Case Date:

10/12/2022

Please share with council ahead of tonight’s budget hearing: The “updated” budget released by administration does nothing for non-unionized, regular employees. These are the people who rely on council to advocate for them because they are not protected and eligible to negotiate via a representative. Instead they have to silently watch their continual fate because their bosses are in control of their pay without discussion every year via the administration’s budget. For a quarter of a billion dollar budget, the focus is not on the regular citizen or employee who in turn is the backbone of the local economy. In order for the budget to be as “progressive” as the administration claims, why do we not see a 9% minimum wage bump for those below pay grade 9 to adequately address stagnant wage growth. If you make what the mayor and his department heads make, 5% is great because they’re at almost 6-figures and above in pay. This information is public and is continually ignored by all hiring processes and “initiatives” by admin to recruit and retain employees. When you keep the majority of employees in low pay grades and will not adjust wages accordingly in times of high inflation or value education and experience, your administration keeps cycles of poverty ongoing. Questions have been raised that need addressed: what is the difference between the highest paid full-time salary worker and the lowest paid full-time salary worker?, how many employees live within city limits versus outside of city limits? How many employees in city limits have ownership of their home versus how many who live in city limits are renting? These questions provide information that shed light on the lack of wage to keep up with the cost of living in this city. The highest paid workers, including the mayor, are the only ones afforded the ability to own a home in city limits and utilize all services fully. This budget is tone-deaf and shows how only unionized worker groups and sections of city workers are valued - why do all employees not have access to assistance with home ownership or rent? Our neighbors in the county still are working for better wages, however they also have the privilege of more holidays per year, a clinic, and most employees work an hour less per day as the county closes at 4pm. Why does the city think it is acceptable to tell folks that one should accept a low wage because ‘benefits’ when the benefits aren’t reflective of “an employer of choice”? Bloomington should be more than matching the county but now you cannot keep up. Citizens and workers are asking of council to uphold our worth and advocate for actual, beneficial change. No one questions the ordinances for council and admin’s wage growth but the regular employee is forgotten.

Case Date:

10/14/2022

City Vehicle #689 has a headlight out. When will the city have its employees make sure their vehicles are in working order. This has been about the 5th time I’ve reported city owned vehicles not in working order.

Case Date:

10/16/2022

This is the Dunkin Donut drive through on east third street Sunday10/16/2023. Something needs to be done about these problems. When IU students quit coming here because of this all over town maybe you will do something. This is disgusting. Only in Bloomington. It’s gotten totally out of hand.

Case Date:

10/17/2022

I believe there is a problem with distracted driving in Bloomington despite there being a state law about hands-free driving for a few years now. Please inform me what BPD is doing to directly address this danger to the public safety of this city. Thank you. Marnina Patrick

Case Date:

10/19/2022

Does Eli McCormick still work for the City? It seems like if a uReport gets routed to Eli McCormick, it is lost. I had an issue previously with the City not updating its directory after an employee quit and Ureports were being assigned to that person and no one seemed to realize it. Case #181740 has not been touched in 14 days after being assigned to Eli. Case #181758 is at 9 days. Case #181718 is at 13 days. Case #181222 is approaching 2 months. Just checking in. . . There is a problem with a lot of trash around a bus stop and someone living in the bus stop basically, and nothing has been done about it for 2+ weeks now. Maybe Eli is working towards a resolution, or maybe Eli is no longer in town! Who knows. Thanks for checking.

Case Date:

11/17/2022

There is a person living in their car on 300 w kirkwood by the frame store. They have been there for about 2-3 weeks now. Vehicle is a silver Volkswagen sedan. Can the city have this person move along or tow the vehicle? Definitely an eye sore out of my apartment.

Case Date:

8/8/2022

Blocked Street requests go to Paul Kehrberg, and nothing seems to happen after that. There is a considerable back log here: https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets?query=;enteredDate%5Bstart%5D=;enteredDate%5Bend%5D=;fields%5BenteredDate%5D=on;fields%5Bcategory_id%5D=on;fields%5Bdepartment_id%5D=on;fields%5Bstatus%5D=on;fields%5Blocation%5D=on;fields%5Bdescription%5D=on;category_id=17

Case Date:

9/27/2022

In response to uReport case # 181637: "Greetings. We need moving violation enforcement and an increase in people who can do traffic law enforcement. Can someone in BPD as well as OOTM please read this article and consider how the City of Bloomington may work to make their streets actually safe and civil... Please take note of the quote about their goal. I think Bloomington needs to make the goal of public safety a top and most important priority! This is what the city of New Orleans is doing to help their police department with their staff shortages. 'They will have duties such as monitoring phone and online reports, issuing traffic citations, surveying major events like Mardi Gras and the Essence Festival and even doing some investigative work. Civilians would additionally be dispatched to calls that may not require an officer, such as collecting preliminary evidence, securing loose pets and responding to forgery, certain medical episodes and some thefts, New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said last Thursday. 'The goal of all of this is to make our officers feel safe so that they can make our citizens and visitors feel safe,' Ferguson said. 'This is also to reduce some of the workload currently placed on our patrol and district personnel. But more importantly this is designed to reduce response time and address the backlogs in which we have in some of our districts.'" Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/26/1125055305/new-orleans-police-civilians" RESPONSE: "BPD already has a program such as this in place in an effort to lessen the workload on sworn officers so they can focus their efforts on criminal behavior. MY REPLY: Thank you very much for the information. I was aware that there were Community Service Specialists but since I have still been told repeatedly over the past three years that BPD does not have the staffing to do traffic detail or do much work outside of responding to 9/11 calls, then I respectfully suggest COB budgets for and approves several more CSSs. Also, admittedly I had a poor opinion to the CSS position due to a car collision at a bad intersection that was attended to by a CSS and not a sworn officer and was never included in the official stats for that intersection. When I requested a four way stop from P & T, they cited there had never been a collision there when that is blatantly false. Please consider checking the protocol on how collisions attended to by CSSs are handled for reporting purposes as well as increase the head count, please. There is a problem with public safety in this town that the current business as usual is not curbing. Thank you for your time.

Case Date:

10/18/2022

Power in Park Ridge East is frequently out. Neighbors and the Association have flagged this unsuccessfully as an issue with Duke. Outages often take time for restoration beyond what would be expected. Basic power in neighborhoods should be a staple of good governance. I understand both the State and Duke are primary contacts for this, but can municipal governance please help flag this to Duke as a concern. Our household lost power yesterday and then again today (still out). Power reliability here has been less than anywhere I have lived, including internationally. Sentiment is similar among many other residents. As a sample from another resident's posted concerns yesterday: "I thought Duke did a lousy job of tree trimming this yea, and I'm beginning to think that was a correct observation. AC power in Park Ridge East is the least reliable of any place I've lived in the US and compares unfavorably to Ankara, Turkey, where I lived in the 1960s." Another poster from yesterday: "Agreed, power outages in PRE are a regular occurrence." I also had to contact Duke to correct dangerous power fluctuations in their line this year near my home, which was corrected after being flagged as a major fire hazard by my electronic monitoring company. Your advocacy for improvements would be appreciated and expected. Thank you.

Case Date:

10/25/2022

Tyler Steury closes out uReport questions about water quality without answering them whenever the submitter is anonymous. Here's a few recent examples: #181901, #181513, #181504. I would like to see the answers to these questions, and I feel it's inappropriate to refuse to answer a question just because it was submitted anonymously. This is a public record and citizens monitor it for current issues that may affect us.