Keep the park

In the Monday, Aug. 4 edition of the IDS, guest columnist Ellis Latham-Brown lamented that People’s Park is still not family-friendly, although he is very pleased that the rest of Kirkwood has been “cleaned up.” He mentions that “most of the seedy establishments that once lined this street – The Den, for example – have been replaced by posh boutiques and upper-scale eateries.” 

Perhaps this admiration for the homogenizing of our lovely and unique Bloomington is only to be expected from a generation of children who grew up on Disney World and who were reared by helicopter parents. Gone are Jiffy Treat, The Den, White Rabbit and Roberts Photographic Equipment, all locally-owned businesses. The new and shiny national chains have arrived. What more could you ask for than Urban Outfitters, so cool and clean and corporate.

Latham-Brown praises Mayor Mark Kruzan for the remaking of Kirkwood. What I see is a certain ubiquitous bland style – green lamp posts and brick crosswalks – a manufactured look you can find in any other town that is attempting to go upscale. All that’s left is People’s Park, “a troubling reminder of the area’s run-down past,” according to Latham-Brown, even after its recent face-lift. We’d better hurry up and get rid of those pesky “people” who use that park, as they simply aren’t upscale enough to fit in with the new Bloomington or the students who expect to live in only a sanitized and “safe” world.
 
Deborah DeChurch
IU staff member