Monthly Archives: January 2006
The difference between city and county
Because Bloomington is more than half the population of Monroe County, the city and county governments rival each other in size. City and county government meetings run side by side all the time on Channel 12, the local cable TV … Continue reading
The very basics of the Bloomington metro area
Here is the Monroe County Courthouse, the very heart of downtown Bloomington. ¬† Bloomington (70,000) is the only “city” in Monroe County (120,000), and the county seat. The next largest population center is Ellettsville (5,000), which is too small … Continue reading
The very basics of how Bloomington’s city council works
Bloomington’s nine councilmembers meet in regular session twice monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:30 pm.¬† It may seem like we meet more often than that. That’s because we do. Let me explain. Any item … Continue reading
Is the council nit-picking…or is the newspaper cherry-picking?
It’s a little premature for me to post this, as I haven’t finished introducing the blog as a whole. But here’s my first article of any substance in the new year. It’s a guest column to Bloomington’s daily newspaper, the … Continue reading
The very basics of cities in Indiana
Indiana has three classes of cities. There is only one “first-class” city, which is defined simply as being more than 250,000 population. That city is Indianapolis, also the state capital. It has a mayor and a 25-person city council.¬† Then … Continue reading
No such thing as government in the singular
¬† I find that most people don’t understand government.¬† Partly that’s because there’s no such thing as “government,” in the singular, monolithic sense of the word. There are many “governments,” plural. There are federal, state and local governments. The executive … Continue reading
About Councilmanic
I’m a sitting councilman in Bloomington, Indiana USA. Since before I took office two years ago, I’ve been thinking about publishing a blog to articulate my experiences and work out my thoughts as a municipal officeholder. Partly it was to … Continue reading