UPDATE: See what the 2010 Plan cost HERE By: Diane Benjamin Under Tari Renner, taxpayers have been forced to pay for plan after plan after plan. Departments have been dragging their multi-million dollar plans in front of the Council for months while Tari claims it’s all a wish list. The wish of the next Mayor […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local purveyor of government propaganda has reported VenuWorks lost $674,000 in the 7 months since they took over. The only reason this story is out now is because Tuesday night the Coliseum Executive Director will make a presentation to the Council. _______________________________________________________________________ Side note: This is also Tuesday’s agenda: 2017 ends […]
Anybody notice the Pantagraph has been copying me?
By: Diane Benjamin Update to this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/11/next-lawsuit-isu/ I received the email below concerning the ISU denial of the required waiver to hire RC McBride as the General Manager of WGLT: Attached to this email was: The previous story spelled out that waivers can only be issued in extraordinary circumstances – note ISU redacted those […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was WONDERFUL only having 3 of the 5 candidates show up last night, the audience got much more information from the candidates than would have been possible with all 5 there. The room was packed with people wanting to hear what the candidates had to say. If you didn’t attend or […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story is a follow-up to: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/04/does-media-violate-campaign-laws/ Prior to the Coliseum, the BCPA, and Uptown events the local media didn’t reap huge profits from government advertising. Should it be legal for the Pantagraph to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from government and then print editorials supporting their benefactors? If the Pantagraph […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight there is a mayoral debate at the Doubletree – 7:00pm. Come early, at least some candidates will be there early. Two candidates won’t be there: Diana Hauman and Robert Fike Either they aren’t serious candidates or they are afraid to answer questions, the debate is being held by Cities 92.9. Tari […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the Illinois Comptroller website: Allin At a Glance In 2016 they borrowed $103,309 and paid back $39,131 http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ProcessSearchResults.cfm In 2015 they borrowed $45,000 and paid back $10,000 Source: 2015 In 2014 they borrowed $90,000 and paid back $68,000. Source: 2014 Anybody see a problem? (These are numbers Allin Township gave the Comptroller!) […]
The Pantagraph attempted actual investigative journalism by FOIAing travel expenses from numerous area governments. Their report was difficult to read since experience making numbers understandable was obviously lacking, but at least they tried. After all their hard work and hammering of Scott Preston, they failed to take him down – just as they failed to […]
See update here: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/13/more-on-isu-and-rc-mcbride/ By: Diane Benjamin I filed the following Freedom of Information request with ISU – their answer is included. They included the obligatory you have to right to contact the Attorney General . . .: . Since we all know asking Lisa Madigan to do her job is a complete waste of […]
By: Diane Benjamin This morning the archived video of last night Council meeting was still missing the first 35 minutes. At some point today the entire video was located! So who screwed up? (you will never know) One Public Comment you don’t want to miss is a dad who has coached his kid’s soccer team […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA with the Town of Normal after learning they paid more than $7000 a year in property taxes on the property leased to Dan Brady for $1 a year. What I received appears to be missing some information, but below is what I have figured out so far. It […]
By: Diane Benjamin At last night’s City Council meeting some aldermen were upset by a Public Comment where the person evidently tried to campaign or something. Alderman Fruin wants rules against it. No, you can’t see the comment in question. Meanwhile, Mayor Tari Renner evidently gave a campaign speech and called it the State of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anybody find it amusing that both Bloomington and Normal suddenly need new libraries? Book stores are closing, some libraries have gone digital, but TWO small cities side by side need new libraries. Maybe it has nothing to do with books. Source: https://blnnews.com/2015/12/18/why-bloomington-is-expanding-the-library/ This pic is from Normal – but it’s the reason […]
By: Diane Benjamin It isn’t up to government to decide what documents might interest citizens, all documents belong to the citizens. The new City website is up and running, I still haven’t heard why the City has a new website or when the Council approved it, but a lot of the information is missing! Starting […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was looking for something else when I came across this again on my computer: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/ct-municipal-pension-padding-met-20150816-story.html The story is from August 2015. It is where we found out for the FIRST time that City employees were allowed to spike their pensions, and then taxpayers had to make additional payments to IMRF (the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The agenda for Monday’s meeting was posted on Thursday. The agenda lists the total to be approved for payment in Bills and Payroll. Somehow, even though the City knew what the list was, it wasn’t posted until after 4:30 Friday. Anybody think they are hiding something? See the list HERE Actually a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a brief recap of things I’ve written about previously: Comprehensive City Manger reports are no longer issued because Hauman thinks they are a waste of money. Now citizens have no idea how tax receipts are trending. See email HERE This email also sounds like she doesn’t care about speakers at […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night Mayor Renner is giving his “State of the City” address. I bet everything is wonderful and under his leadership Bloomington is making great progress toward bankruptcy, oops – I mean prosperity for all! I wonder if he will inform the people paying the bills why the financial reports from almost […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was way back in November of 2013 when Judy Stearns walked out of what she called an illegal Executive Session (Secret Meeting). She filed a Request for Review with Lisa Madigan’s Public Access office – they didn’t bother doing much with the filing until Judy was long out of office. She […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the local media is bought and paid for with government advertising dollars, you will never hear the truth. (Local Media Is Fake News) Did they ever tell you Connect Transit budgets a $12,000,000 loss per year so empty buses can drive all over Bloomington-Normal? I missed the bus fire at the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Macy’s store is closing while the Champaign store isn’t. The Internet is NOT the reason. If the Bloomington store was profitable, it wouldn’t be closing. Champaign is a lot like Bloomington (Champaign is a little bigger), but they don’t have a zoo, 3 golf courses, a Coliseum, a Pepsi Ice […]
We might find out. I filed this complaint today with the Illinois Election Commission: Steve Sandvoss Executive Director, Illinois State Board of Elections 2329 S. MacArthur Blvd., Springfield IL, 62704 I am writing pertaining to local elections in Bloomington and Normal and the local media. The Pantagraph is the local newspaper, WJBC is the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal held a SHORT meeting last night. The video claims to be 17:44 minutes, but the meeting didn’t start until 8:22. Watch it Here Of course nobody mentioned the issue from yesterday pertaining to renting a building to Dan Brady for $1 per year while the Town is paying […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight on the agenda for the Normal Town Council is reauthorizing the lease of 104 W North Street to Dan Brady for $1 per year and FREE to Rodney Davis. This note is included on PDF page 63: http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2273 If Normal actually read the law, they might find it is illegal to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every major news source in Bloomington-Normal is supported by thousands of your tax dollars. In less than two years your tax dollars went to: Pantagraph: $338,493.91 WJBC etc: $148,965.78 Cities 92.9 etc: $30,474.30 City governments send regular payouts to these entities for thousands of dollars in what they call advertising. Not limiting themselves […]
By: Diane Benjamin Start here with a tweet from a local Pantagraph reporter: I wonder if Derek knows this, if he does he has kept it a secret! Rivian likes to hire FOREIGN labor! Americans must not know a thing about building non-conventional cars! I wonder if that agreement Normal signed says Rivian MUST hire […]
