##VIDEO ID:dje2OQdlHUM## 546 I will call this listening session of the Bloomington city council to order thank you for everyone for being here tonight and thanks for your patience waiting for us we will start us off uh Mr Dano and why don't we have you uh if just identify yourself but then have you sign in after you speak so we can yeah I signed in already you're so so efficient well done well you know we have to keep these things moving exactly Mark jenko uh so and before I start this is off the track but with next Thursday being Thanksgiving I just want to tell everybody in this room that I am glad that I live in Bloomington all right so just wanted you to know that all right now we'll get down to business now everything I say is on behalf of restore the nine so um not that they're not darn uh okay and this is basically about the Minnesota River access for bikes and why we kind of feel that Queen Avenue uh access is problematic and unnecessary most of the other things with bikes of course have been uh you're as you're aware have been ruled unfeasible but this is kind of dangling out there so uh there are 12 existing access points to the Minnesota River for bicycles in Bloomington presently another access point at Queen seems redundant and kind of suboptimal use of the money that needs to be spent on environmental Restoration in Central Park adding access at at Queen would only invite cyclists to use The nmcc Pedestrian Trail as a bike trail which happens quite often already enforcement is already really hard as anybody who walks down there regularly can tell you allowing bikes anywhere in uh Central Park was going to kind of open a Pandora's Box that I feel it'll be impossible to close it would be much better to have bike racks at all access points to encourage cyclists to enjoy Central Park on foot again access to the river kind of already exists in abundance parking at the Queen Avenue uh entrance is limited to maybe two or three vehicles and there is a segment of cyclists that transport their bikes by car and they go to off-road trails uh and likely they'd have to par Park on neighborhood streets and um these people are used to driving long distances to ride so encouraging them to park on the neighborhood streets probably won't be real popular with the local people there and again already abundant parking exists at many access points to the river uh which include the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge headquarters the entrance to the bass ponds the end of old Cedar Partners picnic and Trail area uh the south end of the loop to the Gideon Pond House the southern end of Lindale Avenue South which is finally coming online pretty quick so that'll be great be able to ride down there again and the Bloomington Ferry Bridge access that's seven where there's plenty of places to park cars already so and the last thing on my uh my thing here is that cyclists of course who prefer to ride to the river can already ride their bikes to an access point of which again there's 12 so again that's kind of makes that point so um I brought a bunch of these but I didn't see safas so I was a deer in the headlights I didn't know where to get them you and should that be seven you you can give me whatever you got well I got a whole bunch for sustainability too so I got but I'll get some to you one I'll try whatever okay okay good well I'll try and any I guess questions thank you thank you for comments Council any questions mark great thank you for the opportunity uh chran hell I am chrisan laua here in Bloomington so I'm kind of working on the talking on the feels of uh What uh Mark has already um introduced you to but I'm here on behalf of restore the nine and I'm asking for your support um for an important decision regarding the 9mile C Corridor renewal project we recommend that the trail south of 106th Street remain a natural surface Trail The Design Consultants have left open the possibility of Paving that entire pedestrian trail from Mo Park to the Minnesota River um we currently have a unique uh 2 and a half mile nature path roughly one half is paved and one half is natural surface the paved portion is from moer to 106 Street the other P unpaved portion is from 106 to the river this combination of Trail surfaces accommodates the highest percentage of users in the park and also has other significant advantages versus fully paved trail We Believe preserving the natural surface Trail is essential for ensuring Equity Financial prudence and environmental sustainability as our community strives to improve inclusivity it is crucial to recognize the diverse needs of individuals with varying disabilities while we support initiatives aimed at improving ad accessibility the design appro approach must also consider the unique challenge es faced by many community members who require a softer Trail upholding the Integrity of the trail in this section of Central Park is not just about preservation it's about fostering an environment where all pedestrians can enjoy the outdoors without barriers in general Ada accessibility ensures that individuals with disabilities have free and full access to the same programs services and areas as those without the ACT requires that parks and other public facilities provide reasonable accommodations according to the ACT an accommodation is considered reasonable as long as it does not impose undue financial burden when some people hear Ada they often think only of wheelchairs however the ACT protects many other types of disabilities as well and many of our community members have those other disabilities walking on hard surfaces puts additional stress on one's joints and can lead to pain because hard surfaces don't absorb shock as effectively as softer surfaces restore the nine has heard from numerous people who suffer from joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis anking spondilitis uh lupus and more this Trail is also attractive to many older adults a population which joint disease is common and