The Problem with Brain Drain
Bloomington is a College town at heart, with the city figuratively and physically built around IU, one of Indiana’s top Universities. This means Bloomington attracts some of the best talents in Indiana and from across the country, who will go on to build amazing businesses and create huge economic impacts.
However, Bloomington fails to entice many students to stay in town after graduation and start families and businesses. This has been hurting the city’s economy, where there are plenty of students filling entry-level jobs, leaving few left for long-time residents, and not many businesses that can employ highly-qualified recent graduates. The city has been investing heavily in the new trades district, taking a top-down or “if you build it they will come” approach to the issue. However, one expensive office complex won’t solve the problems keeping high-skilled businesses from investing in Bloomington. In addition, the city can foster an environment where businesses can start and grow to full size here.
Housing Affordability
Many businesses, including our country’s biggest tech companies, are started in spare rooms and garages by recent graduates or visionary dropouts. However, Bloomington has few homes with extra space that someone can afford while working a part-time job and developing their dream. Zoning reform and single-stair reform can both help students explore entrepreneurship at home after graduating.
Bloomington is more expensive than many midwest cities with more opportunities and amenities. Rents for 3 bed homes desired by young families are higher here than the national average, and are similar to major cities like Austin, Nashville, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, and Minneapolis. Our 4 bed homes are more expensive to rent than those in Boulder, LA, Key West, Hilton Head Island, and Seattle. Ownership is even more expensive due to high interest rates.
Companies looking to move into Bloomington will also consider the local cost of living, which directly informs how much they expect to pay employees to retain them in the long term. This may be the difference between large employers breaking ground on a new facility or abandoning their plans when met with other difficulties.
Office Space
Long commutes full of traffic, depressing office environments, and lack of a social scene plague other cities with lots of high-skilled employment. Luckily, Bloomington doesn’t have these problems, with relatively good walking and biking accessibility, a vibrant downtown, and a variety of cafes and bars. However, the city could easily capitalize on these advantages by spreading these positive features throughout the town.
Allowing more mixed-use zones with ample space for offices, small businesses, and non-polluting manufacturing is the first step. Combining this with stress-free transit options like buses or light rail can connect workers’ homes with offices and local restaurants to enjoy during lunch breaks. Younger workers prefer active transportation like walking and biking, so expanding and connecting Bloomington’s protected bike network is key to attracting and retaining workers, while reducing traffic deaths and congestion.
Post-pandemic office culture often includes hybrid and remote work, so creating spaces for casual work can attract more businesses and remote workers to Bloomington. The city could invest in 24/7 public workspaces like neighborhood libraries, cafes, and wifi-equipped greenhouses in parks that provide more pleasant places to work outside the home or office.
Safety
In order to retain skilled workers and grow the local economy, the city must be somewhere people want to spend time outside of work. This starts with tackling homelessness head-on, by building permanent city shelters. This might be a better use of city money than new signs and office buildings. Many cities have policies of tearing down encampments, outlawing visible homelessness while providing no real alternatives for those in need. Bloomington should not be one of them, instead seeing the value in every individual, and investing in giving them the stability to find new opportunities in town. Growth in small businesses and restaurants could provide more entry-level jobs that people can depend on to avoid falling into homelessness in the first place, or use to make their first step out of it.
Other improvements to perceived safety can be made, like ensuring all streets are thoroughly illuminated at night, and populated with a variety of businesses that encourage activity at all hours. Cafes busy in the morning, offices and restaurants busy during the day, shops busy during the evening, and basement pubs busy at night can ensure people are coming and going all day long, so the streets never feel empty and dangerous.
Conclusion
Bloomington is currently a difficult place to afford, and an even harder place to find a high-paying job outside of the university. Just a few zoning policy changes that cost the city nothing can improve the situation, and a few strategic investments in transit and safety could attract more businesses while uplifting the whole community.