By: Diane Benjamin Monday was Tim Gleason’s last meeting so the Mayor had to do a list of his accomplishments. Mentioned was getting them through COVID which wasn’t difficult when the Feds threw many millions of dollars to them and tax receipts skyrocketed because of inflation. The new budget is spending LESS on roads than […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pulled from the Consent Agenda was approving a Community Change Grant from the EPA who is handing out $20 billion. (Inflation will continue as the Feds spend money they have to print) The money isn’t free, it’s still taxpayers who will be responsible for the debt. Bloomington wants $20 million, most of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The entire County is going to be taxed to fund the airport. This was passed in Springfield without a vote from the County residents and by representatives that don’t represent them (Chung and Koehler). Remember: Taxation Without Representation? Details here: https://www.wandtv.com/news/national/cira-authority-expansion-means-new-tax-for-rural-mclean-county-property-owners/article_e7aeccb8-3339-11ee-966e-fb07c1b7d8e3.html The County is also forced to pay for the Bloomington Election […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tim Gleason’s base salary as City Manager was $212,862.84. The 2023 total compensation report is finally posted: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/30290/638487793683670000 A contract for Monday night’s City Council meeting for Jeff Jurgens shows a base salary of $210,000. https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2570155/Jurgens_CM_Contract.pdf Gleason had much more experience than Jurgens. Jurgen’s in a lawyer and Gleason isn’t. Since a […]
From the realtor: Note: This house has been vacant for years! It isn’t their sewage. By: Diane Benjamin If you live in the 300 block of West Main in Stanford you probably do. If not, wait until the temperature warms up a bit: . That isn’t a creek, it’s raw sewage! The story I was […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s pretty clear that shows drawing a couple hundred people or less lose money. Broader appeal shows can make money. All BCPA event reports are here: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2097#docan2735_6873_64 The report for this show is being revised after I questioned $32,000 for “stage hands”. It should have only been $26,872.74 per Katherine Murphy. Either […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you’ve ever watched a council meeting you know why I call him Mr. Giggles. Those giggles hide the fact that he’s a big government guy and pushes a progressive (communist) agenda. Can’t Bloomington do better? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-15/mwilambwe-to-run-for-2nd-term-as-bloomington-mayor?fbclid=IwAR0pqO6wAXClBrJMohOXCUvF6sQlDT4B1FNa2HwPj3OwLAA2m1M6xwqZS5Y Mwilambwe to run for 2nd term as Bloomington mayor Excerpts: Mwilambwe said he wants to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Surrena Fish was back with an update on Tent City. She claimed there is a waiting list now and police had to be called to break up a fight. Just hit play to hear her comments. The Connect Transit update on the downtown transfer station isn’t that long. If you don’t want […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington has been tired of spending money on the Market Street Garage for many years, but I certainly don’t remember a vote to hand it over to Connect Transit. That garage belongs to Bloomington residents. I can’t wait to see how they make this one legal. An Intergovernmental Agreement will probably appear […]
By: Diane Benjamin We know in 2021 The Immigration Project was 99.95% funded by tax dollars: https://blnnews.com/2024/02/12/the-immigration-project-you-dont-know/ Using the new Benjamin Chat Box on OpenTheBooks.com I searched under “Vendors” for payments made to them. Try it, incredibly easy to use! Results are emailed to you after it searches multiple databases. In 2022 ISU gave them […]
By: Diane Benjamin OpenTheBooks.com has a wonderful new feature for seeing how your money is spent. It’s called BENJAMIN chatbox. It isn’t named after me, it’s named after Benjamin Franklin. Click this link and look in the lower right corner: https://www.openthebooks.com/ You can search salaries, pensions, and vendor payments for anyone who gets tax dollars. […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Another reader just sent this pic: Remember Public Safety is a high priority! Your taxes paid for the fire department response. 😁 Spraying water:
By: Diane Benjamin Future council are NOT bound by the actions of this council. If they were this plan from 2013 would have already been a reality: . If you want people elected who actually care about the roads, start voting for them! A few things in that plan were done, like Way Finding signs, […]
The report finally got posted around 11:00am. Since it was beautiful yesterday I was outside and haven’t looked at it in depth. I will though. The email I received didn’t explain why it was late. By: Diane Benjamin I’ve got more to report from last night’s meeting but it will wait until tomorrow. Bills and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The cameras worked last night. A new voting system actually worked last night. Bloomington now has TWO tent cities. Another one sprung up under the Center Street bridge – according to a Public Comment (19:45). The reason people are illegally living in tents in downtown Bloomington is because the first person was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s agenda: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/f6fa5291-5bbe-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1712335286.pdf If you forgot or never heard, Bloomington has a water tower that has never been used because it wasn’t built high enough: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ That one won’t be mentioned tonight because the City must maintain the appearance of competence. On the agenda is building another one: This one disturbs me […]
