By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been hearing about water problems in Chatham Illinois for months. Last night I attended their Council meeting with the Edgar County Watchdogs. Chatham has a population around 12,000 people. Their water used to be supplied from Springfield, but a few years ago the Council changed the source. Many citizens spoke about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I obtain an email address for an officer with the State Police who has knowledge of the Coliseum investigation. I sent him an email stating not only concession commissions were an issue, but the CITY employees who allowed the problems to happen. It’s unconscionable that David Hales allowed CIAM to operate […]
By: Diane Benjamin Something happened at the Bloomington Council meeting last night that wasn’t on the agenda! I hope the Live Stream is permanently repaired before the next meeting. It didn’t work last night. Tom Dabareiner, Community Development, stated that a meeting will be held on September 22nd – but it’s only for the downtown […]
Dan Swaney was nice enough to talk with my this afternoon on WJBC. Here’s the link:
By: Diane Benjamin I’m happy to see the Illinois State Police were called in to investigate the former management of the Coliseum. However, I have no proof they are investigating my allegations that surfaced because of my lawsuit, Or that David Hales is being investigated for his role. CIAM would not have been able to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only Regular Agenda item tonight for the Bloomington City Council is the race to debt. (Capital Improvement Plan) For decades essential spending on roads, sewers, pensions, and maintenance have been neglected for “Quality of Life” items. Now, in an obvious election year proposal, the Council will debate borrowing money to fix […]
By: Diane Benjamin Scrolling through the documentation for tonight’s Bloomington City Council meeting, I found this on Page 47: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11280 This section is included on a contract to purchase water purification chemicals. Yes, the Freedom of Information law applies to contractors! My lawsuit against the City was based on this statement. The City is now […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the City of Bloomington is meeting again. Locking your wallet against the current Mayor and Council isn’t going to protect the money you worked for – and they want. But it gets worse. It looks like somebody is trying to re-write history. This is a link to the packet for the […]
McLean County is facing the same issues and being misled in the same way! This is a report from a citizen who attended. The wind company was given all the time they wanted, citizens were limited – the room was full of concerned citizens. So far the Board only sees dollars signs! Disconnected is what […]
Barb Pearson retired from teaching at Tri-Valley about 3 years ago. She wanted the kids to never forget 9/11/2001 so, by herself, she created a memorial to the victims. The school has done this display before, but they now plan to display her work every 5 years. The freshman weren’t born when 9/11 happened! What […]
By: Diane Benjamin Government money doesn’t come without strings. If you take it, you live by their rules. Driving around town today I saw this: No, I didn’t use my phone! Government most likely required “Emergency Door” because citizens are too stupid to know how to escape or be rescued. Next you get to drive […]
By: Diane Benjamin A public hearing was held on April 25, 2016 pertaining to MetroNet coming to Bloomington. http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10172 This item was included in the documentation: It’s appalling the City thinks they can determine who is a “right” fit. These are the same guys who thought the Coliseum was the “right” fit. Secret: Tari and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jamie Mathy has announced he is running for Alderman in Ward 1. WGLT has everything you need to know about Mathy: http://wglt.org/post/jamie-mathy-running-bloomington-alderman Mayor Renner and at least 3 UN-named aldermen attended his announcement. The goal of Bloomington’s leadership has always been to be just like Normal. Everything passes, there is very little […]
Tonight is a zoning hearing for a new wind farm: Thursday, September 8 @ 7:30 PM at the West Lincoln Broadwell Elementary School District 92 which is located at 2695 Woodlawn Road, Lincoln, IL 62656 Wind farms can be hazardous to your health, produce very little electricity for the massive costs (subsidizes), and won’t provide […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hales is frequently praised for pulling Bloomington back from the brink of disaster, but Tari Renner claimed he did it when he became mayor. See his announcement for re-election. Both believe taxing people to death creates prosperity. For government it does, not so much for those not in or profiting from government. […]
I hope to see a lot of you there! Meet the Edgar County Watchdogs!
By: Diane Benjamin Household income in McLean is said to be around $60,000, maybe slightly higher. According to Open The Books – Unit 5, the top 250 employees in Unit 5 made more than $74,000 in 2015. The top 500 employees earn more than $59,000. 912 employees are currently members of the teacher’s union negotiating […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council made some people very happy last night – the current video game owners! The Council voted to delay approving any new video gaming licenses until at least the end of the year. Essentially government said the existing guys don’t need any competition. Therefore, the profits of current owners […]
By: Diane Benjamin A month or so ago I heard a rumor about the City of Bloomington’s garbage trucks. The rumor was that at least some of the trucks were ordered with air conditioning by mistake. When the trucks arrived the air conditioner was taken out. So, I did a FOIA request: The first response […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the Normal Town Council will get a presentation on their newly released financial statements. Included in the presentation is all correspondence from the auditor. Here is the difference between Normal and Bloomington: I used to get the same information from Bloomington – last year they denied my FOIA. If you don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin On August 31st I posted the Coliseum timeline to show how long I have been trying to bring problems at the Coliseum to the City’s attention. https://blnnews.com/2016/08/31/coliseum-the-timeline/ Today I found another piece to the puzzle that I had forgotten. The City Council meeting where hockey was changed from professional to junior was […]
By: Diane Benjamin We are supposedly a Representative Republic where people are elected to represent us in government. If you’ve ever watched a Bloomington City Council meeting, it doesn’t take long to realize only 1 guy on the Council represents citizens. Of course, Kevin Lower. The rest are there to represent the City to the […]
I just sent this press release to numerous local media: Diane Benjamin BlnNews.com September 2, 2016 Press Release Bloomington City Manager David Hales needs to step down immediately Last week I obtained concession sale documents from the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington Il. These documents were only obtained because of a Freedom of Information lawsuit […]
By: Diane Benjamin Scared? We can agree on some things! Erik wrote a response on the ISU website to this question: His answer is excellent. Read it for yourself here: https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2016/09/ask-a-redbird-scholar-how-did-we-end-up-with-2-unpopular-presidential-candidates/ Besides being assistant to the chair and undergraduate advisor, Department of Politics and Government, Erik is a member of the McLean County Board […]
By: Diane Benjamin Within a 1/2 hour of receiving the Coliseum Concession documents, I had the numbers plugged into the spreadsheet shown in this story: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/26/bombshell-sit-down-before-reading/ It wasn’t difficult and I did it for FREE! Last year David Hales earned almost $240,000: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10245 Hales didn’t have time in more than seven years as City Manager […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today the local media finally decided to report on the Coliseum: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/city-examining-ciam-s-concession-sales-at-coliseum/article_32b4b33e-8f50-5782-a8be-4ea5a57fbf0b.html It needs a few corrections: I knew Renner was going to try to say the concession problems I’ve been writing about for YEARS only came to light under the new management of the Coliseum. The City is investigating other issues […]
By: Diane Benjamin Fitch hasn’t changed Bloomington’s credit rating from AA+, but you need to understand why. See the story here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-affirms-bloomington-ils-gos-182900665.html They seem to have miss the local RISING unemployment rate, even though the story does mention Mitsubishi closing. The article has much more information. I’m sure Mayor Renner will tout his great management. […]
