Mayoral candidates take your questions before May primary

WFIU/WTIU News received more than a hundred questions for Bloomington's Democratic Mayoral Primary debate. We invited each candidate into our newsroom to ask a few more, such as, who would they choose to be deputy mayor, how would they manage the deer problem, their vision of the farmer's market, and more.

We also had questions that were directed to each candidate. Michael wanted to know how Griffin would respond to those seeking change but see him as a continuation of the Hamilton administration. A few emails wanted Thomson to address high staff turnover under her direction in previous roles. And a Black Lives Matter email said the group is concerned about some of Sandberg's statements in forums.

Read more: Mayoral candidates disclose donors

Below are each of the three sit-down interviews with WFIU/WTIU News anchor Joe Hren. Early voting is open. Primary election day is Tuesday, May 2.

HREN
Well, we got more than 100 Questions leading up to the debate. And so we want to try to get a few more of those answered. And also have the opportunity to ask you some questions that really just primarily for you, when we're in a debate with with with the other. So let's start with John, he writes in each of the candidates has unique experiences they claim makes them the most qualified to lead the city. He notes your time as deputy mayor, and he asks, What was your number one accomplishment? And how did you make it happen?

GRIFFIN
Oh, my gosh, um, I guess just collaborating, you know, the Deputy Mayor's job is a it is it's one of those things, you kind of have to be a wizard, you have to know how to assemble the right pieces and the right people to to accomplish certain jobs. I tell you, the, you know, the the fire ranking, that our fire station has the police ranking of parks, it was already doing well. But also just projects that I had previously been been working on, on the progress of those. I was working as deputy mayor, but also as the president of the redevelopment commission, working on the Hopewell. That's, that's a big thing that's going to be transformative for our community. I also think diversity and inclusion and accessibility, really leaning in to programs that we were we already have. But going further, actually going further with a lot of the projects that we have, whether it's the Climate Change plan that we have developing a diversity and inclusion plan, and Accessibility Plan, like really digging into things that that that our community finds, dear. The thing is, is this team that I became part of they've been doing it for a while they've been doing it for six years before I came along, not quite six years, but you understand. And so it was it was really an honor for me to step into that role, and help them continue to create community. But it's been the greatest job of my life.

HREN
So the follow up on that Dave, also, emails in the deputy mayor role has been different for different mayors. A consultant study recently suggested that Bloomington could benefit from two Deputy Mayor's So what role would the deputy mayor play in your administration? Beyond loyalty? What specific skill set or knowledge are you looking for in a deputy mayor? And then one more clear wants to know who will you name as deputy?

GRIFFIN
Oh my gosh, okay, so first of all, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna tell you who I'm gonna name as deputy mayor. You know, it's, it's about assembling the right pieces. I know that. I know that I'm a big picture person. Right. So I have to find my, my, my Yang to my Yang. I need someone that's detail oriented, that, that can look at my big picture ideas and say, okay, Don, we need to pare these down a little bit. So that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a taskmaster master, that will not only help help me keep my staff on point, but also keep me on point. The deputy mayor, the job that I had, all the all the department heads would report to me. And I think we'll continue that on that we went ahead and created a new position within the office of the mayor. And, and so that that position kind of is a is very similar to the report that we that we looked at where it said that we would need to deputy mayors, we would need to. So we've actually got a chief of staff that takes on the role that that that report talked about having when they talked about having two deputy mayors, one was going to take care of the day to day operations of the Office of the Mayor, as well as, as the other deputy mayor was going to take over the primary deputy mayor would continue to take the job of the entire the entire administration. And so we kind of have that going on already. So more of that.

HREN
Great. Michael asks, What do you say to those who seek change and see you as a continuation of the Hamilton administration?

GRIFFIN
Wow. You know, me, me and John are different people. But I think we have to remember the fact that a lot has a lot of good has been done and I'm not willing to Throw away all the positive things that the Hamilton administration has done, I just want to build on top of that, I've got my own ideas. But I can only do those ideas because the foundation has already been laid. Like, we have a lot of buildings that we've done a lot of ideas that we've put forward over the last, and we had two things had got had to be adjusted, whether they were our fire trucks or our, our, our, the way we did policing. Right, I think this next chapter is more about the heart of our community, I think we have to start thinking about creating place, a sense of place for all because I think and continue on with the progress that we've made with our infrastructure, you know, with more housing, and that kind of those kinds of opportunities, but I think we really, really got to have to focus on on who we are as a community, and where we're going to go forward. And that's, that's why I'm here.

HREN
Kathy wants to know, what's your vision for the future of the Bloomington farmers market, having multiple markets doesn't have the same community feel, she feels that the city didn't handle all the disruption in a very positive manner previously, do you see a path to combine the markets in a good way for blooming?

GRIFFIN
I don't, I don't think, um, I don't think they need to be combined. But I do think they all need to be embraced. And we all need to work together. It, you know, sometimes a problem becomes an opportunity. And I've had a chance to visit all the, all the farmers markets that are now out there. And each one has its own character. And each one is a different type of character. They're all Bloomington. There, they're all. They're all creations of Bloomingtonians, right? They're just they just have different fields. So if we can get to a place get to a place where, where there are some collaboration, and, and respect for all, I think we can move forward, we can Oh, my gosh, we could be this community that people come into regionally, to go to all our different farmers markets. So that's kind of what I see, I, you know, we go me and my wife, we like mid century modern and so we can go into a community and they've got a map, we'll go into one place, antique store, and it'll show us all the other antique places that we might be able to go to. So I think we can do the same type of thing for our farmers market.

HREN
David asks, Can you please explain in the specific detail how you would address the need to expand housing opportunities, so residents don't have to leave Bloomington?

