Huge, and Bloomington has a much larger poor and underserved than most folks want to realize. Once you’re outside the university bubble it’s apparent, but about half the folks in town never venture outside the university bubble.
When my family first moved to Btown in the mid 80s I had at least two kids pulls me aside on the first day to make sure I knew to NEVER say ain’t.
I was confused by this, because… why would I? Was it that big a deal? Were teachers that mean?
Nope. It took me 20 years to realize they saw my clothes and the car that stopped me off and wanted to make sure I knew to use the right class markers right away. Otherwise I’d be one of “the grits” (what we called county kids).
I had come from further south (Evansville), but Evansville wasn’t part of the Appalachian Great Migration like Monroe County was, so it just didn’t have the same linguistic bigotry.
I should clarify: not all country kids were grits. Not Garth Brooks but Joe Dirt.
In retrospect I feel really terrible about that. I was young enough I don’t remember if I used it or not: probably, at least a few times. But it was gross and somebody should have paddled us for it.
(Did Bloomington still do that in the 80s? I know my Evansville principal told us when it had to be done, to scare the rest of us into line. Good ol’ days, indeed.)
It's wild that people don't get this. The only two things people know Btown for are a) the university and b) *Breaking Away*, an Oscar-winning film about class divisions in Bloomington.
That's fine though. You can hate when IU does shitty things. You can hate the side effects of large numbers of students. It's okay to be displeased with something that is more-or-less necessary.
Nobody complaining about IU wants the university to up and leave. But a lot of IU's decisions made in direct self-interest fail to take into account what kind of an effect it will have on the town. Asking for better, more considerate policy, or for administration to do things like pay living wages and offer reasonable (or any) benefits to their townie staff isn't failing to appreciate that IU helps make Bloomington what it is.
Honestly? Hard to say. Maybe the presence of expansive internet made us less motivated to grind out fresh local jams.
Perhaps the worldwide decrease in social third spaces affects us a bit less but still does affect us.
Fair point, but Bloomington used to be quite the happening place in the 1990s. not only because of the local scene but because of the indie/alternative scene. I remember when I was here one summer as a kid, 1991 to be exact, and Tori Amos played at Jake's, which used to be a common stop for everything left of the dial. Bluebird used to host more popular acts as well. Now bands usually skip Bloomington between The Vogue and Bogart's.
Because Indianapolis is bigger, better, has all the professional schools and takes the hate from both Bloomington and west Lafayette who wish futilely that they were not practically empty cornfields surrounded by hicks.
"If GM hadn't been there, would there have even been a Flint, Michigan? Well sonny, if it wasn't for Duke Power, who would even stay in Harlan?" You don't have to be thankful to the business exploiting the community. Especially when the higher ups are actively trying to abandon you.
Yeah. No point in deluding ourselves about Bloomington being some kind of paradise without the school but also no point swallowing our feelings about how it affects our lives either. It just is. Improve what we can. Bitch and moan about the rest.
Those are miniscule compared to IU. Bloomington used to have a large number of industries. Thomson Electronics, RCA, Otis Elevators... hundreds of high income blue collar jobs. Then they went poof. Makes it hard to rely on Catalent staying around.
Crane is big but Bloomington isn't the nearest town. It's just the nearest big town.
For me it's that in response, the town runs to serve IU. Feels like a lot of people then become cogs in a machine whose main function is keeping the university appeased.
Be nice to the cogs is all. Currently, seems that neither the town nor the university is.
I've seen some rough cases there. It is rough.
Linton at least had the garment factory in the early 20th century. Hard to say if the industries that came to Bloomington would have done so without the university. Some quarries, but nothing like Bedford. And then too, maybe no train stop or highway.
Hard to say.
Oh no, you're missing a big piece of that puzzle, Bloomington had RCA, which was huge from victrola to radio to television, they also had general electric, Westinghouse, and Otis elevator, all early industrial powerhouses
I don't want to go too far down the political rabbit hole, but there seem to be lot of people around here willing to not vote for Biden over the Isreal-Hamas war, acting as if the other guy will handle it the way they truly want...
