WFHB Local News – June 13th, 2022

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This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, June 13th, 2022.

Later in the program, we have an excerpt from Partisan Gardens – our latest public affairs program devoted to food justice. More in today’s feature report.

Also coming up in the next half hour, the Bloomington City Council heard from the Historic Preservation Commission about the historical designation of a property located on Kirkwood. That’s coming up next in your daily headlines:

Bloomington Council Committee of the Whole

At the Bloomington City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on June 8th, Historic Preservation Program Manager Gloria Colom Braña, presented on the Bloomington National Savings and Loan Association building located at 200 E Kirkwood Ave.

Colom Braña asked the council to designate the building as a historic district to protect it from demolition.

The property representative from Studio 3 Design, Tim Cover shared that the owner of the property would prefer to tear down the building and start from scratch. Cover said that the building across the street, which is now a CVS, has more of the historic qualifications than the bank.

Colom Braña said that the historic preservation commission has been talking with the owner, and is aware that they would prefer to demolish the building and start from scratch, however, after researching the building she wanted to give the council all of the information available to make a decision on the matter.

Council member Jim Sims asked about the criteria the preservation committee has for the designation, and asked for information on whether or not there were racial restrictions at the property.

Colom Brana said that she would research it before the next meeting.

The council will discuss the designation of 200 E Kirkwood Ave. at their next meeting on June 15th.

Monroe County Commissioners

On June 8th at the Monroe County Commissioners meeting, Health Department Director Penny Caudill asked the commissioners to approve the continuation of funding of the Baby and Me program until September.

Caudill explained that the funding was initially provided by the National Association of County and City Health Officials and was then taken over by the Indiana Department of Health. According to Caudill the Indiana Department of Health is looking into other programs and will not be funding the Baby and Me program moving forward.

The commissioners unanimously voted to approve the funding of the program until September.

County Attorney Jeff Cockerill asked the commissioners to approve an emergency declaration to address the cleanup of a property that he said is a public health issue. According to Cockerill, people experiencing homelessness set up an encampment that is “unsafe” due to hazardous materials being left on site. At last week’s meeting the commissioners approved of the cleanup of the camp, but more action is needed to get the work done.

Facilities Manager Greg Chrohn shared pictures of the site and explained to the commissioners why he believes the cleanup is necessary. According to Crohn, they found “thousands of needles,” and want to ensure they get any needles that might have been missed in the undergrowth.

Crohn asked the commissioners to approve of the re-seeding of the property, to make the area into a greenspace so that people will be visible to deputy’s in the future and to dissuade anyone from sleeping there.

The commissioners approved the emergency declaration unanimously.

The next Monroe County Commissioners meeting will be held on June 15th.

Feature Report:

In today’s feature report, we have an excerpt from Partisan Gardens – our latest public affairs program devoted to food justice. This comes from a program titled the Neighborhood Planting Project. The producers of Partisan Gardens spoke to Nick and May of Recalcitrant Seeds who launched the Chicago Neighborhood Planting Project late last year. Click here to listen to the full program.

Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Noelle Herhusky-Schneider, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Kade Young.
Kite Line is produced by Mia Beach.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.