By: Diane Benjamin
Monday 4/16: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2946
Nothing that will take time to discuss is on the agenda. They should discuss spending, but won’t. Below are items I found interesting.
The last time Lyle Sumek “consulted” with Normal the Town offered buyouts to employees. What will be cut next?
No expense was spared for a retirement dinner! (more expense below) One Voice continues to cost you money too.
The EDC is organizing a group to travel to Michigan for a Rivian tour of something they won’t be allowed to talk about. I know Barry Reilly from District 87 is going too, he announced it at the school board meeting.
Where in the law are funeral arrangements allowed to be paid for with tax dollars?
Tired of living in a Full Service City yet?
More retirement party and more baseball!
See pages 7 and 9 for Amazon purchases
These guys will cry about you buying from Amazon because they don’t get their local taxes. Meanwhile, they buy from Amazon because it’s easy and the choices are much better. You don’t deserve choices! Only they do.
There has to be a story here:
No limit to what Normal will spend trying to get federal tax dollars:
.
.
.
.
I wonder how much WSP USA spends on lobbying. We send them $50k, they use part of it for lobbying Congress, and keep the rest. Since we send them more money, we get more in grant money at some point. Ultimately, the federal taxpayers are the ones who suffer.
There is no reason for needing to spend $1 million on a study or $7…10…12 million on an underpass.
Obscene.
What is obscene is that the government schlubs at the Town of Normal WASTED $11,223 of our precious tax dollars to show Peterson the door. Never mind that under his “leadership” the citizens now owe $90 million more than before.
Normal was in NO debt before Up[town began – it’s closer to $90 million.
Buildings in Uptown were literally caving in on themselves. The infrastructure was failing (you may recall, all the streets and infrastructure under them were replaced). What should they have done? Nothing? Leave a dystopia? Write it off? It’s now a destination (unlike Downtown Bloomington). Retail interest is higher there than anywhere else in the town. Municipalities investing and reinvesting in themselves is not a bad thing. It’s what government SHOULD do. It’s what they do all across this country with great success. I just wish Bloomington would take a cue from Normal and get moving!
Why was the TIF negative last year if things are so great? Any restaurants in 1 Normal Circle yet?
BTW, the TIF wasn’t negative in previous years
Peterson was never shown the door! He’s retiring at age 58 on an overinflated government salary with a pension that the taxpayers have to fund through their property taxes.
$2,500 for SWAG? And $10K for retirement. I’m surprised there’s not a bill for the dogs and ponies also.. This is just spun OUT OF CONTROL!
There probably is a story on the blown engine and the money spent for the Tiger Grant. Did you ask anyone about those expenses? As a news blog, have you ever considered getting answers to the questions you pose?
FOIA filed
The comment of your Rich “Buildings in Uptown were literally caving in on themselves.” is a BIG FAT LIE. Just making a notation for the record. Gees dude, easy with the sensationalism, will ya? We know you want attention but there are other ways,,,like truth, logic, soul, and,,,ahhh, just never mind.
Lies are allowed in order to reach goals.
TIGER Grant application was needed to bring to D.C. during the One Voice trip. The Town is applying for the TIGER Grant to fund the underpass. Much of the development related to the train station was paid with Tiger Grant $$. The Federal TIGER Grant program began in 2008 as an economic stimulus following the Great Recession.
I need to look up how much they have spent in total trying to get this grant. I’m thinking it’s easily over $100,000
Those of us who were wondering how much Mark Peterson’s festivities would cost the taxpayers, just got our answer.
I bet a parting gift is buried somewhere.
The retirement party was equivalent to a wedding reception! Can’t believe they have the audacity to go to those lengths. How about some free appetizers at a local restaurant/bar? Fun meet and greet, and off you go! I bet State Farm didn’t throw that big a party when Rust retired (don’t know for sure-just guessing).
Weddings are usually a one day affair. Not so with Peterson. It began with a reception at the Marriott on Thursday, March 29 followed by another public reception on Friday proclaiming March 30 Mark Peterson Day in Normal. That’s why there are two different charges to the Marriott.
The Town as an entity does not pay tax on purchases so it doesn’t matter where the purchase is made. We are supposed to buy local so we pay MORE taxes.
The fiscal year is nearly over so the Town believes it has to spend all the money budgeted for this year.
Government bodies don’t usually carry balances forward.
🐥
I thought they led by example! Silly me.
Only TRUE leaders do that.
🐥
Of course, they don’t care that their money doesn’t stay local.
True. They are having a negative effect on local “economic impact.”
Pathological liars and hypocrites. Years ago my old man told me that the democrats were for the workin’ man! Now they’re all for stickin’ it, to the workin’ man!
I, and others I know used to like going to “old downtown Normal”, now, we avoid it like the plague – But then we may not be the “right fit” now, it’s only a “destination” for a certain little group, students are sort of stuck with going there if they live close by I guess, otherwise, the place is a shiny hellhole IMO, with a bunch of out of touch people who THINK they are “worldly” but are soooo small in scope it even shows in their demeanor – by the way, this is coming from someone who has been in REAL hellholes, and also has traveled extensively to many cities in many countries, I’m far from some provincial little peasant with limited knowledge of the world – I would rather be just about anywhere than “uptown” Normal” the only place worse is Chicago which I also avoid except for a couple of the ethnic areas and the airport (which is also horrible). I wonder if the “smart people” who run Normal know that they have actually turned off a LOT of people, which might be why the place is like a Potemkin Village, hanging on by way of props and as much money as they can beg or scheme from others.
Oh, and of course they won’t be able to talk about the Rivian Trip to Michigan, because, I don’t think there will be anything there to be honest – just more scams and fronts, Oh and charts and pictures in buildings and maybe some fancy desks and stuff and “development operations” with maybe a vehicle of some kind that doesn’t actually move under it’s own power
From the article
“Just to go get a behind the scenes (look), meet with R.J. (Scaringe) the CEO, and look at a lot of different things that they are planning for the plant down here,” EDC’s CEO Kyle Ham said. “Really it gives us a chance to figure out what it might look like in a couple of years.
Ham said Rivian will present vehicle prototypes though they won’t be released to the general public yet.
“This is where the secret sauce is of the vehicles that they are going to produce, the technologies they have,” Ham said. “So we’ll get to see some of those things behind the scenes they won’t release publicly for about six, eight months.”
I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see these amazing prototypes in 6-8 months…
This company deserves some sort of scam award though I swear they have been keeping this “there’s gonna be an amazing car, or truck or SUV (or something) coming REAL soon, really there IS” for around 9 years now.
I thought Kyle Ham quit EDC the day after returning from the One Voice trip. Is he taking another trip using taxpayer dollars even though he left the EDC?
He’s still there until the end of the month.
BOTTOM LINE! HOW many Rivian vehicles are on the road. Other then the one Rick probably has, since he’s SO cool and worldy, probably has a shed full of parts even-which he’ll NEED. And as for UPCHUCK being a nice place Rick. YOU amuse me. REALLY. So the buildings were old. How many shows did YOU catch at the GALLERY? Or were you still sucking your thumb? Normal HAD class in it’s old buildings, now it’s a sterile place that you CANNOT Get from point A to point B in. Without a bicycle.
What’s the numbers for zagster anyway Rick? You must ride a bicycle, so you’d know this stuff. As for shopping “local” Really worked for Green Top huh? I have YET to see EITHER Tari OR Koos have a tab at PORTILLOS, even though they wanted it here SO BAD they wet their pants.. ANd TWO retirement parties for What’s his name? THat’s just plain rectum kissing! WHAT happened to the days of a cake and gold watch office get together?