Ask the Mayor
About
A weekly program where mayors from Bloomington, Columbus, and Terre Haute answer questions about your community. We also delve into new and long-term city topics.
The show airs on WFIU on Wednesday mornings at 6:45 AM and 8:45 AM
- First Wednesday of the month: Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon (R)
- Second Wednesday of the month: Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun (D)
- Third Wednesday of the month: Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson (D)
Submit a question or comment to news@indianapublicmedia.org and follow us on X: @AskTheMayor
Joe Hren
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WFIU/WTIU News
"We're in the middle of our Columbus Downtown 2030 plan implementation. So, this will be a huge asset when it's completed and will help draw people to this side of the river." - Mayor Ferdon on the riverfront amphitheater
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"I decided I wasn't going to make a decision about whether to veto this or not until I heard thoroughly from the public. We have gotten a lot of outreach about carless Kirkwood." - Mayor Kerry Thomson
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"Why would we only target just seniors and just people who can afford to not have a mortgage? That's not really doing anything for our community's most vulnerable." - Sakbun on Gov. Braun's plan for property tax breaks. -
"Our major food bank, called the Love Chapel, over the past couple of years, has seen a significant increase in the number of people who are requesting help." - Ferdon on residents dealing with increased costs -
"I think Hopewell was a perfect example of it's really difficult to build in Bloomington. I was getting calls from developers during that process, saying, if the city can't get this through, who can?" - Thomson on building audits -
"I truly believe that when you look at the cost of housing, the cost of utilities, and frankly, a job market that hasn't took wages high enough to achieve this dream style scenario, that's what I wish the election would have been on." - Mayor Sakbun on the primary -
"That's, in fact, why you do PUD, is because you have something that will not fit into the UDO or the transportation plan. We needed some wiggle room with both of those in order to get this done." - Thomson on Hopewell -
"When you start targeting civilian infrastructure, you start really just creating more enemies. The people of Iran are going to be hit with famine, no power. That is not how you win a campaign and do regime change." - Mayor Brandon Sakbun -
"There's still some uncertainty around tariffs, now we're seeing higher fuel costs, energy costs, the uncertainty around interest rates. I think that right now, businesses are being very careful. We aren't seeing many hire and expand." - Ferdon on the economy -
"It is an issue that we are really grateful that the public has brought to our attention, and it has caused us to have very serious conversations with Flock." - Mayor Thomson -
"When global decisions start affecting the everyday American's pocketbook on top of the news cycle that they continue to watch, I do think the court of public opinion will change over time with how we approach these conversations of forever wars." - Mayor Sakbun -
"I think the goal is to push those off for a year and then give cities a chance to talk with legislators about some of the changes and how the rate structure can be adjusted." - Ferdon on municipality revenues
