The 812 - Steve Volan / Plateia Media

Latest Episodes:

026: Andy Ruff, Councilmember (At-Large), on Bloomington Then and Now Feb 20, 2024

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On today's show, we catch up with Andy Ruff, one of three at-large members of the city council and, even though he was off last term, is the Council's most senior member, first elected in 1999. In our interview he looks both forward to his return to Council and the goals he has for it, as well as backward to his first term, and to life as a townie.
Ruff is also a country musician in the tradition of the Bakersfield Sound and artists like Buck Owens. He's played for years with the local honky-tonk band the Dew Daddies. His son is touring up-and-comer Hank Ruff. He's also our first musical guest: he brought his guitar into our studio to play a little for us. Stay tuned at the end of this episode for a special bonus.

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025: The 812 Digest for the Week of February 13 -- Krebbs & Whitmill, Wisler, Henry Feb 19, 2024

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On this edition of The 812 Digest, we revisit conversations with:

Andrew Krebbs and Martha Whitmill of the Monroe County Humane Association, about it and other nonprofits help care for the local animal population;
Brad Wisler, president of the city Plan Commission, talking about the Commission's work and the advent of the Summit District project, the largest proposal in the city's history; and
David Henry, chair of the county Democratic Party, on the statutory process of replacing elected officials who leave office early through partisan caucuses.

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024: David Henry, Democratic Party Chair, on How Caucuses Work Feb 16, 2024

Show notes

What happens when an elected official leaves office early? In many states, they hold a special election a few months later. Not in Indiana, though. In Indiana, the party whose candidate won the seat in an election holds a partisan caucus to elect someone new.
Our guest, David Henry, the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, has had to call for no fewer than four caucuses in the past year to replace elected officials or ballot candidates. Most recently, he had the responsibility to fix the date for the caucus that will elect the replacement for City District 5 Councilmember Shruti Rana, who resigned on February 7; that caucus will be held March 2. On today's show, we get into the statutory weeds about the conduct of these very unusual elections.

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023: Brad Wisler, President, Plan Commission: How Buildings Get Built in Town Feb 15, 2024

Show notes

Brad Wisler is the president of the Bloomington Plan Commission, now in his tenth year serving on that body. He also served as a member of the City Council for then-district 2, from 2005 through 2011. In today's show, Steve Volan (his former City Council colleague) asks him to unpack the complex process that anyone who wants to build a building in Bloomington must navigate. They also spell out the alphabet soup of planning-related acronyms like ADUs (accessory dwelling units), PUDs (planned unit developments, and the city code that rules it all, the UDO (a.k.a., the Unified Development Ordinance).

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022: The 812 Primer, Lesson 2: The City's Departments Feb 14, 2024

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The 812 Primer is designed to give you the background you need to fully enjoy the show. In Primer Lesson 1, we described Bloomington's "second-class" city status. In today's Lesson 2, we enumerate the various departments of the city overseen by its chief executive, the Mayor, and briefly describe what they do. The Lineup segment is pretty substantive today, because on this Valentine's Day, dear listener, we want you to know that you are loved.

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021: The Monroe County Humane Association's Role in Animal Welfare in Bloomington Feb 13, 2024

Show notes

We talk with Andrew Krebbs, the executive director, and Martha Whitmill, the development director, of the Monroe County Humane Association. We'll learn a little about MCHA's long history, and more about what they, the city of Bloomington, and other organizations do and don't do for the sake of animal welfare in the Bloomington area.

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020: The 812 Digest for the Week of February 6 Feb 12, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of The 812 Digest, we'll hear:

new councilmember Hopi Stosberg address an issue in her newly-drawn District 3: the ongoing assessment of the design College Avenue and Walnut Street called for in the city's Comprehensive Plan;
Gabe Gloden talk about forming a super-organization to save not only the missions of three performing-arts organizations, but the city-owned venue they all rely on that has proven difficult to maintain over the decades;
Beverly Calender-Anderson talk about the city department she runs, Community and Family Resources, and some of the many initiatives it oversees;
and Courtney Daily, a first-time candidate for public office and one of three candidates running in the upcoming Democratic Party caucus election to replace the recently retired Shruti Rana, talk about some of her ideas for city council.

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019: Courtney Daily, Candidate (2 of 3) for the Council District 5 Vacancy Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

Courtney Daily is the state co-lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and chaired the Bloomington chapter for 3 years before that. She's also the second of three candidates for the District 5 seat who we've interviewed, along with Jason Moore. We've also invited Jenny Stevens to interview. Daily talks about her work with Moms Demand Action, her motives for running for City Council, and her thoughts on governing.

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018: Gabe Gloden of Constellation Stage and Screen, on Rescuing a Public Venue Feb 08, 2024

Show notes

Our guest today is Gabe Gloden, the managing director of Constellation Stage and Screen, the performing-arts superpower formed in 2022 out of three well-regarded organizations: Cardinal Stage, the Bloomington Playwrights' Project, and the Pigasus Institute which hosted the Bloomington Academy of Film and Theatre. A major reason for their Wonder-Triplet-power team-up was to take over ownership of the 1915 building that was the former City Hall, but since 1991 has been the John Waldron Arts Center, one of the primary performance venues in the city. The building was given back to the city twice in ten years by two different organizations who couldn't find a way to keep it afloat financially; we explore how Constellation is managing to do it. We hope you'll join us.

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017: Hopi Stosberg, Councilmember (D3), on the Importance of Cities for Schools Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

Our guest today is Hopi Stosberg, the latest in our series of interviews with members of the new city council. She represents the newly-drawn District 3, the northeast quadrant of the city. She talks about her priorities for the coming term, and explains why in her campaign last year she emphasized her experience with and the importance of local schools, even though they're overseen by a different elected body. She also talks about her new roles as council parliamentarian and as their representative to the City Plan Commission..

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