By: Diane Benjamin
Watching the Council spin themselves into the ground felt a lot longer than 23 minutes! Most of the conversation was on whether to build a metal retaining wall or concrete so the City Hall annex can be demolished. The difference in price was around $61,000. The Council was handed some revised numbers that weren’t included in the packet. The Council passed the revised version, the video is the only documentation – it has not been posted.
Documentation starts on page PDF 269: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14583
The video presentation contained pics of both type walls:
Google “Metal Retaining Walls” – Images. David Hales found the ugliest picture possible to include for the Council. I thought downtown is supposed to be “artsy”. Hales wanted concrete so he ignored other more attractive options. We don’t know what the cost difference is because nobody checked.
3 metal walls that would look much better than concrete:
This area is in transition. The Council seemed ready to go with the cheaper metal fence to avoid possibly wasting money on the concrete wall. They even discussed getting a mural painted on it. They also mentioned trees that would block most of the view.
Proof the Council is immaterial:
After the Council members had their say, David Hales inserted himself and his opinion. The Council melted at his feet – conversation over. Now we know why the above “wall pics” weren’t in the packet – only the presentation. Somebody on the Council might have Goggled it! The packet only included drawings which don’t look that bad. See PDF page 278 and 279. Hales turned saving money into a joke!
It should be very clear now why this City Manager and Council will NEVER cut anything. Your elected representatives are led around with nose rings on chains pulled by David Hales. The vote was 8-0. The discussion starts at 18:15. To just hear David Hales – hit play:
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The group as a whole are just DISGUSTING! They think and act like robots and spend like millenials with daddy’s credit card.
It WILL be interesting to see WHAT happens when State Farm leaves, Rivian STILL hasn’t made a car and they lose another couple million in tax base.
What’s the matter with a vinyl fence wall? Yeah, ole Dave must have spent at least two whole minutes on this project. So Nora must have been mixing the prune juice so he could crap out these photos…
Srange. Everyone else uses chain link. What’s wrong with watching people work? When it comes to stupid people in government, ya just can’t fix stupid!
It is not a fence. It is a retaining wall. The point is, that area will be transformed sometime in the future. The metal retaining wall would be a temporary and cheaper solution. Concrete blocks are no more attractive than a metal retaining wall. Keep in mind, the CIP proposes a new City Hall, etc., etc,. etc…. Public works garage may be relocated to the far West side. (in the area near the CT bus parking lot) Additionally, the funds for this more expensive project are being taken from other accounts because the additional cost was not budgeted.
As my dad would have said “This is what happens when you let guys like Hales and Renner run the show. It’s never a good thing” I will NEVER understand what prompts people to want to elect or hire these sort of people for anything – I wouldn’t let (or trust) either one of them to mow my yard, let alone walk my dog.
Fortitude! That’s what WHOEVER films these clowns babble about such trivial crap as a wall has!!
Other towns WORK to finance their waste water plants, water towers, streets, buildings, hire a second or third employee, and these people agonize over SAVING money vs a “aesthetic” concrete wall that no one will really see anyway.
And the Amelia brings in zoning codicils!
GOD help us all.
I gotta go get a permit to cut my hedge.
Stay tuned for one more story today. I couldn’t make this stuff up!
Keep on and you will need a permit to flush your toilet. Depending on what day it could cost you more. If you flush toilet paper you will need a zoning variance.
Bloomington the tax toilet of the Midwest.
http://www.dmcityview.com/cover-story/2014/01/15/corruption-and-greed/
You should have told people to click the link and page down some!
No wonder Hales is having trouble finding a new job.
You need permits to cut your hedges now?!!!
As someone who works for a construction company, the photo with steal is called a sheet pile wall. It is structural in nature and has to be driven into the ground by a pile driver, very different then the pictures you show which are metal planters.
The local guys use similar equipment as this
https://youtu.be/f9CrzoMxJA0
One of the pics was obviously a retaining wall.
The piles in the video are industrial–used for much larger projects than will be done for the 10 foot retains wall.