Other: Third Street underneath the B-Line Trail bridge. Kirkwood and Dunn. Indiana Avenue between Kirkwood and 7th. The three-way intersection of E Moores Pike, S Sare, and College Mall Rd. 7th St by the IMU. The IU campus around Ballantine. Dozens of alleyways and backyards. What do all of these places have in common? Flooding. They flood when it storms. I don't mean when it rains a bit, and I'm not talking about those rare events when it rains for days and we have unanticipated flooding (like in 2019 and 2021). I mean when it storms and we get heavy rain. Dozens of places in Bloomington become impassable. These areas have flooded out for years - ESPECIALLY that part of Third Street under the B-Line bridge. That seems to flood whenever we get more than just a drizzle of rain. And it's right next to that construction for the shiny new skyline bridge and convention center add-on. I recognize that drawing in additional funding through the use of the convention center is appealing for the city. That said, it's always amazed me how the city seems to focus on construction projects while completely disregarding the abysmal state of the stormwater drainage/runoff system in various parts of town. It's not like this is a new issue. I can only imagine how frustrating it will be for those visiting town to visit the convention center, only to get stuck there because the street right next to it flooded out. Again. I know it would be a massive undertaking, both in terms of cost and time. I won't pretend to know the ins-and-outs of infrastructure design and improvement. All I know is that I have to plan an alternate route to get through town whenever it rains enough, and it's happened enough that I know which parts of town to avoid.

Assigned to

John Arbuckle