closed #200037
Sidewalk Snow Removal
348 W 11th ST
- Case Date:
- 1/8/2025
Business cleared the lot of snow but hates pedestrians and ignored sidewalks
Business cleared the lot of snow but hates pedestrians and ignored sidewalks
Subject: Formal Complaint and Damage Notification – Fallen Tree Incident at the corner of 700 Ashlynn Park Dr. & 300 W. 11th St. Bloomington, IN near Upland Brewery. Dear City of Bloomington Officials, We (Katherine & Renas Van Lue) are writing to formally report an incident involving a hazardous tree that resulted in significant damage to our parked vehicle. The tree in question, located near the sidewalk and parking meter of 700 Ashlynn Park Dr. & 300 W. 11th St. Bloomington, IN ( near Upland Brewery )dropped a large bough on our car on the night of May 21,2025 at approximately 10:40pm. This location is marked by a clearly deteriorating and partially dead tree, which appears to have been neglected for a significant period. As seen in the attached daytime Google Maps Street View (screenshot dated 2025) and our personal photographs taken at the time of the incident as well as the next day during daylight hours, the tree shows clear signs of rot and structural instability. It is evident that this tree posed a danger to public safety and property, especially in an area with active parking meters and pedestrian traffic. The incident has resulted in physical damage to our vehicle, which was legally parked by the curb at a paid meter. A section of the tree broke off and landed directly on the front of our car, causing not only structural damage but also significant inconvenience and cost. Two witnesses were at the scene. This situation could have easily led to personal injury had someone been present near the vehicle at the time. Given the foreseeable and preventable nature of this hazard, we respectfully urge the City of Bloomington to: 1. Investigate the incident and confirm the ownership and maintenance responsibility of the tree in question. 2. Take immediate action to remove or professionally inspect the remaining portion of the tree to prevent further harm. 3. Reimburse or assist with damage-related expenses caused by the City’s negligence in maintaining public safety. safety. We would like to note that after the incident, we called police to report what had happened and police just said to contact our insurance instead. No police report was made. Our insurance company has been notified and a claim has been filed. We have not been given any estimates of the damage. We are awaiting for an adjuster to come and view the damage. Please let me know the next steps in initiating a formal claim for property damage and what further documentation may be required. We are reachable by phone at 812-617-5016 or 773-564-3266 and by email which is provided at the top of this letter. We would appreciate timely communication. Thank you for your attention to this serious safety matter. We hope the City takes swift and responsible action to prevent similar incidents in the future. Sincerely, Katherine and Renas Van Lue
The stop sign at the corner of 11th and Madison is completely obscured by a tree.
I am submitting this Ureport on behalf of Upland Brewing. Pete Batule of Upland Brewing contacted me on 10-5-18 to say that Upland has been experiencing significant issues with odor coming from the storm drains on the north side of 11th street directly in front of Upland's patio. The odor is having a negative impact on their patio dining customers. Here is background on the issue as provided by Mr. Batule: Upland has had ongoing issues over the last few years with odors near the patio. They installed a piece of equipment above their lift station (the Peacemaker) next to the patio to neutralize the smell coming from the lift station. It wasn’t until the Peacemaker was installed that they suspected most of the odor was coming from the storm drains. Phil Peden has done some investigation on the storm drains. He noted there is an illicit connection tying to the north side of the storm box. Phil doesn't believe it is tied to a toilet because there isn't paper in it, but perhaps is related to byproduct or a wash drain/sink coming from elsewhere. Upland has dye tested their facility and found no evidence that the connection on the north side of the storm box is connected to their facilities. The odor comes on very strong at times to the point where they have to relocate customers. They notice an increase in odor around times when it rains and storm drain activity increases. James Hall and I discussed this issue on 10/8/18 and James has started to follow up internally at CBU on next steps. Kelly
Upland At 350 w 11th st consistantly puts an obstacle in front of an exit to prevent people from using the entrance/exit in the winter. Today the door is even locked preventing exit.
A resident reported an overgrowth of weeds on Madison Street just north of 11th, over the bridge. Weeds are encroaching on the sidewalk which affects accessibility of the path. Duke has already been contacted and has taken care of their share of the weeds.
I hit a really large pothole on 11th St. close to the Uplands Brewery. I will be reporting wheel/tire damage if needed after hitting that thing. That could really do some damage.
I hit a really large pothole on 11th St. close to the Uplands Brewery. I will be reporting wheel/tire damage if needed after hitting that thing. That could really do some damage.
There is a storm drain right by our restaurant that has a really bad smell coming out of it. I didn't know who to contact about this issue.
on Rogers/Madison, where it changes name and crosses over the railroad tracks just north of 11th street, the bike lane is on the uphill side of the street. so at the apex, it switches from one side of the street to the other. at this switching point, we have lost our 'dashed line' merge zones. i am hoping that someone from Engineering will go look at the facts on the ground and validate its correctness. when it was conceptually designed back in 2011, i thought "gee they're gonna have to do a good job of signing that if it's not going to be a nightmare for cyclists to merge into traffic". and then when it was *finally* implemented around 2017-2019, it was just striped lines indicating that there is a merge. but when the bridge was re-decked in 2020-2021, they repainted it wrong. and subsequent generations of painting have each made it worse, to where the southbound merge zone is completely missing and cyclists are directed to stay in the abruptly-ending bike lane on the dangerous high speed downhill segment. and the northbound merge zone has been reduced to about 30 feet, again, at the wrong place for the merge.