GRIFFIN
Oh, my gosh, there, we've got to be more creative on the type of housing that we have. There are cottage communities that were several little houses can fit on less than an acre of ground. Right now we can't do that. There are micro condos that we can consider. I know one micro condo that has a five units that sits right next to the right on the Beeline right next to the what's the hive, trying to think hopscotch, sits right next to that building, and no one even notices it. But there's five units that are for purchase. And, and we can do more of those. You know, I don't know if we need to use the term Plex. But if you think about that, those micro condos are a type of Plex, I think we also need to look at a different different type of ownership. So we can look at Co Op situations, we can take existing condos or not condos, but existing apartments that are 3040 years old, and can have investors convert those into affordable condos. There's all kinds of opportunities there. I had the the planning department utilities and hand start mapping out areas within Bloomington that are underutilized. Sometimes you'll see a house on one and a half acres, but we've got sewer right there. So there's opportunities for more density. If you see what these out of town developers are doing, they are taking existing properties, tearing them down and building much, much bigger places. We can I don't we don't want to duplicate that. But we can learn from that on a more local level. We can look at how smaller housing opportunities and decide to build more density on those houses in those housing lots. So don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about putting a evolve Sighs building in your neighborhood, but there are these opportunities to have that same kind of thought process on a different scale. But yeah, and honestly, we're going to still have to look, we're going to have to talk of reevaluate our relationship with the county. annexation has kind of created these, this division. And I'm not gonna there's no one that we should blame. We can't really blame. That's that's happened. It's it's past. But our community still, Bloomington still needs to grow. I think there's opportunities to talk to the county about areas that are not in the we're not in courts, and kind of look at voluntary annexation in those areas, because we're still going to have to grow. And we've got, we actually have, I talked about future future pool or blue chip pool that somebody else can tell me if I'm pronouncing that, right. But that's an underutilized water treatment plant, not water treatment plant, but sewer treatment plant that takes that that's designed to go up north past Oliver winery. So we have an opportunity for more housing, with collaboration with the county and the city to get a lot more housing that we that we desperately need in this community.

HREN
Right. This is from Bill now. He says there is no published audit information for this is wrong since 2017. That's wrong.

GRIFFIN
That's wrong. So So Bill, I think one of my competitors is out there saying that that stuff. Look, the last audit was 2020. Right. The last time it was 2020. And what people are not saying is that the state is the one who who schedules the audits, not the city of Bloomington. So the state has done one and 2020. And I don't know when the state is scheduled to do another audit. So that's not on that's not on the city of Bloomington. I know. People want to keep hearing that. And either they don't know what they're talking about, or they're Miss misleading the community.

HREN
Let me ask you this, then what would your position as mayor on transparency and financial tread transactions for the city be

GRIFFIN
continued a transaction trend continued? Clarity, I think with the lack of, of local media, I mean, you guys are doing a great job. But you understand there's a lot more players out there that are they're gone. And so it's going to be up to us to make sure that that the information we have is sent out in many different forms, and more consistent and easier to find. You can find these things right now. But you really need to know what it is that you're looking for to actually put it in and say this is what I'm looking for. We've got to be it's got to be easier. I don't know if that's where we you know, we're underutilized and cats the city pays $440,000 a year to cats and I think the county pays an additional amount of money. Cat is always looking for programming, always looking for programming. We've got to do a better job. I was trying to as deputy mayor, I've been trying to actually build our communications department. It's for the next stage, because we're going to have to start providing the cute communications for the city of Bloomington and for the surrounding areas.

HREN
Rob wants to know how you would support the fire department and he says firefighters need raises the police continue to get all the support but the fire department is forgotten about what are you willing to do?

GRIFFIN
You know the fire department is not forgotten about but we are we are at a at a stage where I do worry. I think we're 23 People 23 folks down right now. Their their current salary is significantly lower than the police currently and in the trend. If you look at the national trend, they're usually very, very close. And we are getting folks outside of Bloomington taking our people away. And some of them are real close and some of them are further up north Northern Indiana. So I would definitely look at I would definitely look at some negotiations on on getting them to a level that is competitive. I don't want to spend more money on trying to get new recruits. I don't want to be 40 people down. By the time it's it's it's we're ready to renegotiate their contract. I think we I think We kind of have to start it early. But I will say this, I need to look at it. I need to look at the books, I need to talk to the controller. Because when we're looking at these things, we're looking at the impact of the entire the entire budget. And so yes, we I'm interested in talking to them. I want to make it happen, but I want to be fiscally responsible for I guarantee it.

HREN
The city has formed 501 C three nonprofit organizations to manage the trades district, Waldron, Buskirk and others to move initiatives forward take some of the burden off of city officials, the administration wants to use the same mechanism to expand the convention center. Do you agree with that method for which one, the convention center are either using the 501 C three,

GRIFFIN
you know, the 501 C, if you know the background, a lot of those buildings right now that we're talking about are are owned by the RTC, the redevelopment commission. And it's their job to create redevelopment to foster growth. It's not their job to hold on to these buildings. And right now they're holding on to the buildings. They're managing, but they're not. They're not really capable of managing the buildings. There, RTC is supposed to purchase something, and then let it go. Right now we've got a lot of properties, we've got the trades district, we've got hope. Well, if you see that I was I was by there today and the grass is way too high on Second Street. And that's because right now, there's really no one that says there's no entity that says, hey, we need to take care of this, the 501 C three is built for that kind of thing. So it has a ying and yang type of group that would take care of things long term. So it's not a it's nothing to be fearful of i The the split right now, I think they're proposing like a four, four for the mayor and one for the I don't I don't know the exact numbers one for the council, I think maybe that needs to be adjusted. And then as far as the convention center, the convention itself just needs to get done. We've been waiting too long, we've been paying taxes, the folks have been paying taxes, let's see how the collaboration with the county and the city works. Let's go forward with this. Right? Make sure that that everybody's getting their needs man, and we're doing a a, it needs to be a world class event, offense space, it needs to be flexible, it needs to have the arts, our our, our ideas, our future ideas in regards to arts and cultural and music. And plus our civic, we want to be this progressive school of of progressive community, and a place where progressives come in and convene and, and push out ideas to the rest of the world to the rest of Indiana and so forth. So it needs to be built for that. And I think if we all agree on on that we do need this, then we just need to move forward. So I'm, I hope I'm not being too long, but the 501 C three, I think we can eliminate that when we're talking about the the convention center right now.

HREN
All right, and wants to know What do you think of the traffic closure on the 500 block of East Kirkwood the restaurants using the public streets for six months of the year to the possible detriment of other types of businesses?

GRIFFIN
You know, um, when I talked to the most of the restaurants there, they love it, the community loves it. And maybe even eventually, that may be a permanent I think I think this is kind of a pilot project to see how that would work. So So you know, long term idea is curbless a curbless Kirkwood with with most likely street closures all the time. I'm not saying that's gonna happen in the next five years or 10 years or what have you, but there will be studies and the public likes this. The students like it. There's other communities that do it and they do it long term. There's we're still going to have to talk and see and talk to the people that it's not working for and see what we can do about about their issues. It There's sometimes there comes a time where property is worth more doing something than what it currently is worth. And there might be a better place for. For that particular business guy. I hate to say that. I'm sorry. But I think I think we are headed to a time where Kirkwood could be closed off. And you know, I think if we remember that Bloomington is a multi generational community, then and we can prepare for that, because that's what I don't want to see. I don't want to see a place where folks who have accessibility issues can't experience the restaurants that they like and Kirk in the in the Kirkwood that they've grown up with. So we've got to figure out a way how that all can can how we all can live together with an exist a Kirkwood that's either closed off permanently or closed off us on a seasonal basis.

