By: Diane Benjamin
Why should Bloomington and Normal not merge into one city?
Since Normal already has offices nicer than most corporations, Uptown would be the new center of government. Citizens could save a ton of money on overhead and administration salaries. Koos is already running Bloomington anyway, so let the savings begin.
A hotel downtown didn’t wait for a regular Council meeting. The new potted plant is already sworn in, so the meeting to approve spending your money is Monday. Renner is letting Chris Koos run the citizen snooker since Koos imposed crony capitalism and socialism in Normal without any civil disobedience or a taxpayer revolt.
Bloomington will use the same strategy downtown Koos used to develop Uptown. The only thing missing is 20,000+ ISU students to support it. Ignore all the water, garbage, property taxes etc etc raised in Normal to pay for it. I wonder why their Sales Tax receipts are down if Uptown is so great?
I wrote extensively on how Normal did Uptown back in 2013. Normal bought a ton of properties for more than assessed value. They created a TIF district to provide them with a piggy bank. They used eminent domain to get others when the owners refused to sell. They GAVE AWAY properties to developers. They also buried the citizens in debt.
Below are just a few of the stories:
http://blnnews.com/2014/10/31/uptown-crony-debt-recovery/
http://blnnews.com/2013/02/20/uptown-and-crony-capitalism/
http://blnnews.com/2012/07/03/who-gave-normal-permission-to-buy-give-away-properties/
http://blnnews.com/2013/02/18/normal-how-do-they-justify-property-tax-increases/
Monday night the future of Bloomington changes forever. Government will use your money for their agenda. Building the Coliseum and BPCA is small potatoes compared to the changes coming.
The citizens of Bloomington didn’t vote in local elections, so nothing is going to stop Renner. 50 people could object during public comment Monday night – the Council won’t care. After a crony developer levels many building, Bloomington will buy the properties. Renner will then GIVE AWAY property for a hotel, maybe taxpayers will build another parking garage on one of them.
Alderman Lower will vote NO, 8-1 is now the new norm.
Passing a budget called unsustainable doesn’t matter. $200,000,000 in unfunded liabilities doesn’t matter either. Downtown is going to create so much revenue for the Town in the future, those numbers will be immaterial. Forget that revenue in Normal is down and Illinois is going to cut what they share with local governments.
Government doesn’t create economic activity. Citizens can’t be told where to eat, shop, or spend their dollars. Supposed economic activity generated by the Coliseum and BCPA have resulted in declining tax revenue in Bloomington. Alderman Buragas said at a debate the failure of the Coliseum is the citizens fault. You need to attend more events.
Socialism is alive and well in your formerly conservative town. Freedom to spend your money the way you want is being stolen without a shot being fired.
Go back to sleep now, your elected officials are looking out for you.
“Build it and they will come” is the Koos motto. Another tax and spend liberal or is it spend and tax? Either way the taxpayers are screwed.
What can you say. The voters sat in their rear end and let this happen. No one to blame but themselves.
I sure hope some conservative mayoral candidate steps forward and ousts the mayor professor. There is no doubt he will try to run again.
Then there is the incompetent city manager too who should have been gotten rid of in act 1 scene 1 way back when this play began. He would have been terminated in the “real” world.
Worse: I think they are up to 19 outsider cronies brought in to run various departments. Bloomington is being run by people with no vested interest here other than their personal agenda.
I’ve always though it ridiculous to have two completely separate governments. However, the way things are around here, we would somehow end up with a bigger merged government than the sum of both governments.
It’s King Koos.
Where is the Packet with some details? Last Monday’s Budget Amendment was pre-dated as if the vote had already taken place. This is a kangaroo council. A 2010 Financial Impact study was done but the advice was not taken–just like the SW study in 2013. Now a new Financial Impact study (~~$75,000.00) was approved just a few months ago and has to be paid for. In addition, Bloomington has been catering to and subsidizing the developers for decades so that isn’t news. The city has forfeited millions of dollars in the process–this will continue. They are selling their soul to development for development’s sake. Only 3 aldermen positions were on the ballot so no change should be expected.
The Koos Boys (and Sis) are hardcore, doctrinaire Marxists. They have always reminded me of the industrialists who bankrolled Lenin, a hundred years ago. (But in a moment of historic and historical justice, “got theirs” in the end.)
See who else is running Bloomington as CEO of Economic Development.
http://www.pantagraph.com/business/rutherford-s-chief-of-staff-is-new-ceo-of-edc/article_c5d25a5e-6220-5f00-aaaf-bc9bd3f08e4f.html