Category Archives: Basics
Coughing through Budget Week
David R. Grubb is back to visit us. It’s an unusual week here at City Council. Normally we meet Wednesday nights at 7:30, but¬†this week we’ve been hearing the proposal from each city department for the 2009 budget, so we’re … Continue reading
The boundaries of District VI
District VI is the centermost of Bloomington’s six councilmanic [sic] districts. Below I’ve appended a list of the streets which bound District VI, as well as neighborhoods and IU residence halls within the district. The boundary runs right down the … Continue reading
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 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