that's a good way to start isn't it uh with that being said I will call our city council listening session to order It is Monday March 17th Thank you all for being here We have the following people pre-registered to talk tonight We have Ronald Clifton Is Ronald here i don't see
Ronald Uh Jeffrey Prager Robert I see you You're here Marrier I see you There she is Lawrence Levton All right And you had signed up as well I did And your name dennis Piano
Dennis Uh if uh Ronald or Ronald excuse me and Jeffrey don't make it we'll we'll get to you But we're going to push them to the back of the the list right now But that puts us at about five people in five minutes each And I just want to make sure that we everybody gets a decent chance to talk So why don't we start with Robert come on up Yep You're
up first man Um you know the drill Identify yourself and uh we've got about five minutes per speaker so we can make sure that everybody gets a chance to talk So good evening and live Hello council Uh my name is Robert Coleman Uh I wanted to talk today about um public
transportation and parking at the new community health and wellness center Um when I was looking I've talked to uh council member Mua briefly about this but the uh the schematic for the new community health center is quite inconvenient when it comes to public
transit um for some of the bus stops that people would be arriving from throughout the city to uh the site They would have to walk,200 feet to get to the main entrance And it really seems like the layout of the site is not like transit
riders are an afterthought for sure Um when like a lot of when I go to a site that I've never been to on transit like I look around and if I when the new health and wellness center is there I look and I see you know glass windows
back wall I don't see an entrance right you have to walk all the way around and if you have like if it's raining if it's snowing then that's a quite a while to walk There's no like you can't put a bus shelter like on the northeast corner because it's like a it's a free right
You can't put a shelter there to block vision Um and I think that it's it being an afterthought is really a big issue when you guys consider that it seems like you guys are having a parking problem Um and when it comes to the the
ways that you guys are incentivizing people to uh use transportation to reach the community health and wellness center it seems that like all of the eggs are in the driving basket right um there's there is a sidewalk there is like outdoor bike parking but that's like the
minimum that city code requires Um but what you do have is a bunch of free parking And we all know that free parking isn't actually free Like when people like me we take the bus we walk we bike to different businesses in Bloomington uh the cost of that parking
we pay it no matter what because it's factored into the rent of the building it's factored into the the cost of the goods and services that we spend at those places And it's an equity problem right because even though we are the people who either like we choose to not
drive or we can't afford to we're forced to pay for that anyway And that cost is going to be uh factored into the the the day passes the cost of the rooms at the community health and wellness center Um and I think that cost recovery on the parking charging for parking you know
maybe it's 50 cents 75 cents an hour and instead of charging that uh to like the day pass or the the building uh the room cost spreading that to the people who actually use the parking because the way that is currently working is that there
is an incentive to drive but there's like a negative incentive for people to do anything other than that So the people who are doing the right thing who walk who aren't using your parking you know isn't uh taking that expense from the taxpayers of the cost of the parking they aren't using it We're doing the
right thing by walking We're biking car pooling you know taking a senior shuttle Um and we're we're it's a disincentivizing that Um and I think that if you guys I'm not sure exactly what the situation is with the property
acquisitions like it kind of seems like maybe buying some of those properties to move the parking there and just to have more space on the site I think that it's a real blind spot to not be considering hey this site is going to have the most transit that it has ever had like at
least since the '9s as far as I can tell with Network Now by the time that this opens And I think that it's a real blind spot Um I really hope that you guys will before moving forward with buying these properties to really think about hey if we charge for parking the demand will be
lower and you don't have to build as much parking and it will be more equitable equitable because you will be instead of charging that parking to everyone no matter what they use no matter if they if they can't afford it actually charging it to people who choose to drive maybe you know they'll
decide hey I don't want to take maybe we won't take two cars we'll we'll take the extra 5 minutes to go home pick up somebody instead of taking two cars to community health the summer or like hey we we live like three blocks away Do we really want to spend you know a couple
bucks on parking maybe we'll decide not to do that We'll decide to walk right and I I think that it seems like a real missed opportunity Just one quick question here because we're right at time here So the I've not
ridden the bus there Obviously I can walk from my house Uh but I mean the bus stops are basically at 90th and Penn on those four corners Correct At various spots And so I mean is your suggestion to turn the building to move the bus stops to bring that would be tricky Um all would be tricky I know
