By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington alderman and candidate for mayor Kevin Lower said a key part of his plan to re-prioritize city spending is to demand that city-supported entertainment venues, including U.S. Cellular Coliseum and the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, be more self sufficient.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Patti’s interview with Lower on WJBC.

“We really need to look at raising the fees and the prices of some of those shows,” Lower said. “I don’t want to go in and micromanage each one of those entities, but I do want to tell them from a city leadership standpoint, ‘Look, you have a bottom line, you need to meet this on an annual basis, period.’ ”

Lower told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin and Patti Penn that would enable the city to spend more on its aging streets and public safety.

Lower said it’s not easy to ‘go-it-alone’ when he votes against the majority, something he’s become known for in his four years on the city council, but he does it on principle.

“I wouldn’t call them mistakes, I think I made a point,” Lower said. “Many of them I knew would pass regardless of what I did but I was able to make a very poignant point about exactly why we need to be thinking about the other side of the issue. ”

Lower cited one example when he opposed a liquor licence for the Ovation-10 dine-in movie theater not for economic development reasons, but to prevent the spread of alcohol among young theatergoers.

The general election is on April 4.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].