HREN
All right, Donald writes in his he has a few low hanging quality of life issues that he'd like to see the next mayor tackle so banning app best, banning app based scooters and E bikes, banning off highway gas engines like leaf blowers lawn mores, and then porous parking lot requirements do you have okay stances on those

GRIFFIN
so I'm all for for for porous parking lot requirements. I love that I love that idea. I really am pushing when you look at our climate action plan, I am pushing for small gas engines to be eliminated from the city of Bloomington. We're definitely working on that with our own staff trying to convert small engine appliances or equipment that the parks uses and our Public Works uses. So yes, I love that idea. The scooters you know we have 45,000 students say that that all of them don't use it but it's part of our Go Bloomington plan it's part of creating micro transit abilities and getting less getting getting cars off the streets. And so I think that will be part of it. I think more training needs to be done I think we're we're working with geo fencing and we're working with getting the the our partners are the companies that own these these scooter companies and E bikes companies I think we're we're getting them to be more responsive. And and think about safety more I think we even have a proposal I think our next proposal if we sign it it's going to require more bikes a more a larger percentage of of electric bikes and scooters not a larger percentage of but you understand what I'm saying. But I'm actually for that in a safe a safe way. In some communities, it's actually the wheel size that that like the the wheels that we have are too small and they when we hit bumps when folks hit bumps it can have that turnover effect so there's there's a size requirement in some communities like folks we're not reinventing the wheel other communities had the scooters way before we did and they've put things safety requirements in place and and and laws in place. That that protect protect folks.

HREN
All right, we're for to go we'll try to wrap up here okay. Michael writes in what assurances can you offer regarding your ability to prevent your business and real estate interest from inappropriately affecting your actions or influences Mayor

GRIFFIN
so so and I don't know if a lot of people know this I had to recuse myself from from Griffin Realty while I was deputy mayor all the all the all the the boards and commissions had to sign a resolution saying that they would not do business with Griffin Realty. So for the last two years, that was my my relationship with Griffin Realty was was in my name only Lee and so I will continue to do that and maybe even more it will actually be a true blind trust. If I become mayor, I will make sure that that that I don't have any dealings with Griffin Realty at all. I will not get rid of Griffin Realty I will not that's my you know, I grew up poor. That's my generational wealth. I created a multimillion dollar business with with with no money and and so I've I've got a kid, I've got a family. He may have kids. I've built a brand. I want that to continue. I can't sorry, I can't get get rid of that. That's, you know.

HREN
Alright Victoria Victoria emails in some of the nicest neighborhoods in Bloomington evolved within a racist classist, Bloomington what would you do to read to diversify these neighborhoods make it available to more people while preserving the quality?

GRIFFIN
You know, that's, that's a really good point. It's, and I'm gonna make I'm gonna some of this the people that are most concerned about the quality of their neighborhood. They're talking about neighborhoods that they already gentrified that were either working class or African American with these walkable communities. And no one was concerned when it wasn't their neighborhood. No one was saying, let's keep it, let's preserve it for these folks. where I'm going with that is that we have we can keep the character of these neighborhoods but we have to figure out a way to bring a net another generation in. And if that includes some density, some extra density on some of the blocks or some of the yards, then I'm I'm all for it. As long as the character is in play, I studied architecture. So I'm I live in one of those I live in I live in am heights, and I love the field. But my gosh, I don't know if I think we would be a better community. If we had more diversity in these neighborhoods from a socio economic standpoint, as well, as a racial standpoint, I think we would serve our community better, it would serve us all better. We are this. We are this multi generational community with all these different colors and different types of people. But we're still in silos. We're still all living in these in parallel lives without mixing it together. And we could be just this amazing community and have amazing neighborhoods, if we would allow it to happen. So that's

HREN
all right. Casey wants to know how you would handle the drug crisis without punitive action for those suffering from addiction. Will you plan on any drug decriminalization efforts?

GRIFFIN
I would, you know, when it when it comes to? For from from a policing standpoint, within the city? I think so. But there that's a county that's really a county thing. So, so, no, but it Do I think we we as a policing community need to revise how we meet people? I definitely think we do. So so I'll do my best. I think that's what I can tell.

HREN
All right, last question. This emails in what would you do as mayor to deal with the deer problem?

GRIFFIN
Oh my gosh, why is this a thing? Plus the deer thing a thing? It's always a thing. It's a thing. And I'd love to know where she's coming from whether or not she wants more deer, or, or doesn't want deer or just she wants to preserve the do that like there's on that one. There are so many I mean, we even did we aren't we've already done. Hasn't there's already been research done on this recently and tell her I don't know. I'm telling Missy. I don't know. I don't want you know, I've got I've got a few there are a few people on council actually, who who have had like gotten Lyme disease. Yeah. So they they're very passionate about hey, we've got too much deer and I saw six deer in my yard yesterday and I live in Elm heights. It And I think they're lovely. But eventually, you know, when nature gets that close things happen. My dog is, you know, they're scared of my dog. I mean, it's just I think more research needs to be done. But Missy, I think something actually needs to be done. Besides research. I'm just not sure what that is yet.

HREN
Well, we really appreciate you coming in today. Like I said, we had over 100 emails. We appreciate your time and effort from our listeners and viewers. Thank you very much.

GRIFFIN
Thank you.

HREN
So we've got more than 100 Questions leading up to the debate last week. And we just wanted an opportunity to be able to answer some more viewers and listeners questions. So thank you so much for coming in today really appreciate that. And a lot of them didn't fit the debate format. So here we go. This one is from John. He writes, each of the candidates has unique experiences they claim makes them the most qualified to lead our city. He notes your years on city council and asks, What was your number one accomplishment? And how did you make it happen?

SANDBERG
Number one accomplish on the city council. After 16 years of being on the council, there are a lot of things. But I think the thing I'm most proud of, is the two year study that myself and Krista Bohm and later Tim Mayer joined us on it was called the affordable living committee. And after two years of doing some research and talking to people and industry experts in working with low income families, we produced a report called Working hard falling behind and it was published in 2019. And it capitalized on a lot of issues that are important in this election and all across the country. Affordability, fordable, housing, the cost of transportation, the cost of childcare, the cost of food, all of those things are causing people in the community, especially those on limited incomes and low incomes, to really struggle in the community. And so I felt that that was a really good grassroots community led effort. That, again, is one of my proudest achievements.

