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PODCAST

The 812

Steve Volan / Plateia Media

The 812 is a daily show about the basic workings of city government in Bloomington, Indiana. Hosted by Steve Volan, a recently-retired five-term member of Bloomington"s City Council, The 812"s primary feature is a half-hour interview with elected and appointed officials in city government, as well as with members of boards, commissions and not-for-profits providing services to the city. Produced by Plateia Media.

government

All Episodes

34:38

215 [S4E09]: Mark Figg on the Cooling Bloomington...

The 812 ·

2025/09/25

When it comes to the housing market, we've had city departments, and we're working on guests who can talk about the demand side of the equation such as advisers for tenants' rights. This week, we're talking with people from the supply side of the housing equation. Mark Figg is a developer who built hundreds of units in Bloomington, in projects large and small. He's been a landlord, and an appraiser. And for a decade he was president of the Monroe County Apartment Association, and a form...

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33:43

214 [S4E08]: The State of the Housing Market with...

The 812 ·

2025/09/23

The affordability of housing in Bloomington, or rather, its increasing unaffordability, has been an issue for more than a decade. Indiana University has grown its enrollment without growing even its first-year-student housing stock, per a recent story in the Herald-Times. Interest rates have been relatively high, and only now are starting to come down; supply has been low; in this area, new housing that's not student-oriented apartment complexes have been difficult to build. But so much of th...

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30:59

213 [S4E07]: Susan Hingle and the Monroe County...

The 812 ·

2025/09/18

Although we hope to have a representative from the City Commission on the Status of Women, we're talking today about the separate, seven-member Monroe County Women's Commission. Where the city commission has a budget to throw events like the annual Women's History Month luncheon, the county's focuses more on policy. Our guest today is the chair of the county women's commission, Susan Hingle. We talk with her about the research they do, their outreach efforts, and their advocacy in the design ...

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36:32

212 [S4E06]: Anna Killion-Hansen on Housing,...

The 812 ·

2025/09/16

It's another round of questions for Anna Killion-Hansen about the city Housing & Neighborhood Development, which she directs. She tackles questions like what's happening now in the Hopewell development where the hospital used to be, good advice for tenants new to town, like how a tenant with a complaint about a habitability issue should proceed, and how the Redevelopment Commission (which HAND oversees) works. Support the show A production of Plateia Media ©2024-5. All rights reserved.

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35:56

211 [S4E05]: Caleb Hoagland and Dan Caldwell from the...

The 812 ·

2025/09/11

Our topic today is emergency winter sheltering, the last resort for Bloomingtonians with no place to call home when it is most dangerous outside. For years there was a coordinated effort among local churches called the Interfaith Winter Shelter, but...well, it ended. We talk about why, and what's required to replace it, with the leadership team of the organization that has picked up the baton. Caleb Hoagland and Dan Caldwell run the Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter, called B-...

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30:45

210 [S4E04]: Danielle Benedek and the Medical Child...

The 812 ·

2025/09/09

Our guest today is a Nurse Practitioner who specializes in OBGYN, and works for IU Health as the Regional Director for Advance Practice Providers. But Danielle Benedek is also a co-founder of the Riley Physician's Medical Child Abuse Clinic, hosted at the Bloomington branch of the nonprofit child advocacy center known as Susie's Place. We talk with her about the clinic, which is a safe, unified and effective place for child victims of abuse to be cared for while their cases work their way thr...

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35:54

209 [S4E03]: Eddy Riou on the South Central Community...

The 812 ·

2025/09/04

There are almost a thousand agencies around the country called "community action programs", whose mandates are to reduce the extent and impact of poverty in a given area, and date to the 1960s War on Poverty launched by the administration of LBJ. Our guest today, Eddy Riou, is the executive director of SCCAP ("skap"), the South Central Community Action Program, which is based in Bloomington. He lays out all the programs that they manage, involving Head Start, weatherization, housing choice vo...

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35:05

208 [S4E02] Lisa Ridge and Toby Turner Explain the...

The 812 ·

2025/09/02

Any roads outside Bloomington, Ellettsville or Stinesville are the jurisdiction of Monroe County. Today, we talk to the County Highway Department about how they manage the condition of more than 700 miles of roads.Our guests today are Lisa Ridge, the Highway Dept. director, and her deputy, Toby Turner, the Highway Superintendent. They talk about what it takes to maintain a roadway properly (hint: it's not just about paving), how they deal with water, and how it all gets funded. It's a crash c...

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37:45

207 [S4E01]: Rafiul Shefar, Producer of the...

The 812 ·

2025/08/28

The 812 is back after an extended summer break with a new season! Our premiere guest of season 4 is a fellow traveler. He too started a local government reporting series...and he just finished high school. Rafiul Shefar graduated at the beginning of this month from Harmony School, an independent K-12 school in Bloomington. Harmony students have to do a senior project. He wanted to better understand US government, which led him to the Youth Radio program at community radio station WFHB. ...

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35:17

206 [S3E53]: Shelli Yoder Returns with a Post-Mortem...