Um it the best way to do it is if like there was like a vestibule where like we could stand there It's climate controlled We can watch to see if the bus comes and then quickly jump out I get what you're saying Like there's a door there So not necessarily move the
building or the bus stop but maybe other some way for us to wait there Right Like Okay Thank you The current Yeah Yeah And yeah we'll pass that on We'll share that with our folks on the the design team And and Mr Mayor we did actually have a conversation about that I think a couple of meetings ago when it was brought up
just the idea that the that that from the the street side it doesn't look like you can get in anywhere because it's all the way on the other side And so I know we've taken that and that that feedback before So appreciate that Great Thank you much
I am ready We are ready for you So what is missing in the proposed health and wellness center is the acknowledgement that people are composed of body mind and spirit not just body physical as seems to be the emphasis on
the current status of the project There's already more than enough emphasis on body fitness or maybe it would like more rightly be called the health and fitness center Um what I'm getting at is uh it's called the health and
wellness Wellness implies the whole human not just an emphasis on physical which certainly is what's happening right now So I represent our group the boutique It's made up of artisans or crafters who use their skills that have been developed over their lifetime to
create beautiful and useful objects that they share with others through their sales Their efforts provide physical mental and emotional benefits The US Surgeon General has identified as an epidemic isolation of loneliness among senior citizen
population Not just among senior citizens but main but very largely an issue in the senior citizen population Involvement in the boutique does much to counteract
that isolation and loneliness with what is provided socialization satisfaction creative stimulation whether as an artisan volunteer or a customer the customer's benefit We might be the only
person this uh customer talks to all day So what we're asking for is assurance of more space than what is currently being proposed in the new building Our current room at Creekide is about 800 square
feet What is being proposed is not even 10% of that So we are not happy We want and need more square footage to function as we have for more than 40
years completely run by volunteers and that is all right what I have to say Thank you We take five minutes You didn't take five minutes I appreciate brevity I like that So quick question Um with regards to the boutique um are you open or have you thought
about how people that maybe weren't just trying to sell their stuff could utilize that space as an example one of my kids' favorite stores is Michaelels and they do lots of arts and crafts but I don't know that they'd be interested in
selling anything but they may be interested in using a similar type of space to do those types of things those crafting activities Um have you thought about trying to envision or expanding
how that could be used um throughout the day and with other groups as well teaching crafts Teaching or just providing a space to do it There there is a group right now at Creekide that's uh for
crafting They have all kinds of supplies Um of course it's for seniors Yeah And that and that's that's my thought is there's a lot of people that enjoy arts and crafts outside of expand and broaden
that as well as make it maybe not just specific to the boutique sales portion but also to the things that you talked about is socialization the the mental health aspects of it to broaden that
base so that it wasn't as particular and narrowly focused of a use in that one area You don't have to answer right right now I'm just throwing it out there because I think there's a wider audience for that type of use that may help create that
space If we can see that that uh can be a wider audience used by more hours in the day So I think that's one of the things we've been looking at is utilization throughout the day So just just throwing it out as an idea So we've got two years over a little over two
years to look into that Yeah I mean in the interim we're going to have a small little kiosk over city hall Yeah Thanks Um u I'm curious if I don't know if you know the answer to any of this So big fan of the boutique I've been over there myself I bought some
stuff for Christmas and everything Um we also have a space here in Civic Plaza that I feel is completely underutilized for sales and everything and it's down there where the artistry teams are So I'm very interested in seeing how we can do something really innovative there That's one of the ideas that I've pitched to the parks and rec team Um but
I'm curious do you know do you know like do you have the numbers on the boutique since you all participate in it so much i've not seen them and I'm just curious about them How many people buy what how many sales are done every month you know that kind of thing Do you have any of that i I'm just I'm assuming you do I'm
just curious if it's been shared Yes we do have that Yeah I would love to see it if you don't mind No available Yeah I know you've sent previous emails to city council If you don't mind sending that information it would be helpful just to have an understanding of like what the actual transactions and activities are
Okay that would be very helpful I appreciate it Thank you Thanks Thanks We're at time so we're Thank you I appreciate it Lawrence Good evening Welcome Greetings Um greetings Mayor Busy and council members My name
is Lawrence Levitton My wife and I recently moved from Stevens Point Wisconsin where we lived for many many years And currently we live across from Dreadscott Fields and are just a few minutes from the river and have access to nature lovely dog walks pickle ball
