By: Diane Benjamin Previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ https://blnnews.com/2017/07/31/tari-responds/ The City of Bloomington pays a small fortune to be members of the IML (Illinois Municipal League) and attend their conferences. Tari and Jeff Jurgens even spoke last year about the “new media and watchdogs”. I’m sure they have seen this the below. It isn’t me accusing Tari […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is the original post by the Edgar County Watchdogs: Bloomingtons Mayor Renner Has City Pay For Girlfriends Japan Trip This morning they posted another story – after Tari Renner left his comment on my site. ( See Tari Responds ) Remember the Pekin Mayor who was convicted of credit card fraud? Read the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently Tari is still reading this site contrary to his claims. Or maybe one of his minions contacted him about last night’s story: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ He couldn’t stop himself from calling me a liar and threatening to sue: He fails to explain how the charge for Margot’s ticket got on the PCard statement […]
This story has been updated several times. See BlnNews.com for more By: Diane Benjamin The biggest obstacle to cleaning up the corruption in Illinois is finding a prosecutor. The Good ‘Ole Boys club is alive and well at all levels. See this story from the Edgar County Watchdogs: More Govt Gun Running-We Need Outside Prosecutors […]
By: Diane Benjamin Occasionally the Bloomington elected are still pretending Bloomington is the Jewel of the Midwest. Ask them why 56.72% of the students in District 87 qualify for free or reduced lunches? https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/libraries/pdfs/il-nslp-eligibility.pdf What income qualifies? SOURCE Obviously way too many people in Bloomington aren’t able to participate in the Quality of Life they […]
By: Diane Benjamin White Oak Township met to raise taxes last night. They voted by referendum because the Township needs more money. The Agenda lists the increase “not to exceed” .167%: The reason given for the tax increase is: Wind farm revenue is decreasing! The State is also late paying Motor Fuel Tax. Not surprising, […]
If you have had it with Illinois, if you are thinking of running for office, if you are ready to do something: IllinoisConservativesUnited.ORG (Obviously Republicans aren’t going to save the State!) . . .
By: Diane Benjamin At last Monday’s Council meeting Diana Hauman was the only vote against the citizens Review Board of the local police. She did the right thing. In this story (that went VIRAL) I stated in error what the Alderman said about Mike Matejka: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/25/bloomington-is-chicago/ She actually pointed out that he and a few […]
By: Diane Benjamin County Board member Jim Soeldner’s Letter to the Editor today got me looking for an update to a story I did in March of 2016: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/17/segobiano-charity-facts/ Another County Board member, Paul Segobiano, has his own non-profit charity called Great Plains Life Foundation. Soeldner praised this charity for a recent event in his […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Democrats needed the help of Republicans to increase taxes. Two from this area complied: Bill Mitchell and Mike Unes The GOP had the winning hand until 10 people pretending to be Republicans voted with the Democrats. As a result NO reforms were passed and the path to destruction Illinois was on […]
Did Tari Know a large crowd was coming? It matters. By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Police Department was told loud and clear last night they were a huge problem. I wonder how many officers today are questioning why they are willing to die on the job to protect and serve people who despise them. I […]
By: Diane Benjamin Connect Transit ended their Fiscal Year 6/30/2017 with ridership below last year and well short of their goal: Connect Transit competes with Uber and taxi service. Your government is assaulting the private sector by redistributing your money to their preferred transportation provider. I wonder who Connect Transit employees voted for? See page […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner received thousands of dollars from unions for his April election – including this one: See PDF page 120 for details of the Public Safety and Civilian Review Board: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14322 This Board will be approved because of the “feel good” Council, but it will be completely meaningless by design. The documentation […]
By: Diane Benjamin Packet: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14322 1) Monday night Tari Renner is busy with more appointments. One of them shows how commissions are being stacked with liberal progressives to do Renner’s bidding. He is appointing Victoria Harris to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Harris was a Democrat member of the McLean County Board, but she was […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Illinois Comptroller’s Office has lots of interesting information. Look at this site: http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ Virtually every level of Illinois government is required to complete information for this site. Schools must not be required to provide much information. Cities, towns, villages, etc enter much more. I was looking at area schools and noticed […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14312 Nothing is on the City Calendar for 6/23/17, was this a private party? This month’s eating and travelling at your expense: Why does Public Works need the Pantagraph and why is it cheaper for them than regular people? Even the police get fraudulent charges: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two truths: Bloomington road resurfacing is seriously underfunded Tari has stacked the commissions with people who think just like him Tomorrow the Historic Preservation meeting is at 5:00 in the Council Chambers. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/5532/17?backlist=%2f On the agenda is discussion of a Master Plan for Brick Streets. Keep in mind Master Plans are suggestions […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Open Meetings Act is pretty simple. It was written to keep government from hiding their actions from the people paying the bills. This is the 1st paragraph: Part of the OMA pertains to meeting documentation: Evidently the County skipped this section, at least with the Zoning Board of Appeals. From […]
By: Diane Benjamin Something isn’t right with Hyatt reportedly changing their minds on wanting tax rebates from Normal. The resolution and new agreement was in the packet for last night’s meeting: PDF page 159 and following: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2672 The Town of Normal didn’t seem to mind the handout – they put it on the agenda where […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council had a long meeting last night by their standards. They discussed employee health benefits and wellness programs at length. I didn’t write about it before the meeting because I was waiting to see their comments. Normal has worked with Advocate for over a decade developing a wellness program […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed this FOIA request on June 28th: It was due on July 5th, but I didn’t receive it. I keep a log of FOIA requests, this morning I had a minute to review them and noticed I hadn’t received this one. I sent a reminder to the City of Bloomington City […]
The writer worked at ISU for 18 years – she walked away because she couldn’t take it anymore. No – Nobody from this meeting has contacted her. Source and other stories from the same person: https://justifygettinglost.wordpress.com/ I finally figured it out… This morning I showed up at the Board of Trustees meeting and made comments (in quotes […]
By: Diane Benjamin Whenever Bloomington and Normal “think” a spending item is beyond question they put it on the Consent Agenda. In Normal they call it the Omnibus Vote. The council is supposed to vote YES on lots of things at once. An item can be pulled, but it usually gets passed anyway. I enjoy […]
By: Diane Benjamin What’s the difference between these two chairs? . . . . . $294.00. That’s the difference! If either even worth $294.00? Yes when government makes you to pay for it! Details tomorrow!