By: Diane Benjamin As inflation eats your prosperity government is of course obliged to contribute to your demise. Their costs go up too. The only difference is all they have to is raise your taxes and fees to compensate. Try that with your boss. BNWRD is the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District. At the April 8th […]
I hear NCHS students will be doing a charity talent show. Fabulous except where the money raised will go: Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. That organization is an NGO with more than 90% of it’s revenue from tax dollars. Obviously there aren’t any local or state children that need “relief”. Did students or advisors pick PCRF? […]
The below was sent in a newsletter by Illinois State Senator Craig Wilcox. Citizenship in Illinois means being a piggybank so Democrats can give freebies to illegals. “When it comes to Governor JB Pritzker’s gold-plated healthcare plan for non-citizens, the running joke in Springfield is that people want to fly to Mexico and walk back into […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course Normal Mayor Chris Koos didn’t say those words. For once he is very transparent in what he did say: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-02/mayor-of-normal-town-does-not-owe-alan-beaman-a-further-statement The case was filed by Alan Beaman in 2014. How much did Normal waste on legal fees before they decided to settle? Would a jury have awarded Beaman more money? […]
By: Diane Benjamin I like data, if you don’t this one isn’t for you. I found these number surprisingly low. 2020 and 2021 numbers were higher. You can find numerous December (year end) numbers in the February Justice Committee packets here: https://mcleancountyil.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=70 Did these numbers go down because of the Safety Act? If the purpose […]
By: Diane Benjamin Decatur hired Tim Gleason as City Manager last night for the 2nd time. Fun facts: https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/decatur_il/bloomington_il/costofliving . Tim Gleason will get a salary of $230,000 a year in Decatur: https://www.decaturtribune.com/2024/04/01/city-council-affirms-gleason-as-city-manager-approves-new-universal-yard-waste-service/ Last time he was Decatur’s City Manager this was his salary – he came to Bloomington in 2018: Below is his salary […]
By: Diane Benjamin People lie. Politicians lie. Freedom of Speech is written into the 1st Amendment because the authors thought people were smart enough to hear all sides, inform themselves, and then make decisions based on informed thought. There is no such thing and Mis and Dis information. There are only elites who want to […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you forgot the details of this case, see this story: https://tinyurl.com/fkwse7hd Mr. Beaman lost at least 13 years of his life, of course the Town of Normal won’t admit the police blew the investigation. Jennifer Lockmiller’s killer is still free. He deserves at least this much money. From the documentation – […]
By: Diane Benjamin . They won’t be getting tips. California raised minimum wage to $20 an hour for fast food workers. Below are articles detailing the results: (hint: higher prices, layoffs, automation) https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/california-s-20-minimum-wage-is-killing-thousands-of-jobs/ar-BB1kE8gS https://ijr.com/california-fast-food-chains-fire-workers-20-minimum-wage-kicks https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-03-27/fast-food-minimum-wage Economics 101 should be required in high school. Raising the minimum wage hurts more people than helps. Next a real […]
By: Diane Benjamin Congrats to Connect Transit for figuring out a way to be transparent. I don’t know if this is a permanent change or only because Tim Gleason was attending remotely. What they accomplished was getting slides and remote speakers on the video instead of just on the screens in the room that can […]
In case you can’t read it, the email is from Bloomington’s Communications Manager Katherine Murphy: (copied) Wanted to make sure you had the updated link for last night’s meeting. A major tech problem happened just before the meeting started and we did our best to get the meeting on the stream but only had one […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the City of Bloomington website: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/human-resources That statement means the BEST person applying for a job isn’t the one that gets hired. Bloomington chooses employees based on race, gender, etc. Going woke isn’t going to bankrupt them like many companies before them – they can always get more money from you! […]
By: Diane Benjamin The O’Neil Park Aquatics Center was discussed in depth at the October 15, 2021 Committee of the Whole meeting. Every council member is now gone except for one: Discussion about a water park begins in the minutes on PDF page 6: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/21017/636854797697530000 The cost was estimated at $10,000,000. It probably went much […]
This road is in a newer subdivision on the east side of Bloomington.