and a wonderful coffee shop Uh the quality of life is terrific here We have taken advantage of public transportation We took the light rail to see the links and the finals in the fall Uh about 10 days ago I took the orange light downtown See if I can read without my
glasses Uh to see a concert at the Presbyterian Church on Marquette Street It was um quick it was easy and as a senior it was cheap Uh the only issue was that I had to drive 15 minutes to get there from Dread Scott Uh I would have loved to be able to walk five
minutes from my house to get downtown but currently I cannot do that Um in Stevens Point I was involved in transportation advocacy I served on the bike ped commission Um we have a good bus system there and I'm an avid uh cyclist and I like to say that I can get
anywhere in town in Stevens Point in 5 to 10 minutes So it's kind of a learning curve and an adjustment Moving to Bloomington uh to get to Minneapolis or St Paul everything is 30 minutes and that seems to be uh the minimum in the car And then of course getting from
small city driving shops to big city shops Uh I grew up in Chicago but nevertheless I've sort of lost those So uh we avoid 494 as much as we can Um I recently had coffee with Alder Alderman Nelson to discuss this and uh it was
very informative and wonderful at Perks one of our favorite places Uh but I do realize that network now is in the final stages of implementation I'm a little bit late to the game We were trying to sort of get the lay of the land in the fall and I didn't know that they were doing all this public commentary and
it's closed Um uh Alderman Nelson directed me to your January meeting where Mr Harington presented the final stages and I did send him an email and uh Metropolitan Council member Pachico who I think represents our part of town
I haven't heard back from them Um uh but my question to the mayor and the council is whether these decisions are final and set in stone I'm aware that there's a shortage of drivers and that the route along Auto Club Road was not generating sufficient
revenue or traffic uh for Metro Transit especially with the CO interruption and that experienced planners had to make very tough decisions about what services to expand and which ones to eliminate Uh but based on my short time here I've
observed that um seven months out of the year DreadScott host hundreds of folks daily Uh Scoops Ice Cream must have had hundreds of folks on opening day on Friday I was one of them Um uh and as a musician they enjoyed their Favarati
flavor It was delicious Um and if Pig ate My Pizza opens we talked about this I don't know if that's indeed happening Um our family are very excited about it Yeah Little Mall will be a destination place in West Bloomington Um so I mean
currently it's a transportation desert Um on the big metro transit map it doesn't look like a lot but uh in in the fall I took brought my bike to play pickle ball at Westwood and it's a good hike on a bike to I'm a cyclist so I can do it in 15 20 minutes but other than
that you have to have a car Um so my question again is with the right kind of promotion can bus service be marketed to kids seniors athletes and families to make it more attractive as an option to move through Bloomington to get to these popular destinations uh they talk about
this five minute walkability from your house I stare longingly at the metro of the red sign in front of our house but it says no longer in service Um so this would be a goal that would provide transportation equity and options to those without cars or those who choose
not to have a car And especially in our current environment where we really promoting different ways of getting places So um you know I know it might be mood at this point but I'm just hoping it's something that can still be considered So thanks for your time Well
thank you for your comments and if you u if you watched that meeting in January um I think you heard this entire council pretty much echo exactly what you've been saying uh in terms of more options needed in Bloomington They need Metro Transit just in general needs to pay more attention to our city for a variety
of different reasons and in a variety of different ways And I think we we spoke long and loud about that And and uh whether or not we made an impact I'm not sure Uh I know that we you were pretty united in that and everybody had a say in it but yes you're right They are well
down the path right now for their their planning for their their next rounds of changes and how they're going to re redo the the the routes and so on We can continue our advocacy but ultimately this is a metrorransit decision and and we'll
continue I I just saw our council member uh at a at an event and talked transit with him again last week So uh he knows that Bloomington is watching this and is concerned about it Would it help if we if I got a bunch of like-minded people together uh to come up with I mean
something creative you know uh you know Dread Scott let me something I mean it's a great name I'd love to go across and look at that sign every day when we walk the dogs It never hurts if you get the like-minded folks together and and start talking about possibilities Yes it never hurts Council member Dallas very quickly
one of the things that I'm hoping Thanks Mr Mayor One of the things I'm hoping that we can do is I don't if you remember that January meeting we had a conversation about the micromobility functionality They they're looking at the 98th and and Lindale area largely because it's a feeder to the Orange Line But you know if that's
successful or um you know there's opportunities for expansion there and that area would be a great place to expand even if it was for nothing else other than getting you from that area to the 98th area where then you could take the Orange Line downtown or something like that So maybe we can be working