The 812 ·

2025/06/06

Shelli Yoder returns to The 812, now as the Indiana Senate minority leader (a title she got unexpectedly the day after she was last here in December). Whatever plans she mentioned then for this legislative session were upended by the behemoth changes wrought by Senate Bill 1. Localities around the state are still reeling from the impact of the tax cuts in SB1; we talk about how it will affect Bloomington, Monroe County, and the school corporations. Sen. Yoder also talks about the state's new ...

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35:49

205 [S3E52] Godzilla Day in Bloomington, with Beth...

The 812 ·

2025/06/04

On June 27, the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre will host a screening of the original, uncut, 1954 Toho Studios film Gojira, in Japanese with English subtitles. There will be a special presentation before the film, and a Q&A panel discussion afterwards. That'll be followed by original Japanese cuts of two more Godzilla films the next two nights, rarely if ever seen by American audiences -- and the differences are dramatic. The mad genius behind Godzilla Weekend is Beth Bredlau, a graduate student...

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38:51

204 [S3E51]: Steve "Roc" Bonchek, Founder and...

The 812 ·

2025/06/03

Steve Bonchek, whom everyone just calls "Roc", is founder and principal of Harmony School, the independent, non-religious school not funded by the state, which is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, 40 of which have been in Bloomington's old Elm Heights School, which itself is turning 100 next year. Bonchek talks about how the school came to be, how it works, and why he doesn't call it a "private" school even though it's neither a public nor a charter school. He also talks about the foun...

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0:12

Next episode out Tuesday

The 812 ·

2025/06/02

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the episode scheduled for today has been delayed until tomorrow, Tuesday, June 3. Look for it in your podcast feed then! Support the show A production of Plateia Media ©2024-5. All rights reserved.

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37:41

203 [S3E50]: Nathan Ferreira of the BHA: Filling...

The 812 ·

2025/05/30

When last here in December, Nathan Ferreira was the director of real estate development for the Bloomington Housing Authority. He's now executive director of the BHA, and at a trying time for government-assisted housing, with cuts facing the Housing and Urban Development grants that fund so many housing authorities around the country. We'll get a sense from him of what's facing affordable and supportive housing in Bloomington, as well as find out how projects like the Kohr Building remodel or...

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36:42

202 [S3E49]: Helping People with Horses: Christine...

The 812 ·

2025/05/28

People and Animal Learning Services, or PALS, is a nonprofit center, dedicated to providing meaningful, therapeutic hands-on experiences with horses for individuals with disabilities, veterans, senior citizens, and underserved youth through partnerships with entities like the Monroe County Youth Services Bureau. We talk with Christine Herring, the Executive Director, about the normal work PALS does, and the harrowing impact of the tornado that destroyed their horse barn on May 16, days after ...

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39:45

201 [S3E48]: Erica Penna, Managing Stormwater in...

The 812 ·

2025/05/23

NOTE: The 812 will take Memorial Day off; new episodes resume Wed., May 28. Stormwater needs to be channeled somewhere -- lakes, rivers, retention ponds -- or it becomes floodwater. If there aren't ditches or box culverts near where you live or work, you may have been wading around last weekend. Communities do their best to manage stormwater, to not mix it with their wastewater. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, also known as MS4, exist throughout Monroe County: they reduce pollution an...

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39:25

200 [S3E47]: Erin Reynolds and Katie Hopkins on the...

The 812 ·

2025/05/21

Children have very real-world needs, and sometimes face problems that adults would have trouble dealing with. That's why the city's Commission on the Status of Children and Youth exists. The commission advocates for local youth, collects data on their needs, and debates how to solve persistent problems that those under 18 are having in our community. Erin Reynolds is the chair of the commission; Katie Hopkins is the fomer chair and the current secretary of the commission. They talk abou...

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38:40

199 [S3E46] Councilmember Sydney Zulich (D-6) on...

The 812 ·

2025/05/19

City councilmember Sydney Zulich (D-6) returns to the show to talk about: downtown beautification, including planters and the new art going up at last on traffic control boxes; some of the logic behind this year's Kirkwood closures; Bloomington Transit's summer experiment with a new downtown shuttle; and the breaking of ground on the convention center expansion.Support the show A production of Plateia Media ©2024-5. All rights reserved.

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33:33

198 [S3E45]: New Services Galore from Bloomington...

The 812 ·

2025/05/16

There's bus service to Ivy Tech and Cook at long last. A dozen new fully-electric buses in the fleet. And, this summer at long last, the first experiments with a free downtown circulator. John Connell, General Manager, returns for a 2025 update with Shelley Strimaitis, BT's Planning & Special Projects Manager, to discuss many improvements coming or already implemented: the new #13 route, the new downtown shuttle-bus route, an update on the Green Line (the name of BT's "bus rapid transit" ...

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39:32

197 [S3E44]: Comparing "College Metro" Notes with...

The 812 ·

2025/05/14

We talk shop with our counterpart in the state’s other major college-dominated metropolitan area. The city of West Lafayette, the home of Purdue University, only became a second-class city like Lafayette and Bloomington in 2013, with a mayor and a nine-member council. Now a city of 45,000, it's experienced 50% growth in a decade, thanks to pressure from a growing Purdue student body attracted by a tuition rate frozen since cityhood. David Sanders is a councilmember at large in West Lafayette....

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217 results

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