My wife, three kiddos, and I are going to be moving to Bloomington in a few months. I'm a lifelong Hoosier & grew up in Brown County in the 90s, early 2000s. She's a transplant from Joliet, IL. The decision to move did not come lightly; it was only after a job change, a decision to build a new home (which is a completely separate set of stressors), and a LOT of prayer that we determined that the next chapter of our & our kids' lives would be in Bloomington.
There has been a lot of negativity surrounding the city and county lately, between the recent shooting and the mayoral reaponse, the number of weather disasters (more tornadoes in the last year than I remember in my entire childhood/young adulthood!), the debacle with the jail... I'm looking for the reasons why we SHOULD be moving to Bloomington. What makes Bloomington a good place to live and raise a family, and how does it offset the chances that my kids might be in danger from shootings, tornadoes, machete attacks, urban blight, or performative politicians? Thanks in advance!
Tl;dr: what are the good things about Bloomington for a family with young/growing children?