By: Diane Benjamin
Since a white women can now pretend she is black, and a guy can pretend he is a woman and he/she get an award for bravery, and all of us are supposed to approve and keep our mouths shut:
Today I’m pretending to be the Mayor of Bloomington!
Here’s what I’m going to do with my pen and my phone: (not in any particular order)
- End funding for the Downtown Bloomington Association. The DBA were supposed to fund its self years ago. Downtown businesses will NEVER join and pay dues as long as taxpayers pay it for them. If they don’t join, the DBA must not be important.
- Only entertain proposals for development downtown if public money is not involved
- End painting bike paths on major roads where cars and cyclists are both put in danger
- End the relationship with the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. They get grants from both State and Federal sources for local use. Local government must then bow to the wishes of the grantors. Local government must be local, not federalized.
- Cut the City’s admin budget back to 2010 levels.
- Fire David Hales
- End travel to all conferences for Mayor, City Council, and City Manager
- Review travel for all other employees
- End all taxpayer-funded lunches and dinners. If meetings are required, use an office
- End small group Council member meetings with mayor and city manager since they usurp the Open Meetings Act
- Review PCard policy – way too many people have one
- Fire Coliseum Management and hire a company that manages multiple arenas. Create a contract that favors taxpayers.
- Repeal all tax increases passed last year
- Freeze all salary increases for City employees until the private sector has comparable salaries and benefits
- End banking sick days paid at retirement
- Require downtown bar owners to fund security themselves instead of taxpayers
- Eliminate the Communications position
- Inventory all City properties and dispose of all that aren’t being used
- End the library’s expansion plans
- Change the public comment ordinance to unlimited instead of 15 minutes. People wouldn’t come to meetings if they were happy with the direction of the City. They deserve to be heard.
- Change the abandoned building ordinance to allow seizure and sale by the City
- Fix the roads
- End funding for the BCPA – force them to fund themselves or hire a company who knows how (combine BCPA and Coliseum?)
- End the City’s entertainment mentality
- End Council “lite suppers”. Brown bag it!
- Hire a City lawyer instead of outsourcing. Ending much of what the City is currently involved in would end, therefore legal expenses would be minimized
- Inform the Council they are NOT a board of directors. They are elected to represent people, not the City
- Garner signatures to end Home Rule so property tax increases must be approved by the people paying the bills
- Order the Clerk to include speaker names and topics in the minutes of every meeting
- Live stream all meetings
- Work to improve the City’s AA- credit rating. It should be unacceptable.
These are only a start. Bloomington must be returned to the citizens, taxpayers can’t afford to fund a playground for elected officials.
Feel free to add to the list.
My tenor as Mayor ends tonight, and no I’m not moving to Bloomington to run for office.
People who believe Rachel is black and Bruce is a woman are delusional. What are the odds most of your elected officials disagree?
One more: Ban political correctness
Well if you won’t move to Blm to run, let’s find someone who will adopt your platform!!!!
I would close one golf course or would reduce the hours/days open between the courses. Definitely reduce staff and they would be required to work at what ever golf course is open that day. In other words they would not have a permanent work location. I would also reduce the golf season. Let’s say open until Oct 1 and open May 1.
Request that the council institutes a legal services tax on lawyers providing legal services. Also a fee on empty buildings to encourage owners to reduce rental/lease rates so that they don’t sit empty. Also another fee on storefront construction to discourage over building. No more “you build it and they will come” mentality leaving the city with empty buildings. Perhaps an ordinance that construction can only occur if there is a committed tenant. Discourage people like the Huff’s from buying buildings and keeping them abandoned.
Request from IDOT that Veteran’s Parkway be re-paved from Fox Creek Rd. to Vernon Ave. That major roadway is a mess and they are patching patches now. There is no reason for this.
Request some cost analysis of rental verses buying for city equipment and vehicles. A significant reduction or elimination of diesel light weight trucks.
Any street repair or replacement the business doing the work is responsible for ? number of years of no problems. Also anyone tearing up a street must repair to a better standard than is expected now. Also any major repair the manhole’s must be relocated to the sidewalks.
Order that city building lights be replaced with more efficient LED’s. I believe there are more efficient LED street lights too.
The Council won’t enforce the current (Chapter 24) ordinances for developers. Collectively, developers owe the City millions of dollars and don’t comply with ordinances for development.