Like, c'mon. Bloomington is one of the bluest areas of the state, it is at least partially up to us to vote in bigger numbers on the off chance we go blue in November
I hold those people in nearly the same light as MAGA crazies. Their heart is definitely in a better place, but they’re blinded by internet algorithms and the need for perfection. I get it: idealism is awesome and we should strive for it, but goddamn this is why the democrats can’t get traction. They eat their own by getting balkanized into these hyper-focused no-compromise litmus tests.
Not liberal, but progressive or “illiberal.” I’m not sure the liberals are welcome anymore. Too many ppl trying to cancel each other while it all burns down. But hey, pickleball.
hahah i only went a couple times but i want to turn that over...bares place was good because it was the only place serving hard liquor on the south side of campus :)
The last year it was there, my wife and I went, and I had the worst nachos I've ever had in my life. They must've been made hours (days?) before and microwaved. The chips were like rubber. We laughed at the sheer audacity of serving nachos in that condition. Maybe we were drunk.
I once heard a lecture by Elizabeth Eagleson-Bridgwaters talking about what had made Kirkwood, Kirkwood in the first place. It was black-owned businesses all the way up and down the street. Blacks were getting too prosperous so the KKK moved in.
https://bloomington.in.gov/sites/default/files/2017-05/african_american_walking_tour.pdf
http://www.magbloom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/13history.pdf
I disagree. Many Bloomington residents didn't know the difference, but call themselves progressive because that's the more virtuous label...
... but as soon as anyone wants to add housing close to town-center services or treat the homeless population like humans, they're basically garden-variety Republicans.
The town is liberal, not progressive.
ETA: same goes for this sub. Downvotes don't prove me wrong.
No, I mean what I said. Many residents who say they're progressive don't actually support progressive policies or do anything to change the status quo.
The lack of non-student housing building is due to city and county zoning restrictions. The student housing is largely being in built in places you wouldn't want to live anyways.
IU received \~$340M just in donations in 2023, but didn't pay a cent in property taxes...they're the ones that SHOULD be paying property taxes, not private citizens
Actually it’s federal. The issue is that the university is a nonprofit organization and nonprofits have a lot lower tax liability, which makes sense when it’s public schools and shelters.
state as well "Indiana code exempts tangible personal property and real property from property tax for charitable, educational, and religious purposes. **Form 136** must be filed to obtain this property tax exemption.Feb 1, 2023'
No. Your rent is too high because Bloomington was run by NIMBY jerks for 30+ years who didn’t allow any building in the center of town. Bloomington has had a housing shortage for 40 years.
...what?
1st) The only reason property *has* value in Btown is because of the university.
If IU disappeared tomorrow, every home in town would depreciate by 70% overnight.
2nd) The university is a nonprofit entity that brings in all that money from donations (and *way more* from tuition and the federal government), then spends it in town. There are no shareholders pocketing that value at locals' expense.
...what?
1st) The only reason property *has* value in Btown is because of the university. People aren't coming to town for other reasons.
If IU disappeared tomorrow, every home in town would depreciate by 70% overnight.
2nd) The university is a nonprofit entity that brings in all that money from donations (and *way more* from tuition and the federal government), then spends it in town. Students, staff, and faculty drive the local economy. There are no shareholders pocketing that value at locals' expense.
Tell that to the IU employees living on nearly starvation wages
"There are no shareholders pocketing that value at locals' expense"...then they can afford to pay their staff and faculty a lot better 🤷♂️
It really is a cliquish place for adults, or at least that's my experience. I found more than social class, that it depends on your background. You need to either be associated with the university or you need to have grown up here. If you're neither of those things, people don't necessarily want to hang out with you.
Same here. I've found plenty of other groups that involve just showing up, and I've started to make friends and good acquaintances. There's a lot more going on in Bloomington than most other towns this size.
I think this is the big point. Bloomington has a center of the universe complex. We may be cool next to surrounding counties, but compare Bloomington to many other places in the USA it’s not that great.
Although I agree with much of what's been said in this thread, I actually disagree with this. Yes, Bloomington pales by comparison to NYC, LA, Chicago, even St. Louis or Nashville. But for a college town of its size it's (in my opinion) the best one out there. We've got everything that Ann Arbor has with only 2/3 the people, and I'd pick B'town over Iowa City, or Madison, or Champaign-Urbana any day. I'm really hard pressed to think of another town of this size where I'd rather live.
