'State of the city is solid'

At the annual State of the City address, Mayor John Fernandez presented a community that remains socially and economically robust despite new problems on the state and national levels.\nFernandez seemed at once proud of his administration's accomplishments over the last year and a bit wistful about leaving office as this is his last year as Bloomington's mayor.\n"I think the state of the city is solid," Fernandez said. "This community works so hard. It really doesn't matter who is mayor."\nThe address, which was broken into sections on basic government services, housing and neighborhoods and economic development, was well received by the large audience at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave. \n"We've had our disagreements. We've yelled at each other in public," City Council member David Sabbagh said. "I think in all, John can look back over his two terms and go to bed with a sense of satisfaction."\nFernandez spoke of hiring 17 new police officers and 21 new firefighters since 1996, of filling potholes and paving new streets and of improving waste water treatment, drinking water quality and other minute but essential aspects of local government. Despite the economic downturn, the city's financial policies are solid, Fernandez said. \n"We have a high credit rating and property rates are down five percent since 1995," he said. "But we will have a lean budget in 2004 for two reasons -- the business climate and uncertain times at the state and federal level." \nFernandez made several announcements during the speech that will be important to the city's growth. The mayor received much applause from the crowd when he mentioned the $5.4 million grant Bloomington won from Indiana's Department of Transportation to acquire 70 acres of rail track owned by the CSX corporation that runs north-south through the city. This space will be converted into recreational paths for biking, walking and jogging, constituting an important part of the local alternative transportation plan.\nFernandez also announced that PTS Electronics will expand its operations at the Indiana Enterprise Center, an area on the city's westside targeted for development by the city after Thompson Consumer Electronics shifted a manufacturing facility to Mexico. The company, according to Fernandez, should add 300 new jobs by next fall. He also touted the decision by Best Beers, a local beverage company, to build a new headquarters at the IEC.\nThe mayor glowed about major investments in downtown Bloomington. Redevelopment in 2003 at the Regester site, located at Sixth Street and College Avenue, new apartment blocks at the Semicon site and at 10th Street and College Avenue and CFC's project just west of the square will add hundreds of additional living spaces downtown in the forthcoming year. This a process that Fernandez said would spur further development projects and investment.\n"Downtown is the barometer of the vitality of this city," he said. The projects "represent 80 million in new private-sector investments. That's a 133 percent increase over the last census for bedrooms downtown."\nAn important issue -- one that seems destined to shape the city's economic and social structure -- was not mentioned by the mayor. But it was heard through the form of Cathy Crosson, who sat in the back of the theater with two large anti-I-69 signs. Many local residents are enraged by Mayor Fernandez's decision to back the January decision Governor O'Bannon made to extend I-69 through Monroe County.