063: The 812 Overtime -- More about Public Buses and Public Banking

Today's episode is not just one, but two doses of The 812 Overtime, extra segments recorded for us by recent guests who just had too many interesting insights for us to fit into our regular half-hour interviews. It's a couple of good, deep dives into local government.

Our first Overtime interview we made back in March with John Connell about Bloomington Transit, where he's the general manager. In this segment, he tells us about the Bus Rapid Transit line coming to Bloomington and how it'll be different from a similar service in Indianapolis. He also talks about the difference between BT and Rural Transit, and the key metric the federal government uses to define who can serve where: the so-called "urbanized area" around Bloomington.

In the second Overtime segment, made last week, we had Alex Crowley on to talk mostly about his time as director of ESD at the city of Bloomington. In this segment, we learn more about how the Indiana Energy Independence Fund, where he's been the Executive Director since last August, will get itself off the ground. He also compares "green banks" like his new organization to community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, which are regulated like banks, and compares their public-oriented missions. First, he goes into more detail about direct pay, a new benefit to not-for-profit organizations that compares favorably to tax credits.