Message from the Mayor

We’ve just been through a year of re-emerging and re-gathering. Our City’s public parks, trails, and programs provided such welcome, safe places for all of us to reconnect with each other and our community and nurture our physical and mental health.

We were renewing as a community during 2022, with most of the brutal pandemic in our rear-view mirror–where we hope it will stay. And we were renewing some of our parks as well. Many of our recent projects have focused on improving our parks’ accessibility and inclusion.

We upgraded Bloomington’s first park, Cascades, with a large streambank stabilization project and a beautiful new accessible boardwalk, making its waterfall and streambanks, both popular Bloomington features, available to more people.

We completed the first phase of the Griffy Lake Loop Trail and Accessible Fishing Pier project with its stunning quartermile multi-use path on the west side of Headley Road to connect the northern and southern trails around Griffy Lake. It includes accessible fishing access areas directly west of the existing Griffy Lake Nature Preserve parking lot. We improved pedestrian safety with a new, separated path to access the trails along the causeway (avoiding the road as was the previous practice!). The coming year should bring more improvements along the north and south shore trails to mitigate or reroute eroded sections of trail, improve trail crossings of drainages into Griffy Lake, formalize a crossing of the dam and with new stairs to parking on the dam’s west side.

We upgraded Bryan Park with new paving of the walking loop around the park. Two new boardwalks on the north side of Bryan Park will protect tree roots and improve drainage, and new paved connections between the westernmost boardwalk and the Bryan Park fitness station, and to the North Picnic Shelter along with new concrete curb ramps at the Henderson Street entrance all will increase accessibility.

RCA Community Park’s playground boasts new engineered wood fiber surfacing. The Waldron, Hill and Buskirk Park (formerly Third Street Park) enjoys a new playground and repaired decorative fountain and stage. And more improvements kept showing up all around our City.

Our tree canopy got bigger and better in 2022. We dedicated bicentennial bond money from 2018 to planting trees in four identified project areas on Bloomington’s southwest, northwest, north, and east sides to address some inequitable gaps in the canopy. This project makes our trees healthier by increasing botanical diversity and it makes our residents healthier by distributing more trees more equitably. In 2022 we planted 265 trees, with more tree planting planned for 2023.

Our community enjoyed all these outdoor improvements while splashing around in the City’s two outdoor pools, Bryan Park Pool and Mills Pool and socializing at community events and festivals like the Movies in the Parks series and the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market. Not to mention golfing, playing tennis or pickleball or basketball or bocce or soccer or softball, riding or striding or rolling 30 miles of trails, canoeing or kayaking or hiking, or just basking in nature. Our facilities and programming saw more than 72,000 participations in fitness classes and wellness programs throughout the year.

Bloomington’s public parks, trails, and trees are a treasure. So are the people who tend them, improve them, sustain them, and program them. Thank a staff member when you see them. They help all of us live healthier and happier lives. Thanks for another great year in 2022!