I can say that as a certified nurse practitioner uh furthermore many dog owners walk the natural path because it is easier on their joints their dog's joints too and the surface is Su substantially cooler on their paws than on black Tob all these individuals rely on the natural surface for exercise and restricting access for these individuals would create new disparities additionally we oppose Paving that portion of the trail because it's a wetland forest and it's the first area to become inundated with spring floods and heavy precipitation and it's the last area where water recedes climate change is already increasing the frequency and intensity of heavy rain events and this trend unfortunately is expected to continue without a paer base layer pavement is much more likely to buckle when covered with water for extended periods however if a paer base layer is added then the city will need to purchase Wetland mitigation credits because this is a jurisdictional wetland in short a decision to PVE south of 106 Street raises significant concerns related related to environmental impacts construction and maintenance costs equity and practicality the portion of the park located north of 100 six street is already paved and we advocate for improving that area to accommodate individuals dependent on Mobility AIDS while recommending that the trails south of 106 Street remain unpaved additionally investing in a vulner in a project vulnerable to frequent flooding is costly laborious and an inefficient use of taxpayer funds it is crucial to prioritize solutions that f Foster inclusivity and sustainability ensuring that the needs of community members are met while safeguarding our resources for the future your support in this matter would be much appreciated thank you for your time questions all right thank you much thanks thank you Sally okay when I was when I previously spoke I said there were seven reports where the police were driving into the area that mentioned my name there were eight I was under police surveillance I do not know why I do not know when it began I do not know for how long I do not know if it ended I did a data request for all the data from August 1st 2019 to February 29th 2020 that includes my name all police reports all police CAD incidents detail reports citations complaints texts phone calls roll calls emails there was no data after September 23rd 2019 the eight CAD reports for extra Patrol with my name in them were from December 2019 and January 2020 again there is nothing in this stat to explain why my name is in eight reports I was being watched and the police should tell me why there should be a legal basis there should be data to support the police choosing to use City resources to monitor me again I ask the city to do an internal affairs investigation any questions Council right thank you Robert hello um uh Mr Veri do you have an update on oh I'm Robert Coleman uh do you have do you have an update on the uh present no okay they are planing to schedule time with us okay um uh so in regards to network now Metro transits uh system redesign so much time has passed that the official comment period has ended um if you guys haven't I think the form is still online so um I would love for you guys to uh submit a comment about how uh uh I think if if you read the the first page you'll see that they talk a lot about increasing service and you know a 30% increase over uh in the metro area but that service is barely coming to Bloomington um in terms of the uh operators that they plan to hire for regular route service um I think it's 270 that they're looking to hire and only about four of those operators will be used in Bloomington uh just barely over 1% um there's some on on the back page there's some uh issues about uh some areas of the metro area that are much less uh there's okay uh in the mech council's 2050 Transportation policy plan they have uh Transit market index which is uh in general it is Jobs Plus job density plus population density and then it is you know split into five different uh groupings uh throughout the metro area they have a map online um to get the specific numbers but um in terms of the there are areas in the metro area that are um area five Transit market area five which is the least Transit supportive um that are getting as good of service as Bloomington is in transit market area 2 um and in fact the uh compared to the last plan in 2014 uh much more of Bloomington is more Transit supportive while we're not we're we're not seeing that uh that coming through in transit uh service improvements um we're we're in terms of the like the service cuts that were that happened in 2022 to the uh that service is not coming back service is not coming back on the 546 um there's weekend service is not coming back on the 534 there will still be no weekend service on the 534 the 537 and the 542 um the 542 in is the worst in my eyes that service is not coming back um on weekends or in the evenings because that is service that was cut in 2004 and never came back um it is getting midday service so there will be a bus uh in between 8:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. when there currently isn't any buses on the 542 on American Boulevard um but again that is service that was cut in 2004 um I it it's it's a little frustrating that it's been silen in terms of uh uh Metro Transit you know for the past two years not saying anything about when service was going to return you know and then in the past couple months saying hey wait for Network now everything's going to be in network now if it's not in network now it's not happening in the next two years and then it coming and it not being anywhere near what Bloomington deserves um I've been talking with my friends who are activists in other cities and their council members are all working on it they're you know getting the news out to their uh to their constituents to say hey you guys should comment on this plan um they've submitted comments themselves they talk