through that as well But I keep an eye on the microobility pilot See if we get some some positive out of that too Yeah Great Thanks Thanks for being here tonight Appreciate it Appreciate And we can tell you from Chicago because you called me older Yes exactly
We all knew what you've been I haven't heard that term in a while I don't see Ronald or Jeffrey yet Thank you Anybody Ronald or Jeffrey yet i don't see them yet Why don't you jump on up uh Dennis Dennis Jump Come on Jump Dennis Come on
Did you just state your name for the record officially mayor council members My first time Welcome Uh I wasn't really expecting to speak but I just have a couple of issues I'd like to talk about Number one is the
new community system and what appears to be the lack of functions for senior citizens Uh some of the activities that are going on currently at Creekide I've used it several I've used the wood shop Uh Burn's very good there at helping me
get through my wood projects Uh and I've done some senior exercises there Every time I've been there it's full People are playing cards different card rooms exercise yoga carpenters whatever the room Uh and
I'm just kind of puzzled that there seems to be no uh functions designed for the senior citizens in the new community center It's a great place for seniors to get together and it's I think it's a big
mental uh physical exercise uh conversations carrying on friendships that type of thing Uh and I'm just kind of curious anybody done any demographics at how many people are would use the
fitness center the new fitness center I'll just address it that way I'm old silver sneakers All the fitness centers I don't pay for it It's free I walk in show my little card and I can go do what I want Do a swim do some uh use some machines
whatever So I guess and I addressed this with our past city manager at Value at one meeting one time about the same thing Who's going to use the fitness center how many people there well is the city going to have to subsidize it to
keep it going those kind of thoughts But I really like to see more uh facilities for seniors play cards to talk and whatever do exercises I know you have a fitness center but I'm I'm not I'm I'm
handicapped and I'm limited to what I can do for physical uh fitness I do what I can I swim I go in the water I do some uh elliptic machines so forth So that's
my concern about the new community center Uh second concern is I I'd like to know how involved is the city with the veterans memorial is the city connected to that
i'm a veteran and when I first read about it I thought and then I emailed and somebody called me back from the committee and it seems like it's I don't I hate to say this like an elitist It's only open to several hundred people Few
hundred people not several a few hundred people There's only room for enough dog tags that the veteran or the veteran's family has to pay $350 to be honored on this thing I don't need to be honored on it My family and friends know I was a Vietnam veteran
served four years Uh I'm good with that but it just I know a lot of veterans uh that are physically handicapped They're disabled from military action that live in the city I did the last demographics the last census
There's first of all let's go to about 20 25% of the city are senior citizens That's a big chunk I think we need to be looking at our seniors It's a bedroom community Maybe it'll grow out of that stage
sometime I've been here for 60 years My parents were here for since they moved to Moret back in early 60s grew up there Uh my brothers grew up they're here Kennedy graduates But
anyway I'm very concerned about Veterans Memorial Seems like nobody will talk about it I try to contact people just have a conversation Uh there's 4,000 veterans here I don't you know I don't
know if some of them were deceased out in the last census 4,000 It's been my experience that the folks working on the the the Veterans Memorial are about the most talkative people in town to be honest Uh they will talk to anybody at any point Uh they they had a booth at I've heard
that they had a booth at the farmers market I think just about every weekend this past summer and we're always talking one of your close friends Pamela Palmer is uh an acquaintance and uh she's been very very vocal in city government But anyway uh she said that
too She knows some of the people I said "Pam I send emails I request a phone call." I'm not sure who you might be contacting but I tell you what whoever's on the on the your little thing in the If you if you signed in there if you got your name there I will I I'll talk to those folks
because again I know it very well and I will tell them you'd like to have a conversation The origins of this thing is I know it's the two uh for veterans uh a memorial but we will again your contact information get on it Dennis if
your information is there I we we will pass that on to our our folks there and I will make sure they give you Thank you for addressing that And again think about the 20 25% of the citizens that are in Bloomington are seniors and when I look at the plan for the committee
center I don't see anything for seniors We again we can provide you that list of of activities that will transfer from free side to the new health and we're we can get you again we've got your contact information Yep My Yep Send it out to you Thank you Thank you Thank you We had
one person who came in late Are you hoping to speak tonight Come on up Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come and talk Could you just identify yourself my name is Elisette Morales That's right Morales Very nice to meet you So I don't know probably you guys um
remember me from past weeks or months Um I came regarding my neighbor issue Mhm Um right now it's everything's going much better You know six years of horror just a lot But my issue is today is that
because of my neighbor being harassing me a lot I feel like he is using the city to harass me back Um I've never thought of us like moving out because I live here for 23 years and this is going to be 24 years in
