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From YouTube: Bloomington Today: April 6, 2011
Description
On this week's episode of Bloomington Today we'll take a closer look at a recent addition to Bloomington squad cars, find out how you can embrace the spring showers by creating a rainwater garden, and talk with Human Services Administrative Coordinator Tracy Smith, about an upcoming event you won't want to miss.
A
B
Welcome
to
bloomington
today
I'm
kalyn
cockriel
thanks
for
joining
us
recent
warming
temperatures
are
keeping
city
officials
on
high
alert
monitoring
areas
of
water
susceptible
for
flooding.
Over
the
week
of
march
28,
nine
mile
creek
was
expected
to
peak
these
photos
were
taken
on
monday
april,
4th
of
the
creek
at
106th
street
city
civil
engineer,
scott
anderson
says
nine
mile
creek
did
in
fact
peak
last
week.
At
this
time
it
looks
like
any
flooding
along
nine
mile
creek
will
be
extremely
minimal
and
is
not
expected
to
impact
any
homes
or
structures.
B
The
minnesota
river
is
expected
to
continue
rising
and
crest.
The
week
of
april
4.,
lower
lindel
south
of
106th
street
will
remain
closed
until
the
river
recedes,
while
flooding
seems
minimal
for
bloomington.
As
of
right
now,
anderson
did,
however,
want
to
encourage
residents
to
keep
in
mind
that
spring
rains
still
have
the
potential
to
greatly
impact
flood
areas.
B
B
The
men
and
women,
sworn
and
civilian
alike
of
the
bloomington
police
department
are
dedicated,
professional
and
caring
individuals.
Protecting
the
city
is
all
in
a
day's
work
and
finding
new
and
improved
advancements
in
technology
to
assist
in
that
is
essential
to
providing
service
to
the
community.
B
One
way
to
provide
this
service
is
through
video
surveillance
mounted
in
every
squad.
Car
used
to
record
offenses
that
can
cause
serious
harm
to
the
driving
public.
A
2010
decision
by
the
state
office
of
traffic
safety
to
fund
hundreds
of
squad
cameras
throughout
the
state
caught
the
bloomington
police
department's
attention
almost
immediately.
C
We
saw
this
as
a
great
opportunity
to
get
in
on
that
state,
grant
money
and
try
to
outfit
our
entire
patrol
fleet.
Within
squad
cameras,
we
made
a
bid
to
outfit
the
entire
fleet.
We
ended
up
getting
17
cameras
paid
for
by
the
state
at
a
price
of
almost
five
thousand
dollars
apiece.
So
it
was
a
very
sizable
grant.
B
C
This
is
the
camera
system
right
here.
It's
got
some
controls
on
it
here
and
then
everything
is
also
controlled
on
the
on
the
mdc
itself
on
the
touch
screen.
The
camera,
I
said,
is
it's
running
all
the
time
so
that
when
I
actually
activate
my
lights
or
I
hit
the
record
button,
it's
already
it
backs
up
the
record
30
seconds.
So
if
I
see
a
violator
run
the
red
light
in
front
of
me-
and
I
hit
the
record
button-
I've
already
recorded
30
seconds
before
that,
and
so
I
see
the
actual
violation.
B
C
B
This
quick
logging
allows
officers
to
write
reports
in
a
timely
manner
and
ultimately
will
keep
many
cases
out
of
court
because,
as
commander
herman
put
it,
if
a
picture
is
worth
a
thousand
words
imagine
what
a
moving
pitcher
is
worth.
Officers
can
spend
time
on
the
streets
where
they
can
be
most
productive.
Serving
the
residents
of
bloomington
officer
herman,
says
the
cameras
are
a
great
addition
to
the
bloomington
police
department
and
will
keep
officers
out
of
the
office
and
on
the
streets
serving
residents.
B
D
It
turns
out
these
are
actually
traffic
management
sensors.
They
used
to
bury
these
in
the
pavement,
so
people
would
pull
up
in
their
cars.
They'd
set
the
sensor
off
the
light
would
know,
there's
a
car
here,
it's
time
for
the
light
to
change
and
now
they're
putting
them
on
top
of
traffic
lights.
They
work
better
in
minnesota.
You
don't
have
to
tear
the
road
up
to
change
the
sensor
around
or
do
maintenance
on
the
sensor
and
it's
just
a
better
system.
The
problem
is
they
look
like
traffic
cameras.
