WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Good afternoon. This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, December 14th, 2020.
In today’s program, we present two news features – the first of which provides a timeline of the dismantling of the homeless encampment at Seminary Park.
Then, we have the latest edition of A Few Minutes with the Mayor, coming up later in the program.
First, we turn to the WFHB News special report on the dismantling of the homeless encampment at Seminary Park. This is a collection of volunteer submissions stitched together to provide context on the story.
Hands Off The Homeless:
On Friday, over 100 people gathered at the Monroe County Courthouse for a protest titled, “Hands off the Homeless: Immediate End to the War on Unhoused Camps.”
The protest happened after the Bloomington Police Department dismantled a homeless encampment at Seminary Park last Wednesday.
Mia Beach and Hugh Farrell, producers of Kiteline, talked to two participants of the protest on Zoom – both local advocates for people experiencing homeless. The sources said they wanted to remain anonymous.
Last Tuesday, WFHB Correspondent Aaron Comforty interviewed Trevor Richardson — a representative of the Homeless Community affiliated with the Bloomington Homeless Coalition.
The interview happened ahead of the Board of Park Commissioners meeting — where the board voted down an amendment which would have banned tents in city parks during daytime hours. However, tents are already banned in city parks during nighttime hours from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
On Tuesday, due to technical difficulties on a tight deadline, Aaron Comforty’s interview was cut short. Today, we revisit that interview in full.
Correspondents Jake Jacobson and Aaron Comforty covered developments in the story during last week’s news briefs. For background and context, we will look back at some of our coverage from last week. First, we revisit Aaron Comforty’s report from Wednesday on the Board of Park Commissioners meeting.
News Brief – Wednesday, December 9th
On Wednesday evening, in a three to one vote, the City of Bloomington Board of Parks Commissioners voted down a policy that would have essentially banned tents in city parks.
The policy was recommended by Parks and Recreation Administrator, Puala McDevitt. It was widely criticized as targeting people experiencing homelessness who have been driven to set up tents for shelter from the winter weather.
Parks Board Member Israel Herrera-Cardenas spoke about the urgency of the vote.
About 225 people attended the zoom meeting yesterday. Citing the mass turnout, advocates for the homeless are claiming a small victory after the vote.
On Thursday, December 10th, correspondent Jake Jacobson reported on the dismantling of the homeless encampment at Seminary Park.
News Brief – Thursday, December 10th
On Wednesday night, members of the Bloomington Police Department dismantled an encampment at Seminary Park downtown. The camp served as a means of shelter for Bloomington residents who are experiencing homelessness.
According to a report by The Bloomingtonian, police showed up at around 10 p.m., and let people staying in the camp know that they had to leave the park by 11 p.m., just an hour later.
The sweep happened less than two days after the city’s Board of Parks Commissioners voted one-to-three against a proposed ban on tents and similar structures during daytime hours in city parks.
Camping structures and makeshift structures are currently banned without a permit overnight, between the hours of 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Breaking up these encampments can be dangerous for many reasons.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, set national guidelines for homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these guidelines, the CDC recommends allowing encampments to stay where they are.
According to the CDC guidelines, clearing these camps, as the BPD did Wednesday night, can, “cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.”
According to posts on the Bloomington Homeless Coalition’s Facebook page, items from the camp are being held at the Bloomington Parks Operations building at 545 South Adams Street. Volunteers are picking up as many items as they can and taking them to the Shalom Community Center to be redistributed.
WFHB reached out to the Bloomington Parks and Recreations office for confirmation, but were redirected to the office of the Mayor, who were unavailable to take our call.
Hugh Farrell then spoke with the anonymous sources about the Hands Off the Homeless protest on Friday, December 11th.
“The allies tended to let the people who were affected by this issue steal the show,” said one source. “The people who are usually loud tended to be quiet.”
A Few Minutes with the Mayor
Up next, WFHB Assistant News Director Sydney Foreman talks to Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton in our Monday segment, A Few Minutes with the Mayor.
In today’s segment, Mayor Hamilton answers questions on Covid-19 holiday protocols, coronavirus vaccine distribution and who made the call to remove the homeless encampment at Seminary Park.
All that and more in today’s edition of A Few Minutes with the Mayor.
Credits:
Today’s feature was produced by Kade Young, with help from Hugh Farrell, Mia Beach, Jake Jacobson and Aaron Comforty.
A Few Minutes with the Mayor was produced by Sydney Foreman.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive Producer is Kade Young.