Bloomington But you know it's like if I have visitors visitors like they come to visit me they only tell me that I only can have four vehicles in my home I understand that But every year I'm just like since everything happened with my neighbor I've been receiving letters from the city Hey you have too many
vehicles in your property you know and it's just so hard and it's kind of like frustrating for me because I don't know what else to do It's like last time I came to the city and I was like yeah I do have a visitor I was like why do you think it's my vehicle he's only staying for three months And I was like instead
of you calling me instead of you sending me um you have my contact I was instead of you sending me a letter letting me know about the vehicle you should have contact me before and ask me if that vehicle was mine or not you know and I feel the same issue again this year I
received this letter today regarding the vehicles that I have in my on my property I do have a big family Um you know Hispanics are big Um I have six kids Two of my older ones are driving makes my husband me my mom and my dad you know So it's just kind of hard not
having those vehicles for us to drive everywhere to work to school you know So it's just I don't know what else to do Sometimes I feel like I just want to give up sell the house and move out of Wington because I don't know what else
to do You know I took all this big battle regarding my neighbor and did all the property things that I had to do you know seven 17 firecrackers aiming to my house and the only thing he got is a slap on the back of disorderly conduct That's fine I took him again to
court harassment order again You know he was finally served He got arrested He got served Right now it's being seven months of pissful in September to right now being so peaceful But I know that every time you know when um summer starts I know something's
going to happen you know and it's this the time that I'm I don't know what else to do with the city Yeah Well I I can say without specific details I can say with very strong confidence that those two issues are not related I I can say that with confidence That's not where the way our city staff works That's uh
that is not that's just not the case Well um I did I did um order you know like the I think you go like online and try to order like the like the um kind of like the report police report but it's like Bloomington reports And I did
receive a lot of emails saying that you know my neighbor this my neighbor that you know she has too many vehicles If he's calling in it's not the city retaliating if he is calling in I mean if if he's calling in with legitimate concerns whether you've got too many vehicles or you know dogs running for
you or whatever it is I mean if there's a legitimate concern ne neighbors often do call in And I'm sorry to hear that You know if he's using that as a retaliation that's that's not good I agree with that But at the same time our our city staff looks at each case individually and there I mean we have
rules We have the the ordinances that we have to follow Four vehicles per house is is common across the the city And I agree I mean if you've got an extended family and two kids driving already it's uh it makes it a little bit more difficult but it's uh it is the ordinance that we have across the city
to ensure that we have that we don't have cars with or we don't have houses with many many cars affecting their neighbors affecting the neighborhood Now if you again if it's your neighbor calling in and and reporting you but sometimes it because like I'm driving or even like I see in my own you know block
I see like a lot of vehicles in their properties and I see like another block with a lot of vehicles but you know I see every year the same vehicles there but in my case it's like okay they send me this letter I move one car out and I have to like sell a car and tell my son
you'll have to find a ride to go to work Why don't I have we got to get going downstairs We got to get journed here But why don't I have I'm going to have uh we'll have folks from our community health uh department They're the ones who look into this kind of thing Why don't they give you a call and we can have you can have a conversation with them about uh ways that some workarounds
that might be possible or ways that we could avoid uh issues where again too many vehicles and the neighbor calling in and all that Yeah Because it's like I asked last time the city I was like how do you guys think that vehicle that's in front of my house it's mine It's not even registered to my name It's not even registered to that address that place I
was like just because it's parked in front of my house you think it's mine and it's a good question And with And he's like yeah we don't know if it's yours It's like well it's not mine It's like they just come and they park here So is your neighbors parking in front of your house um just like people that um
I'm not going to say because I have a neighbor that's has a UNC company and his employees come and park there and there Um but the city already knows about it they already talked to them you know they already had like an agreement with our neighbor next day neighbor like "Hey can you let me park in your spot and the neighbor said fine you know it's
just like we will have why don't we have community health give you a call and see if we can have a conversation on this." Okay All right Sounds good Thank you Thank you so much for listening to me Council we're two minutes over We got to get downstairs I'd look for a motion to adjurnn tonight Motion and a second to adjurnn All in
favor i I We are adjourned Thank you all very much for being here this evening Thanks Mike for your input Uh thanks for the council discussion Let's get downstairs and