By: Diane Benjamin
You get to pay for a bunch of people to gravel in Washington DC for money. It’s the annual One Voice trip which supposedly shows local officials standing united. The trip is March 6th to the 8th.
The EDC has finally released what they are going to beg for:
Maybe we should contact our local reps and tell them what we think of these projects. It’s still your tax money if any of these get funded, they just pretend it’s free money.
Bloomington is sending Diana Hauman, Tari Renner, Scott Black, and Steve Rasmussen.
Normal is sending Wayne Aldrich, Chris Koos, Chemberly Cummings, and Pamela Reece.
Each one of those 8 is costing you $1600 – $12,800
The County usually sends people too. If they send 4 people, add another $6,400.
Wow! So we send a bunch of local big government liberals to Washington on the taxpayer dime to grovel for taxpayer money to fund pet projects for the friends of local big government liberals. Wow! Breathtaking. (Dis)connect Transit is a boondoggle and unnecessary for a community of this size, not to mention an open money pit backstopped by taxpayer money with no incentive to exercise basic fiscal discipline or restraint. The Underpass is a waste of money to save 50 yards of walking; a mere vanity project with little to no material benefit (except for an unnamed bike shop owner). The U.S. Small Business Administration is out of touch with today’s businesses and startups. Even if they did offer ideas and connections of merit, I’m sure our leaders would insist on chain restaurants, yoga studios, art galleries, and organic free-range grocery stores. Real economic engines! Haha. CIRAs traffic is way down due to State Farm budget cuts and layoffs. No government money could bring any plane traffic to a non-destination city’s airport. Stay home and fix your community!
I agree with BN Deserves better. Just a glance at the projects that they have proposed or have done in the recent past tell the whole story. This is a C group of people when we need the A team right now. As someone who within the last three years launched a successful business, I can tell you with all honesty that we got NO help from anyone here and there were forces in the crony system that actually worked against us. The leadership in this town is clueless, lost and existing in a bygone era. Like BN Deserves Better says – this C group of “leaders” idea of economic development is retail shops that sell trinkets or coffee. They are clueless in so many ways… it is pathetic.. This One Voice is a total waste of money. They will be told to do the same failed things that they have been doing for years here. As our economy spirals down the drain (State Farm is laying off hundreds of people) they need to be here coming up with common sense solutions to grow this economy while not interfering with it.
Willingness to spend federal money is not evidence of merit in wasting local money? Is it?
Connect Transit is sending a group to ask tor TIGER grant—a program which is being phased out and which CT was denied two years ago. BN Advantage is sending a group. Normal is sending a group to compete with CT for a TIGER grant. CIRA wants to be an international airport to compete with Peoria. Bloomington couldn’t come up with a special request but is attending anyway. Employees in Normal have been let go and taxes have increased dramatically. Bloomington is facing $3M deficit and will be raising taxes and fees. There is no shortage of the sense of entitlement by these “representatives.”
Yes… they are operating in an alternative reality. They just continue to send the same clueless unimaginative members of the crony capitalist system here, on all expense paid junkets with no hope of anything they do paying off for either of our cities. It’s a big club that you and I are not in but we do get to pay for the trips to far away locations and worthless conferences.
I do wonder what the “political repercussions “ will be for WGLT’s McCurdy….he is very worried about that, according to at least one of his emails. He neglects to mention concern about citizens or even transit riders.
All of these people (like McCurdy) are in CYA mode and always working to shore up their public persona as a hedge against getting axed sometime down the road. This is why they make a mini-career with photo ops, business events, town events, etc. Their ability to get and keep the connections necessary to maintain their jobs is all they have for job skills. None of these jokers could make anywhere near the money they are making in the private sector (or even have the jobs they have). Their skills are all about who they know and how the public perceives them.
Connect Transit requires millions to keep it operational. McCurdy knows the local money will run out, whether through declining political will or mandatory budget expenses competing for the shrinking share of tax revenue. He’s so good at whining for more of our money. Imagine if he took that same energy and applied it to reimagining a transit system that could operate without massive losses.
Wait till you find out what Council is looking at Monday!
The members of the EDC will be attending using the money provided by the City, Town and County.
🐥
Wonder if they will take Connect Transit to the Central Illinois Regional Airport to get there? OR will they NOT “fly” local?? Just some SIMPLE questions for some simple people…
I bet they are sending people too! They will probably fly from here. I did it once – took two hours to get there and two days to get home after Delta cancelled my flight in Atlanta.
The hands go up when the announcement is made: “Who wants to go _______?” Joe leans over and whispers to Sally sitting next to him, “I just got back from DC last week, I haven’t done a thing for my job since before Christmas… Oh well I am enjoying this while it lasts!” Sally looks at him and says, “Must be nice, I had to organize the last two employee parties all by myself.. while all of you ‘important people’ are out of town doing whatever you do?”
It’s ALWAYS WAY more to fly out of CIRA (BMI) except for a FEW select destinations and DC is NOT one of them – they (well, the taxpayers actually not THEM themselves) would be far better off driving up to O’Hare and being dropped off. I just checked those dates – they would save at LEAST $105.00 and up to $359.00 PER PERSON if they flew out of O’Hare instead of CIRA/BMI – surely they have a VAN somewhere they can USE and “we’ll” pay for the gas money for them to be dropped off, NOT the parking though. These people need to learn how to SAVE money like us peasants do. The $105. savings is for a nonstop to Dulles there are NO nonstops out of CIRA/BMI the $359.00 savings gets them a one stop flight,
I hope their flight gets canceled due to a lack of tickets sold. It’s happening more and more. As a frequent CIRA consumer, I and my business colleagues have had flights canceled left-and-right over the past few months especially. CIRA has to be close to deaths doorstep. The “embarkments” are way down, and now it’s likely one of the first markets on the chopping block for the remaining airlines. Next economic downturn and/or spike in oil will probably be the end of one or both of the remaining airlines in CIRA. Sorry folks.
Now, now – an empty airport is an opportunity…. look at what has happened to Macy’s? That temporary Halloween store was so….. cool! I got some awesome Halloween stuff there… Let’s see the potential…. runways for bike racing? Turn the building into the biggest coffee shop in the world? An empty airport can be a win win for everyone…
My daughter had to land in Peoria one night because of fog. She paid to go to Bloomington! I had to drive in the fog to pick her up. Evidently CIRA can’t afford lights or something.