City of Bloomington cuts ribbon on Trades District Garage, which is part of the redevelopment of Bloomington; City named “Indiana’s rising Tech City for 2021,” according to mayor

Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton spoke during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 350-space Trade District Garage Saturday.

“We’re here for an opening of the garage. Yes, it’s an opening really of the future. This is a key support of the dynamic trades district, an investment in tomorrow, good-paying jobs of tomorrow, that will who weren’t even here yet. And we know how important that is. It’s the word infrastructure right? And it’s acknowledgment that our future is green, too as we look to a future beyond gasoline combustion engines and single-occupancy vehicles, we support today’s needs with sustainable low impact buildings,” said Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton.

“You know that dozens of startups at the mill have attracted investments, 30 residents just graduated from the mill Code School with updated skills next door to that the kiln is shaping up as another space. We have prospects in the works for the Admin Center. Of course, B-Line Heights opened and plans we hope for a major tech center that will take place we hope soon. Don’t take my word for it. Just next week, I think officially but it’s already been announced Bloomington was named by the Mira Awards as Indiana’s rising Tech City for 2021,” Hamilton said.

The area in the trades district was once the location for the Showers Furniture factory.

The mayor touched on the past history of the area, “It’s been a long time since train cars full of Showers Brothers furniture rolled down the tracks that are now the B-Line trail in order to remain viable, and indeed to soar as we want to in this community we have to adjust. That is what we are doing today is helping open a launching pad for that new economy. And we’re really glad to see that booming I am just glad to be here with you.”

Editor’s note – This is a one-person operation, and we have no copy editor. There were some mistakes in the Otter.ai transcript, but they are being corrected. Saturday was a 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. sort of day.