The 812 - Steve Volan / Plateia Media

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126 [S2E29]: Joani Stalcup — The Coroner's Tale Oct 11, 2024

Show notes

Our guest today is the Monroe County Coroner, Joani Stalcup. She tells us all about the job: how it works, what the difference is between a coroner and a medical examiner, and why coroners were ever elected in the first place. She also introduces us to the term "medical legal death investigator", talks about the surprising requirements of the job, and how the people who do it manage. It's a sobering but fascinating look into a necessary corner of local government.

Note: by definition, we're talking about death in this episode. It may not be the best idea for children, or for the faint of heart. In the second half of the show, as part of her work, the Coroner has to talk about suicide. (If you, or someone you know, is thinking about suicide and seeking emotional support, there are crisis lines available via phone, chat, or text. The number to call, message or Google nationwide is 9-8-8.

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125 [S2E28]: Julio Alonso and Jake Bruner of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank Oct 09, 2024

Show notes

On today's show, we're talk to the biggest distributor of usable food in South Central Indiana, the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. They move more than 5 million pounds of food, half from places that can no longer use or sell it, to people in need. Julio Alonso, the Food Bank's executive director, and Jake Bruner, the associate director, talk about how they support local food pantries in six counties, the impact the pandemic had on them, and some of the ways they raise funds. We'll also talk about two of the biggest fundraising events they throw: the annual Soup Bowl Benefit in February and their big event coming up, their annual Book Fair at the Monroe County Fairgrounds.

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124 [S2E27] Lesley Davis, Chair of the Council for Community Accessibility Oct 04, 2024

Show notes

NOTE: There will be no episode Mon., Oct. 7. The next episode is Wed., Oct. 9.
Our guest today is Lesley Davis. Until recently the assistant dean of international programs at the IU Maurer School of Law, she now is the VP for North American Partnerships at Access Able, a British company that creates detailed accessibility guides to buildings so that their users can navigate as many environments as possible with dignity and independence.
More importantly for the purpose of this show, Davis is the chair of the Council for Community Accessibility, a city commission that, unusually, any resident can join without being appointed by the mayor or city council. She's been a member of the CCA since 2010, and has been in a wheelchair since 2006. We talk about some of the CCA's initiatives, her experience with disability, and the challenges that the disabled face despite the advent of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. We also talk about how accessibility actually helps the non-disabled, too, and how accommodating people of all abilities can be good for everyone.
EXTRA INNINGS! Listen to Extra Innings with Lesley Davis here.

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123 [S2E26]: David Hittle on Planning the City's Built Environment Oct 02, 2024

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David Hittle, the city's new director of the Planning and Transportation Department, talks with Steve Volan about the documents that rule the planning process in this city: the Comprehensive Plan and the Unified Development Ordinance. We discuss how the department he runs works in practice, and the boards and commissions that collectively oversee the city's entire built environment.
This episode is the first for which we're also publishing an Extra Innings segment, where we talk about "car sewers", complete streets, and building new urban cores in the city. You can find it only from the webpage for this episode at our website, the812show.org.

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122 [S2E25]: Arts and the City -- Holly Warren, the City's Assistant Director for the Arts Sep 30, 2024

Show notes

Holly Warren is the assistant director for the arts in Bloomington's department of Economic and Sustainable Development. She's enthusiastic at boosting the visual and performing arts, helping artists get grants, coordinating artwork on major projects through the city's 1% for the Arts program, and promoting the city's Public Arts Master Plan. She also acts as liaison to the Bloomington Arts Commission. In this episode, we talk all about the city's efforts to support arts and working artists.

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121 [S2E24] What Part of Forever Don't You Get? John Lawrence of Sycamore Land Trust Sep 27, 2024

Show notes

We've talked a lot on The 812 about the development of land. Today we talk about land that's undeveloped, undevelopable, or will never be developed. Our guest is the executive director of the Sycamore Land Trust, John Lawrence. He oversees the preservation of thousands of acres of land throughout southern Indiana, from Sycamore's headquarters in the house on the edge of Bloomington that was the home of a principal architect of the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act. It's a fascinating conversation about the setting aside of land as nature.
Instead of a Last Pitch today, we have a First Pitch...about how the "honor" of serving as an elected official isn't enough to justify low or no pay.

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120 [S2E23]: The Present and Future of City Housing with Anna Killion-Hansen Sep 25, 2024

Show notes

Today we talk housing with the new director of the city's Housing and Neighborhood Development department, Anna Killion-Hansen. The breadth of what her department does is kind of mind-boggling: it's not just inspecting rentals or working with neighborhood associations; it's also handling federal dollars, historic preservation, housing quality appeals, the Redevelopment Commission, and more. She does a good job of laying out her dizzying array of duties, and giving us a sense of the state of housing in Bloomington and the future directions she wants to take it.

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119 [S2E22]: Sara Laughlin of Teachers' Warehouse: Meeting the Unmet Needs of K-12 Students and Educators Sep 23, 2024

Show notes

The812 looks into a type of local government separate from city and county that it has yet to talk about: local schools as a separate branch of government. We get our first look through a nonprofit that tries to help the schools -- Teachers' Warehouse, the local nonprofit which raises money and donations to provide school supplies to teachers in public schools in six counties. Sara Laughlin is a board member and regular volunteer there (and also the retired director of the Monroe County Public Library system). She talks about how the Warehouse works, how it was formed as a project of one of the local Rotary Clubs where she's a member, and its role in the context of school poverty and the recent MCCSC tax referendum.
Our Last Pitch today is a fastball about...skywalking. (Our promised interview with Anna Killion-Hansen of HAND has been postponed to Wednesday.)

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118 [S2E21]: Joe Van Deventer, Candidate for County Commissioner (D3) Sep 20, 2024

Show notes

One of the three seats on the Monroe County Board of Commissioners is contested this fall. Today, our guest is the Republican candidate, Joe Van Deventer. He's the director of street operations for the city of Bloomington's Public Works Department. We get his perspective on all the local issues, including housing, the jail, zoning, the unhoused. He also advocates for taking advantage of the newly-complete I-69's presence as an incentive to bring blue-collar jobs into the county. (The Democratic candidate for the District 3 seat, Jody Madeira, was our guest on Monday.)

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117 [S2E20]: Trees and the City: Haskell Smith and George Hegeman Sep 18, 2024

Show notes

It's 40 years since Bloomington became a so-called Tree City. We talk about what that means with our guests: Haskell Smith, the city's Urban Forester, and George Hegeman, an inaugural member of the Bloomington Tree Commission, which has been in existence since 1992. We talk about the importance of trees and shade, invasive species and how they're dealt with, how utilities and the city interact when it comes to trees in the right of way, and, if you're lucky enough to own a house, how to get the city to give you a tree.

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