymous assigned this case to Anonymous

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=172269 Anonymous assigned this case to Paula McDevitt You can use the link to follow progress on this case.

4/20/2020 18:50:54 Opened by Anonymous

3550 W Springwood Ct, Bloomington, Indiana, 47404

CityBloomington
StateIN
Latitude39.214168548584
Longitude-86.58625793457

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