The 812 - Steve Volan / Plateia Media

Latest Episodes:

096: Judy Sharp, Monroe County Assessor, on the Most Taxing Job in Town Jun 20, 2024

Show notes

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 assessor in the state of Indiana. Her job is to assess the value of every property in Monroe County, so that they can be appropriately taxed. She talks all about the job, how her office works, how's she's stayed in it for so long, and how over time she's helped innovate the task of assessing in Indiana.

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095 (032 Encore Presentation): Dr. Gloria Howell, Chair, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission Jun 19, 2024

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(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 its name -- and what a city commission chair does. amd deals with.

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094: Ryne Shadday, Chair of the City/County Human Rights Commission Jun 18, 2024

Show notes

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 discriminated against, and how they go about adjudicating complaints.

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093: It's Elected Officials All the Way Down: The812 Digest for the Week of June 11 Jun 17, 2024

Show notes

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 version 2.0 of the city's Climate Action Plan. Then at-large member Isak Asare, who agreed to come back on to the show only if he could usurp the host's role and put him in the guest chair. His wish was granted, and he to ask Steve Volan about issues from his time on city council.

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092: Jennifer Crossley, Monroe County Councilmember (D.4) Jun 14, 2024

Show notes

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 election to her seat in 2022. She also serves as a Deputy City Clerk in Bloomington, so her knowledge of the community is broad and multifaceted.
She talks about the Council's primary task of budgeting, the learning curve she had when she was caucused into the job in late 2021, and we get into the question of the jail and the future of the county justice system, among other topics.

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091: We Pass The Gavel...to Councilmember Isak Asare Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

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 object.
And so, we're trying a new segment called Pass the Gavel, where the guest becomes the host and gets to ask the questions. So be it! (Hint: there's talk of history, parking, and chess.) Decide for yourself how it turned out.

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090: Councilmember Matt Flaherty, on Bloomington's Climate Action Plan Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

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 impact? Is it going to? We talk climate action in Bloomington in today's interview.
Some helpful links to documents mentioned in today's show:
Bloomington's Climate Action Dashboard
City of Bloomington Climate Action Plan (2021)
2018 Bloomington Sustainability Action Plan

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089: Cheryl Munson, County Council At Large Jun 11, 2024

Show notes

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.

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088: The Ball Is in His Court, and Her Court, and Your Host's Court: The812 Digest for the Week of June 4 Jun 10, 2024

Show notes

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 Steve Volan's Doppelganger Cities, the public talk from last fall, on campuses and their relationship to so-called "third places.”

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087: Judge Catherine Stafford, Part II: On Evictions, and Their Impact on the Community Jun 07, 2024

Show notes

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 which those evicted are students in a college town, how the eviction moratorium affected the county during the pandemic, and the local Eviction Prevention Project.

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