By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Board voted for the original Solid Waste plan without the Scritchlow Amendment. The vote was 10-8 meaning 5 Republicans voted with the Democrats. I hear Don Cavallini takes winters off for warmer weather, that at least is the rumor. Board Chair John McIntyre didn’t vote. The crossed out R’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a FOIA request for the profit and loss at the Ice Center. Note – it isn’t “Pepsi” anymore because they chose not to renew the sponsorship almost two years ago: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/10/quit-calling-it-the-pepsi-ice-center/ The Ice Center did show Revenues of $990,556.60 and Expenses of $853,498.89 for a profit of $137,057.71. This is […]
By: Diane Benjamin It has taken weeks to get an answer from the City, but we finally know the $10,000,000 bond payments for roads are not coming out of the Motor Fuel Tax or 1/4% Sales Tax that is dedicated to roads. Payments are made from the General Fund: It doesn’t change the fact that […]
The County Board voted to kill the Scritchlow amendment. I taped the meeting and will be posting the discussion. 5 Republicans voted with the Democrats. By: Diane Benjamin For once the Chamber of Commerce is on the right side of an issue. Usually they love Big government tax and spend liberals. The Ecology Action Center claims […]
A reader found these stories: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article194506349.html State Farm employees were reeling Friday from the shock of Thursday’s announcement that the company plans to shutter its Tacoma operations by the end of this year. Potentially 800 people could be out of work of the 1,400 people in the company’s two downtown Tacoma offices. Workers will have […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow we will find out who the real Republicans are on the County Board. I can assure you that some of them do not believe in limited government. Mandating recycling is not only impossible to enforce, it attacks the poor the most. If landlords and businesses are FORCED to recycle, rents will […]
By: Diane Benjamin The video below is from the cell phone video by Angela Scott of the Black-Sage-Schmidt Town hall held January 9, 2018 at the BCPA. I go to meetings to listen, but I ended up talking anyway. The City of Bloomington claims to be doing priority based budgeting, but their priorities aren’t the […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the packet for the Normal Town Council meeting on 1/16/2018: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2871 Normal made the same payment in the 1/2/2018 packet. Proof Here A FOIA has been filed. According to the Secretary of State LLC filing, the address is a strip mall in Plano Texas and the LLC was revoked. See https://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/ Just […]
By: Diane Benjamin I just got back from seeing All the Queen’s Horses at the Normal Theater. It’s the story of the $53.7 million theft by a City employee in Dixon Il. The movie is fabulous, you have one more chance to see it tomorrow night at 7:00. Buy tickets on-line, the theater was close […]
The below is a comment left on a previous Unit 5 story. It states clearly what questions need to be answered. A reader posted the picture in a comment yesterday. I have been following this story in the media for the past almost month now, and have been reading the many stories and comments that […]
By: Diane Benjamin This picture was taken from Nikita’s Facebook page. Nikita must not know Illinois Law requires County Clerks to clean the voter rolls! Claiming that “cleaning” dramatically impacts low-income and people of color implies these people aren’t intelligent enough to vote. Not voting in six years means NOT voting in at up to […]
By: Diane Benjamin According to the newspaper, Unit 5’s payments to coaches violated IHSA rules. Unit 5 still won’t connect the dots and say why Coach Hess resigned and if they told him to resign or be fired because of these payments. Unanswered questions still circle back to the disgruntled parents secretly meeting with the […]
I reported on December 28th State Farm was leaving downtown! Nice to see SF finally admitted it. https://blnnews.com/2017/12/28/state-farm-is-leaving-downtown/ By: Diane Benjamin Mayor Renner appeared on WJBC yesterday – hear him HERE Couple of notes: He called a special meeting for next Tuesday because he thinks the people who volunteered to be on his downtown task force […]
By: Diane Benjamin This comment was made to my story about Republicans on the County Board possibly caving and making recycling mandatory. https://blnnews.com/2018/01/10/county-board-just-might-attack-your-wallet/ It’s hilarious that anti-freedom lovers resort to name calling when they disagree. People who don’t think government has a right to run your life are Nazis? The writer obviously has no grasp […]
By: Diane Benjamin The spontaneous Executive Session was not held on November 13th, it was held on November 8th at the end of a regular meeting. It was held in response to some disgruntled parents. The Board briefly recessed, hopefully not to discuss whether to hold an Executive Session. Holding any discussions outside of a […]
See corrections in this story: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/11/unit-5-story-corrections/ By: Diane Benjamin I wish my kids had been coached by Darren Hess. The parents who spoke at last night’s School Board meeting proved Hess was a great mentor and role model for the players and their families. Great coaches don’t happen often, supporters are crushed to lose this one. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m hearing rumors that the MANDATORY RECYCLING people really want the Scritchlow Amendment scrapped and they are making progress convincing County Board members to go along with them. Details here: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/06/robustelli-wrong-scritchlow-right/ The purpose of government is not to tell you how to live your life. RINO’S and Democrats think it is. If they […]
By: Diane Benjamin We don’t know what happened in the Unit 5 School Board secret meetings that caused Coach Hess to resign. Some have questioned if the football coach at Normal Community resigned for the same reason. If paying assistant coaches had anything to do with it, I just received the emails where it was […]
By: Diane Benjamin Proving yet again that essential items slip through the cracks at City Hall, Pepsi did not renew the naming rights contract for the Ice Center. Either nobody is looking for a replacement or nobody wants to buy the sponsorship. The naming rights expired the same time the Coliseum naming rights expired: March […]
