By:  Diane Benjamin

There are people in Bloomington who don’t care what high taxes under Tari Renner are doing to the poor.  How many Bloomington residents know the City DOUBLED the amount landlords pay to register properties?  Who is hurt?  Renters – the poor.  If any members of the Council complain about high rents so they can promote public housing – tell them high rents are their fault!

According to the Illinois Schools Report Card, 56% of the Dist 87 students are low-income.  See the report here

It’s appalling for public servants to demand higher taxes and fees to build their vision of Bloomington while stealing money from poor people to do it!  The Utilities, Sales and Gas tax increases Renner demanded have been a direct assault on people unable to pay.

The current Council voted over and over again to raise taxes.  If Renner is re-elected it will continue to happen.  But another candidate will be even worse:  Diana Hauman.

Hauman met this month with the Dimmitt’s Grove Neighborhood Association. Carlo Robustelli was also there representing Tari Renner.  Luckily they post a summary of their meetings on-line:   https://dimmittsgrove.org/2017/01/14/january-2017-meeting/

Here’s what Hauman told them:

She is running for mayor because she is disappointed in some things that she has seen. She wants to prioritize the action items of the Bring It On Bloomington plan. She thinks that initiative starts on projects but then dies out. Her plan is to follow through. She also believes downtown is a diamond. She envisions Downtown Bloomington as place not just for college students on the weekend. She would like to see a family friendly park, a dog park, or a square that can be flooded in the winter for ice-skating. She believes in repairing the relationship between Bloomington and the Town of Normal by opening the communication between the two. She believes that downtown is missing senior housing, but not a West Minster Village. She also wants to work with the owners of Front N Center to see what can be done together instead of having developers tell the town what it wants.

Sounds just like the mayor who had a vision for the Coliseum and a Cultural District!

The roads and sewers are falling apart, deferred maintenance is MANY millions of dollars, but Hauman only cares about downtown.

Here’s Robustelli’s talking points:

Carlo is supporting the current mayor for re-election because Carlo believes in the mayor’s term he has improved the city infrastructure and made the city more accessible by improving communication. Carlo believes the city staff is more responsive since Tari has been in office. Before Tari, there were 50 vacancies on committees and boards and Tari is committed to diversity. Bring It On Bloomington nationally recognized for the amount of people (over 6,000) that it engaged. Carlo imagines that with another term as mayor he will have time to implement the plan. Carlo also thinks that Tari was a partner to Green Top Grocery to get it going.

Carlo, communication isn’t better because Renner never listens.  Challenge his opinion some time and watch the veins in his neck pop out!  Vacancies on committees, if 50 really existed, were the fault of Steve Stockton who never asked for volunteers to fill them.  Committees are now stacked with those who support Renner.

Why didn’t Green Top Grocery start operations in one of the empty local buildings?  They chose tax subsidizes instead. They could have built later if the business model was a success, but taking tax dollars was so much easier.  Meanwhile, existing grocery stores will be hurt when Green Top opens.  The City will lose the taxes they would have collected from those same stores.

Less than 10% of the population participated in Bring It On Bloomington, but Tari wants to implement what they said.  What that really means are the Comprehensive Plans that every department has been presenting to the Council for hundreds of millions of dollars.  Tax, Tax, Tax.

This election is easy.  Does government control ever work?  Does top down government ever work?  Does Central Planning ever work?  NO!

Government will and has used your money for their plans, not essential services.  Government picks winners and losers.  Citizens always lose, friends of government get richer.  Is that the future you want for Bloomington?

The ONLY road to success is the private sector providing products and services with their own money.

It isn’t possible for government to create prosperity.  The voters must reject Renner, Hauman, and any other candidates who mention “moving forward”.  It’s code for my opinions are better than yours, hand over your money.  I hope Renner and Hauman split the vote so Bloomington can elect a mayor who won’t fleece the citizens to build their vision.  Government’s job is essential services – nothing else.

Another 4 years of Renner/Hauman politics and District 87 will have a lot more low-income students.

It’s your choice, choose wrong and Bloomington it finished.

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