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph filed this report from a meeting held last night between Parks officials and the public. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-residents-urge-city-to-develop-parks/article_1a548766-9440-56e6-8d33-ddbe9d47f045.html First a quote from the article: Evidently Master Plans are only non-binding when they are created. Once approved they are thrown in the face of citizens who object. Think Bike Lanes and Complete Streets. […]
Update: See page 3 Bertrand-Rule By: Diane Benjamin This paragraph in the minutes of the June meeting of the Atlanta Il Public Library Board: http://www.atlantapld.org/board-of-trustees/ . Bill Thomas is a Board member and the owner of the building next door to the library. He previously got the library to rent the building from him, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mitchell is my representative and one of the guys who defected from the Republican Party to raise your taxes. I wonder if he knew that bill also raises gas taxes .05 a gallon? I doubt it since nobody had time to read the bill. More surprises may surface. Today I got a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Readers should be well aware by now that what government talks about in Executive Session remains a secret – in Bloomington’s case for a decade or more. It’s only a secret because they want it to be a secret – I’m talking about things like City Manager evaluations. The Open Meetings Act […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the two illegal meetings held by the library board because they weren’t posted 48 hours in advance? https://blnnews.com/2017/06/20/followup-illegal-meetings/ Keep in mind I notified both the Sheriff and the State’s Attorney’s office prior to the meetings, they did nothing to stop the crime of violating the Open Meetings Act. Law for government […]
The truth about adding bike lanes on Washington Street has little to do with safety, as Bike BloNo would have everyone believe. There are Illinois State Statutes as well as municipal codes governing the safe use of bicycles. https://www.activetrans.org/sites/files/Illinois%20statutes.pdf City Code Article XIX Regulations for Bicycles Chapter 29: Section 158: Traffic Laws Apply to Persons Riding Bicycles. […]
Tari denied the Liquor license to Hucks. From notes to Liquor Commission minutes, that makes them ineligible for video gaming which is also controlled by the Liquor Commission. The two people Tari named as his assistants didn’t show for the third meeting in a row. That make them ineligible to serve. Since Tari is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington is now run by special interest groups. The Council will pass a Citizens Advisory Board at the next meeting if only to pacify the large crowd that showed up last night and will show at the next meeting to intimidate them. Of course, the Council will pretend to not be intimidated. […]
By: Diane Benjamin A long line of people participated in Public Comment last night for the Citizens Advisory Board. According to most, racism is rampant among Bloomington Police officers. Evidently the BLACK Police Chief is racist too since he refuses to control the people under him. Some told tragic stories – like the lady with the […]
The subject of this story is also the President of the McLean County Mayors Association. I hope he isn’t providing any advice to the other mayors. By: Diane Benjamin Corruption in small towns rivals any found in large cities. Dixon only had 15,000+ people and got taken for $50 Million by a trusted “public servant”. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Scott Laughlin clarified this morning on WJBC why the local media is useless. The host hates people who think government should do nothing. Scottie doesn’t realize “those” people don’t want government doing nothing, they want them doing only the things the population can’t do themselves. Like fix the roads! How are the Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois politicians at almost every level don’t understand how to live within their means. They don’t believe you are entitled to spend your money how you want it spent. Quality of Life! They know what that is, you don’t. Chris Koos just got a nasty surprise: Funny how both mayors didn’t have […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thank God Steve Vogel is retiring for good! His column today doesn’t merit commenting on and I sure didn’t read the whole thing. If I hadn’t jumped to the comments I would have missed that he is walking off into the sunset – keep walking Steve! I wonder what left winger will […]