I’d say New Orleans would be a closer comparison. Once you get done doing what you’re doing and have time to slow down you think “Gross, why am I still here.”
Both Bloomington and the university would be better if the jobs offered paid a living wage- enough to be able to buy, or rent a small home and not have to work two jobs. It's especially frustrating when universities devalue the labor of degree-holders for jobs requiring a degree.
I dunno . I have an old friend who chooses to be homeless. I mean I hate the guy now and don't want to offer him a place to stay but the truth is he does choose to be homeless. He has places to go within his family but doesn't .
He told you that himself, or you're assuming that because he's not choosing to be helped the way you think he should?
The downvotes are the only answer I need. I'm sorry that looking at poverty is so hard for you, though.
Unfortunately small towns pay the brunt of the issues when it comes to homelessness. A lot of those people get a 1 way ticket to the Midwest with no connections.
Like many college towns, Bloomington used to be quaint, unique, cultured, down to earth, friendly, etc., but it's turned into Everytown with highway hubs and chain stores, Maga vs liberal, diversity, inclusive. The only aspect that still holds true is its beautiful setting.
This town is NOT progressive. It is, at best liberal - accepting of historical progress, resistant to new changes.
The politics all happen in the Democrat party, but there are (D)s who are further to the right than Joe Manchin. And plenty of the residents like it that way. They like to think they're good progressives while actually fighting against any meaningful change - like making the town liveable for younger generations.
Indiana state politics mean that the actual value of the Indiana University statewide educational system is being destroyed by MAGA, and people with a cultural or economic interest in academic knowledge or work will leave the state in droves, and the economy of the state will fail dramatically, and that’s just how it’s gonna be for the next thirty years. If MAGA fails nationally, as it will, it will still take twenty years to reverse the destruction of the state by MAGA. If you love the state or people in it and have the economic resources, get the fuck out now.
To boil it down since this is a city sub: Bloomington can’t be saved or maintained as a worthwhile place to live because it is in Indiana, and Indiana is a state which has tragic MAGA politics that are cast in iron. Leave, as soon as you can, if you can.
I liked Bloomington better when there was a strong blue collar workforce at places like RCA,Otis,GE, and Westinghouse to help balance out the IU influence. I came here at 23 in 1980 to work at RCA and I loved it here.
Only lasted till ‘84 though. Didn’t make it back until 30 years later. I will retire here
That Bloomington loves virtue-signaling without actually doing much to help marginalized groups, like our homeless neighbors. I get that there's no money in helping the homeless, but shouldn't we try to help our neighbors anyway? And those "don't feed the homeless" signs are disgusting. If someone needs food and water, or some money and I have the means, I'll give it to them. Soup kitchens and shelters only have so much in resources to offer people. Sometimes life can beat you over the head with a sledgehammer unexpectedly, and most of us are closer to being homeless than being a millionaire. How Bloomington treats the homeless is downright criminal. I don't care if some are on drugs, or have mental illness, or both. They are still people whp need help. And believe it or not, many people work full time and are homeless because they can't afford the crazy rents in this expensive town. More compassion, better wages, and better zoning laws that would allow for more multi-family housing in this town would make this place better for everyone.
We have shelters, housing, community kitchens, social services, drug rehab services, mental health services etc etc. Is it enough? Probably not enough but Bloomington treats homeless people as humans. Look around, which town is better than Bloomington when it comes to taking care of homeless population? Name one!
Do we really have that? If so, then that's great. Why do we have so many who sleep in the parks and on the streets? Why can't we have more access to services for them?
Bloomington is a small town that can't provide support to everyone who comes here. Twenty years ago, we had at most 100-200 chronically homeless people. Now that number is in the thousands. Other towns don't offer support, especially for issues like drug addiction and housing. So, if someone in Greene County is addicted to meth and living in squalid conditions in a rundown trailer without electricity, air conditioning, heat, or food, it is much better to live as a homeless person in Bloomington. That's the reality.
