By: Diane Benjamin
Of course the TIF District passed last night 8-1. Only Kevin Lower knows government doesn’t create economic development without taking your money to do it. Free markets are dead in Bloomington. I hear Giebelhausen is still planning a hotel for the Pantagraph building, not where the City wants one and not in the TIF district. Will the private sector be dueling government? All government needs to win is refusing to issue permits. Brilliant.
Sage and Lower both voted against the Creativity Center because of an open-ended clause that puts the City on notice for future repairs. Another brilliant move, the Coliseum is barely 10 years old and it’s already costing a fortune in maintenance. Of course every other City property gets their maintenance deferred since no money exists for them. It could be on purpose to force a new City Hall.
Revitalization for the old Baymont Inn also passed 9-0. It went right over most of the Council’s head that a HOTEL in Bloomington couldn’t pay their taxes, just like the Chateau HOTEL in Bloomington can’t pay their taxes. Where is the need for a downtown hotel? Non-Existent? Maybe the Doubletree can crash next. Let the dominoes begin falling!
Alderman Scott Black has the video of the night. He claims the Convention and Visitors Bureau says people are coming into Bloomington all the time for conventions. Either there isn’t a problem with current convention space or CVB is stretching the truth. Remember, these are the same guys who created the fake economic impact numbers the Coliseum spewed: https://blnnews.com/2014/09/12/coliseum-wanting-you-to-believe/
I went back a little to Alderman Lower’s comments and Renner contradicting him. Black followed. You need to hear all three:
In other action:
Once the City spends $1,695,000 scoping sewers, they will have 18% of them done. Celebrate now.
Some public comments are worth seeing: Alton Franklin at 11:54, Donna Boelen at 17:29, and Gary Lambert at 31:28
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One of the most telling comments was by gentleman regarding the citizens who live on Hersey Road where the new road work will begin who feel that the Council doesn’t listen to anyone. So true–most citizens care but are disenfranchised because they feel dismissed.
I should have thrown him in too!
Which section of Hershey road?
He might have been the first speaker, I think by Stevenson somewhere
He is at 25:00. He gets REALLY good about 27:25
It would be an interesting statistic: is Renner less likely to thank people for their public comments if they don’t agree with his views or praise the council’s work?
Easy one. I bet he doesn’t even realize he does it.
Renner rarely, if ever, thanks a critic–even someone who gives constructive criticism. His and Black’s body language show their disrespect for those who do not support their “vision.”