By: Diane Benjamin The speaker at this event is Ted Hartke. His family was forced to abandon their dream country home because turbines prevented his family from sleeping! Ted is a Civil Engineer for Foth and Associates in Champaign Urbana. More on Invenergy: https://blnnews.com/2016/11/28/mclean-county-beware-of-invenergy/ More on Wind: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/07/proposed-wind-farms-part-1/ (Part 2 was never printed because of […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended the Black-Sage-Schmidt Townhall meeting last night at the BCPA. At most 30 citizens attended and many staff members. The aldermen didn’t waste a lot of time going over what people already knew. Most of the time was questions and answers, mostly about budget issues. One citizen asked why a NO […]
Details 7:00 at Chiddix Junior High Unless you demand answers, you won’t get any. 30 Minutes for Public Comment will not be enough time. I think a lot of people plan to attend and many will want to speak. The School Board can not interrupt speakers. During Public Comment citizens have the floor, stopping free […]
By: Diane Benjamin Must see video is below the Council video! Even though “Friends of the BCPA” showed up at Public Comment to urge the Council to approve hiring their fundraiser, Karen Schmidt got the agreement tabled. She claimed not enough discussion has taken place about the future of the Creativity Center. Or, maybe she […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is the Bloomington City Council finally waking up? Do they realize they have no wide-spread support for their downtown spending when the roads are still crap? Alderman Bray pulled a revised Council schedule from the Consent Agenda in order to cancel next Monday’s Committee of the Whole session. Renner doesn’t understand that […]
By: Diane Benjamin While I was reading a mountain of stories from before the Coliseum was built, I saw mention of the City obtaining insurance to protect them from fraud or theft involving the management company. I filed this FOIA request: My request was denied in full. The interesting part is the reason given for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The local environmental activists thought they had their plan to force EVERYONE to recycle in the bag. They spent two years meeting with people they call “stakeholders”. Even if you did hear about one of their public meetings or hearings, I bet you didn’t go. Details here: https://blnnews.com/2018/01/06/robustelli-wrong-scritchlow-right/ Their plans to use force […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight Bloomington City Council: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15546 PDF page 55. This item is on the Consent Agenda. That means it won’t be discussed unless an alderman pulls it. The documentation doesn’t say what this person will do, what the job description is, what the salary will be, or what happens if the “Friends” don’t have […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been reading a TON of media stories from before and after the Bloomington City Council voted to build the Coliseum. Judy Markowitz didn’t care what people thought. She was going to build it and nothing was going to stop her. She really believed she was saving downtown. Mike Matejka and former […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when the Town of Normal bought the former Sprague’s Service Station, 305 Pine St? Taxpayers paid off Terri Ryburn’s mortgage – $229,000. The taxpayers paid Terri $5,000. Taxpayers bought the lot next door for $24,000. Taxpayers replaced the parking lot – $148,000 The total so far is $406,000! Then add the $9,633 reported on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Downtown Bloomington is dead. The only people who don’t understand that were elected by the people who didn’t bother to vote last April. The Coliseum and the Cultural District failed to revitalize downtown. When will the Council quit throwing money away? When you change who is on the Council!
By: Diane Benjamin This week the McLean County Land Use committee rejected forcing people to recycle. An amendment was brought to the committee by newly appointed member Ryan Scritchlow. Even though Board member Carlo Robustelli is not a member of the Land Use Committee, it didn’t stop him from making this comment on Facebook: Carlo, […]
Town Hall Meeting: Website Hosted by Aldermen Sage, Schmidt, & Black Three City of Bloomington Aldermen, Ward 2 Alderman David Sage, Ward 6 Alderman Karen Schmidt, and Ward 7 Alderman Scott Black, will host a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, January 9, 2018 from 6:30-8 pm in the BCPA Ballroom, 600 N. East St. The […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve always been a huge fan of history. People who don’t know history repeat the same mistakes over and over. The current crop of Council members are doing just that because they don’t know Bloomington’s history – especially of downtown. Judy Markowitz didn’t want to wait for the results of the non-binding […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday’s Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15550 More spiked pension expense: More Interest-Free loans? I don’t care how great the cause is, what statute allows the City to hand out your money to people they chose? Most people call this vote-buying: More handouts: I’m guessing the City if buying tickets to a Chamber event for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The story below appeared in the Pantagraph on October 21, 2003. It is available on microfiche at the Bloomington Public Library. Normal raised your property taxes this year by blaming pensions. They used the same excuse in 2003 and every year since. Instead of budgeting for expenses they have to pay, they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Coliseum history: The below was printed in the Pantagraph on September 3, 2003. It is available on microfiche at the Bloomington Public Library. Tom Hamilton, former City Manager now collecting $11,350 a month in retirement, is quoted in the same edition saying the city’s risk is very low because of the numbers […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Chamber of Commerce is the poster child for insider payoffs. They have their own Political Action Committee to aggressively get the candidates elected they want. The candidates they want elected are the big spenders, therefore the Chamber is the ENEMY of taxpayers. The 2018 Bloomington Budget shows why they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pre Tari Renner the City of Bloomington didn’t have any staff doing economic development. See the 2012 job titles HERE For the year ended 4/30/12, the Economic Development Council received $65,610.04 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=6242 BN Advantage didn’t exist. Was Bloomington better or worse? Post Tari Renner – 2017 The City now has a full time […]