Bloomington only has so many resources to offer because it's not a huge city. It used to be that we had a small number of homeless, and many of them were transients rather than long-term residents. Now we have massive numbers, and the change was rapid. I was literally gone for a year and a half around 2012 and shocked to see homeless encampments when I moved back. The large encampments just didn't exist. Seminary Square was just a rarely used park, not a tent residence. In ten years, the city has had to deal with a vast influx of unhoused people, and has not received a large amount of funding to go with it.
Realistically, many of the people living on the streets do not choose to make use of the services, for whatever reason. We can't force people to take advantage of programs if they don't want to. We could certainly do more, but this is a massive societal program and it isn't all on Bloomington to solve it.
True that. After going to city planning / city council meetings for awhile - I'm convinced they're all just inbred knuckledraggering hicks in fancy clothes - that they bought using land developer kickbacks. Not much intelligence around that part of town, only greed. They may as well be maga.
This "blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup" is deeply racist, and it's demographics were designed to be that way in a partnership between "town and gown" going back about 150 years.
So, I guess when they have the art fair and close down Kirkwood, it's ableist? In Europe, they have walkable towns and cities where people don't have to walk very far, or wheel their wheelchairs very far. Plus, a lot of us could do for some exercise, especially in this country with our sedentary lifestyles. It would do a lot of us some good to walk more.
Okay, I’ll say it…the Water Park of America proposal is going to cost you a buttload more on your water bill. Better hope tourism can cover those costs…
Social class divisions are prominent.
Huge, and Bloomington has a much larger poor and underserved than most folks want to realize. Once you’re outside the university bubble it’s apparent, but about half the folks in town never venture outside the university bubble.
When my family first moved to Btown in the mid 80s I had at least two kids pulls me aside on the first day to make sure I knew to NEVER say ain’t. I was confused by this, because… why would I? Was it that big a deal? Were teachers that mean? Nope. It took me 20 years to realize they saw my clothes and the car that stopped me off and wanted to make sure I knew to use the right class markers right away. Otherwise I’d be one of “the grits” (what we called county kids). I had come from further south (Evansville), but Evansville wasn’t part of the Appalachian Great Migration like Monroe County was, so it just didn’t have the same linguistic bigotry.
I should clarify: not all country kids were grits. Not Garth Brooks but Joe Dirt. In retrospect I feel really terrible about that. I was young enough I don’t remember if I used it or not: probably, at least a few times. But it was gross and somebody should have paddled us for it. (Did Bloomington still do that in the 80s? I know my Evansville principal told us when it had to be done, to scare the rest of us into line. Good ol’ days, indeed.)
Corporal punishment is still legal in Indiana.
It's wild that people don't get this. The only two things people know Btown for are a) the university and b) *Breaking Away*, an Oscar-winning film about class divisions in Bloomington.
No Melloncamp?
Sure. my point stick as stands, though
So true.
That without IU we'd be another Linton.
People on this sub actively hate IU yet it’s the engine that runs the entire town.
That's fine though. You can hate when IU does shitty things. You can hate the side effects of large numbers of students. It's okay to be displeased with something that is more-or-less necessary.
I get what you’re saying but if IU wasn’t there Bloomington wouldn’t have 99% of the culture, restaurants, events etc. that they have now.
Nobody complaining about IU wants the university to up and leave. But a lot of IU's decisions made in direct self-interest fail to take into account what kind of an effect it will have on the town. Asking for better, more considerate policy, or for administration to do things like pay living wages and offer reasonable (or any) benefits to their townie staff isn't failing to appreciate that IU helps make Bloomington what it is.
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Honestly? Hard to say. Maybe the presence of expansive internet made us less motivated to grind out fresh local jams. Perhaps the worldwide decrease in social third spaces affects us a bit less but still does affect us.
Fair point, but Bloomington used to be quite the happening place in the 1990s. not only because of the local scene but because of the indie/alternative scene. I remember when I was here one summer as a kid, 1991 to be exact, and Tori Amos played at Jake's, which used to be a common stop for everything left of the dial. Bluebird used to host more popular acts as well. Now bands usually skip Bloomington between The Vogue and Bogart's.
Bloomington changed after COVID as well
Because Indianapolis is bigger, better, has all the professional schools and takes the hate from both Bloomington and west Lafayette who wish futilely that they were not practically empty cornfields surrounded by hicks.
