Hamilton ends his fighting with County on Convention Center
After numerous years of problems and delays, Mayor John Hamilton finally came to the table and signed an agreement between the City of Bloomington and Monroe County to collaborate on the expansion of the Monroe County Convention Center. Mayor Hamilton is one of four required signatories, with ratification now needed by the Bloomington City Council, the Monroe County Council, and the Monroe County Commissioners.
Once the Agreement is fully ratified, the CIB has responsibility to move forward with designing and building an expanded downtown convention center. Funding and oversight will be provided by the City Council, and a city nonprofit building corporation will issue debt and own the property on behalf of the city. Upon completion of the expansion construction project, the CIB is designated to take over operation and management of the convention center and will replace the County in its existing contract with the Convention & Visitors Commission for facility management. Once debt service is completed, the city building corporation is to transfer ownership of the facility back to the city and then to the CIB for ongoing management and operation.
Monroe County Ordinance 2023-24, passed July 5, 2023, by the Board of County Commissioners, established the CIB under state law to oversee the convention center expansion project and granted authority for appointments to the board.
Griffy Lake Nature Preserve Closed for Deer Hunts Nov. 18-19 and Dec. 2-3
Griffy Lake Nature Preserve, 3400 N. Headley Rd., will be closed to the public for two weekends (Nov. 18-19 and Dec. 2-3) for scheduled deer hunts. The entire Griffy Lake Nature Preserve property is closed beginning at 11 p.m. the Friday before the hunt through 5 a.m. the Monday after the hunt.
The goal of the annual deer hunts is to remove enough deer from the nature preserve to reduce deer browse pressure on understory plants and seedling trees to the point that these species are able to recover, and to continue reproducing within the preserve. A total of 27 registered hunters are expected to participate in the deer hunt this weekend.
Parks and Recreation has actively managed the deer population at Griffy Lake with sharpshoots or hunts since 2017. See the deer harvest data, and plant height study results, online at bloomington.in.gov/boards/deertaskforce/griffy-lake.
***Only hunters who applied and were selected to participate in the hunt are permitted to hunt at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve. The nature preserve remains closed to public hunting.
IU Club offered free balloon rides to help promote entrepreneurial mindset
The Indiana University Limitless Club offered free hot air balloon rides at Dunn Meadow, as part of their spontaneous event of the semester. Students participated in a free hot air balloon ride, provided by Balloons over Bloomington, on Wednesday between 5:30- 8:30pm on Wednesday at Dunn Meadow on 7th Street in Bloomington. Th
The Limitless Club goal is to establish a community of individuals who have an entrepreneurial mindset. The club hosts town hall meetings, workshops, and guest speakers to provide members with resources to turn their business ideas into reality, Each semester, the organization hosts a spontaneous event to challenge their members. The theme of this event was ‘The Sky is Limitless’,
This Week in Hoosier History
1963 – The first touch-tone telephones went into production at the Western Electric plant in Indianapolis. The new phones replaced the rotary-dial models which had been in use for many years.
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