about it in meetings and stuff like that and I don't see that from you guys um I hope that you guys will in the future even though the the official comment uh period is over couple questions for you Robert yeah I think and we might have asked this in the past uh what's been your interaction with our met Council representative to Bloomington and and and is there any progress being made on that front I haven't spoken to him um I think that would be an important part of this I mean you can talk to us but we're not the decision makers on all this sure I mean I've I've spoken to um to the general manager of Metro Transit and um multiple people within the network now uh project team including the the Project Lead of network now who lied to me that was frustrating um and also um Mark Christensen who is the the planner for the for our area for Metro Transit um I've sent emails to a bunch of other people but uh not to what's his name again council member yeah um johnen John penko so I I I would Advocate I appreciate you coming here and talking with us and and we could Advocate until we're blew in the face but it's I think commissioner penka that's the person you need to really get in the ear of and and your your the folks who are also in support of this that's where the calls need to go because he's the decision maker there he's part of the decision-making body on this council member thank you mayor um just a quick question he's invited to our uh breakfast ume so we'll have an opportunity to talk to him um and when is that we don't have a date set I'm having trouble getting it calendared right now okay but it's yeah we meet we meet with our uh henpen County Commissioner and our met Council representative on a bimonthly basis um we we had to cancel our last meeting in uh October so the next uh one will be in December that we and it be reasonable just bring this information to absolutely and Matt Council makes the like the final approval but it it's pretty separate from the Metro Transit team it's not a met Council initiative it is Metro Transit but Metro Transit is a an animal of the Met Council yeah it's yeah where the funding is right for sure but it it it s to the money it it is but but it sounds like to your concern and request that we have definitive action to put forth our input into that that that will happen and and we will advocate for Bloomington as I would expect we always work yeah I'd also say if I may Mr Mayor that there's it there is a Metro micro Zone indicated in Bloomington on this map um and so there's an open question in my mind for you Robert about what is it that's really lacking I've always thought about it as inra blomington Transit meaning we don't have buses that go that can get you east and west and north and south within the confines of Bloomington um this may solve for that I don't know like I don't know enough about Metro micro zones but my con my understanding of that concept is that it's a it's a ride sharing service that uses the Metro Mobility buses to like right do call sharing um outside of that it sounds like you want certain um extra uh um inter inter city routes to be restored either their frequency their length or their operation so I'm not sure they have that consideration here but they might be two parallel paths is my point okay one which is included in this right we got we got WRA up here but very quickly if you very quickly Robert I have sent you guys an email about the micro zones if you my opinions have slightly CH a little bit mellowed on when in that email I was like they're a really bad idea they're not as horrible an idea in my eyes now if the local service was returning I wouldn't care but seeing as this is replacing the local service I'm not a fan of it because of how it's very unreliable I've written um mvta connect and uh Southwest Transit Prime and my experience was very different whether I was going I was taking a FIV mile trip and it took me over an hour uh on Southwest Prime versus mvta connect where it took me 15 minutes to go three miles it's not you you never know how long it's going to take until job just because I want to keep moving on here I but uh to your point council member I I would like to learn more about these microzones and how it relates to I've heard of good successes and other major metropolitan areas about these micro type zones and uh in other i' I've heard it across the country Robert I've heard it from other council members across the country maybe not in your experience uh but I've heard it from across the country so thanks for being here tonight and thanks for your advocacy on this uh those are the official for I I saw a couple people come in anybody else we've got about couple minutes here if you wanted to speak well you know what time do we have uh 6:15 uh well I no but if you if you want to speak You're can have to come up to the table introduce yourself and do it officially yep so my name is Jerry Hiller I'm a 50-year resident of uh Bloomington um run a business here in Bloomington for 40 years uh raised three kids and have been uh active during those periods of time in uh uh leadership in the schools and sports and uh neighborhood organizations and uh spoke here about a month ago uh relative to the uh Senior Center uh and uh health and wellness centers and I was the last speaker then and uh I uh got the same opportunity here this time so my purpose in getting sitting before you was you know looking to see that Bloomington is a better place to live which aligns I looked at the website uh has identified uh on the website for Bloomington cultivate in enduring and remarkable communities where people want to be enduring is a word I'd like to come back to in a little bit to recap on the last time um I am looking uh I sat here before talking about uh retaining a standalone Senior Center um and I also had done uh put some uh posts out on next door and had two questions that were most commonly brought back to me one was why do seniors need their own place and uh it's