D
B
Bloomington
police
officials
ask
residents
not
to
call
and
request
footage
of
an
incident
or
accident
after
the
fact,
as
there
is
no
footage
from
intersections
within
the
city.
However,
if
residents
are
involved
in
an
accident,
it's
always
better
to
be
safe
and
get
a
police
officer
on
scene
well
with
spring,
we
can
always
count
on
the
snow
melting,
but
also
on
the
rain,
falling
what
better
time
to
start
making
plans
for
a
rain
garden
on
your
property.
B
Rainwater
gardens
are
6
to
12
inches
deep
and
designed
to
capture
runoff
water,
who
would
have
thought
that
colorful
flowers,
native
grasses
and
small
shrubs
could
be
pollutant
reductors.
In
the
past
few
years,
bloomington
officials
began
implementing
these
gardens
with
homeowner
consent
in
various
neighborhoods
to
catch
street
drainage.
B
Brian
tells
us
rainwater
gardens
can
be
extremely
low
cost,
as
well
as
an
aesthetically
pleasing
way
to
help
further
filter
storm
water
going
into
our
area,
lakes
and
ponds.
If
you'd
like
to
develop
a
rain
garden
in
your
yard,
that
does
not
take
street
drainage
most
likely,
it
won't
require
a
permit
if
it's
a
smaller
project,
if
you'd
be
interested
in
designing
a
garden
on
the
exterior
of
your
property
near
the
street
contact,
the
engineering
department
of
public
works
they'd
be
happy
to
assist
you
with
any
questions.
B
B
Welcome
back
everyone,
we
are
now
joined
by
human
services.
Administrative
coordinator,
tracy
smith,
welcome
tracy!
Thank
you
thanks
for
being
here
today.
Well,
let's
just
jump
right
into
it.
Why
don't
you
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
the
event
that
human
services
is
putting
on
coming
up
on
april
30th,
right
here
at
civic,
plaza
sure.
G
Human
services
is
co-sponsoring
with
the
league
of
women
voters
from
bloomington
richfield
edina
hopkins,
minnetonka
and
eden
prairie,
a
youth
homeless
forum,
so
the
event
is
called
homeless.
Youth
homeless.
Excuse
me,
homeless,
youth
in
suburbia
and
it's
an
event
really
geared
to
help.
The
community.
The
greater
community
understand
the
problem
of
homeless
youth
in
our
communities
and
encourage
them
to
take
action
and
and
move
forward
in
ways
to
help
those
youth.
B
G
It
is
the
first
one
the
league
of
women
voters
came
to
the
human
services
division
with
the
proposal
for
this
event,
and
bloomington
is
very
unique
in
its
its
city
and
having
a
human
services.
Division
which
looks
at
issues
which
families,
individuals
and
families
face
within
the
community
and
a
big
part
of
who
we
are
is
partnering
with
other
agencies
and
connecting
people
to
the
non-profit
organizations
that
support
individuals
in
places
where
they
need
support
and
services.
B
Very
neat:
well
walk
us
through
kind
of
the
the
lineup.
For
that
day,
are
we
having
speakers
or
just
start
from
the
top.
G
Sure
so
the
event
starts
at
9
30,
the
vendor
fair
starts
at
9
30
and
then
starting
at
10.
We
will
have
about
a
two
hour
forum
in
the
schneider
theater
here
at
bloomington,
civic
plaza
and
as
part
of
that
event,
tim
riordan,
who
is
the
ceo
of
the
riordan
foundation?
G
He
will
be
facilitating
that
two-hour
forum,
which
will
include
a
video
put
together
by
lutheran
social
services
on
youth
homelessness.
It
actually
shows
the
story
of
a
local
suburbia
youth
who
faced
homelessness
and
kind
of
how
she
came
to
where
she
is
now
and
then
probably
one
of
the
most
powerful
parts
of
the
day
will
be
some
personal
stories.
We
have
three
young
women
lined
up
to
come
in
to
our
students
in
our
communities
right
now
to
talk
about
their
stories
and
the
third
woman
who
I
think
you'll
be
talking
with
later,
is
she's.
G
Someone
who
faced
homelessness
and
and
now
is
is
a
nurse
I
believe
so
they
will
share
their
stories.
And
then
we
have
a
panel
of
community
professionals
coming
in
to
talk
about
how
they
work
with
youth.
