Opinion: For a car-free Kirkwood by Chris Donahue

By Chris Donahue

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – July 21, 2026

On Sunday, I walked downtown and watched the World Cup final in the middle of Kirkwood in front of the Uptown. The incredible conviviality drew me in. The crowd was a couple hundred, spilling back half a block. The Office Clothier seemed to be getting a bunch of ecstatic spillover walk-by traffic. I talked to neighbors about all the children kicking soccer balls around in the middle of the street. A stranger’s comment, “seeing the kids here is so lovely,” was interrupted by Spain scoring their goal. It was delightful to see a team earn their win by sticking to the fundamentals, without a superhero, each player doing their part.

My family lives in Burlington, VT, where their main drag, Church Street, has been car-free since 1981. I often visit them for the holidays, and gravitate towards Church St in the northern Vermont winter. I know how nice it can be, and I want that for all of us in Bloomington. My favorite moments are the activated big events on Kirkwood, but the most satisfying are the quiet moments, like returning library books on a mundane Tuesday and bumping into old acquaintances, in keeping with most of my time on a very passive Church St.

I’ve been talking to people about a car-free Kirkwood. Anecdotally, every single person I talked to under the age of 60 were all for a car-free Kirkwood; over 60, some were reserved, and very few were opposed. The younger the demographic, the more exuberant the response. Many echoed the sentiment that cars ruin cities, voicing a frustration of forced automobile dependence. A few mentioned parallel issues, such as a lack of shade, which is an issue whether Kirkwood is car-free or auto-dependent, and easily solved by planting larger shade trees further from the buildings in the space that is currently ceded to the cancer that is parking. Some of the olds (but none of the parents) expressed fears of the homeless via strained language, without conversation about the failures of the housing market, nor an expansion of the Bloomington Housing Authority. Frankly, the more the city makes the center of town a great place for everyone to live satisfying lives of dignity, the more that the downtown businesses will benefit. The community I want to live in is one where parents feel comfortable letting their kids run around in public, like yesterday.

One of my gripes of the modern era is having citizenship denuded to being a crass consumer. If you want a city for everyone, city council needs to hear from you. Especially if you’re younger. Please email them supporting a car-free Kirkwood before Wednesday evening. Likewise, a new civic organization, Better Streets, is forming to advocate for better walking, biking, and transit. Get involved, and join us at the nascent website BetterStreetsBtown.com, and there will be a meet-and-greet tentatively scheduled for Friday, August 21, from 5-7 pm at Switchyard Park. Your opinion is needed and valued.

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