Concerns surrounding affordable housing and camera surveillance across the city were front of mind for Bloomington residents during Mayor Kerry Thomson’s traveling town hall on Monday.
Thomson’s first traveling town hall of the year was held on Zoom to an audience of 20.
Katherine Zaiger, director of City of Bloomington Utilities, and Isabel Piedmont-Smith, a Bloomington City Councilmember representing District 1, joined Thomson on Zoom.
“Tonight’s like we have reentered COVID land,” Thomson said. “So thank you for rejoining us on Zoom. We will try to make this as warm and welcoming as we possibly can.”
Thomson holds traveling town halls in different districts across Bloomington, with recent locations including a Bloomington Transit bus and the Monroe County History Center. This is a practice started by Thomson to make the city government feel more accessible.
Housing concerns
The meeting started with an update on the winter weather, housing developments and economic growth in Bloomington. Thomson highlighted upcoming groundbreaking for the Hopewell South development in September and celebrated the creation of a housing and homelessness report published in November. She also mentioned that the fire department is now fully staffed after previously losing fire fighters due to comparatively low pay.
“We know we have people who really want to live in Bloomington, and they cannot afford to live here,” Thomson said, “and some of them just simply can't find units to live in here.”
Piedmont-Smith announced the council’s recent passing of two ordinances that increase incentives for affordable housing and change definitions of affordability. Affordable housing was previously defined as having residents making 120% of median income and spending 30% of their paycheck on housing. That number was changed to 90% of median income.
Sam Dove, a meeting attendee, asked about the status of the homeless encampment north of RCA Community Park eviction, which was halted Dec. 15 after community outrage. Thomson offered no updates but mentioned ongoing conversations with county commissioners.
“Ultimately, I want to share that my vision is that we will get to be Bloomington where nobody has to sleep outside, that everybody is offered a roof over their head,” Thomson said.
Surveillance cameras in Bloomington
Thomson in her updates also addressed concerns about Flock Safety surveillance cameras in Bloomington being used to aid Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Flock license plate reader cameras are able to record license plates, car color and other distinguishing features, including bumper stickers, according to its website. The information captured by cameras is sent to a database allowing law enforcement to track cars across cities. Thomson said this information is only available to law enforcement with a specific case number.
Bloomington operates 40 license plate reader cameras as of September 2025. The Bloomington chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is staging a walkout and rally to protest use of Flock Safety cameras at noon on Jan. 30 at City Hall.
The American Civil Liberties Union claims ICE is using Flock surveillance cameras to track vehicle movement.
“How do we as a community benefit from being surveilled by Flock?” attendee Jean Glaser asked in the meeting’s chat box. “How does benefit outweigh what feels like substantial risks in safety?”
“I'm taking this very seriously, and it is our intention to ensure that law enforcement, including ICE, cannot access our data under any circumstances,” Thomson said.
Flock Safety license plate reader cameras are used in 6,000 communities across the country, according to the company.
Thomson said she will be meeting with Flock Safety to discuss security issues in February, but that the city intends to continue using the cameras as a tool for law enforcement.
Going into this month marks the second year of Thomson’s term as mayor. She said her main priority remains improving affordable housing in Bloomington.
“Over the last year, many of you have commented the same thing, that you see me out in the community, and that's what this administration is all about,” Thomson said. “We knock doors, we show up to meetings and community gatherings, and that's that matters a lot to me, because listening is where good government begins.”
Piedmont-Smith also applauded the Bloomington community for coming together to support each other during the recent winter storm.
“I've been watching what's unfolding in Minneapolis, and it is shocking,” Piedmont-Smith said, referencing growing protests over federal immigration operations in the city. Federal agents in Minneapolis shot Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
“It just reminds us all to that our local relationships are so important and knowing and being there for our neighbors and supporting each other and the building the trust between local government and the population we serve is so vital,” Piedmont-Smith continued, “and I think that's what we're trying to do with these town halls.”
The next traveling town hall will be held in March at a location to be determined. In February the mayor will be hosting traveling office hours with more details to be announced soon.