Some
are
in
the
school
districts
some
summer
with
some
non-profit
organizations,
and
we
have
an
individual
also
coming
from
the
state
of
minnesota,
the
homeless
area
of
the
state
human
services.
G
To
talk
about
some
of
the
economic
factors
of
of
homelessness.
For
youth,
it's
a
very
full
day.
It
is.
It
is
a
full
two
hours,
a
very
full
two
hours.
Some
additional
information
will
be
shared
and
then
really
at
the
end
of
the
forum,
a
call
to
folks
to
to
reach
out
to
and
to
act
in
some
way
by
whether
it's
supporting
a
neighbor,
whether
it's
helping
one
of
the
organizations
represented
or
whatever
avenue
it
might
be,
and
then
there'll
be
some
additional
time
at
the
end.
B
G
It
is
here
in
bloomington-
and
you
know,
unfortunately,
we
don't
have
shelters
here
in
in
bloomington,
so,
whether
youth
or
adults,
if
somebody
needs
a
shelter
for
the
night,
they
find
themselves
having
to
go
into
minneapolis
and
those
facilities
then
often
end
up
turning
people
away,
because
they
don't
have
space
for
all
of
the
individuals
that
that
show
up
there
and
another
component
of
that
is
this.
This
whole
concept
of
being
precariously
housed,
because
there
aren't
enough
beds
for
folks
who
are
homeless.
G
There
are
especially
with
youth.
There
are
a
lot
of
youth
who
might
sleep
on
a
friend's
couch
or
sleep.
You
know
with
relatives
sleep
in
their
car
and
those
are
are
situations
where
their
home
environment,
for
whatever
reason
is
not
meeting
their
their
needs
at
that
time
and
they
are
needing
to
find
housing
somewhere
else
and
it
it
does
happen
here.
We
do
have
youth
in
bloomington
and
in
the
other
communities
that
are
co-sponsoring
this
event
that
are
in
those
situations.
G
B
G
I
think
there's
a
couple
ultimate
goals:
one
is
awareness
of
the
problem
and
that
there
there
is
an
issue
with
youth
in
the
suburbs,
not
not
always
having
a
place
to
call
home,
and
you
know
sometimes
people
just
think
it's
a
bad
kid
or
you
know
a
kid
with.
You
know
that
behavior
issues
or
problems,
and
it's
it's
so
much
more
complicated
than
than
a
bad
kid.
G
You
know
any
number
of
things
could
could
tie
into
that
situation
and
so
really
for
the
public
to
come
out
and
to
listen
to
some
of
those
reasons
to
hear
what
these
three
women,
what
their
experiences
are
and
why
they
find
themselves
in
these
situations.
H
G
Goes
across
social,
economic
status,
culture,
so
many
different
factors.
One
of
the
other
main
reasons
that
we're
offering
this
is
so
that
people
are
motivated
to
take
action.
We
really
want
people
to
feel
like
there
is
something
that
they
can
do.
G
If
they're
educated
about
the
problem
about
the
problem,
if
they're
educated
about
the
resources
that
are
out
there
through
the
vendor
fair,
then
they
can
be
in
a
position
to
help
youth
when
they
become
aware
that
whether
they
become
aware
of
youth,
you
know
because
it's
a
neighbor,
because
it's
a
friend
of
one
of
their
children-
maybe
it's
somebody-
they
know
through
their
faith
community.
G
B
B
H
Well,
from
my
early
background,
when
I
was
about
12
years
old,
it
was
my
first
experience
with
homelessness.
I
ran
away.
I
was
involved
in
some
street
trauma
and
my
parents
were
unable
to
support
me
when
I
got
home.
They
didn't
know
which
resources
to
access
they
really
they
really
weren't
sure
what
was
going
on
with
me
and
they're,
going
through
many
of
their
own
personal
struggles.
H
A
friend
of
mine,
some
friends
of
mine,
were
running
away
and
I
started
running
away
with
them
and
in
the
process
my
parents,
home
were
was
foreclosed
and
they
separated,
and
there
really
wasn't
a
home
to
go
back
to
for
a
while.
So
from
about
12
to
15,
I
would
stay
with
relatives.
Sometimes
my
mother,
sometimes
my
father,
but
I
spent
most
of
that
time
on
the
streets.
H
I
would
stay
in
abandoned
buildings.
