Return to Sessions

 

Historical Perspective of Bloomington Politics

 

Arrived in the midst of the Viet Nam war ... local politics dominated by Republicans ... they would totally close the shop, closing meetings during controversial decisions to adjorn to a backroom, then come out and take a vote ... the newspapers didn't say anything, and we didn't pay much attention to it.

 

Community Development Conference ... focused on low-income (west side) citizens to get them more involved in politics ... mainly public housing and surrounding areas ... found out what they need, and tried to respond ... ran a miniscule daycare ... it was a real grassroots effort

 

Then came Viet Nam protesting, and the CDC switched to an anti-war focus ... supported peac candidates ... worked on the Eugene McCarthy campaign ... it was a "parallel party" ... we built up a lot of knowledge about organizing

 

By the time the Viet Nam war ended, "our" people were in about half of the offices ... we sort of took over the party ... at least influenced the direction that the party took

 

After the war, the focus turned to local politics ... focus on information, providing some recommendations on candidates ... the H-T went bezerk, going to sue ("can't slate candidates") ... we tried to be objective in who and how we recommended ... divided into policy and bureaucratics issues ... two interviews ... came back and voted as a whole group, recommending with some comments ... there was no other osurce of information available at the time

 

In the early 1970s, McCloskey was mayor ... his moving to Congress was a big feather in the Bloomington cap ... the recommendation group voted themselves out of business, deciding they either had to be objective or quit before they became a clique

 

Allison never would have been elected ... elected to council because Jeff Richardson, who had been the IU student body president, wanted her ... Allison was opposed by McCloskey forces, but they capitulated to avoid someone they wanted less ... Allison became interim mayor

 

IDS was the only "warning" newspaper in town ... these local democrats were inspiring people, around all of the time ... student paper reporters watched them develop personality ... lost the other daily, Tribune

 

Citizens for Good Government

 

BCAT funded in 1978 ... people could make their own judgements

 

Bloomington was a national media test market, because it was so isolated

 

Favorite sone candidate Robert Branagan brought national attention ...

 

Before McCloskey came in, Hooker said "Boy, I AM the Republican Party" ... later battled with Sarcus Tarzien over utilities ... Tarzien owned electrical company ("the Bill Cook of the day") ... monetary power behind the Republican party

 

"If someone opened a refrigerator door, I'd be there" (of Allison) ... recruitment process, door-to-door

 

 

IU ... contact into community wasn't all that great ... need to spend lots of time to do that

 

Campus shifted from liberal to conservative in the 1980s ... "money always talks" ... enormous expansion, fueled by many private dollars ... what is rewarded is what you'll get ... before RCM looked at the return on investment of departments, research money dictated the direction ... lots of liberals, but they aren't being rewarded

 

the School of Journalism has switched to creating PR specialists ... Ernie Pyle and his typewriter have been replaced in the windo with a CNN TV Feed ... SPEA has a strong emphasis on business ... it was always a big deal for the managing editor, because he got to use Pyle's desk

 

WTIU ... "Conversations with America" ... talk about current events with people like Sam Irvine, William Buckley and Gore Vidal ... they aim low now ...

 

Growth of city coincided with growth of University ... physically see the growth patterns ... there was anger over the low-quality engineering and lack of foresight in house ... that was Hooker who rezoned huge plots to highest density ... McCloskey did the first master plan (not much organization in City Hall before that) ... Allison had long, drawn out discussions on planning, taking a year or more ... very hard on everyone ... that work was reversed/ignored

 

Growth ... developers don't want to drill down and say what it is ... zoning and planning is not a liberal idea ... 1st laws pushed by real estate ... different classes of developers ... money is made off appreciation of land, which is determined by government ... comprehensive plan (county) must be codified into a zoning ordinance, then made and served in land xxxxx ... then intrpreted ... plans are not being followed.


Page Information

  • 1 year ago [history]
  • View page source
  • You're not logged in
  • No tags yet learn more

Wiki Information

Recent PBwiki Blog Posts