By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – The portion of Jefferson Street in the heart of downtown Bloomington won’t permanently be shut down to become a pedestrian walkway after the city council Monday night decided to pave the street with asphalt instead of a more expensive surface.

City staffers say the cost of pouring asphalt on the 100 block of East Jefferson, on the north side of the courthouse square, will cost $35,000. Making Jefferson a brick street would have run about $900,000.

Alderman Mboka Mwilambwe favored the cheaper plan, given the city’s budget constraints.

“We have to lower our ambitions and be a little bit more efficient time wise, but also in terms of cost,” said Mwilambwe.

Mayor Tari Renner said use of asphalt won’t stop the city from closing off Jefferson for big events.

The council also discussed implementing a work plan for “easy to achieve” improvements that can be accomplished the next three to five years. Alderman Jamie Mathy said downtown retail businesses need to stay open more to attract tourists.

“Sunday is a huge day for tourism, especially for Route 66 travelers, and there (are) five businesses in the entire downtown right now that are open on Sundays,” Mathy said.

Amelia Buragas reminded council members they have to figure out what to do with a deteriorating Market St. garage.

“We need to have that sense of urgency because this is a long-standing problem,” said Buragas.

“I was doing some research last week and found an article from 2010 with council struggling  what to do with the aging Market St. parking deck. It could have been written today,” Buragas said.

The council recently rejected an idea to build a new library and Connect Transit transfer center there.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].