by Diane Benjamin The Normal Mayor and City Council decided the outlined area in the picture below was blighted and needed to be redeveloped. They filed a plan and deemed this area a Tax Increment Financing site (TIF). They have purchased A LOT of properties and gave some away. More on that below. Click on […]
by Diane Benjamin CPA reg. Many factors are not available for analysis of this project. This process must continually be updated when REAL data becomes available. Some of the factors are: Cost per KWH for purchased electricity over the next 20 years – it most likely will not remain constant Amount of electricity generated by […]
BIKES AND DEMOCRACY? – Give me a Representative Government DIRECT DEMOCRACY/BLONO FACEBOOK PAGE May 21, 2012 Direct Democracy. What is it? James Madison defined it as “…a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the […]
by Diane Benjamin I think I still live in the United States of America, but maybe the globe shifted or I entered a time machine. Or maybe WEAK leadership at all levels of our current government brings out the crazy people. Following is what I received in the mail today. Note the return address […]
by Diane Benjamin This information comes from a very reliable source: Habeeb Habeeb, GOP chair of Champaign County, apparently aggravated the other 13 County GOP Chairs with his superiority attitude and multiple radio interviews. They refused to support his candidate-Erika Herald-because of him! Champaign County had the weighted vote because of the number of […]
by Diane Benjamin First, I must express my outrage again over Tim Johnson’s sudden decision to not run in November AFTER winning the March 20th primary. He obviously tried to determine his successor instead of leaving his seat in the hands of the people, sorry Tim, but it belongs to us. Last night a forum […]
In 2003 every citizen was $11.52 in debt to the Town of Normal. By March 2011 every citizen was $1,725.18 in debt. Was Uptown Normal worth a 15,000% increase in YOUR debt? This is a perfect example of what happens to citizens when they aren’t paying attention, trust the people elected to have their best […]
From Illinois Center Right Coalition: In May 2012, the ICRC Steering Committee passed this resolution: ICRC RESOLUTION TO RECALL ILLINOIS GOP CHAIRMAN PAT BRADY WHEREAS, the platform of the Illinois Republican Party contains the following: “To conduct ourselves in such a way as to rebuild the public trust in the Republican Party” and WHEREAS, the […]
Saved it for who? GM still owes the taxpayers a lot of money, so does Ally financial. Then GM sends jobs to China!
February 5, 2012 WHAT IF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS WEREN’T DOING THEIR JOBS? You might ask why and how that might happen? What if they weren’t aware of what their jobs were? What their duties were? Or, what their obligations were? These are all very valid questions, especially if we, the citizens, aren’t aware of what their […]
Are you better off today? January 2009 Unemployment 7.2% Gasoline Price 1.626 (CNN) Oil price 1/16: 36.51 (NYSE) House passes stimulus bill February 2009 First Chicago TEA Party – 2/27/09 Obama orders 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan Tom Daschle withdraws as Health and Human Services secretary nominee Obama signs children’s health care bill into law […]
CityWatch is a group of citizens keeping an eye on local government. This is the first in a series of articles about the City of Bloomington government. http://citywatch1.blogspot.com/2012/03/wish-you-were-there-bloomington-city.html From: March 27, 2012 Upside down government. I’ve addressed it before. At last evenings Bloomington City Council meeting, more topsy-turvy politics appeared. It doesn’t surprise me any […]
Now that Gov Quinn has decided pensions have to be reformed, what do some teachers think? Below are excerpts from a Twitter conversation I had with 2 teachers responding to the BLNNews post concerning pensions: The names were removed to protect their privacy. Keep in mind, Twitter users have to abbreviate because tweets are only […]
From Gov Quinn’s E-Newsletter today: Illinois is at a crossroads. After decades of fiscal mismanagement, the time has come to move forward – and we must all work together to put our state on sound fiscal footing. State pensions along with Medicaid place the largest strain on our state budget. The combined stress of these […]
If the President is for the middle class , why is oil and gas production on Federal Lands dropping? How can he say Oil and Gas production in the United States is way up under his administration? From the Institute for Energy Research: The truth is energy production is up in spite of the President […]
See original post from April 30th This email was sent to the contact person listed in the magazine: Susan, As a graduate of Illinois state I am appalled by the May issue. Two stories are at best left wing propaganda. The Occupy story says nothing about the true intent of the movement and it attempts […]
In the 5/4/2012 Our Views section, the Pantagraph printed: Cheers: As Normal’s “uptown” nears completion, applause is due for the town’s vision of sustainability and “green” building. The most recent touch is the green roof on the new transportation center/city hall, where plants will help cool the interior and perpetuate the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle necessary […]
I attended yesterday’s TRS presentation at Normal Community High School. Click here to see the presentation: http://trs.illinois.gov/subsections/press/TownHalls_Spring2012.pdf The presentation appears to over-inflate their actual investment earnings. Click here to see results from their site: http://trs.illinois.gov/subsections/investments/investments.htm While I can completely understand the promises made to teachers, similar promises were made to Social Security recipients, present and […]
Link to the 3/2011 Financial Statements: http://www.discoverdixon.org/cat_view/37-city-council-documents.html The report contains 2 statements by an external auditor, Samuel S. Card, CPA. Mr Card was hired by the City, as required by law, to audit the statements. This massive theft over decades was obviously due to lack of internal controls. Any person with access to bank accounts […]
Some correspondence requested under the Freedom of Information Act was denied by the City of Bloomington. A complaint has been filed with the State’s Attorney’s Office in Springfield with the Public Access Officer. What are they trying to hide? The denial listed “personal information” as the reason. We are not interested in phone numbers and […]
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit will be held from May 20th to 21st.
