Month: March 2016
Update: Attn: Trump fans
I received word he will be flying into Bloomington Sunday morning between 9 and 10. No, I won’t be there! Update: The same people who disrupted the event in Chicago are coming here. I doubt our police/sheriff will tolerate them. Sounds like they may need backup though. . .
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No transparency in budgeting
By: Diane Benjamin Discussions of the City of Bloomington proposed budget is not being held in the Council Chambers. Citizens will never know what happens because video won’t be available. Unless citizens attend, details will be a secret. If anyone on the Council cares about the people paying the bills, nobody will ever know. Just […]
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Becoming Normal
By: Diane Benjamin Jeff Giebelhausen finally got around to registering the LLC name he’s been using to sell his Bloomington plans under: http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController On the agenda for Monday night: Below is what will be required under the Resolution: The plans include tons of staff time. Just like Fazzini’s jet fuel garbage plans, it […]
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Renner thinks he’s a developer
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has a long record of making bad deals. MILLIONS were thrown away on an unused Fire Station. Probably MILLIONS more were thrown away on an unused water tower – someday I may FOIA the actual cost. The Coliseum is a disaster sold to citizens as never costing a […]
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What’s Bloomington Buying Now?
By: Diane Benjamin It’s a secret in one of their Secret Meetings (Executive Session): Funny how these meetings are so secret, the minutes can’t be released ever. Maybe the new mayor will release them.
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Zero Transparency: McLean County
By: Diane Benjamin Last November the McLean County Board raised your property taxes. According to Board member Wendt, the County revenues were $1,000,000 higher than the previous year. It wasn’t enough. Something interesting happened before the final budget vote. An amendment was offered by member Erickson to use part of the reserves instead of raising […]
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Pantagraph finally figured it out!
By: Diane Benjamin How long have I been stating that US Cellular is NOT going to renew their naming rights at the Coliseum? A year? Two? They made the announcement a long time ago! Anyway, the Pantagraph finally got around to doing a story today. Congrats, old news is better than no news. It looks […]
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Reports from the Giebelhausen event
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve talked to 3 people who attended the Giebelhausen event last night. Here’s the summary: Not many people attended Opposition far out-numbered supporters No new facts were presented Giebelhausen dreamed of more than one hotel downtown Nothing is going to happen without taxpayers being at risk Profit-sharing is the way he is […]
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CIAM – truth matters Tari
By: Diane Benjamin You have a chance to start over Tari. Ending the relationship with CIAM will give the Coliseum one last chance. Start telling the truth or the reset will flop. Listen to this the interview Tari had yesterday with WJBC’s Dan Swaney: http://www.wjbc.com/2016/03/07/central-illinois-arena-management-withdraws-from-coliseum-contract-talks/ Tari states he didn’t think anything the City was negotiating […]
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More CIAM lies
By: Diane Benjamin Here’s the CIAM contract: Management Agreement CIAM See page 6: CIAM contributed the concessions equipment in order to get the contract. They don’t own it! The City of Bloomington does. Let the spin begin!
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Goodbye CIAM
By: Diane Benjamin Can anybody remember Tari Renner campaigning 4 years ago for transparency at the Coliseum? Got one of those short campaign video clips talking about the Coliseum Tari? Tari claimed that on WJBC this afternoon with Dan Swaney discussing the exit of the current Coliseum management. Both men know about my lawsuit – […]
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Giebelhausen speaks
By: Diane Benjamin Without tips from readers I wouldn’t know a LOT of what I write about! This is one of them: Meet The Developer/Facilitator Tomorrow – March 8th at 4 PM – 6 PM Show Map 407 W. Front St. Suite 1 Bloomington, IL The man putting this project together, Jeff Giebelhausen, will be […]
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Vote: What they hide from you
By: Diane Benjamin If you are voting in the Primary March 15th: If a candidate is running unopposed, and you really don’t think that person is doing a good job – LEAVE the space BLANK! Why? The candidate is going to be on the November ballot regardless of your vote or no vote. The candidate […]
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Phone Bank with HEIDI CRUZ!