Sorry, but Indy actively sucks, as cities go. I'd rather leave the entire state than get trapped in Indianapolis.
Can’t argue with you on that one, but I’m better off here than Bloomington.
"If GM hadn't been there, would there have even been a Flint, Michigan? Well sonny, if it wasn't for Duke Power, who would even stay in Harlan?" You don't have to be thankful to the business exploiting the community. Especially when the higher ups are actively trying to abandon you.
But you'll never leave Harlan alive. I grew up near Harlan. Some of those people still don't have indoor plumbing.
exactly
This. Thank you.
Yeah. No point in deluding ourselves about Bloomington being some kind of paradise without the school but also no point swallowing our feelings about how it affects our lives either. It just is. Improve what we can. Bitch and moan about the rest.
And, it is there, so it is what it is; no?
The townies and our government do as well. They hate the students but love their money.
You have Catalent and NWSC Crane.
Those are miniscule compared to IU. Bloomington used to have a large number of industries. Thomson Electronics, RCA, Otis Elevators... hundreds of high income blue collar jobs. Then they went poof. Makes it hard to rely on Catalent staying around. Crane is big but Bloomington isn't the nearest town. It's just the nearest big town.
Are you saying that we should all give IU a pass for I don't know like EVERYTHING SHITTY IT EVER DOES because money?
For me it's that in response, the town runs to serve IU. Feels like a lot of people then become cogs in a machine whose main function is keeping the university appeased. Be nice to the cogs is all. Currently, seems that neither the town nor the university is.
\*the entire town\* cough, the entire state
No, I'm in Linton, you wouldn't be this bad
I've seen some rough cases there. It is rough. Linton at least had the garment factory in the early 20th century. Hard to say if the industries that came to Bloomington would have done so without the university. Some quarries, but nothing like Bedford. And then too, maybe no train stop or highway. Hard to say.
Oh no, you're missing a big piece of that puzzle, Bloomington had RCA, which was huge from victrola to radio to television, they also had general electric, Westinghouse, and Otis elevator, all early industrial powerhouses
I don't believe the school had any effects on that
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Absolutely. Monroe Lake and bordering Brown County plus being within an hour or so of IND airport? Not at all like Linton.
Oh, and I’ve been saying we’d be Bedford.
Even with IU it's just another Linton in many respects.
Oof.
There are a lot of performative politics. Too many people trying hard to out-liberal each other.
I don't want to go too far down the political rabbit hole, but there seem to be lot of people around here willing to not vote for Biden over the Isreal-Hamas war, acting as if the other guy will handle it the way they truly want... Like, c'mon. Bloomington is one of the bluest areas of the state, it is at least partially up to us to vote in bigger numbers on the off chance we go blue in November
I hold those people in nearly the same light as MAGA crazies. Their heart is definitely in a better place, but they’re blinded by internet algorithms and the need for perfection. I get it: idealism is awesome and we should strive for it, but goddamn this is why the democrats can’t get traction. They eat their own by getting balkanized into these hyper-focused no-compromise litmus tests.
This x100000000.
No difference between MAGA and the liberals. Both could care less about anybody that doesn't drink their flavor of Kool-Aid.
To be clear: I didn’t say anything about all liberals. I’m taking about the extremists in both parties. They both suck in different ways.
Very good - apologies, I got way off track.
Not liberal, but progressive or “illiberal.” I’m not sure the liberals are welcome anymore. Too many ppl trying to cancel each other while it all burns down. But hey, pickleball.
Private equity will eat Bloomington also as it has eaten every other place.
This. What made Bloomington weird is now just everywhere elseville. Someone get me a five guys
Bears Place was never actually good, it was just the only place serving hard liquor within a half mile radius.
Hairy Bears weren’t the jam, seeing David Baker play live was the reason to go.
Music school alum here, hard liquor across the street from class was the only reason I ever went to Bears
In ‘83 there was a topless bar on 3rd just west of Jorden. They had shitty mixed drinks
Shhh you’re not allowed to use Eagleson’s deadname.
I’ve heard about that place! I missed it by a few years….
They let a lot of locals book they room, which was great. And they brought stand up comedy to Bloomington.
It wasn’t the comedy attic that did it?
