by: Diane Benjamin The Coliseum is required to have an indoor football team by contract. The last guy packed up all the equipment and headed to Texas, Now CIAM has announced they are in a new league. Here’s the league website: http://www.xleaguefootball.com/ The X-League is currently nationwide with 11 professional indoor teams, Bloomington is listed. […]
by: Diane Benjamin Downstate loves to blame Chicago politics for destroying the state, but there is little difference between Rahm Emanuel and Tari Renner. Chicago has one advantage, a real press. Bloomington doesn’t have that luxury. Corruption is much easier when the press doesn’t do their job. Chicago Tribune writer John Kass has […]
by: Diane Benjamin Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. I will do a history recap for you Tari, even though you will ignore it. You are brilliant, past failures won’t happen with you at the helm! There is no date on this document, but it is prior to the City […]
by: Diane Benjamin The following is from this site: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3929/15316643827_bedbfcb0e6_o.png More details in this post: http://blnnews.com/2014/10/12/coliseum-strikes-again/ See the second column under Rumors. Bloomington is listed as Up For Sale AND Bad Checks. Click on the picture to enlarge. . . . .
by: Diane Benjamin Maybe you remember Normal Mayor Koos was a signing member of Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns. (http://blnnews.com/2013/01/25/mayors-against-illegal-guns/) That group was started by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the same guy who tried to limit the size of soda people in New York can buy. Bloomberg then interjected tons of money across the […]
by: Diane Benjamin It looks like no indoor football at the Coliseum. This article lists the participating teams for this year, Bloomington is missing: http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4876206 FOOTBALL Champions Indoor Football: The Wichita-based team in the new CIF, which was created after the 2014 indoor season through a merger of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) […]
by: Diane Benjamin The GOP does lousy messaging, so I will respond to the Vogel trap myself. Steve is trying to snare Republicans in his weekly editorial. The Democrats have 3 questions on the November ballot. The three questions are meant to inflame the liberal base to get off their butts and vote. First […]
I had to bring this one back from more than 1 year ago.
(Food was planned for the now cancelled retreat too!) Source: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2014/10/bloomington-city-council-feeding-their-face-on-your-dime BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) – People wonder why taxes keep rising while their living conditions deteriorate. Here is one of those reasons. On the agenda for the Monday night’s Special Meeting (Oct 13, 2014), that states it will start at 5:00 p.m., is a comment […]
by: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has an employee turnover problem. Back in July it was a topic at a City Council meeting. City Manager David Hales explained the employees don’t have a good balance of work and personal life. He blamed staff shortages for the morale problems. Yesterday David Hales threw City Clerk […]
by: Diane Benjamin About the cancelled City Council retreat: Mayor Renner had every intention of holding an illegal meeting, until he got caught. The Pantagraph has an article on-line that will be in tomorrow’s paper. Alderwoman Stearns, who the Pantagraph obviously contacted for a comment, is ridiculed by Mayor Renner. He just wants to sweep […]
Update.