I
would
do
what
some
people
call
squatting,
where
you
would
just
find
an
abandoned
house
to
sleep
in
and
sleep
there
with
friends,
and
I
was
one
of
many
many
youth
on
the
street
very
different
backgrounds,
very
different
stories
and
we
all
depended
on
one
another
by
trying
to
access
family
resources,
community
resources
and
and
really
trying
to
create
safety
in
numbers.
H
H
Well,
I
do
feel
very
blessed
to
be
alive
today
and
to
be
stable
and
to
have
things
positive
in
my
life
and
because
of
my
success.
I
want
to
give
back
to
the
young
people
that
I
know
that
are
still
on
the
street.
I
mean
in
my
work.
I've
worked
with
a
lot
of
homeless
and
runaway
youth
street
youth,
and
I
see
that
they're
going
through
the
same
struggles.
I
did
as
a
young
person,
and
I
see
all
the
potential
in
the
world
for
all
of
them
with
the
right
support
and
the
right
resources.
B
H
Well,
I've
been
very
blessed.
I
had
an
excellent
college
education,
so
I
have
a
bachelor
of
science
degree
in
nursing.
I've
been
working
as
a
professional
nurse
for
over
seven
years
now,
and
I
have
four
children
of
my
own
that
are
absolutely
beautiful
and
amazing
and
they're
doing
very
well
and
I'm
able
to
work
in
different
places
to
help
youth
realize
their
strengths
and
support
them
through
their
growth.
B
H
Would
encourage
people
to
take
the
time
out
because
I
know
the
people
that
are
organizing.
It
are
people
that
are
in
the
field
that
are
really
aware
of
the
realities
of
what
is
happening
to
these
young
people
that
are
on
the
streets.
And
it's
about
people
coming
together
and
building
stronger
communities.
B
I
B
Welcome
back
everyone.
Well,
as
the
saying
goes,
you
can't
understand
other
people's
experiences
until
you've
walked
a
mile
in
their
shoes,
while
the
bloomington
chamber
of
commerce
and
the
local
non-profit
organization
cornerstone
are
giving
you
that
opportunity
to
do
just
that
saturday
april
16th
at
7
30
a.m.
Men,
women
and
children
are
invited
to
stop
out
to
macy's
court
in
the
mall
of
america
and
take
a
walk
in
high-heeled,
sandals
pumps
and
stilettos
for
a
cause.
B
The
goal
of
the
project
is
to
raise
awareness
and
put
a
stop
to
violence
against
women
and
children.
The
2010
event
turnout
was
great
mayor.
Gene
winstead
stopped
by
and
gave
a
pair
of
pink
high-heeled
pumps
a
try
for
this
wonderful
cause.
There
is
a
25
entrance
fee
per
walker,
children,
12
and
under
walk
free
men.
Don't
worry,
there
are
loaner
heels
available
for
you
free
of
charge.
You
can
register
on
the
day
of
the
event
or
in
advance
online
by
visiting
firstgiving.org
cornerstonemn.
B
Well,
it's
almost
time
to
dust
off
your
clubs
and
get
back
out
on
the
golf
greens
in
bloomington,
and
our
local
driving
range
may
be
expanding
to
make
room
for
more
golfers.
After
the
season
highland
green's
practice
driving
range
may
be
moving
from
its
current
location
on
normandale
boulevard
to
the
middle
of
the
highland
greens
property.
B
The
move
would
allow
for
major
expansion
of
the
range.
Currently
there
are
12
hitting
stations
and,
if
approved
by
the
city
council
there'll
be
room
for
36
golfers
to
brush
up
on
their
game.
Construction
could
begin
in
september
with
a
new
practice
area
opening
in
spring
of
two
thousand
and
twelve
highland
greens
golf
course
offers
two
nine
hole
par.
Three
courses
course
manager.
Rick
siddik
tells
us
that,
even
after
the
rough
winter,
the
greens
are
in
great
shape
and
he's
looking
forward
to
another
busy
season.
B
He
estimates
highland
greens
will
be
opening
sometime
between
april
12th
and
15th
if
weather
cooperates,
and
that's
all
the
time
we
have
for
today
to
get
more
information
on
city
projects,
parks,
road
construction
and
events
visit.
The
city's
website
to
check
out
past
bloomington
today
shows
or
other
city
productions
visit,
bloomington's
youtube,
channel,
accessible
right
from
the
city's
homepage.