Bloomington Council begins 2025 budget talks
Bloomington City Council will kick off the 2025 Budgetary process this week. This Wednesday the Council will hold their inaugural Budget Work Session which will culminate in the October Budget voting. Last year, Bloomington’s Council approved $248 Million dollars in expenditures, a 7 and a half percent increase from the previous year.
Building Trades Park Master Plan Highlights Accessibility
A Master Plan to guide the future development of Building Trades Park, a former stone quarry that became a city park in 1949, was presented to the Board of Park Commissioners at their regular meeting May 21. Mader Design began work on the master plan in 2023, and conducted two different public input meetings and collected feedback from more than 200 individuals online to develop the master plan.
The park’s history as a stone quarry poses challenges for accessibility, with numerous grade changes throughout the park. Aging infrastructure, including picnic shelters and playground equipment installed in 2003, are included as needs to address.
According to Street, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have been allocated to address accessibility issues, with plans calling for reconstruction of a ramp that runs from the edge of the park at Second Street north to the picnic shelter. Funds that remain following the ramp project may be used for a new, more visible and accessible picnic shelter. Other concepts presented in the master plan are for pickleball courts, native plantings, a “skate spot” for skateboards, and space for public art.
For more information about the Building Trades Park Master Plan or upcoming park improvement projects, visit the Parks Project Update web page.
Limestone Comedy Festival to kick off this Friday
Billed as The Greatest Weekend of Your Life, the 11th annual Limestone Comedy Festival will hit Bloomington this coming weekend. Featuring more than 40 world-famous comedians, the festival will take place at 7 different downtown venues, including The Comedy Attic, The Buskirk Chumley, and The Blockhouse. Headliners include Jimmy Pardo, Ali Siddiq, Lace Larrabee, and several others. May 31st– June 2nd. Check out Limestonefest.com for schedules and to purchase tickets
This Week in Hoosier History
2024 – Shout out to this furry Hoosier! The Garfield Movie releases today. Garfield is a comic strip created by Native Hoosier Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield (named after Davis’ grandfather); his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle’s dog, Odie. As of 2007, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals.
For more local news . . . Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson