By: Diane Benjamin The below is from last years financial statements. It is reflected on two pages (197 and 198) making it impossible to read, so I retyped the info. Original link: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12330 The financial statements were from 4/30/2016, so the 2016 data won’t be available for a LONG time. Traffic at the library is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Local CPA Carl Woodward injects himself occasionally in local government when he sees something everyone is missing. You should know he supported and funded Tari Renner 4 years ago, he no longer supports him. (I tried to talk sense to him, he didn’t listen) Within the past week or two he has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Obviously nothing happened at the Bloomington City Council meeting last night to change the pension spiking policies that have cost taxpayer’s millions. Policies can’t be changed close to an election, so the gravy train for government employees continues. According to the nearly year old financial statements that were just released, employees can […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed yet another Request for Review with the Attorney General’s office asking them to investigated the Executive Session where the Council decided to disband Metro Zone. The conversations should have taken place in public, not behind closed doors. The City claimed “Probably Litigation” as the excuse for holding a secret meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin CLEAN audits mean nothing! Dixon Illinois got taken for $50,000,000 with CLEAN audits. Forensic Audits find fraud, regular yearly audits only mean the numbers are in the right columns. Thanks Pantagraph for printing what you were told. Why were the Bloomington financial statements released REALLY late? Tonight the Council will hear information […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal spent $100,000,000+ on Uptown and they aren’t done spending money. See this story: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/small-town-downtowns-il/ 9 Small Towns In Illinois Where Downtown Is The Place To Be Normal isn’t on the list and it isn’t a downtown destination, unless you like the taxpayer-funded free events. These 9 cities used existing buildings. Quaint […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks to Steve Vogel who today mentioned in his weekly column that Bloomington is in a recession. Moody’s Analytics reported that in January (and so did I), but the media has been ignoring it. Anyone who attended the Bloomington “Budget Workshop” today would have seen Bloomington is also ignoring that fact. If […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the Council agenda for Monday night here: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12388 In case he loses the election, Tari is making sure all the Boards and Commissions are stacked with his people. (He may not realize a few of those aren’t – but I’m not going to tell him which ones) Everything he has planned […]
By: Diane Benjamin Stories about millennials NOT wanting to live downtown have been circulating on the Internet since 2015. The PLANNERS were wrong. Tari can’t be happy. I wonder if his weekly meetings with the City reporter will be cancelled! Tari’s theory of downtown being Bloomington’s future just took a blow. He can build a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cuts could be easy, but nobody at the City wants to cut! It is impossible to suggest specific budget cuts for Bloomington because the data isn’t available. The City issued hundreds of pages saying where the money is being spent without any details. Was there a line item last year for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Coliseum audited financial statement from April 30, 2016 is still not available. The local media and candidates are pretending the ongoing State Police investigation of Coliseum operations isn’t happening. Naming rights expired close to a year ago, obviously nobody wants their name on the Coliseum if they have to pay for […]
By: Diane Benjamin I sent a FOIA request to the State of Illinois on February 6th for information on the Rivian incentives. I finally received it today. Rivian received NO money up front, the story is not going to be repeated in Illinois that happened in other states. The entire deal is based on the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Under former Mayor Steve Stockton the Liquor Commission was headed by Stockton, but at least 5 citizens served on the Commission with him. Tari Renner decided on his own to only have two people on the Commission. He got rid of the long time Commission members and picked two people he wanted. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington finally released the financial statements for April 30, 2016. The TIF report still hasn’t been released and neither has a separate audited statement on the Coliseum. Maybe another year? Two? At this point, what difference does it make? It’s much easier to read the information from the Comptroller’s site. Total Full […]
By: Diane Benjamin 2017 numbers are from PDF page 120 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=10626 2018 numbers are from PDF page 108 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12224 . . . . Total revenue projections are down from last year $211,282, but the entire budget increased $6,000,000 . .. . . . . . Personal income in 2015 was less than 2014 […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve heard that one guy running for re-election on the Normal Town Council is telling people as he campaigns door to door the debt isn’t a problem. I believe he is actually calling other candidates liars for questioning the debt. Hit play on the video below from last Monday’s meeting. The speaker […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday WJBC read the Melanie Spellmeyer-ISU-Central Catholic update story on my website. They read the original story too, but never reported on it. The story only became important to them when Dan Brady got involved. It probably helped that his funeral home advertises on WJBC. See their story here: HERE Totally lost […]
Note: The meeting video is missing! I will change the link when it’s available. Video is back – this time without Koos’ challenger on the opening screen. Coincidence? By: Diane Benjamin Just hit play below to hear the Metro Zone discussion by the Normal Town Council last night. Bloomington’s Mayor Tari Renner was there, […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the Central Catholic girls were playing basketball at Red Bird Arena for the State Championship, an ISU employee violated their fans free speech rights. She told them they were not allowed to wear anything related to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. In case you missed the story, see it here: […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) State Farm is expanding again – in Atlanta. They are building an office for up to 10,000 employees: http://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/watch-crews-implode-dunwoody-office-building/iZnPJmTxmPswgoj4gJwEeL/ 2) Cities 92.9 is holding a Bloomington mayoral debate next Wednesday. They showed total disregard for church activities that normally happen on Wednesday evenings, but worse – Wednesday evening services during the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is the Metro Zone fight between Bloomington and Normal REAL, or a campaign stunt? I’m leaning toward real. Side Note: Normal’s budget for 2016-2017 was more than $120 MILLION. The estimated $1.2 million Normal would lose from Metro Zone represents 1% of their total budget. The Normal Town Council had no problem […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner’s claims to now be protecting the taxpayers of Bloomington in the Metro Zone flap are a joke. Why? Besides the fact that 5 Aldermen put Metro Zone on the agenda, not Renner – what happened to the letters Tari received at Rosie’s from citizens about their health insurance costs? We […]
By: Diane Benjamin I really hope you enjoy seeing huge empty or almost empty buses running all over Bloomington-Normal because you are paying for them! The January finances are on online: http://www.connect-transit.com/documents/February%2028,%202017%20Regular%20Board%20Meeting%20Binder1.pdf Income in January was a whooping $110, 632. Expenses were $1,052,685. Anybody see a problem? Anybody see the same problem connect Transit has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Charlie Schlenker did a great job moderating the forum last night between Chris Koos and Marc Tiritilli. Listen to the one hour broadcast HERE Both the Pantagraph and WGLT coverage called Tiritilli a District 87 teacher. Both failed to mention he teaches PHYSICS. Marc obviously needs exceptional intelligence for that job and […]
By: Diane Benjamin A fake Twitter account was created only to defeat Ian Bayne. Twitter is a sewer where people hide behind fake names they think nobody can trace back to them. Twitter allows almost anything, so these local leftists are allowed to spew as much hate and false information as they want. What should […]
By: Diane Benjamin There is an easy fix for the relationship now spinning out of control between Bloomington and Normal: Dump Both Mayors Tari Renner and Chris Koos will never have enough of your money to achieve their versions of Utopia. Bloomington stole Dick’s Sporting Goods and Kroger’s from Normal by handing taxpayer money to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Think back to when Bloomington’s Public Comment Policy was changed to 30 minutes. Tari Renner was out of the country, Karen Schmidt was acting mayor for that meeting. Since Renner has never been fond of Public Comment, and previously it had only been 15 minutes, he probably wasn’t happy when he got […]
By: Diane Benjamin I can’t believe the comments on Facebook from people saying they never vote in primaries because they don’t want to say what party they are voting for. Aside from the FACT yesterdays primary didn’t have parties, that is the lamest excuse possible. The GREAT candidates lose in the primaries because of that […]