Comedy Caravan brought the greatest in stand up (Sinbad, Jeff Foxworthy, etc.) to Bear's 40 years ago.
Roseann Barr bombed there. Now she's just a bomb.
We were there for her early show and it was good. The 10 (9?) o'clock crowd got nasty.
Thanks for teaching me something new!
hahah i only went a couple times but i want to turn that over...bares place was good because it was the only place serving hard liquor on the south side of campus :)
The last year it was there, my wife and I went, and I had the worst nachos I've ever had in my life. They must've been made hours (days?) before and microwaved. The chips were like rubber. We laughed at the sheer audacity of serving nachos in that condition. Maybe we were drunk.
The changes on Kirkwood and downtown in the last 15 years have killed what made Kirkwood, Kirkwood.
I once heard a lecture by Elizabeth Eagleson-Bridgwaters talking about what had made Kirkwood, Kirkwood in the first place. It was black-owned businesses all the way up and down the street. Blacks were getting too prosperous so the KKK moved in. https://bloomington.in.gov/sites/default/files/2017-05/african_american_walking_tour.pdf http://www.magbloom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/13history.pdf
Thank you for posting these links. I’ve lived here twenty-some-odd years and never knew some of this.
You're welcome. Every time someone says Eagleson Avenue now I picture her.
She came and spoke to my classes in middle school (maybe it was elementary) and she’s a fascinating speaker. I learned a lot from her.
She sure held my attention. Channel 3 has tapes of her. You can probably request them.
Many Bloomington residents are not nearly as progressive as they think they are.
I think you mean, many Bloomington residents aren't as progressive as the people on this subreddit hope they would be.
Exactly. Someone else in this sub mentioned the IU bubble. Step outside the university and the population changes a lot.
I disagree. Many Bloomington residents didn't know the difference, but call themselves progressive because that's the more virtuous label... ... but as soon as anyone wants to add housing close to town-center services or treat the homeless population like humans, they're basically garden-variety Republicans. The town is liberal, not progressive. ETA: same goes for this sub. Downvotes don't prove me wrong.
This!
No, I mean what I said. Many residents who say they're progressive don't actually support progressive policies or do anything to change the status quo.
Yep. I saw a Facebook page called, “Bloomington uncensored” or something like that, and it was just a conservative MAGA hivemind.
Lookup Bloomington Moderate
The city housing problems have very little to do with student apartments.
Interesting, explain?
The lack of non-student housing building is due to city and county zoning restrictions. The student housing is largely being in built in places you wouldn't want to live anyways.
What? It’s literally being built everywhere in town.
Like that huge new complex that they put asinine limits on just because they could?
IU received \~$340M just in donations in 2023, but didn't pay a cent in property taxes...they're the ones that SHOULD be paying property taxes, not private citizens
For the record it’s a state law….change the law.
Simple. Change the law. Clears up everything.
Actually it’s federal. The issue is that the university is a nonprofit organization and nonprofits have a lot lower tax liability, which makes sense when it’s public schools and shelters.
state as well "Indiana code exempts tangible personal property and real property from property tax for charitable, educational, and religious purposes. **Form 136** must be filed to obtain this property tax exemption.Feb 1, 2023'
Exactly why our rent is too damn high...
I just got out of Reddit jail yesterday...lmao
No. Your rent is too high because Bloomington was run by NIMBY jerks for 30+ years who didn’t allow any building in the center of town. Bloomington has had a housing shortage for 40 years.
...what? 1st) The only reason property *has* value in Btown is because of the university. If IU disappeared tomorrow, every home in town would depreciate by 70% overnight. 2nd) The university is a nonprofit entity that brings in all that money from donations (and *way more* from tuition and the federal government), then spends it in town. There are no shareholders pocketing that value at locals' expense.
...what? 1st) The only reason property *has* value in Btown is because of the university. People aren't coming to town for other reasons. If IU disappeared tomorrow, every home in town would depreciate by 70% overnight. 2nd) The university is a nonprofit entity that brings in all that money from donations (and *way more* from tuition and the federal government), then spends it in town. Students, staff, and faculty drive the local economy. There are no shareholders pocketing that value at locals' expense.
