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 federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This week as part of her job, she began hosting a number of public meetings that run through September 3 to gather input from Bloomington residents about housing policies of every kind. She also serves on the city's Redevelopment Commission (RDC) and its Council for Community Accessibility, where she chairs the Transportation and Mobility Committee.

In the Last Pitch, a strategy for when you just have more that needs to be said in front of a public body.

NOTES

All about the Bloomington Consolidated Plan, including virtual and in-person meetings you can attend to give input through September 3 at this link.

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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 against them, and how she serves veterans.

On the Last Pitch: a bit of advice for how to most effectively say your peace in a public meeting.

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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 Environmental Commission, where the watchword is "resiliency"...and what it's like to represent all the lakes in Monroe County, Lemon, Griffy and Monroe.

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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", about the power of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and about the reestablishment in the city of a housing land trust -- an idea that was tried by a standalone nonprofit for about 20 years but gave up the ghost in 2010.

And Today's Last Pitch pays compliments to the chef who cooked up the median at Third and Grant.

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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 crisis stabilization receiving center, providing resources to people experiencing mental health or substance abuse crisis, both at its headquarters and in the field. It's Indiana's version of Oregon's Cahoots program, which diverts police calls that are more effectively addressed by social services. 

Also today: the Last Pitch ruminates, at the outset of another school year, on ways you can orient yourself to your community, no matter how long you've been there.

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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 budget process.

On today's Last Pitch: what's the right way to respond to the assertion, "Bloomington without IU would be Bedford, or Martinsville"? Answer: by turning the tables on it.

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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 administration's status and plans, will be available Monday. 

In the Last Pitch: a philosophical treatise about the dilemma that many podcasters have -- namely, should we offer more episodes with shorter lengths, or fewer episodes with longer ones? -- and reframing it as a question for the notoriously late-night City Council.

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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.

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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 of weeks. It's where people can sign up to get a guided tour of how every department in the city works. 

Today we also introduce a segment called the Last Pitch, a 60-second editorial about current local issues....and the beginnings of our new website! We're excited to be back, Bloomington!

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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 Festival, how it works, and other initiatives its foundation conducts. While there's much for it to celebrate in its thirtieth year, the after-effects of the pandemic have finally caught up with Lotus. We talk with Katarina Koch about how the organization is maintaining the level of quality that's made it a mainstay of the annual Bloomington event calendar, while acknowledging the tougher times for arts organizations post-Covid.

This is the final episode of Season 1! We're looking forward to bringing you more about your community and its various layers of governance in Season Two, along with improvements to the show's format. The new season begins Monday, July 29 and will run until December 18. Thank you so much for listening, Bloomington!

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