Our show this week returns with the second part of a conversation between Kite Line’s Micol Seigel and three members of the Carbondale, Illinois community:  Chastity, Kim, and Nick. They speak about the ongoing struggle for the use of the Eurma C Hayes Community center.

Originally opened by the city as a space for youth, the city later defunded the Eurma C Hayes center and put the responsibility on community groups to steward the building.   Now Carbondale politicians are proposing converting it to a police substation. This sequence is familiar to Bloomington residents, where a community environmental hub was replaced with the police substation now looming over Switchyard Park. These Carbondale residents speak about why they oppose police being installed in the Eurma C Hayes Center, and the alternatives visions each of them has for their city.  Each of them is thinking through what will be required for a Carbondale that doesn’t need police and instead prioritizes people’s needs over businesses, cops, and bureaucrats.

You can hear the first part of this conversation here.