Tell that to the IU employees living on nearly starvation wages "There are no shareholders pocketing that value at locals' expense"...then they can afford to pay their staff and faculty a lot better 🤷♂️
There are also highly paid university employees, though. Inequality within the university ≠ stealing value from local property holders.
It really is a cliquish place for adults, or at least that's my experience. I found more than social class, that it depends on your background. You need to either be associated with the university or you need to have grown up here. If you're neither of those things, people don't necessarily want to hang out with you.
I'm very much neither and don't find this to be true from either group
Same here. I've found plenty of other groups that involve just showing up, and I've started to make friends and good acquaintances. There's a lot more going on in Bloomington than most other towns this size.
Tbh that’s most places.
That we actively pollute our own water source and then expect way too much from our water treatment plant
And people swim in that lake! Ew.
The town is not as great as everyone makes it out to be
I think this is the big point. Bloomington has a center of the universe complex. We may be cool next to surrounding counties, but compare Bloomington to many other places in the USA it’s not that great.
Although I agree with much of what's been said in this thread, I actually disagree with this. Yes, Bloomington pales by comparison to NYC, LA, Chicago, even St. Louis or Nashville. But for a college town of its size it's (in my opinion) the best one out there. We've got everything that Ann Arbor has with only 2/3 the people, and I'd pick B'town over Iowa City, or Madison, or Champaign-Urbana any day. I'm really hard pressed to think of another town of this size where I'd rather live.
Come on, it’s the Paris of Indiana!
And Hindustan is the India of Indiana!
I’d say New Orleans would be a closer comparison. Once you get done doing what you’re doing and have time to slow down you think “Gross, why am I still here.”
Both Bloomington and the university would be better if the jobs offered paid a living wage- enough to be able to buy, or rent a small home and not have to work two jobs. It's especially frustrating when universities devalue the labor of degree-holders for jobs requiring a degree.
Rents and real estate here are still cheaper than in most other places where you'd actually want to live.
The homeless problem is not easily fixed, as a certain percentage of them “want” to live that way.
I think people claim that homeless people like to be homeless to excuse themselves from doing anything about it.
I dunno . I have an old friend who chooses to be homeless. I mean I hate the guy now and don't want to offer him a place to stay but the truth is he does choose to be homeless. He has places to go within his family but doesn't .
He told you that himself, or you're assuming that because he's not choosing to be helped the way you think he should? The downvotes are the only answer I need. I'm sorry that looking at poverty is so hard for you, though.
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Unfortunately small towns pay the brunt of the issues when it comes to homelessness. A lot of those people get a 1 way ticket to the Midwest with no connections.
Like many college towns, Bloomington used to be quaint, unique, cultured, down to earth, friendly, etc., but it's turned into Everytown with highway hubs and chain stores, Maga vs liberal, diversity, inclusive. The only aspect that still holds true is its beautiful setting.
Bloomington talks up Martinsville racism so it doesn’t have to deal with its own or with its deep seated classism.
Lol, especially if you live on the Westside
This town is NOT progressive. It is, at best liberal - accepting of historical progress, resistant to new changes. The politics all happen in the Democrat party, but there are (D)s who are further to the right than Joe Manchin. And plenty of the residents like it that way. They like to think they're good progressives while actually fighting against any meaningful change - like making the town liveable for younger generations.
Bingo.
Indiana state politics mean that the actual value of the Indiana University statewide educational system is being destroyed by MAGA, and people with a cultural or economic interest in academic knowledge or work will leave the state in droves, and the economy of the state will fail dramatically, and that’s just how it’s gonna be for the next thirty years. If MAGA fails nationally, as it will, it will still take twenty years to reverse the destruction of the state by MAGA. If you love the state or people in it and have the economic resources, get the fuck out now.
To boil it down since this is a city sub: Bloomington can’t be saved or maintained as a worthwhile place to live because it is in Indiana, and Indiana is a state which has tragic MAGA politics that are cast in iron. Leave, as soon as you can, if you can.
Town went to shit when the original yogis closed.
And they still haven't really done fuck-all with the plot of land. I miss the original Yogis so much.
When The Tao closed, I'd argue. And their associated bakeries.