HREN
So Dave asks, the deputy mayor role has been different for different mayors. A consultant study recently suggested that Bloomington could benefit from two Deputy Mayor's so his question is, what role would the deputy mayor play in your administration behind loyalty? What specific skill set or knowledge are you looking for in a deputy mayor, we're combining Clio to Who will you name as deputy mayor?

SANDBERG
Well, that is not something that I am prepared to, to decide at this point. Anyone who comes out of this primary, of course, is going to have to do some transition work. I think probably the most important issue for my deputy mayor would be not loyalty to me, but a public servant as I am. And someone who is committed to make sure that all the department heads that all the employees that are working for the city of Bloomington, are well prepared to do their jobs and do them with integrity. And, and we need to do some rebuilding and City Hall. And with respect to personnel, we do have some morale issues, we do have some very sad departures. And so myself and my deputy mayor are going to need to do some team building within city hall to get that public service level up to where I'd like to see it.

HREN
Dave wants to know, can you please explain in specific detail how you would address the need to expand housing opportunities? So residents don't have to move out of Bloomington?

SANDBERG
Well, that's the big question. Right, the whole affordability question about housing, I have been very critical of the current unified development ordinance and thinking that we don't have the incentives balanced correctly for the type of housing that the community actually needs. We're seeing all of these multi storey high rise, apartment buildings coming up, and those are rental. And those are not, those are not going to be necessarily affordable rental, there'll be market. So I would like to work with some industry professionals, including real estate folks and people in the affordable housing industry, on how do we start developing the kind of housing that people are actually asking for. And those in my mind are like homes. It's not that they couldn't be rental homes, but they need to be houses, maybe townhomes maybe maybe more of an emphasis on condos even. But that's the type of housing that we need to do better incentivizing with and I don't see that happening with the current level of of our plan.

HREN
Alright, I'm summarizing this question from an email we received from Bloomington Black Lives Matter. The group is concerned about some of the statements you made in forums noted a candidate event, April 10, you stated the violent crime is being done by the big guys that are coming here from Indianapolis, Chicago, other places, selling stuff to the addicted that we're having a hard time with many of our unhoused population. So be BLM says the language is racially coded, and they want to know if you see that understand how language can have repercussions outside of their intention.

SANDBERG
I do understand that I understand the sensitivity of the Black Lives Matter individuals who are activists and well they should be the comment was not intended to be racial in any way, shape or form. It was actually fact base. What I was referring to are called Source cities. And this is information that I've received from our local law enforcement chief de cough. We've had many conversations about what's driving the violence in our community, what's driving the crime, and he made it very clear that the state police you know, even National level will say the source cities where the drugs are coming from, which is primarily the source of the violence, no racial implication at all intended in that comment are the bigger cities to our North Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, to a lesser degree, St. Louis, Louisville, but these are the cities where the individuals who are selling the drugs that are causing some of our major issues are coming from and so no disrespect intended to anyone who takes offense to any language like that. There have been other words that I use that they've taken offense to like civility. And I will stand by that because I, I operate in a very civil manner when I'm in the public. No matter who I'm addressing, I think it's important not to call people out not to call people names, but to deal with the issues to deal with the facts.

HREN
Michelle, emails in as a queer person of color, there was a lot of performative ally ship that graces the lips of people in power, and pages of social media. So when we try to hold white leaders accountable for their unintentional to avert racism, we're met with defensiveness, tone policy, too damaging gatekeeping? Can you address her concern?

SANDBERG
That's a mouthful. Could you say that again? Because I'm not quite sure I catch the meaning of that question.

HREN
So as a queer person of color, a lot of performative ally ship that grace is the lips of people in power, social media, as well. But when they try to hold white leaders accountable, she's saying it's unintentional. To avert racism, they they're met with defensiveness, or maybe a tone that's policing to damaging gatekeeping.

SANDBERG
Well, and again, I try very hard to keep my tone very, very even. I know we are in very politically explosive environments these days pertaining to race pertaining to marginalized individuals. So I try very hard to keep my cool when I'm discussing these things. I certainly have individuals in my family who are LGBTQ plus, I have a very up close and personal issue with that. And so I think when anyone characterizes me as because I'm a white person, or maybe even an older white person, that I am not in tune that I am not in touch, or that I get defensive, I would just disagree disagree with that. I don't take offense. I want to try to stay fact base, I want to try to stay above board in my advocacy, I'm a feminist, right? My early years and activism were all about the late 60s, early 70s. And when we were fighting for all kinds of rights, civil rights, women's rights. And as such, I've been an ally for other people who are also feeling like they need to have their voices heard and are not getting a fair shake in our democracy. And so I have great respect for all individuals who are really struggling with voter rights and with LGBTQ plus rights. And obviously, the policing issue has come to great national attention as well as it should. And no, I am not at all defensive about individuals who are using their voices to come forward and say, hey, you know, treat us with the respect that we deserve. Because I've been there myself as a female fighting for my own rice.

HREN
Kathy writes in what's your vision for the future of the Bloomington farmers market, having multiple markets doesn't have the same community feel, never felt the city handled all the disruption in a very positive manner? Do you see a path to continue the markets in a good way for Bloomington?

SANDBERG
I do. I was there for the past two Saturdays, and it really does make me sad that the downtown Farmers Market has seemed to lost a lot of its luster. It's been diminished in many respects. I don't think it's because we have markets elsewhere. I think that's a good thing. I think having the one at the Woolery, I think having them in multiple locations is actually healthy, and maybe allows more people from other parts of the city to to take advantage of our of our great farmers markets. But the one downtown does need help. And as mayor, one of the things I want to look at is how can we recruit more vendors back to that market? How do we make it more fun? How do we make it more of a destination point that people will resume that pride that was such a gem such a jewel of our community for so many years, so it can be restored and I will agree that the way things were handled when things started to explode in the farmers market were probably not as ideal as they could have been. But that was then this is now we start with where we are and we rebuild the vitality the farmers market. We can probably do that in a lot of ways we might make Parking free on Saturdays, we might want to reduce the vendors fees take to kind of bring some competition back. There are a number of things that I'm pretty sure we can do to make that destination feel safe, feel secure and feel once again that welcoming. We want everybody to come to our market and feel comfortable.

HREN
Rob wants to know how you would support the fire department. He says our firefighters need raises the police continue to get all the support, but the fire department is forgotten about what are you willing to do?

