By: Diane Benjamin
Your government runs over you when you don’t bother to stand up to them. 5 people did stand up last night, more need to join them.
Public Comment:
The first guy owns Joe’s Pub and is concerned about raising video gaming fees. He asked when the tax increases are going to end and why the bar owners are frequently the target. He mentioned the City took in $750,000 last year from video gaming for doing next to nothing for it.
The second guy, Bob Werkman(sp), made a strong case for opposing the Welcoming Ordinance, Kathryn Steinle. He thanked the five currently blocking it.
Third was Donna Boelen. She talked about the regressive taxes being proposed that attack the poor.
Fourth was Angela Scott. She talked about Tari’s behavior at the last meeting. She called out Karen Schmidt for saying nothing when Renner attacked Judy Stearns and for formally supporting the Welcoming Ordinance and now blocking it. She also used Tari’s 2014 words against him.
Gary Lambert was last. He asked if there was any limit this Council is willing to gouge from the citizens. He mentioned the downtown hotel in Peoria declared bankruptcy putting the Peoria on the hook for $7 million.
5 speakers, 5 calling out the lunacy. All of them spoke well. Hit play to hear them yourself.
Bravo! One of the worst things that can happen to a politician is for his/her own words to be used against them. Well played, Angela! Taxes always disproportionately impact the poor, who the left claims to care so deeply about. It’s great to see rational taxpayers point out the hypocrisy of the Mayor and this Council. The Council hates gaming, but never complains about the revenue…huh, go figure.
No, it will never end with this bunch. We need new leadership that knows how to budget and focus on “needs”, not wants. I thank each of these folks for speaking up for “the little guy”, the lowly taxpayer.
I see stud Taxin’ Tari went to the back of the wardrobe and broke out the muscle t-shirt for the meeting. Even flexin’ them little twig arms every once-in-a-while….
It is definitely surreal that Scott Black has been sitting on this council for 5 years. We need people to get out and vote if we want to remove the members who think nothing of dipping into our pockets to pay for their pet projects. Renner, Black, Mathy, and Buragas all need to go.
I’m proud of those that spoke. I feel like a slacker.
Does anyone think the Council listened to the speakers last night? Were the Council’s responses to Staff proposals influenced by citizen comments. It is hard to tell because all of them kept talking in circles.
I really don’t care if the Council listens when I speak. If it is something they actually need to do, then I try to send an email. I hope the voters are listening…because voters are the only ones who can fix this. Well, voters and really good candidates. We need candidates or the same people will keep doing the same things.
From WGLT article: Renner said. “There are some pretty clear choices out there, and we need to step up to the plate and do them.” Well, there are two clear proposals that would save millions of dollars – 1.) Privatize waste; 2.) End pension spiking. You can avoid raising taxes and fees for a while if you enact these two things. From there, how about ceasing th automatic large increases in City of Bloomington worker pay? Avoid automatic 2-3% annual increases that the city cannot afford. If people don’t want to do the same job for the same wages or a 1% increase (the city can’t even afford that), there are probably 100 people who would step in for every job. Those city workers know thy would be lucky to get a job at 60-75% pay and much worse benefits if they were to leave.
Common sense plays no part in government, sorry.
Did anyone see Mike Matejka’s editorial on WJBC! This guy is so out of line it kills me. He does not believe anyone should question or make allegations against Board or Council Members. If people question them, that might take some of his power away. What a pig!
Mike is a pious pygidium! PERIOD. I’m NOT name calling here. He is what he is. I have talked with him SEVERAL times and EVERY time he acts like he is doing a mortal a favor by acknowledging their existence. POMPOUS!
I’d like to be invisible and watch him and Tari have lunch together. It’d be a battle of “I’m better then YOU!””” UUUGH!
I just wonder why his editorial didn’t address Tari’s behavior. It was all about how we, the peons, need to be kind to our rulers. I’m sorry but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a castrated sheep in disguised a “volunteer”.
Don’t you dare touch any unions with Mike around though. He’d rather sit on the roof with his fiddle while it all burns than acknowledge groups like AFSCME are pillaging the pocketbooks of their neighbors. How anyone makes $85K+ collecting trash and destroying streets with snowplows is beyond me. There are people saving lives and teaching children that NEVER achieve a salary of that level and, here we are, paying a trash collector that amount. It defies common sense and logic.