By: Diane Benjamin BCPA event reports: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2097#docan2735_6873_64 Note the attendance at each show. Loss: $4,091.79 Profit: $21,933.02 Loss: $3,861.88 This one isn’t on the BCPA calendar: https://www.artsblooming.org/events/all-events-list-view/-toggle-allpast Loss: $18.56 This one took place on 2/8 – not 2/7 Loss: $6,468.96 Profit: $2,525.50 Embarrassing loss: $5,130.61
By: Diane Benjamin It sure would be nice to know if fees and payments are included in reports posted for “arena” events. Since the BCPA doesn’t include artist fees, I have to think they aren’t. Note: a LOT of tickets had to be given away to get 4318 people to attend this Riverman hockey event: […]
By: Diane Benjamin The unofficial results the County prints don’t have the detail Bloomington does. https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27439/Unofficial-Summary-Report_all_precincts 11,187 out of 59,375 registered voters bothered to vote. (18.84%) 7,842 voted Republican 3296 voted Democrat 5 voted libertarian, again with no candidates on the ballot 44 voted nonpartisan 6 voted blank Trump received 5,947 votes (76.89%) Biden received […]
By: Diane Benjamin The people of McLean County must love wasting money. There is no need for Bloomington to have their own election office that can’t be held accountable by voters when the County Clerk, who can be fired by voters, is capable of running all elections. In Bloomington 7805 people out of 55,242 registered […]
By: Diane Benjamin I don’t want to, so you will get a brief recap. Summary: Officials think they are on a roll. You will be thinking Coliseum fleece instead. See 1:55 A good number of the far left showed up at public comment to talk about affordable housing and why starting a business is hard. […]
While the administration and City Council were enthralled last night with their glorious plans for downtown, real people live in the rest of the City. The $10 million budgeted for streets and sidewalks isn’t gloat worthy, that doesn’t stop them from doing it anyway. Is this sidewalk on the list? Seen on NextDoor
By: Diane Benjamin For a change next year’s budget isn’t on the agenda. https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/4a76bdde-5bc1-11ee-ae13-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1710528364.pdf These two fleeces are on the agenda, of course nobody will admit the obvious. Is Bloomington going to build a downtown wall to keep tent city out of view? Will anyone ask how many electric buses are working now? Who exactly […]
By: Diane Benjamin The YWCA is obviously a leftist organization. Proof is their national website: https://www.ywca.org/who-we-are It’s easy to tell when leftists need other people’s money, a conga line of speakers show up to provide “their” facts. In the case of Stepping Stones it was 6. The Stepping Stones program lost federal grant money but […]
By: Diane Benjamin Inflation has stolen close to 20% of your buying power – just since 2021: . Inflation will continue unless government policies change. Facts: https://www.bidenomics.com/ According to GasBuddy, the cheapest local gas is at Huck’s on West Oakland – $3.39. Three years ago gas was more than $1 less a gallon. https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/gas-prices-2021-year-in-review According […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Rules Committee didn’t bother to meet to correct the stunt Democrats played in February, so the Public Comment policy is still illegal and not on the Agenda tonight to fix. In case you forgot: https://blnnews.com/2024/02/16/county-must-see-public-comments/ Elections: This primary election will prove Illinois’ voting season is a complete waste of money. Turnout […]