SANDBERG
Well, I haven't forgotten about the fire department. I'm very much involved with them right now. It was the Bloomington Police Department that came to us first. And when I say us, the city council, that was not really that was kind of unprecedented that they would come directly to the council and say we're we're not getting anywhere with our collective bargaining. We're having a real hard time with this administration. So typically, the city council didn't get involved with any of that until of course, the collective agreements were were made, and we just signed off on them. Now we're hearing the same complaints from the fire department that we heard from the police about three or four years ago. So I actually have a ride along scheduled next week, I actually get to ride with one of the most one of the battalions and meet more directly with them. I have had a few breakfast meetings with some of the firefighters. They are coming to us as council members. And we do want to look at them and be very fair because just like the police, we're going to be losing them to other communities. We already have Ellettsville use their local income tax dollars to increase their their firefighters salaries to the tune of 10,000. So we're losing some of our Bloomington firefighters to them. So kudos to Ellettsville. But Bloomington has to step up as well. We do need to pay our safety officers a competitive wage, we need to take a look at their working conditions. And that's something that I'm doing now. As a city council member and as mayor, I will do more and it's not police and fire. It's asked me it's our Public Works individuals as well. So we got to pay attention to the people who provide the services that the people of Bloomington pay their taxes for.

HREN
City has formed a 501 C three nonprofit organizations to manage the trades district, Waldron and Buskirk, some others to Move Initiative boards at the city to move the burden off of some of the city officials administration also wanted to use the same mechanism to expand and manage the convention center. Do you agree with that met that method?

SANDBERG
Not particularly I have more questions than answers about that. This was something that was I think, pushed through toward the end of this, you know, last last year of this mayor's term. I did oppose it when it came up with the convention center expansion. And so I I very much voted along with the County Council, the commissioners that the CIB model was the more appropriate way to move and move fast we need to move on this convention center. The the standoff has been I think, very counterproductive. With respect to the formation. I was hoping that we could get two more City Council appointments on that board to have a little bit more fair representation between you know who's going to manage this 501 C three with regard to the hope well, which I agree needs some additional help. That's a big deal. I disagreed with the Waldron in the bus. Kirk, I think those are public assets that I think the city needs to hang on to. Those are part of our brand the arts and I want to make sure that there are people making decisions about those two venues that know the arts know the arts community and will do a fair job in managing that that vital asset trades district. My understanding now is probably less of a focus, because John Fernandez, of course, is now in charge along with Pat Easton. And that seems to be the direction they're in good hands. They know what to do to develop out that trades district. But yeah, I'd love to see a little bit more hands off the arts, maybe more of a focus on the real estate and how the Hopewell neighborhood is going to develop

HREN
and wants to know What do you think about the traffic closure of the 500 block of East Kirkwood Avenue ruling and the restaurants using the public streets for six months of the year to possible detriment of other types of businesses?

SANDBERG
That was a very robust discussion. We just had it. I did vote in favor of expanding for this particular summer season. I think we are still in a post COVID era even though it seems to be in the rearview mirror the worst of it anyway. And I think maybe one more summer would be a nice gift to the restaurants who certainly can benefit from that. But I'm very well aware that there are winners here and losers here. And some of the losers of course, are the people that really can't expand out into the streets like the retail shops, the offices above the some of the churches in the downtown have certainly complained about it. So I'm not sure I'm in favor of a permanent closure of it. I think it was a good mechanism. For the COVID era, but we might want to make sure that Kirkwood is a street that is usable by all users. And I mean that across the board, I think we are getting a little bit too restrictive and making everything all about bikes, maybe making everything all about pedestrians. But still, emergency vehicles need to have access the stores who need their loading and loadouts for their their merchandise. We don't want to close streets willy nilly without thinking about the unintended consequences, who wins and who loses.

HREN
Donald writes in about some low hanging quality of life issues that he'd like to see the next mayor tackle so stances on banning app based scooters and bikes, banning off highway gas engines like leaf blowers and lawn mores and then requiring porous parking lot surfaces. Three things there.

SANDBERG
Okay. Now the question again, at the start start over what's what is his basic premise as to quality of life issues?

HREN
Quality of life? Yeah. Correct. And his first one is banning app based scooters

SANDBERG
bags. Oh, yeah. Banning. Okay. Yeah, three things. I think with regard to our Climate Action Plan, and our concern about those gas powered, anything that's gas powered, I do think we need to take a hard look at that and see how difficult it might be to transition people away from the gas blowers maybe into the more electric, I think that is definitely something we should look at and not be hypocritical about. If we do want to want to reduce our carbon footprint, that might be a way and it's also not just the gas, it's the noise. I know a lot of people are complaining about the noxious fumes and the noise and could maybe short of a ban, could we maybe just limit the time that they're in use until they can maybe be phased out in lieu of, of other equipment that's less less damaging to the climate. With respect to scooters, I'm on the record, I'm not a fan. I think we need to be much, much harder on the scooter companies themselves and hold them more responsible for the ADA compliance issues that we're really struggling with. I'm very, very big on making sure our streets or sidewalks, our intersections are usable for all ages, all abilities, all disabilities. And so the scooters have caused a major issue on our sidewalks that I'm not sure the current administration's plan is going to necessarily eliminate all of that. And so I would definitely take a look at what do we do to make sure that our sidewalks are not blocked and people who have you know, disabilities are really struggling? In our downtown and elsewhere. It's all over the city. So what was the one in the middle of the requiring porous parking lots are Horace parking lot surfaces? Well, again, that is ideal with regard to impervious surfaces. I'm a little bit sad about the loss of our green spaces, which are of course, better than any kind of surface. Impervious surfaces are not perfect with respect to you know, being able to do snow removal and all that kind of, of issue with anything you do that's in the positive column, there's always going to be a negative that you have to look at. But yes, we definitely need to be mindful of that with regard to flooding issues. So impervious surfaces, obviously good way to go there.

HREN
Colby, his question for you is why won't the city of Bloomington let new companies and new jobs come to the city? So perhaps you can just expand on that talk about what you've done on council and what you would do as mayor to help bring more jobs to the city?

SANDBERG
And what we that we're not letting companies come to the city? I would first of all, disagree with the basic question, because I am very much in favor of the efforts that the Chamber of Commerce makes on behalf of advocacy for their small business community. I'm very much in favor of the BEDC, that is their job. That is their mission to recruit new businesses into the community, we want that we certainly encourage more jobs that are paying better wages. So I am not opposed to new business coming to Bloomington at all. The Fullerton parcel that we recently said was not appropriate for a jail site is because that is reserved for a major employment attractor that is in zone to someone big like a cook or was that's property that's more suitable for that kind of a big, basic sector employer to come in. So to the extent that we have the tools at the city level, we have very few I mean, we have tax abatements. We can certainly incentivize through the unified development ordinance but I am certainly not opposed to any new businesses coming to town and we want to maintain the businesses that we already have. So it is a recruiting and retention effort that the city of Bloomington needs to partner with all of are small business and large business community.

