Quite a few people seem to be living under the bridge in tents, spilling out onto the adjacent sidewalk and blocking it. There are also tents behind the closed car wash near the downtown post office. I hope we find better homes for these individuals.
Excessive trash in and around the Post Office related to the homeless tents.
I was downtown at the walnut street post office and the parking lot was overrun by homeless people who apparently were on some sort of substance. One was lingering by my vehicle and I was uncomfortable going to my car. There were tents all over the park into the post office parking lot. Can the Mayor PLEASE do something about the homeless situation? This is not the same Bloomington we had 4 years ago! I don't think I will be coming downtown for a while now.
Repeated complaints about Seminary Park, most recent #172269 submitted 4/20/20. This park is a very shameful example of how our city is handling (not handling) the homeless/drug population. The mayor should be ashamed of what message it sends that the issue continues with everyone looking the other way. This is a major north/south & east/west travel point. DAILY I have to deal with this as a working citizen of Bloomington at the Post Office. I know that you know the issues because I call the police at least once/week. Daily, besides the usual littering the park and Post Office parking lot (including mattresses, office desk chairs, tables, etc.) there is suspicious traffic in & out of that park via the Post Office parking lot. Within the past month we have had 5 different instances where someone backed up against the outside of our building to relieve him/herself of #2, then proceeded to smear it all up the wall. Today I witnessed a man walk behind the post office to a little white truck that is there daily with no plates. He handed that person something, then waved and walked away. Several people came from the park up to his window, went back in the park, then came back to the truck. Didn't appear to be just chit-chat. A transaction had been made for sure. And, what about a few Fridays ago when someone provided the park a nice big bbq complete with a huge grill that was brought in. Are grills and full-sized tents allowed to be brought into a city park?? They were there that day! This brought a huge crowd filling that park and creating a big scene. They trashed the park, the Post Office parking lot, and the area in front of the Post Office by the street. Both our custodian and your city employees are using a lot of resources & money to clean up after that population. Mayor Hamilton, you out to be ashamed of our city right now! This is not the Bloomington it used to be and you're looking the other way. I do not feel safe going to my job to make a decent living because I have been approached by these people and our customers have been approached. When election time rolls around again I will be paying very close attention to which candidate has plans to clean up our city.
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.
The construction on 10th street near the post office is absolutely unacceptable. Not only has it blocked traffic for weeks in front of where I live at Woodbridge apartments, but today the water main was broken and the power was lost.. Whoever is in charge of the operation should be held responsible.
There is a large pothole on S Rogers just past Clear Creek post office by RCV Roofing. It is going to cause damage to someone’s car or tire. Thank You, Emily Cook
Sunk in area on edge of road on east 10th street headed east between Woodbridge post office and smith road. Appears to have been patched but in bad shape- difficult to avoid hitting.
I was traveling east on 10th St. and got into the right-hand turn lane (with turn signal on) to turn right/south on Smith Road. As I turned right, a car facing north on Smith Road turned left to head west on 10th St. and did not see an oncoming car and the eastbound car on 10th street had to brake quickly to avoid an accident...stopping within a few feet of the turning car. With the new traffic light at the Post Office intersection on 10th st, GPS is routing more people east/west on 10th street to/from Smith Rd and more locals are also using this route. This is turning an already dangerous intersection more dangerous. Turning left off smith onto 10th street requires timing to avoid a car coming east around the curve on east 10th street...and the same for turning left onto Smith off 10th street. Please consider a stop light at this intersection. Thank You.
This intersection needs a left turn only lane for cars turning off of 10th St. North onto Range Road. Sometimes cars in the lane for going straight swerve into the right lane to get around cars waiting to turn left even though visibility for this is poor and could confuse drivers turning right onto 10th St. from Pete Ellis. Just park in the post office parking lot and observe this intersection around 5 - 6 pm on a weekday and you can see for yourself. A left turn lane would greatly reduce accidents at this intersection.