Saturday has now been cancelled. Who is going to show up at Mondays Council meeting or the Mayor’s open house tomorrow and ask how much money he wasted? Is he going to apologize for wasting money? by: Diane Benjamin Laws matter to you, not to government. See this previous post with Mayor Renner’s certificate for […]
Unit 5 can’t figure out why enrollment leveled off. Gee, it was just last spring they wanted a big tax increase. Voters are evidently smarter than the guys getting paid HUGE bucks by us. Think, think hard Unit 5. Both Bloomington and Normal have reported Sales Tax receipts are down. Has anybody asked how many […]
by: Diane Benjamin Look at the schedules events on the Coliseum website: http://www.uscellularcoliseum.com/calendar-of-events/ Nothing is scheduled that will make money in October. Go back to January 2014. There have been few if any big money events all year. Thunder Hockey has started with a dismal number of paying fans. There is no football, the new […]
Interesting things can be overheard while buzzing around. How do you feel about soccer and volleyball fields in downtown? They can hold tournaments thus providing people to stay in the new hotel! I hear the old warehouse area is being looked at. No word on who is going to pay for it, take a guess. […]
Update: I just received a Press Release from Gov Quinn about this project: Press Release by: Diane Benjamin A company called Brinshore Development bought 26 properties in Bloomington-Normal with the plans to rehab them. The houses will then be rented to low income individuals at prices set as a percentage of their income. The Pantagraph had […]
by: Diane Benjamin See this link from earlier today: http://blnnews.com/2014/10/07/the-bloomington-tyrrany/ Look carefully at the number of employees. 2000 542 Total employees 2011 595 Total employees Yes, the City did shed jobs during the recession – after they exploded the total number! I’ve got more facts for you. All of […]
by: Diane Benjamin Do you know where the money goes Carlock gets from the wind turbines? Evidently not too many people do. Maybe you should ask! Was your new maintenance building constructed without permits or bidding? I hear it was at least $200,000. I hear the EPA isn’t happy about the water and sewer there. […]
by: Diane Benjamin tyranny The following is from OpenTheBooks.com. The information comes from databases they have access to. One way to see how fiscally responsible government handles your tax dollars is to look at trends. I gleaned information available from the City website to update the chart. Budget: FY 2013-2014 $169,000,000 FY 2014-2015 […]
by: Diane Benjamin The Democrats in Illinois want to see just how stupid the citizens are in November. Just voting for any Democrat because you think they will make sure you get your pensions is plenty of proof, but they want more. On the ballot will be a Constitutional Amendment labelled Suffrage and Elections. The […]
by: Diane Benjamin The first job of government is to defend freedom and liberty. Obviously, government forgot that. The federal government has been on a spending spree for a long time, but so have local governments. They grab more and more of your income for their agenda. See last weeks post on Heyworth: http://blnnews.com/2014/10/03/heyworth-can-you-explain-this/ and Standford: […]
The Pantagraph, the City of Bloomington, and the Town of Normal can’t figure out why tax receipts are down. Maybe they should read BlnNews.
by: Diane Benjamin The below is from OpenTheBooks.com Fewer employees and massive spending increases?
by: Diane Benjamin The below is from OpenTheBooks.com The data available only goes to 2011. What is the total spending (appropriation) now? It TRIPLED in 11 years! How are your taxes? . . . .
by: Diane Benjamin The counties with the highest rates of youth 10 to 16 arrested (200 to 511 per 10,000) in 2012 were: Whiteside Lee Winnebago Kane DeKalb Cook Kankakee Livingston McLean Warren McDonough Morgan Macon Champaign Vermillion Effingham Marion Jefferson See the entire Reboot Illinois report here: http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/10/01/editors-picks/caitlinwilson/illinois-youth-arrest-rates-continued-downard-trend-in-2012/26087/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=10/2/2014
by: Diane Benjamin Local governments have still not faced the reality that local economic conditions are changing. The Illinois Policy Institute complied a report from data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The entire report can be seen here: http://www.illinoispolicy.org/workforce-shrinks-in-9-of-10-metro-areas/ Below are a few of the highlights, or should I say lowlights: Click on the […]
by: Diane Benjamin Mayor Transparency Renner has no clue how capitalism works. He prefers the crony kind. Businesses he wants to exist will, the others can survive on their own, or just die. Renner wants a downtown hotel. He thinks people will want to rent rooms in a downtown that has to be power-washed every […]
Make sure you read the comments to this story at Blnnews.com (Especially McLean County!) by: Diane Benjamin McLean County has forgotten they work for us. Taxpayers are merely their piggy bank. On September 30, the Attorney General’s Public Access Office issued a BINDING opinion against the County public comment policy. Normally the AG just writes […]
by: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Mayors have been spending money trying to revitalize downtown since at least 1986 – that’s when the first TIF district was created. TIF districts provide money for the City to spend however they want – they keep the difference between the current taxes collected on properties and what is collected after […]
by: Diane Benjamin Bloomington taxpayers already spent $2.2 Million on the Front and Center building being proposed for a downtown hotel! Mayors back to at least Judy Markowitz have been driven to redevelop downtown. The Front and Center building fiasco is attributed to Steve Stockton. It started with the Ensenberger Building. Merle Huff bought it in […]
Update – more coming!
