Analyzing Plan Kruzan: three years later

Mayor reflects on accomplishments with re-election looming

By Zachary Osterman

Published Dec. 4, 2006

Bloomington citizens elected Mark Kruzan in 2003. Kruzan campaigned on the concept of creating balance between community interests and economic growth.

One of his central campaign pieces, Plan Kruzan, hinges around such balance. With re-election looming next fall, what Mayor Kruzan has or has not achieved in his time in office will fall squarely in the public spotlight.

Photo by Zachary Osterman Mayor Kruzan sits in his office. His day is filled with meetings, both at city hall and elsewhere. He says he likes meeting with community members, because it involves them in government.

Kruzan is well aware of this fact. However, he said he felt the “success” of his administration could not be measured only by tangible efforts.

“A big part of what we campaigned on was empowering people to achieve their potential,” Kruzan said. “That was the one goal that drove my decision to run for mayor, and if after my time here we can say we’ve done that, I’ll consider it a success.”

With Kruzan’s re-election 2007 campaign set to begin soon, the mayor said he will continue to focus on current initiatives rather than looking ahead to the future. However, public perception of his ability to follow through with his campaign promises may have a large effect on his bid for a second term.

The central message of Plan Kruzan

Kruzan said he made balance a central element of Plan Kruzan from the beginning of his campaign. 

“(Balance) I would say ... was the targeted goal of why I wanted to run for mayor,” he said. “Seeking balance between small-town character and big city amenities, seeking balance between development and environmental protection, seeking balance in terms of the economy.”

Kruzan said he believed balance was not just a campaign goal, but something crucial and beneficial to society.

“Whenever you see things go wrong in society ... it’s almost always because balance has been lost,” Kruzan said. “In our small corner of the world, we can seek to achieve balance, and that’s what we set out to do.”

Kruzan hammered on the idea that Plan Kruzan is not just a “disposable campaign piece.”

“It’s intended to be a map of attainable goals, that are measurable,” he said. “This is what we promised to do.”

Putting the Plan into action

Kruzan said his administration wanted from the beginning to emphasize different areas of the economy, like arts and entertainment. He also said he considered working with small business an important tool for supporting the economy.

“One of the first things we set out to do was to redefine economic development,” Kruzan said. “Our economy in Bloomington has moved much more away from a manufacturing economy to an information, life-science based, knowledge-based economy.”

But not everyone in city government feels the Kruzan administration has had a successful three years. District Five City Councilman David Sabbagh criticized the mayor’s office for what he termed a lack of a “vision for economic development.”

He said he believed the mayor’s office hasn't shown enough community leadership.

“A disappointment to me is what I think the mayor's lack of leadership,” Sabbagh said. “I have not noticed any new, really big projects coming out of this administration.”

Sabbagh pointed to the disparity between low- and high-salaried jobs, and the mayor’s inability to bridge that gap with middle-income employment.

“What we need is good-paying jobs, we need corporate headquarters,” Sabbagh said. “I really think that the idea of being an executive and executive leadership has been lacking, and that has perhaps surprised some people.”

Kruzan admitted Bloomington’s low unemployment makes it hard recruit skilled workers from around the country, because would-be citizens cannot find jobs. He said the gap between low-paying jobs and high-paying jobs is not being filled with “bridge careers.”

“People talk about the brain-drain, that you can graduate from IU, but then trying to find a job within the community is tough,” Kruzan said. “Creating different job opportunities for people so they can move from one segment of the work force to the next up and just keep that cycle going is what we’re trying to achieve.”

Where Else To Go

Sabbagh, who himself may be campaigning against the mayor in 2007, said he felt the previous administration, under John Fernandez, ran government better than this one. He said infrastructure needs were handled better, and government was more accessible.

He also criticized the Kruzan administration for certain economic policies, especially city hall’s creation of money reserves for the city.

“I think the previous administration had a vision for the community and accomplished much of that,” Sabbagh said. “There's I think been a lack of investment (by Kruzan) in the community ... There's been too much money left in reserve and hence the city is acting kind of as a bank, which (government) should not be doing.”

Kruzan did acknowledge infrastructure needs were not being met throughout the city. He said that was one area he felt he has come up short in his three years in office. He said he wanted to address those needs with long term.

To that effect, he said the Chamber of Commerce and the city are collaborating on a study intended to create a plan to serve the city’s infrastructure needs for years to come.

IU Political Science Professor Marjorie Hershey said she believed Mayor Kruzan would likely be elected, though Plan Kruzan might not have any direct effect.

"I doubt very much that the great majority of voters have any idea how much economic growth and community development Kruzan promised," Hershey said in an e-mail. "Politics, and local politics in particular, tends to be a low-salience topic for most people."

An eye on the past, an ear to the future

Kruzan said he felt it was important to retain Bloomington’s unique personality, and not let commercial growth overrun its small-town atmosphere.

“To me, it’s managing the growth that we have without sacrificing community character,” Kruzan said. “And that’s what we said out to do.”

Photograph by Zachary Osterman Mayor Kruzan sitting in a meeting with a deputy mayor and an official with the Convention Center. He routinely meets with members of community organizations and other parts of local government. He keeps a framed copy of Plan Kruzan on his wall to remind him of his original promises to Bloomington citizens.

Kruzan said another area of concern for any administration is IU’s influence on the Bloomington community.

However, Kruzan said he encouraged welcoming business and character brought by the IU campus into Bloomington. He said he believed it could add to Bloomington’s individuality, not just its bottom line.

“What we’ve done is adapt and move forward,” Kruzan said. “And (started) to assist small businesses that want to target (the student) market and, I think, in fact, it’s fueling our uniqueness.”

He said he was more concerned with helping people than carrying through plans or initiatives.

Kruzan said handling the growth in and around downtown Bloomington was representative of his vision of community equilibrium.

“It’s not been that long ago that we saw the very flip side of what (progress) can be like,” Kruzan said, referring to Bloomington’s infrastructure needs, especially around downtown. “So, while you end up with more people, more congestion, more parking problems and all, that’s all the price of success. And that’s again the kind of balance we’re seeking.”

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