By: Diane Benjamin
This is a continuation of the previous post: https://blnnews.com/2017/02/17/how-many-facts-does-tari-get-wrong/
The Coliseum was a hot topic. Renner and Hauman continue to believe the Coliseum can be a success. Renner still wants a hotel, Hauman thinks VenuWorks can make a profit.
Both of them are living in the same make-believe land as whoever projected Revenues of $5.7 million this year: https://blnnews.com/2017/02/09/mayor-candidates-factmatter/
The 2015 Audited Coliseum financial statement showed Revenue of almost $2.6 million. The nearly year old 2016 audited statement haven’t been issued, so we don’t know the revenue for last year Obviously it won’t be close to $5.7 million. Bob Fike again mentioned selling the Coliseum, one reason is because the City isn’t capable of managing it. Renner had to mention the City has never managed the Coliseum. Tari is correct. The City failed to manage the people they hired. That’s why I had to file a lawsuit to get records! Tari’s comment is around 23:40.
At 24:17 Tari again mentions there are no free lunches. He doesn’t mention the ones he gets, and the ones some of the Council and staff provide themselves with “light dinners”.
Tari again mentioned his trip with Chris Koos to California to recruit businesses. Listen around 29:00. Tari claims the only thing they wanted to know is what amenities are available for millenials. Are you listening Tari? Paying attention? CALIFORNIA’s opinions don’t matter. Their state is a disaster because of their pandering to illegal immigrants and creating the same “Quality of Life” crap you want here. Instead of fixing their damn spillway, as they were told it needed 10 years ago, they blew the money on non-essentials. (Google it) Bloomington residents care about Bloomington, not what California progressives told you they want. By the way, California is also the place they allow excess water to flow out to the ocean instead of building reservoirs for the dry season.
You can listen to the debate yourself, but to me Bob Fike is a nice guy without a grasp of the issues. Diana Hauman showed she is left of Renner in thinking government creates prosperity. Even the WGLT story shows that: http://wglt.org/post/bloomington-mayoral-candidates-offer-different-downtown-and-street-visions#stream/0
The only viable alternative is Kevin Lower since Ian Bayne chose not to participate. WJBC is doing a two-hour round table next week. I’d like to hear Renner use some new talking points. He does nothing but repeat the same ones over and over.
The Complete Streets discussion was interesting. Renner and Hauman think we should follow the world view of transportation instead of doing what’s right for Bloomington. Both will cost taxpayers more money and make fixing streets take even longer.
I wonder if all those people on East Grove (west of Clinton) with Renner signs and a really bad street know they aren’t a high priority?
This is not a college campus – it is a city right? We need good jobs from new growing businesses. The need for amenities is filled by the private sector once the businesses and jobs/people come, not the other way around. Tari is clueless… So we build Coffee shops, hotels and rec facilities to attract young people? No, we bring in new growing 21st Century businesses and the young people will come here for the jobs? Why is that so hard to understand? This is a good example why having a college professor for a mayor is most of the time a bad idea. A college environment bears no resemblance to the real world. Hence, someone who has only been in college environment only understands that environment and (in this case) he tries to apply the (adding amenities) solution to what is clearly a jobs and lack of economic diversity problem. Higher education has been adding amenities for 20 years to campuses to attract students. They have now priced themselves out of their own protected market. So this is the solution for the city to follow? It is all pretty sad that we have leadership like this. It is not going to end well for this community. If fact is is going to end in economic disaster.
I thought Bloomington is the Technology Capital of Illinois–Silicon Center on the Plains. Where is the evidence to support that? Where are the high paying jobs In the tech sector for millennials? Renner is not a businessman. He doesn’t seem to understand the simple idea of supply and demand. For millennia, humans have “followed the herd”–the source of their livelihood. If there is well-paying, fulfilling employment, people will stay and move here.
One thing I did hear Renner say is “no one asks about sewers and sidewalks.” That indicates to me where his true priorities are–just an observation.
We do have a lot of tech jobs. I talked to a state farm contractor who works for a tech company. He is a consultant. He told me that he estimates there are 10-15000 tech jobs in Bloomington normal supporting or working directly for state farm. Made me wonder why google hasn’t gotten into the insurance business.
Thinking more along the lines of entrepreneurship–tech start-ups. What is the age of the IT employees at Staye Farm? Do they work out of “cubicles?”
Where are all these people? 10 to 15K people? And they are supporting a company that is currently being disrupted right? The entire insurance industry is being disrupted right now. Yes the mighty State Farm is being challenged right now from AI based companies like Lemonade. Bloomington needs new businesses not businesses tied to a dying giant. I know everyone here thinks State Farm is so big and so solid that they are never going away right? So did a whole town of people where a company called Polaroid used to be. State Farm is a 20th Century company that is being challenged in a way they can’t compete with. So how about we talk about businesses that are not depend on State Farm? New businesses…. State Farm will be forced within the next to 2 years to downsize dramatically. This will happen because they will be forced to become more competitive with companies like Lemonade. Lemonade uses AI for brokers and has no agents. It recently broke the record for a claim payment – 3 seconds
At SF it seemed as though the agents had a strangle hold on the business model and didn’t want to move from an agent based system. Other insurance companies are offering similar products without an agent involved. About the only saving grace for SF as I see it is its deep pockets with old money. That could last for a long time.
As for IT tech staffing I once heard what percentage is outsourced to offshore and contractors so they really aren’t what I call permanent residents in the community. On a whim they could be moved or gotten rid of.
More needs to be done to attract businesses that pay well and not some fast food restaurant and low paying retail stores. Providing amenities as proposed isn’t going to do that at all.
This is somewhat unrelated to the article. I went to the Forum in Uptown. What I noticed as I walked to the gallery was that all of the new buildings looked the same, where made of the exact same materials and were basically the same shape. The streets were one-way for the most part and converged at the “round-about.” The experience was somewhat disorienting. If I didn’t know any better, I thought I was in post-WWII Eastern Europe. Uptown didn’t feel warm and welcoming but rather stark and sterile. I did recognize Beaufort St. and the movie theatre but I wondered how many historic buildings had to be destroyed/demolished to accomplish this vision. Perhaps the new landscape is appropriate for an area adjacent to ISU but I don’t want downtown Bloomington to have the same look and feel as Uptown.
Another tangental comment has to do with the young woman who spoke at Monday’s Council meeting about the speed limit on Hersey Road. She could be considered a millennial who has different priorities than someone in their mid-20’s–professional with 3 small children who chose to live in Garling Heights subdivision because of the schools and as she said, “it is centrally located.” All millennials don’t look like Scott Black.
I thought about mentioning how DARK Uptown is. I couldn’t see people coming up to the crosswalks and I couldn’t tell if I was suppose to stop for them or keep going. The Christmas lights on the circle helped a little, but it’s not a welcoming place. The parking garage had a nice supply of empty buses leaving though. I didn’t know they have their own section on the ground level.
Yep–and I hear, no cars allowed there for drop-off
I occasionally drive for Uber. If I’m picking up at the train station, I either have to park across the street, where there’s less parking spots now because of the construction going on. Or I have to enter the parking garage and go up to the second floor, which is just a pain for me and the riders. It was really piss poor planning to not have a drop-off and pick-up Lane for regular cars at the train station
Dawg–it is not poor planning. Bicycles and buses have a higher priority than cars. The city is supposed to become “walkable.”
Those Christmas tree lights that were made in China and look cheap as heck, been up since the beginning of uppity town, lol, no class what-so-ever. But then again it’s the Koos Kommie Kouncil so the no class is no wonder.