The 812

Originally started in 2013 to rescue hamsters, The Pipsqueakery has expanded to become an animal rescue (which adopts out domesticated creatures) and sanctuary (which cares for wild creatures). Along and in consultation with Wildcare, which focuses on wildlife, and the city of Bloomington's Animal Control division, which focuses primarily on dogs and cats, the Pipsqueakery is part of the nota...

Our guest is Megan Betz, the CEO and President of Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, the Bloomington community resource center that's one element of the local emergency food sector. She lays out how, acting from the belief that food pantries won't end hunger, the Hub strives to be more than a food pantry; they try to tackle the root causes of hunger by building relationships and community t...

Duncan Campbell is an advisory member of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, and before that was a voting member for its first 16 years. He's also a former professor of architecture, planning and preservation at Ball State University, where he directed the graduate program in historic preservation. We talk with him about the background and history of preserving buildings, the de...

Clerk Browne's duties include providing the clerical services needed for the county court system to function, as well as administering elections in the county, whether local, state or federal. We talk about the logistics of voting in Indiana, clear up confusion about similarly titled offices like that of the Bloomington City Clerk, and talk about the biggest things that people don't get...

Our guests today are Dawn Adams and Juliet Roberts, who are part of the committee that puts on the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts, the community's biggest annual arts event, where tens of thousands of pedestrians view the wares of more than 100 painters, sculptors, jewelers and other visual artists, not to mention the performing arts stages the Festival hosts. It's taken place ever L...

Deborah Myerson is a professional urban planner who specializes in housing policy. She talks about working for cities all over the country, including Bloomington where she lives. She's currently helping the city's Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND) Department develop the update of the city's Consolidated Plan, a document required of every place that gets funds from the fede...

Our guest is Amy Swain, the county Recorder. If you're lucky enough to own land in Monroe County, her office is the place that helps you prove it. It's a bigger, and older, and more complicated job than you might guess. Besides telling us about the lengths she has to go to preserve records in perpetuity, there's also other matters, like scammers and what her staff does to guard agai...

As we collect interviews with elected officials in the county, we occasionally come across the word "resiliency" -- is the community resilient enough?  Our guest today is asking that question, among many others. Peter Iversen talks about the job of the council to manage the county budget, some of the boards he's on like the Justice Financial Advisory Committee and the county Environ...

The world of public housing has moved past the negative reputation it's had from decades of national neglect. Thanks to legal changes at the federal level, our guest today, Nathan Ferreira, is having success making more public housing available, as the Director of Real Estate Development at the Bloomington Housing Authority. He talks with us about whatever happened to the term "Section 8...

The Stride Center is a program started a few years ago in Bloomington that serves people who are experiencing mental health or substance abuse crises, both at their headquarters and where those people live, even if they're unhoused. Our guests today are Tia Magee, the Center's Program Manager, and Jennifer Scott, who leads its Mobile Crisis Response Team. The Stride Center serves as a cr...

The second of our 2-part interview with Mayor Kerry Thomson, in which she talks about her current initiatives. It should be no wonder that, as befitting her former role as the longtime director of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, her number one priorities are street homelessness, followed by housing construction. But she also discusses transportation, economic development, and the 2025 b...

The 812 marks its 100th episode with Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson, who graciously sat for a double interview earlier this week. In this first part, we ask about her Bloomington origin story -- it's not typical -- and her life before taking office, including about her long tenure running the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, and how she decided to run for mayor. Part II, on her administra...

In their respective offices since the beginning of 2023, Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté and his deputy, Monroe County Jail Commander Kyle Gibbons, argue that no matter what else happens, any new jail needs to be larger than the old one. Meanwhile, in today's Last Pitch segment, host Steve Volan exhorts you to sign up for a Residents Academy course. Support the show A production of Plateia...

The 812 returns for its second season! We have new music, new segments, and a new program schedule to lead us off. Our first show back from break features a conversation with Angela Van Rooy, director of the city's neighborhood services program. She tells us about grants that people can apply for to improve their neighborhoods, and the city's Residents Academy, which starts in a couple o...

Our guest today is Katarina Koch. She's the fourth-ever director of the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation, the organization whose primary production is the annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. Since 1994 the Lotus Festival has presented musical artists from all over the world in multiple venues in downtown Bloomington, and on the streets between those venues. We learn about the Festi...

Many local homeowners have...thoughts, about the assessed value of their homes. Some of those thoughts are ...less than charitable, especially when assessments go up dramatically. Today, we talk to the person doing the assessing...she has thoughts, too. Welcome...to The 812. Our guest today is Judy Sharp. She's been the Monroe County Assessor since 1991, one of the, if not the longest-serving...

(This is an encore presentation.) The city has dozens of boards and commissions, to contemplate big local issues and recommend or take action on them. What's it like to be on one...what's it like to chair one? Our guest is Dr. Gloria Howell. We learn about what the Dr. Martin Luthe King Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission does -- and it's more than just hosting the annual event in i...

If your human rights have been violated in Bloomington or Monroe County, you have recourse. Our guest today is Ryne Shadday, chair of the city/county Human Rights Commission. (He's also chair of the Traffic Commission, but we'll leave that for another day.) He’ll talk about one of the oldest commissions in Bloomington, one with a proud history of standing up for those unfairly discrimina...

Our first two excerpts are from interviews with members of the Monroe County Council. We get thoughts about the problems with the county jail and developing a new so-called justice system in the county from at-large member Cheryl Munson and District 4 member Jennifer Crossley . In the second half, we welcomed back at-large  Bloomington city councilmember Matt Flaherty to discuss the need for a ver...

Our guest today is Jennifer Crossley. She's been the 4th District representative to the Monroe County Council since December 2021, when she was elected in a Democratic Party caucus to replace Eric Spoonmore, who resigned to become president of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. When she took office, she resigned her position as chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party. She won el...

Steve Volan passes the gavel and his hosting duties to at large councilmember Isak Asare, who was not satisfied with his first appearance on this show, and insisted -- insisted! -- on grilling your humble interlocutor about his time on city council. If you heard that  original interview, or you've met the man in person, the force of his charm and irrepressible wit rendered Steve helpless to o...

Matt Flaherty is an at-large member of the Bloomington City Council in his second term. One of his strongest concerns as a candidate and officeholder is climate change. He's been an avid participant in the discussions about local responses to climate change, and a close reader of the city's Climate Action Plan. We invited him back to discuss and review the Plan -- has it has the desired...

Today's show features county councilmember Cheryl Munson, who's running for her fourth term. She is also an archaeologist (emerita) from IU Bloomington, who has done research here in the state of Indiana. We dig up her opinions on salaries, public safety, the convention center, and more. Support the show A production of Plateia Media ©2024-5. All rights reserved.

On today’s digest, a current-events discussion, the county judicial system, and more about the campus in our city’s midst: Lucas Gonzalez, on the big issues he’s been covering for WFIU News;  Judge Catherine Stafford on how the county’s circuit court works; Judge Stafford from another episode,  on how the Eviction Protection Project has improved outcomes in the county; and  another excerpt from St...

Today we explore why evictions are the whole community’s problem (hint: guess how many people currently experiencing homelessness lost their rented apartments?). We talk about it with Judge Catherine Stafford, one of two judges who handle evictions cases locally, and who  was on the show yesterday to talk about the county judicial system in general. She talks with Steve Volan about the degree to w...