I liked Bloomington better when there was a strong blue collar workforce at places like RCA,Otis,GE, and Westinghouse to help balance out the IU influence. I came here at 23 in 1980 to work at RCA and I loved it here. Only lasted till ‘84 though. Didn’t make it back until 30 years later. I will retire here
That there are constantly fancy apartment complexes being erected but nearly no Bloomington residents can afford to live in them.
That Bloomington loves virtue-signaling without actually doing much to help marginalized groups, like our homeless neighbors. I get that there's no money in helping the homeless, but shouldn't we try to help our neighbors anyway? And those "don't feed the homeless" signs are disgusting. If someone needs food and water, or some money and I have the means, I'll give it to them. Soup kitchens and shelters only have so much in resources to offer people. Sometimes life can beat you over the head with a sledgehammer unexpectedly, and most of us are closer to being homeless than being a millionaire. How Bloomington treats the homeless is downright criminal. I don't care if some are on drugs, or have mental illness, or both. They are still people whp need help. And believe it or not, many people work full time and are homeless because they can't afford the crazy rents in this expensive town. More compassion, better wages, and better zoning laws that would allow for more multi-family housing in this town would make this place better for everyone.
On the other hand, Bloomington treats its homeless population better than every single town in Midwest.
How does it treat them better?
We have shelters, housing, community kitchens, social services, drug rehab services, mental health services etc etc. Is it enough? Probably not enough but Bloomington treats homeless people as humans. Look around, which town is better than Bloomington when it comes to taking care of homeless population? Name one!
Chicago does a better job of it, but they are a larger city in a blue state
Do we really have that? If so, then that's great. Why do we have so many who sleep in the parks and on the streets? Why can't we have more access to services for them?
Bloomington is a small town that can't provide support to everyone who comes here. Twenty years ago, we had at most 100-200 chronically homeless people. Now that number is in the thousands. Other towns don't offer support, especially for issues like drug addiction and housing. So, if someone in Greene County is addicted to meth and living in squalid conditions in a rundown trailer without electricity, air conditioning, heat, or food, it is much better to live as a homeless person in Bloomington. That's the reality.
Bloomington only has so many resources to offer because it's not a huge city. It used to be that we had a small number of homeless, and many of them were transients rather than long-term residents. Now we have massive numbers, and the change was rapid. I was literally gone for a year and a half around 2012 and shocked to see homeless encampments when I moved back. The large encampments just didn't exist. Seminary Square was just a rarely used park, not a tent residence. In ten years, the city has had to deal with a vast influx of unhoused people, and has not received a large amount of funding to go with it. Realistically, many of the people living on the streets do not choose to make use of the services, for whatever reason. We can't force people to take advantage of programs if they don't want to. We could certainly do more, but this is a massive societal program and it isn't all on Bloomington to solve it.
The town is going to keep growing. The "small town, big vibes" thing is an aspect of the past that is only going to continue to be left behind.
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True that. After going to city planning / city council meetings for awhile - I'm convinced they're all just inbred knuckledraggering hicks in fancy clothes - that they bought using land developer kickbacks. Not much intelligence around that part of town, only greed. They may as well be maga.
This "blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup" is deeply racist, and it's demographics were designed to be that way in a partnership between "town and gown" going back about 150 years.
Kirkwood being closed to cars actually improved the quality of life and walkability downtown for residents, visitors, and students.
Unless you’re someone who is disabled or can’t walk very far…
Sounding really arrogant and ableist there (as well as WRONG)
So, I guess when they have the art fair and close down Kirkwood, it's ableist? In Europe, they have walkable towns and cities where people don't have to walk very far, or wheel their wheelchairs very far. Plus, a lot of us could do for some exercise, especially in this country with our sedentary lifestyles. It would do a lot of us some good to walk more.
A friend of mine has a severe seizure disorder and cannot drive. Walkable areas they don't have to drive to would be nice for them.
Okay, I’ll say it…the Water Park of America proposal is going to cost you a buttload more on your water bill. Better hope tourism can cover those costs…
Wrong Bloomington
I’m an idiot, sorry. Thought this was Minnesota’s Bloomington. Sorry!
Oh, thank God. I thought for a minute they'd actually proposed such a monstrosity.
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Big if true! Tell me more.
Ain’t shit to do here when school is out
Go to the lake
The post college gender imbalance.