um it seems obvious to me and it's also seems hard hard to explain um but we have an education system where we have uh preschool elementary middle and Senior High School um all predicated upon age and there are different needs for different ages and certainly seniors uh have different needs than pre schoolers and uh uh so and then of course we have uh a community here that is growing in 1970 also off the city's uh website uh seniors which 55 plus mounted to 3% of the population in 2019 it was up to 18% and now it's 25% um and uh you know there's also increased loneliness we're hearing about um the pace of change is accelerating all things that have a negative impact on seniors um and then you ask what's happened for seniors about 10 years ago uh the senior center stopped uh delivering uh uh meals and the kitchen was closed down now we're uh losing the Standalone nature of the uh Senior Center Creekside um you know we had a referendum that that uh we are raising taxes now to build a new community center which here to for has been a senior center and uh which sounds like a nice deal you get a new home and uh however what we're ending up with is an apartment building um that uh we are going to be sharing with a bunch of other people they uh will have a uh um have to pay to walk through the door um there'll be uh multi-use spaces people can walk through the door for $6 what they used to walk through for nothing they'll go play a game of cards uh in a smaller room now it'll be in the corner of a large room um and of course we're losing the uh wood shop the Billiards Rock Shop um there's the boutique um and uh all under the offices that they're not fitting the multi-use space and yet we're getting swimming pools we're getting weight rooms getting running tracks gymnasiums and uh um a uh Child Care Center which uh to me ALS seem like uh single use spaces I don't know what you do in a swimming pool besides swim so that that was why I was here before and as I've looked into this I've talked to uh some present uh school board members past school board members uh baa presidents um a gentleman that had just been inducted into the Hall of Fame for baa about Services being rendered um I know olon swimming pool is being uh uh uh built rebuilt here now because it's has failed um and I and it just struck me as what a waste um I talked last time about all the opportunities that uh are not being realized in the senior center be it the food service that could be servicing uh uh people in need Beyond just seniors we could be teaching OMC kind of classes woodworking the same we could upgrade it to a CNC machine and uh tie in software and interface with kids um so we've got three swimming pools in Bloomington that nobody knows about the second question that I got off the next door post is um well I didn't even know we had a senior center and uh I don't think too many people know that we have three swimming pools one of which is open uh for public use um I don't figure too many people know that the curriculum two years ago um dropped swimming H in fied so we've got three swimming pools that aren't being used by the school system uh in 2002 we had a referendum to build activity centers with rate weight rooms and uh running tracks and uh after covid those did not return to open public use and yet we are again going to add another swimming pool and another running track and waight room um you know when I when I uh was growing up my parents didn't let me get uh more food on my plate until I finished what was on my plate and it seems like we've got a lot still sitting on our plate that's not being utilized that the100 million do could be spent to really make these things something special to make them enduring not as with the activity center for 20 years later it to disappear for from use they still sit there underutilized our swimming pools the same thing so um there are so many things that we could be doing ask things need to get downstairs up there so I don't know what's happened uh since last time but uh I uh I would like to be able to help make a difference in any guidance here I intend to be writing articles and such as well along these lines to see that we use this hund million doll and as most effective of as a manner I know ending our way through the process of the the the the entire design of the new Health and Wellness Center there are plenty of options for Community input and Community engagement there have been I think a lot already and there will continue to be up until the point where decisions are made about going forward on this and and and I mean to be clear this was brought forward to the voters of Bloomington and the voters of Bloomington said yes we want to do this and that's that that's an important piece of this that uh this was brought for forward and yes you say taxpayer dollars this is this is a local option sales tax that voters said yes we want to do this because we would like to build a Community Health and Wellness Center a community not a senior center community health one is a community center which was a senior center so it was not clear what it was going to be and I I think even more clear what it's going to be we I think I think our health and wellness center I think the work that the city did to explain what it was and what the vote was being taken on I don't think it could have been more clear well it certainly wasn't clear to me and that may have been my fault but uh I have not so talked to anybody that thought it was right well thank you Jer there very quickly like to meet with me I'd love to do that with staff um I know you contacted me but it be fun to we meet with you with staff uh sometime we can arrange that okay and how how would I do that okay I'll have them all right counc we got to get downstairs stairs I would look for a motion to adjourn our listening session thank you got a motion in a second all in favor I 60 we are uh adjourned let's head downstairs for our meeting at 6:30 thank you all for being here tonight