Resident Information

Our downtown is a vibrant, urban district with a variety of  choice living options including lofts, apartments, and condos amidst restaurants, stores, bars, art galleries-all within a 30-block area.

Experience Life Downtown! Living in downtown Bloomington provides for a great residential experience. Parking, trash removal and recycling, and residential services, are a few of the logistics you may want to know more about.

Trash collection The City of Bloomington provides weekly trash collection for residents. If you do not have trash service provided by your landlord, you can take your trash out to a corner nearest you , in secured plastic bags, and set it by a city receptacle. Trash may only be taken out on Tuesday night after 6:00 p.m. for a Wednesday a.m. pick up.

Recycling  Plastic, glass, paper, and cardboard can be disposed of at the Monroe Centre, 200 W. Monroe Street, in the corresponding blue recycling receptacles. In addition, the DBA and Allied Waste have partnered to provide larger recycling receptacles that don't require sorting of the above recyclables for the Downtown community. These are located

• On the 500 block of Main Street, behind Six Strings and toward the alleyway behind Common Ground

These receptacles are designated via signage and banners.

Finally, units set up for all types of recycling at each of the area Wal-Marts. The nearest location is on West Market Street.

Parking  If your landlord doesn't provide parking, you have a few options for parking:

• Monthly parking pass in the public garages-call Cheryl Dowdy at 434.2207. The Market St. garage is located on Center Street between Market & Monroe Streets. The Lincoln lot is located on East and Front Streets.
• Monthly parking in a private garage-call Dave Park at 829.3331 for parking in the garage on Main and Jefferson Streets.
• Limited on-street parking after 6 p.m. These spaces are used by visitors to patronize our many merchants and services, so please use this option sparingly.

Guidelines for overnight on-street parking:

You can park from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on the west and north sides of the streets Monday, Wednesday and Sundays; and on the east and south sides of the streets on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. This rotation enables the city to sweep the streets. You may only park once each day in the same block. Read street signage carefully as other parking requirements may apply.

Groceries & Conveniences

• Common Ground, 516 N. Main St., organic produce and natural foods; freshly made sandwiches to go
• CVS Drugs, 210 N. Center St., general merchandise, food and prescriptions
• Kroger,  1502 N. Main St.
• From May to October, the downtown square has a Farmers' Market every Saturday morning from 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. where locally-grown produce, meat, and more is available.

Downtown Bloomington has a post office, located at 400 N. Center Street, on the corner of Monroe and Center streets. Hours are M-F 8:30-4:30

Places To Go

Oh! All the places you could go Downtown:

• Bloomington Center for Performing Arts, 600 N. East, www.artsblooming.org
• Bloomington Public Library, 205 E. Olive, www.bloomingtonlibrary.org
• McLean County Arts Center, 601 N. East, www.mcac.org
• McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., www.mchistory.org
• Pepsi Ice Center, 201 S. Roosevelt, www.cityblm/pepsi
• U.S. Cellular Coliseum, www.uscellularcoliseum.com

Restaurants & nightlife- The downtown of original eateries and bars. Many restaurants serve lunch and dinner, from simple to elegant; a few restaurants also serve breakfast, including Kelly's Cafe and Bakery on North Center Street and Coffee Hound on North Main Street. In general, bars open at 5:00 p.m. and close at 1:00 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Downtown Walking Map- The Downtown Bloomington Association office has a map listing all retail, services, entertainment and dining opportunities in the district. <pdf of walking wap>

Get Into Your Downtown-Find out what event and news is happening in Downtown Bloomington by subscribing to our weekly e-mail by sending an e-mail to: tstiller@downtownbloomington.org

Contact Us- The Downtown Bloomington Association office is located at:
106 West Monroe Street
Bloomington, IL 61701
Phone: 309-829-9599
Fax: 309-829-9925

Hours: M-F 9-5:30p.m.

Executive Director: Tricia Stiller tstiller@downtownbloomington.org
Events & Outreach Coordinator:  Marisa Brooks marketing@downtownbloomington.org

Adopt-a-Pot coordinator: Valerie Dumser lilylady@verizon.net
Downtown Farmers Market coordinator: Elaine Sebald Bloomington_farmersmarket@yahoo.com

The two councilpersons representing the Downtown are:

Karen Schmidt, Ward 6
309.829.6318
e-mail: ward6@cityblm.org

Judy Stearns, Ward 4
309.828.5443
e-mail: ward4@cityblm.org

The Downtown community has organized a Neighborhood Watch. To get involved, call the DBA office or e-mail tstiller@downtownbloomington.org

To report a disturbance and for non-emergencies, call  the police dispatch center 820-8888; Emergencies - 911