HREN
Victoria wants to know some of the nicest neighborhoods in Bloomington evolved within a racist, classist, Bloomington. So what would you do to diversify these neighborhoods? Make it available to more people while preserving its quality?

SANDBERG
Well, again, the basic question there, I would have a disagreement with, I know this issue, you're talking about the days of redlining and racist policies. Those no longer exist here in the city of Bloomington, I can say that with great authority. The whole issue about densifying the core neighborhoods, which I oppose very, very loudly, had nothing to do with wanting to keep those communities exclusive. It was to protect those houses that I think are under threat. These are neighborhoods that are already dense, they're already diverse. And I didn't see that, you know, changing our rules to allow duplexing was going to do anything at all, to either make those homes more affordable, or more accessible. So the basic question, I think I have to I'm not dismissing it out of hand. I know that that was certainly an issue. Most cities in the United States had very racist policies with regard to real estate. And, gladly we are I think beyond those times, and if there are relics of that I'm certainly not seeing that Bloomington is a welcoming place. Those neighborhoods who opposed up zonings are welcoming neighbors. There's nothing exclusive about that, in my my my experience.

HREN
All right. Casey wants to know how you would handle the drug crisis without punitive action for those suffering from addiction. Will you plan on any drug decriminalization efforts?

SANDBERG
Well, drug decriminalization, I don't know that that is in the hands of the city of Bloomington. I mean, that's a that's a federal issue, right as to what are crimes and what what kinds of drugs are the dangerous narcotics, what they may be referring to are decriminalizing the use of some of the drugs that are lesser damaging, such as marijuana with respect to again, and I've mentioned those those source cities where some of the more damaging narcotics are coming from, they are damaging, I mean, we're talking about the synthetic meth. That's that's now being made very cheaply by the cartels. We're talking about an uptick in heroin. We're talking about, you know, cocaine is not maybe the drug of choice so much now, but that certainly has been an issue and of course, the opioid crisis, we're getting opioid settlement money because of the damaging drug that that is. So I am not, I am not for decriminalizing those dangerous drugs, because I think they are causing some real serious problems with addictions in our community. These are things that I would like to address locally, by having better mental health services, better addiction services, better recovery services, because my goal would be to get the people off the stuff. There's a market for it. And in with respect to other drugs that are coming here from the source cities, there's the party drugs that the we have a campus in the middle of our city. So there's a market for these drugs and with the market for these drugs come to the people who are here to sell them, which is also increasing. And unfortunately, and I'm hearing this, again, from our law enforcement officials, that's causing an uptick, uptick in the in the in the gun violence that we're seeing in the community, you know, as we were just having our WTIU debate, there was another shooting happening that evening, that very evening, another shooting, we don't know what the origin of that is still under investigation. But, you know, there have been far too many of those drive bys that we suspect are probably drug related or somehow connected to crime that's coming to our community from outside of the community because there is a market for these dangerous narcotics.

HREN
Alright, last question. Nisi emails in what would you do as mayor to deal with the deer problem?

SANDBERG
The deer problem? That's a good question, of course, my colleague Dave, Rollo, and beforehand when Andy ruff was on the council, we struggled very mightily with the deer Taskforce. And of course, that had to do with the biodiversity of Griffy in the understory there. And so that was controversial that I did support the ability to do culling there. And now that is not going to take care of the urban deer problem in the neighborhood. Those deer do not belong in an urban environment, it's not good for their health. It's not good for the health of the community. And so my position is we need to take a look at what's available. Now my understanding is there are methods of birth control that are actually could be quite effective. And I would be for that because as you know, there's not we're not allowed to have any kind of coal in a city, no gun fire. And so that's not an Effective means but I'm also in support of having a wildlife management team. And I know that our Animal Care and Control is talking to us about that, to kind of take the lead in that to see what we might do to we don't want to eliminate deer altogether. But we definitely want their populations to be under controlled where people can garden in their backyards. People are not going to be affected by a deer tick or any diseases, Lyme disease. It is a public health issue in my mind, and it is a nuisance for many, many people I know. So we do need to do something and it might cost some money and we may need to allocate some for that effort. But I do think deer population has gotten to a point where we need to take some action.

HREN
Thank you so much for coming in today. I know you're busy, but really appreciate you answering these questions from our listeners and viewers. Thank you.

SANDBERG
Thank you. My pleasure.

HREN
So we've had more than 100 Questions leading up to last week's debate, we want to try to get a few more in. So let's just start with John, he writes in each of the candidates has unique experiences they claim makes them the most qualified to lead our city. He notes your experience as the CEO of habitat. He asks, What was your number one accomplishment? And how did you make it happen?

THOMSON
Oh, wow. As CEO of Habitat for Humanity, I would say my number one accomplishment was really being able to get the trail view neighborhood built, that was a long process, a contentious project process. From the time that we acquired that land until we moved, the First Family in was probably five and a half years. I worked really hard with the neighbors in that area, we started neighborhood meetings before we ever even bought that land. And, and then it turned out that before we, before we were ever moving any dirt there. There was a an encampment of unhoused people who had moved in. And, and that was a, that was also an instructive process, that there is a way to communicate with people who are upset that you're going to be their neighbors, or there's change coming, and in fact, to communicate so far in advance and listen so well, that you can actually address many of their problems. And I was really proud about two things in that in that neighborhood process. The first was that the leader of the opposition group of neighbors that did not want habitat to build that neighborhood, ended up coming to the last city council meeting and speaking in favor of our neighborhood, then proceeded to bring coffee to our volunteers at every build. And the second thing was that I worked in partnership with with the homeless service providers here and walked the property for months in advance to let the people who were living there know that we were going to be building a neighborhood and the timeline and we kept in touch. We posted things on trees. And then we also partnered them with services so that they had a place to go instead of being on that property. I'm proud of that. Because I think that there's really a way to deal with people with dignity and partnership that can lead to win win situations in the end.

HREN
All right, Dave writes, and the deputy mayor role has been different for different mayors. Consultants study, a student recently suggested that Bloomington could benefit from two Deputy Mayor's so the question is, what role would the deputy mayor play in your administration? Beyond loyalty? What specific skill set or knowledge are you looking for in deputy mayor? And Cleo wants to know, but who will you name as deputy mayor?

