Note:  The meeting video is missing!  I will change the link when it’s available.

Video is back, maybe Koos didn’t like Marc Tiritilli on the opening screen!

By:  Diane Benjamin

The Normal Town Council met last night to approve the budget and talk about Metro Zone.

The ruling proletariat is feeling the election heat.  They claim Uptown is paying for itself through dedicated revenue streams,  nobody mentioned what those are.  The TIF income isn’t paying the bills, what is?  Is it Hotel/Motel taxes?  Food and Beverage taxes?  Sales Tax?  Income tax?

Uptown was built by government for government.  If the free markets had been allowed to work:

• Train passengers could be dropped off at the door to the station instead of on the 2nd floor of a parking garage
• Parking wouldn’t be mostly limited to garages making it impossible to shop quickly at Uptown stores
• Tax money wouldn’t have been required to subsidize hotels, banks, etc
• Lighting would be much brighter at night
• The entire ground floor of the parking garage by the train station wouldn’t be dedicated to empty buses
• Debt incurred wouldn’t be choking the economy through higher taxes

Government isn’t the answer to problems, government IS the problem.  Economic development is confined to “approved” development.  Taxpayer money is funneled to the Economic Development Council (EDC) and B/N Advantage not to promote the area, but to control it.  Normal did grow the local economy, but it was done by opening doors for who they preferred and locking the doors on anybody they didn’t.  Free markets are messy, but they work.  Government control has always failed, it’s just a matter of time.

Watch the “holier than thou” Council pat themselves on the back for borrowing more than $90 million the taxpayers of Normal have to repay.  Hit play below – Cheryl Gaines optimizes what’s wrong with the Council and why she should not be elected Township Supervisor.  Normal had a plan and they followed it.  Cheryl claims changing the plan to pay down the debt will cause failure.   It was immaterial to the Council if citizens wanted the plan or agreed to pay for it.  She is followed by Chris Koos.  The entire budget discussion begins at 15:30.

18:20 – Jeff Fritzen claims dedicated revenue sources, the Town isn’t overly leveraged.

17:00 – Andrew Huhn (Director of Finance) – Sales taxes and Income taxes are down

Cheryl:  Everybody has a plan, it doesn’t mean the plan will succeed.  Didn’t Detroit have a plan?  Of course that was before the population left.  Normal’s debt will last for decades, can you predict the future?

The only official definition of Fascism comes from Benito Mussolini, the founder of fascism, in which he outlines three principles of a fascist philosophy.   http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fascism

1.”Everything in the state”. The Government is supreme and the country is all-encompasing, and all within it must conform to the ruling body, often a dictator.
2.“Nothing outside the state”. The country must grow and the implied goal of any fascist nation is to rule the world, and have every human submit to the government.
3.”Nothing against the state”. Any type of questioning the government is not to be tolerated. If you do not see things our way, you are wrong. If you do not agree with the government, you cannot be allowed to live and taint the minds of the rest of the good citizens.

Substitute “Normal” for “country”.

It’s impossible to listen to last night’s budget discussion without hearing the BOLD points above.

Marc Tiritilli, the guy who MUST be Normal’s next mayor, spoke during public comment about the budget – start at 9:05.  He offers a clear alternative to the current Council.

The video date is incorrect.  Stay tuned for Metro Zone!