Column: Suggestions for Kruzan

The votes are in: incumbent Mayor Mark Kruzan won the Democratic primary, and is currently unchallenged for the November election. Unless the Republicans put forth a candidate, Kruzan will remain mayor until 2015, 12 years after he took office.

After meeting with both Kruzan and his challenger, Mark Hamilton, I must say that I was actually impressed with both, starting with the fact that they were willing to talk to a college newspaper in hopes of gaining our endorsement. I also liked options from both of their platforms, though I did make a choice when the board voted.

Now that Kruzan is almost guaranteed another term in office, there are some things I’d like to see in Bloomington.

The hospital is a huge issue. While Kruzan has been in talks with Bloomington Hospital to see if it will stay, I think there is more he can do. Learn exactly what it wants, exactly what he can offer to get it to stay in Bloomington, and then make the offer. The hospital is too important to Bloomington; if it moves to Ellettsville, it will hurt our city.

Secondly, it’s always good to go green. There’s no shame in taking a page out of your opponent’s handbook; John Hamilton, among others, had some good ideas for improving the environment.

One idea that particularly struck me was his plan to stop sewage from leaking into the rivers in Bloomington. Mayor Kruzan’s plan to stop the leaks altogether takes money, and time, but Hamilton has a cheap way of slowing it while the city gets the money together: plant reeds and other plants where the leaks are happening. It’s cheap, it’s fairly effective and it’s a good short-term solution.

The third thing I’d like to see is Mayor Kruzan making an effort to reach out to IU students. As the candidates cited, Bloomington has 80,000 residents, and half of them are IU students. Talking to the editorial board was a great step, but there is more.

Reaching out to Kelley and SPEA students to help tackle financial and environmental problems and implement solutions is a great way to get students involved in the community. Additionally, the mayor should connect more with IU’s College Democrats group. From what friends have said, I gather that they rarely hear from him.

Many students only stay in Bloomington for the four years it takes to earn a degree, and then they leave. Mark Kruzan was once one of those students—but he came back, and now he’s mayor of the city. He’s been on our end, which should give him insight into the way IU students operate.

But even though many of us are only four-year residents, plenty of IU students are registered to vote in Monroe County. Students live off-campus in Bloomington houses and apartments, take Bloomington public transportation, use the Monroe County Public Library, eat at Bloomington restaurants, work in Bloomington stores, and are a part of the city. Even though many IU students are insular, we all in some small way—even if it’s just hitting bars on Kirkwood on a Saturday night—participate.

Reaching out to us and giving us opportunities to be involved would only help student-resident relations, and it could help the government as well. And who knows? Maybe in a few years, other IU students could return to Bloomington for good.