THOMSON
Wow. The you know, distributed leadership model has always been really important to me, I had a clear leadership team at Habitat for Humanity. The same is true at the Center for rural engagement. What that does is it establishes a system where not every decision day to day needs to be made by the CEO or the mayor, whatever the chief executive is. I don't know how many deputy mayors I'll have. What I do know is that I always balance my leadership team with my own gifts. I don't want people with that excel in the same things that I excel in, it is actually necessary to balance our team. And this loyalty point is really interesting, because what I look for most in a leadership team member is somebody who will be really bluntly honest with me. I don't want a yes person. I want somebody who is going to discern what's really happening and really have the courage to say, you know, Carrie, I think we might be headed in the wrong direction here, or what people are saying about this is that it's not working in these ways. Can we change it? That's the most critical thing that a team member can bring to

HREN
me. Do you have someone in mind that you would name I don't?

THOMSON
I've been really focused on winning the election. That's my job right now. And, and so naming staff is is not part of what I've been focused on.

HREN
Elizabeth wants to know about campaign financing. She notes that you have a larger advertising campaign than the other candidates. Were has Your campaign money come from and how large is your war chest,

THOMSON
my war chest. I don't I don't refer to it as a war chest instead, I really look at it as, as one tool in my toolbox that allows me to communicate and reach voters. And it has been, you know, when I started this, I was the only political outsider. And when I decided to run for mayor, I decided I would do it the same way that I do everything, which is all in. I don't do anything half heartedly. And I knew that with very little name recognition, I absolutely had to tap whatever resources I could to try to communicate and to build a great team to work with me. So campaign finance reports came out on Friday, we have raised about $200,000. And that is what is allowing us to really communicate with the public. I'm running a very professional campaign, and I think Bloomington really probably wants a mayor that can tap resources, use them really wisely to get a job done exceedingly well. And that's what I'll do is your mayor.

HREN
David writes in Kerry references her five point housing plan on her website, what specifically does she want to do to address housing? And then how would you expand housing opportunities to residents, so that they don't have to move out of Bloomington?

THOMSON
Yes, I specifically want to house the people who work here. That is specifically what I think needs to happen. More and more, what I'm hearing at the doors, it's the it's the first thing I hear at the doors. housing is an issue I'm hearing. Yesterday, I heard from an elderly woman on a fixed income, that her her taxes have gone up so much, because of the rising housing costs here in Bloomington, that she doesn't know if she can afford to stay in her home. That is absolutely unacceptable to me. We need housing that is attainable, attainable for people who are on fixed incomes, that woman should not have to move out of her house. So specifically, I do think that we need to create more housing units, we had a 2020 housing study that said we were 2700 units behind what we needed. My hunch is that we probably still have about that many to go. We have built a large number of housing units, but you also have to take into account that the the University continues to increase enrollment. And so we have to house those students as well. They're they're by and large not being housed on campus. So I have proposed a five a five point plan for housing, that includes tapping the assets that we already have, the the retaining the housing that we have now. But also looking at things like first floor commercial that sitting empty, we can easily turn those back into housing units. That's that doesn't require moving any earth or, or paving any green space. And that's important to our community partnerships with the county with the university, and importantly, with the state ih CDA should be at the table with us, and they can be an incredible partner they have been before in Bloomington. And then I think that we should be really looking at the resources that are available to assist families and individuals, like the woman I just talked to who's already in her house. You know, one of the best things we can do for housing is retain the housing that we have and ensure that the people who are in it can stay there. So from there, we will have to develop some plans that involve some community input.

HREN
All right, we received a handful of questions about your leadership style, they shared that you recently settled a lawsuit in which you were sued for workplace bullying and there have been high level of staff turnover at the Center for rural engagement under your direction. So can you speak to your ability to create a healthy working environment for city employees?

THOMSON
Yeah, first I just want to say that that is not factual. And so you know, I while I cannot speak about specific HR issues, I have never been sued for workplace bullying or anything of the sort and You know, in a time when lots of lots of organizations are experiencing turnover, the CRA actually has not experienced any higher turnover than, than is typical. And the folks that did leave actually, I'm trying to think of an exception to this. They left for promotions, they, they got better jobs. I'm really proud of the teams that I have led, I have lots of very long tenured colleagues, I've only been at the care for five years, but much of that staff has been there the whole time. And, in fact, my longest tenured employee and habitat came to work at care with me, I have worked with people for 10s of years straight and, and have built really strong leadership environments. And it is true that that I am a high impact leader that develops leadership teams and and that I hold people accountable for for the work that they do. I'm looking forward to working with the city staff. And I'm also a leader that has my staffs back all the time.

HREN
All right from the show as a queer person of color, there was a lot of performative ally ship that graces the lips of people in power, and the pages of social media. But when we try to hold white leaders accountable for their unintentional to avert racism, were met with defensiveness, tone, policing, too damaging gatekeeping, can you address that?

THOMSON
Yeah, I always want to be a leader that is open to to clear feedback and is vulnerable enough to say, I made a mistake, or I didn't do enough. I think that's how we all get better. I tried to be really aware of how my actions and even my inactions can affect people who are in minority who are minoritized in some way. And I also tried to speak up actively for minoritized populations and ensure that that my leadership and my values align with with enabling people to really be safe and and be heard.

HREN
Kathy writes in what is your vision for the future of the Bloomington farmers market, having multiple markets doesn't have the same community feel? She never felt the city handled all the disruption in a very positive manner? Do you see a path to combine the markets in a good way for Bloomington?

THOMSON
I missed the vibrancy of the Bloomington city farmers market. And I would love to have an open discussion about how we might get that vibrancy back. I do see some benefits and having multiple markets. And so I would want to hear from those other markets, how successful they are and how much they you know how much focus on the Bloomington city market might impact them. I do however, think that it was a real missed opportunity. Freedom of speech is one thing. But we also need to acknowledge and defend the the what was happening at the market. And, you know, the the public meeting that that was had. I people just didn't feel heard. And that is it's a shame. So I know it's a legally entrenched issue, but it's a community treasure, it should be a place that everybody feel safe. And if if freedom of speech has to happen in that way. I think the city can take equal actions to ensure that people of color are feeling safe. LGBTQIA plus people are feeling safe at the market.

HREN
Rob wants to know How would you support the fire department our firefighters need raises the police continue to get all the support but the fire department is forgotten about what are you willing to do?