Bloomington Phone Bank Meet & Greet with Heidi Cruz (Ted’s wife) 5:30pm – 7:30pm TUESDAY Bloomington Cruz Campaign Office Stivers and Gramm, LLC 820 E. Grove St. Bloomington, IL 61701 RSVP HERE
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Kick Mark Kirk out of the US Senate!
By: Diane Benjamin If you are voting in the Republican Primary: Mark Kirk can’t be considered a Republican – he frequently votes with Democrats. If you missed this story from 2014, it reveals Kirk’s character: http://blnnews.com/2014/05/21/senator-mark-kirk-revealed/ You have a MUCH better option: James Marter. He doesn’t have the money for flashy TV and radio ads, […]
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Weekend Fun – Sort of
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One more One Voice DC pic
By: Diane Benjamin 39 people from Bloomington-Normal went to DC to get money. THIRTY-NINE! 2016 Annual Washington D.C. Fly-In Details Date: Tuesday, March 1 – Thursday, March 3 Cost: $1550 per person. This includes hotel (2 nights), receptions, most cab fares and most meals. Hotel: Four Seasons Hotel Washington D.C. There are three projects we […]
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Does Invenergy have a problem with Truth?
By: Diane Benjamin In a COMPLETE coincidence, Edgar County Watchdogs also did a story on Invenergy today: Wind Farms: More problems with InvEnergy Attorney Mike Blazer – March 4, 2016 · 1 Comments Argyle and Moore Townships, Michigan (ECWd) – The last couple weeks, Mike Blazer, attorney for InvEnergy, has been the source of citizen complaints in a […]
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Get facts before approving more Wind Farms
By: Diane Benjamin Invenergy wanted to build a wind farm in Livingston County. The Livingston County Board refused to approve the project. All of this was very recent. Being defeated in Livingston County, Invenergy has moved to McLean County to try again. Before the McLean County Board jumps at yet another wind farm in McLean […]
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One Voice DC trip pics
By: Diane Benjamin The One Voice trip has a lot of local people in Washington DC this week begging for money. Here’s a pic of the group with Mark Kirk: Then listening to Dick Durbin: The next one is the most interesting! Who is Julie Hile? See this story: http://blnnews.com/2012/09/13/your-personal-property-rights-hile-group-and-the-town-of-normal/ Hile was a speaker at […]
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Establishment guy Rodney Davis
By: Diane Benjamin Sick of the GOP establishment? Rodney is one of them! The GOP establishment fully funded Obamacare, then did a separate bill to de-fund it. Of course the president vetoed it, but we are supposed to applaud their efforts. They funded planned parenthood too. Actually, the list is endless. NO – they AREN’T […]
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Why Illinois fails: Bill Brady
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written stories about McLean County Board member Dave Selzer’s property tax problems. His taxes were purchased by people profiting from people unable to pay. See these stories: http://blnnews.com/2016/02/29/selzers-tax-problem/ http://blnnews.com/2016/02/15/dave-selzer-tax-deadbeat/ Freedom of Information requests from the County led to the people buying taxes: RealTax Developers (Huffs) and Shannon Logsdon. Another FOIA request […]
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More on Connect Transit
By: Diane Benjamin See previous story: http://blnnews.com/2016/03/01/connect-transit-sucks-up-more/ Today I only looked at the packets from 2016: http://www.connect-transit.com/about/trustees/packet.asp November and December are in January’s packet. January is in February’s packet. As of January 31, 2016 the Operating loss is up to $5,128,0879 . . . In 3 months – almost $25,000 on Travel and […]
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Connect Transit sucks up more $$$
By: Diane Benjamin A new program in Normal is forcing taxpayers to pay for Town employees to ride the bus! Celebrate now – it’s coming for Bloomington employees too: January 26, 2016 Regular Board Proceedings Page 2 NEW BUSINESS Universal Access Agreement with the Town of Normal Andrew Johnson, General Manager introduced this item. The […]
