By: Diane Benjamin Monday at 5:00 the Council is holding a Work Session – Council meeting follows at 7:00 On the Work Session agenda is a presentation about the Employee Satisfaction Survey Results. From the packet: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9516 Of the 1,113 total full-time and seasonal employees, 371 participated, giving us a response rate of 33%. . […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this link: http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/12/08/on-a-list-of-top-cities-for-tech-job-and-wage.html On a list of top cities for tech, job and wage growth, Chicago and Illinois rank low On a new list that ranks U.S. cities for their growth in the technology industry, wages and jobs, Chicago and the rest of Illinois don’t fare very well. Excerpts: How were […]
Update: Gorman is an IWU graduate and employee. Is IWU a prerequisite? Diversity? How many IWU people are now in government? Renner, Black, Schmidt, Robustelli, ? By: Diane Benjamin Monday night Tari plans to appoint Michael Gorman to the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. This is the Commission responsible for Bring It Bloomington and bike […]
Update: There is a link between Kashima and Tom Dabareiner (Community Development). See this link: Click to access MOT00-05158_ZONING.pdf By: Diane Benjamin Earlier today I reported payment to Courtney Kashima at Monday’s Council meeting. http://blnnews.com/2015/12/10/what-bloomington-is-paying-monday/ Reading the 375 page packet, I found out why she was paid. See the packet here, starting on page 181: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Legal Expense: ANCEL GLINK DIAMOND BU 00000 INV 12/16/2015 47428 131775 CHECK TOTAL 1,031.25 CLARK BAIRD SMITH LLP 00000 INV 12/14/2015 6618 132830 CHECK TOTAL 14,190.81 DAVIS & CAMPBELL LLC 00000 INV 12/14/2015 82344 131614 1 10011410 70632 HR Pro Develp 3,875.00 Invoice Net 3,875.00 CHECK TOTAL 3,875.00 A law firm with […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9509 Page 129 City Council Expenses Rosie’s Pub $ 60.25 Working lunch for Mayor, T.Jani, C.Hussain, D.Hauman City Council Expenses Hansen Center $ 18.77 Business lunch for Mayor & M.Galvin City Council Expenses Avanti’s Italian Rest $ 80.10 Business meal/light dinner CC meeting City Council Expenses Jewel $ 57.50 City Council retreat […]
By: Diane Benjamin Shouldn’t a school, in the business of educating students, have more teachers on staff than any other type of employee? Does Caterpillar have more employees making their products or working in the office? From Heartland Community College website: http://www.heartland.edu/about/facts.html 275 Total Faculty, 598 Total Staff! The number of staff is more than […]
By: Diane Benjamin People wanting to end capitalism are all around us now. Too many want their share of your wealth and expect government to give it too them. Too many others blame capitalism for everything wrong with the world. They are oblivious to what capitalism really is and what makes it the perfect form […]
By: Diane Benjamin I get the feeling nobody at the Pantagraph wrote today’s editorial on the Education bill that passed the House and will be voted on in the Senate. It’s full of the talking points used to get support and none of the points hidden from Congress. The bill is over 1000 pages and […]
By: Diane Benjamin This fiscal year Bloomington began issuing monthly financial recaps. See this link: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9043. September is the last statement posted, yes this is December. The chart below is from pages 11 and 12 of the September report. Enterprise Funds are not included since they are not part of the General Fund. (Solid […]
I had dinner last night with tonight’s speaker. Immigration is a HOT topic right now, Steve will present a lot of information that isn’t available elsewhere. Information is power. Come tonight and grab some. ___________________________________ December 8: Stephen Steinlight, Senior Policy Analyst for Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, DC 6:30 At The Launch Pad […]
By: Diane Benjamin The year-end for the Coliseum was 4/30/15. (7 1/2 months ago) Since then one of these is true: CIAM hasn’t issued any quarterly statements The City of Bloomington is purposely not posting them on their website See this link: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=6548 There should be a tab for 2016. There isn’t. According to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I switched to only writing local stories a long time ago. Maybe I throw in something Illinois or national when necessary, but this site is mostly for local issues. Evidently bicycles aren’t just a local issue. Just this morning “Hey Bikers” has reads from all of the states below, many with reads […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hear the Obama speech from the Oval Office tonight will contain his Executive Action plan to impose gun control. Violating the Constitution has never bothered him, this will be no exception. In honor of his speech, here’s some things I found this week about why the Founder’s instituted the 2nd amendment: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bikers are their own worst enemy! Bike Blono guy Michael Gorman was quoted in the paper saying bikers don’t ride on the roads to disrupt traffic. Since he is a reader: Yes Michael bikers do disrupt traffic. When a motorcycle is hit by a car, the driver of the car frequently says […]
By: Diane Benjamin Standard Operating Procedure Did you notice our illustrious Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, never prosecuted corruption in the Chicago Police Department? She finally called on the Department of Justice to investigate when a judge ordered the video of a cop shooting a black guy released after a “blogger” forced the issue. Note: It […]
By: Diane Benjamin To the Pantagraph Editorial staff: You really need to put your name on Editorials. Citizens have a right to know the name of the person who doesn’t believe in the Constitution. Media was given unfettered rights in the 1st Amendment so liberty and freedom could be debated and defended. You make yourself […]
By: Diane Benjamin First, remember how Darin Lahood told us he was a conservative? Didn’t he say he would stop Common Core? He voted YES on the massive Education funding bill this week without reading it. Nobody in Congress had time to read it. The same games played by John Boehner continue under Paul Ryan. […]
By: Diane Benjamin All the tax and spending increases since Renner became mayor he blames on one thing: inflation. See this report from the City website: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8145 Total spending for 2009 through 2014 is listed. Click it to make it more readable. Since 2015 has not been added, I looked it up. Actual 2015: 144,183,767 […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s no surprise Coliseum financial reports and audits going back to when it opened in 2007 are not on the City of Bloomington website. It’s easy to see why. Luckily, I have copies of what CIAM reported. For the partial year of 2007, total revenue was $3,469,708 For 2008, total revenue was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in 2009 a company called Lyle Sumek Associates, Inc out of Florida was hired as a consultant. From their website: http://lylesumek.com/ Lyle Sumek Associates, Inc. is a consulting organization that specializes in team building, strategic planning and goal setting for local governments, developing more effective governing bodies and governance processes; assisting […]
By: Diane Benjamin In case you forgot, Gabriella Calhoun is the young lady from the Denny’s incident that happened in 2013. Her case also led to the discovery of racists comments made by Sgt Shumaker that had been buried by the City. Sgt Shumaker wasn’t fired, he just got a letter in his file that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here’s the latest craze in Bloomington-Normal: If you can’t afford local housing prices, government has a responsibility to help you. Nothing about personal responsibility. Nothing about doing whatever it takes to support yourself. Wealth redistribution is the obvious answer. It’s immaterial if a permanent underclass of people living on subsidies is created […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington now believes “Citizens don’t have a right to know”. The local media is told what to report and they dutifully comply. Here’s the latest example: I’ve written before about deficiencies in Internal Controls at the City. In English – the Auditors found the City isn’t doing enough to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington is asking interested parties to register for the Empire Street Corridor TIF. http://www.cityblm.org//index.aspx?page=18&recordid=2743 The covered area is MUCH bigger than Colonial Plaza. It goes from Veterans to Colton Ave – the road west of Bloomington High School. The total is 201 acres. You can read how far north […]