THOMSON
Yeah, so the I am not sure financially exactly what can be done because the city has not published an audit in a long time. What I want the fire department and the police department and all of our city employees to know is that I am going to look really carefully at the budget and ensure that we are compensating fairly and appropriately and that our City staff is our government. They are the people who do the work. And as their leader, I will take a hard look at that budget. Once I get some transparency there and and really figure out what can be done. We need to retain our fire in our police.

HREN
The city has formed a 501 C three nonprofit organizations to manage the trades district. Waldron, Buskirk, others to move initiatives forward lay the burden off of city offices. city administration also wanted to use that same mechanism to expand manage the convention center. Do you agree with this method?

THOMSON
I don't agree with that method. But importantly, I don't agree with the process that that happened with that method. First of all, there was a Capital Improvement Board that was proposed that would manage the convention center, three city, three county and those six people appointed a seventh. And the the city decided not to play in that in that sandbox. Then what happened was this 501 C three really got announced in a press release and my understanding from the arts organizations is that they did not have prior knowledge that this was happening. And they found out at the same time the rest of the community did. If we're trying to solve a problem that involves very clear stakeholders. We should have them at the table before we announce the plan. Does does hope well and the trades district deserve an oversight board? Possibly. But I have not seen the notes on that community discussion if it was held. And my understanding now is that some of those arts arts buildings have been removed from that 501 C three oversight. I'm not sure if it's true. But that is my understanding.

HREN
All right, and wants to know, what do you think about the traffic closure of the 500 block of East Kirkwood Avenue ruling and the restaurants using the public streets for six months of the year to the possible detriment of other types of businesses?

THOMSON
Yes, so I know. I know, for instances the bicycle garage has not been in support of the road closure. There are also other factors involved in the road closure that I think need to be addressed. I have heard from people with with accessibility issues, physical impairments that that it makes them it more difficult for them to park near to where they're going. I actually also talked to someone who uses a wheelchair who loves it because the street is much smoother than the sidewalks and so it's easier to roll along. However, I think that if we're going to continue to close Kirkwood, and I'll just tell you from a personal perspective, I love the closure of Kirkwood. I love being able to sit out in the middle of Kirkwood and it feels a little bit like Paris to me. I love the community feel of people walking by have, you know a near straightline pedestrian mall. We need emergency vehicle access that has been allotted on on the sort of north side of Kirkwood. And I also think and I have discussed and proposed the possibility of some kind of trolley system that might go from the Fourth Street garage up to perhaps 10th street and then circle back on Washington Street so we can have a high frequency loop that happens and people can park in those garages and know that they will have access straight to Kirkwood and to the other amenities that our downtown provides.

HREN
Alright, Donald wants to know there's some low hanging quality of life issues he'd like to see the next mayor tackle. So banning app based scooters and E bikes, backing off highway gas engines like leaf blowers lawn mores, and requiring porous parking lot services some issues he'd like you to comment on.

THOMSON
Yeah, so the scooters have really become quite an issue. Not only because they are a nuisance, but also frequently I am moving them off of sidewalks because there's it prevents accessibility for people who are using wheelchairs or other accessibility devices. So I know some communities have solved this by having a mandatory parking spot for them. I know Paris just banned them and so I I'd like to look at the balance between the zero emissions, small commute that they do provide, and the nuisance and accessibility issues that they are preventing and see if we can find a solution where they do have to be mandatorily parked somewhere, or even that if they're not parked in a place that you continue to get billed, I actually have never used a scooter. But I understand that they are quite expensive by the hour. So that simple determine could could be effective. The city does have a fine system. I am not clear why those fines are not being imposed. I know that it was discussed recently, the city was not provided our residents were not provided a good answer to that.

HREN
Did you want to talk about the banning off highway gas engines or requiring porous parking lots?

THOMSON
Yes. So there are already incentives for porous parking lots and other pervious pavement kinds of solutions. And I would like to look at increasing those. And, you know, I am I'm not sure what a great solution to the gas powered engines are. I certainly would not want to be a mayor that says if you have a fine piece of working equipment now I'm going to ask you to throw it out. That does another kind of environmental damage. So I think we need to look at that and have a real solution that that works and is practical.

HREN
Victoria wants to know that you know some of the nicest neighborhoods in Bloomington evolved within a racist, classist, Bloomington, what would you do to diversify these neighborhoods make it available to more people while preserving its quality?

THOMSON
Yeah, I think it's worth looking at some some down payment assistance and some other tools that we could really use to help diversify some of these, some of these neighborhoods, I'll tell you that the older neighborhoods in Bloomington are, they're increasingly out of reach financially. For everybody. We do have a racist and classist history, you look at the deed restrictions in many of those neighborhoods. And, and it's very clear. So I would look like to look at some solutions. And I am open to people's ideas about that, you know, housing accessibility is, is something I've worked hard on for decades. And I have some ideas about how to do that I don't have all the ideas and would love to hear from other people.

THOMSON
The drug crisis is, is now at a profound state in Bloomington. And I would really, you know, I think that the, the heart of our crisis, as I understand it now happens to be fentanyl in the new math. And those drugs are potent and powerful and highly addictive. I would partner with the service providers that are that are active now. We have several of them. And also, I think that we need an active state partnership. I have stated and I will continue to state that I think that we are dealing with more proportionately than our fair share in the state of the drug crisis, and that we should demand more than our fair share of that opioid settlement money so that we can really put together a coalition with a strategic plan that will deal with this crisis and compassionately partner with people who are in crisis themselves.

HREN
All right, last question, this emails in what would you do as mayor to deal with the deer problem?

THOMSON
Yeah, you know, there was a commission set up or a task force set up. This was 10 years ago. That task force was charged with dealing with the urban deer population. What happened instead was we ended up doing a call at Lake Griffy. So I don't know where we missed the mark there. But we you know, we had this set up and and it was one of those sort of Bloomington things where I think we He studied it and studied it. And the thing with the highest support was a call at Griffy, which really didn't have much to do with the problem at hand. I would suggest that we put together another task force to look at that issue and ask them to really address that issue. I'm not sure what's right. Because there are challenges with every sort of obvious solution there is. And I think that we need the experts at the table. And we also need some creativity. But, you know, in my own neighborhood, I actually have been chased by a doe who is threatened by me walking my dog when she has funds nearby. So it's a safety issue, not just for vehicles, but for for pedestrians and cyclists.

HREN
I know this was a lot. Thank you so much for coming in and taking the time to answer our viewers and listeners questions.

THOMSON
Yeah, they were great questions. I really appreciate them. And I'm really happy to answer more questions. People do write to me on email and we get back to them. So I'm happy to answer further questions. They don't have to be routed through through WTIU. Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. A portion of these interviews will air during this week's Indiana Newsdesk.