by: Diane Benjamin 1) Mayor Transparency is now not listing the cost of items on the agenda. See tonight’s agenda here: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=13109. Go to page 114 to find out the Motor Fuel Tax is being raided to pay for street light electricity. This tax was passed as being for the streets – not lights: (Page […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only a tiny group of citizens want bike lanes. Tari Renner ran for office twice pledging to fix the roads. He obviously isn’t as serious as the people with damaged vehicles are. This is from 2015: http://www.cityblm.org/government/departments/public-works/streets-sidewalks/street-resurfacing The table shows how much money per year is required just to have TERRIBLE STREETS. […]
Update: The lady in the video reported Amelia stated her family won’t be using the bike lanes – too dangerous! She is supporting the plan because Bike Blono wants it. By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I attended Renner’s Open House for the first time. I don’t attend because I already know what answers are going […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bike Blono wants all cars to drive slower. TENS of THOUSANDS more cars than bikes is immaterial. Even kids understand that riding a bicycle in the road is dangerous, Bike Blono wants you to change your behavior. If you don’t agree, you are evil. They have at most a couple hundred members, […]
By: Diane Benjamin I saw this on the agenda for the Town of Normal last Monday: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2634 The document goes on to appoint the Deputy City Manager as representative to IMRF. The Town of Normal hasn’t paid the huge penalties Bloomington has from pension spiking. Bloomington has paid $1,877,252.40, in August of 2015 Normal had paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin The ruling by the Attorney General’s Public Access office against the City of Bloomington is completely meaningless. Read the entire ruling here: 17-004 The only penalty for the Bloomington City Council violating the Open Meetings Act by holding an illegal Executive Session is: The tape of the meeting must be released The […]
By: Diane Benjamin BN Advantage was formed in 2015. Their mission is to get all the players together for collaboration on economic development strategy. The Bloomington Council approved the formation in October 2015, see this doc: BN Advantage I’m sure other area governments passed the same type resolution. Temporarily forget the fact that government doesn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin I wonder when Renner is going to take his comedy show on the road! Source: http://www.pantagraph.com/business/local/expert-communication-diversity-key-for-economic-development/article_145290bf-c5c5-50cd-9536-8b1b4c6e34bc.html Renner’s comments don’t deserve any respect. We know transparency is much less since Tari became mayor. We know anyone who challenges his beliefs are his enemy. (“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”) […]
Update: FOIA filed. Locust has to do with an ISU land swap from 2015. By: Diane Benjamin The video of last night’s Normal Town Council says it’s 10:23 minutes. The meeting doesn’t start until 6:48, so the actually meeting was less than 4 minutes. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLNC0lO-kCBYjaSv4sZ4udZFRwMu8bwYGr&v=3XAyHvlFBKE Start the video around 6 minutes […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Village of Hudson failed to post the agenda for tonight’s meeting on their website 48 hours in advance. It was finally posted to the website sometime yesterday. Problem: The Agenda that was posted on the door of the Water Departments is different than the one now posted on the Village website!. […]
By: Diane Benjamin On the Consent Agenda for tonight’s Normal Town council meeting: No other information on 404 W Locust is included. Being on the Consent Agenda means there is no discussion unless one of the council members asks. I’d be asking! $892,327.48 with no questions? What Illinois statute allows the Town of Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/06/02/b-n-is-getting-the-delphi-treatment/ (It won’t be the only one!) The Bloomington Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) is trying to get out of complying with the Open Meetings Act. What does the Open Meetings Act say? OMA applies to all “public bodies”: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=84&ChapterID=2 I’d love to know what grounds they […]
By: Diane Benjamin The pictures below were all taken on June 2, 2017 east of Ellsworth, Il. In case you don’t know, wind turbines must have a backup system (FOSSIL FUELS!) because turbines aren’t capable of producing steady electricity. The wind doesn’t always blow or it blows too hard. Meanwhile, fossils fuels pollute more because […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local area has THREE agencies coordinating economic development: B-N Convention and Visitors Bureau, BN Advantage, and the Economic Development Council. There is MUCH more to this story – but not today. The Bloomington Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has another committee nobody has ever heard of: Sports Commission Board The Board […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mark Peterson – Normal’s City Manager – talked to WGLT yesterday: http://wglt.org/post/public-private-partnership-lacking-establish-sports-complex#stream/0 Peterson thinks taxpayers should pony up $20-$30 million for a sports complex! The total cost will be $50 million, but it’s not a Public-Private partnership. He doesn’t say where the rest of the money will come from or who will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The old type Bloomington City Manager reports with real usable information ceased to exist when Alderman Diana Hauman called their “printing” a waste of money. The last REAL report was April 2016. City manager David Hales still does a City Manager report on-line, but it has little useful data. The old reports […]