I like your ideas about improving the city but disagree with your interpretation of racial and gender identity issues. Psychologically speaking, people battling through issues such as race and gender are fighting a constant struggle. They truly believe they are black, brown, man, woman. You can’t pretend to be a psychopath; folks who purport to be a different race or gender can’t pretend either. You may think they are pretending, but in doing so you negate the real ethical questions of simply casting someone off as sick or mentally ill. Children can be born with both male and female reproductive organs. Are they sick or mentally ill? Are they pretending; if their parents decide to assign them a gender so they don’t have to deal with the stares and questions when they change in a locker room? Is someone mentally ill if they dress and act black, brown, or Asian? Is someone ill because they want to convert to Islam or whatever? To say someone is delusional is just as bad as saying someone is off their meds. But if you want to abolish political correctness just be prepared because it works both ways.
When a society eliminates absolute truths, everything else becomes meaningless. Do you want to live in a country under constant confusion where everybody tip-toes around so nobody’s feelings get hurt? That is the land of sissies. I refuse to comply.
You should know better than anyone what it’s like to be called something you are not. How many times has Tari called you a name? You are not afraid to put yourself out there even at the risk of being criticized. But are you a sissy for being offended? If you truly believe in the absolute then calling someone dellusionsal is wrong. Or are you into relativism–it’s wrong for Tari to call you a name but you can call him dellusionsal because you are right and he’s wrong?
Absolutism implies that there aren’t gray areas and there are many things in life that are gray.
You must think he hurt my feelings! He didn’t. When political correct people expect the rest of us to accept Rachel and Bruce for what they think they are – that does hurt, not to mention infringing on my right to believe anything I want.
So Mike it is clear to me that you think that “they truly believe.” And you think that they might not be “pretending.” Case by case, maybe but to categorically state your case is misleading at best, possibly delusional. No “off your meds” intended here so please do not accuse. People are people, some are true, some beg attention. Political correctness works both ways usually equally destructive.
Ok. I’ll take your word for it. But I will still stand up for you even if you are not offended.
Thanks!
Political correctness has turned this country into a bunch overly sensitive wimps, more concerned about everyone’s feelings than telling the truth.
It’s come to the point that people with Christian beliefs are villified for expressing those beliefs, and yes, that means refusing service to someone, yet other groups can harass, loot, picket, and destroy their business in the name of intollerance. Hypocritical?
News Flash! City wants to build another park, this time in Ireland Grove subdivision. Hearing scheduled for tomorrow night. We Can’t Afford Another Park!!!
When and where is the public hearing? Do you have to live in the Ward to attend and speak? The City is also in negotiations with Snyder to have a park next to the railroad tracks for the Fox Creek Subdivision. That neighborhood already has the Den Golf course.
To clarify, the meeting is for the Hershey Grove subdivision at the intersection of Ireland Grove and Hershey.
NOTICE OF NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING
JUNE 18TH 2015
6 PM
1719 Eide Drive, Bloomington, IL 61704
http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=17&recordid=3802
As long as the city continues to require developers to allocate a certain percentage of neighborhood developments for parks, the city will continue to build parks. There is a massive back log of property set aside for park construction.
I believe but am not sure that developers can pay a fee in lieu of dedicating parkland.
Interesting, I am too lazy to do the math but how much $ would this save? A couple items I see will involve a serious legal fight as they appear to be part of the current ‘union’ contract. Looks like the changes might pay for themselves and there would be some long term savings and reduced risks for the city.
I would love to see public comment response ban lifted as well. Citizen makes comment and any official that would like to respond be given equal time.
It would be hard to fight the unions. If nobody does in 50 years we will still be paying for accum it would be hard to fight the unions. If nobody does in 50 years we will still be paying accumulated sick days. I haven’t totaled the changes
Stop having the Staff set the Council meeting agendas. The consent agenda items are decided by staff. Make it easier to have citizens get a topic on the agenda.
Mayor Diane has my vote!
Would have to disagree on only a couple of points, albeit a couple days late and dollars short.
◾End the relationship with the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. They get grants from both State and Federal sources for local use. Local government must then bow to the wishes of the grantors. Local government must be local, not federalized.
– I feel this would actually increase potential costs for the City of Bloomington by forcing them to hire internally or spend more externally for regional planning efforts as well as hurt any potential long term gain from positive regional planning cooperation. (understandably the important terms are “potential” and “positive”.
Also agree with Mike above however don’t see any benefit to debate that.
Currently the MCRP is enthralled with following the Doug Farr plan for the redevelopment of downtown, nothing new from them in this respect at all. They are merely the agency charged with putting a bow on said plan of which Doug Farr was hired by the two cities, ISU, IWU, and another. Farr ran into opposition and so MCRP brought in to get it done. The current Exec Dir of MCRP spent her previous 8 years in Decatur and is now here to follow a predetermined agenda, no extra thought at all so your hopes of the MCRP being good for the city does not include the citizens just the usual big shots that pay to convince you that you/we made the decision to benefit your city. Same old deceitful tactics that have been around forever!
Decatur has a brand new downtown. It gained a few bars and restaurants. Otherwise, nobody goes.