By: Diane Benjamin
Follow-up to this story from two days ago: https://blnnews.com/2018/05/15/foia-fail-again-and-again/
I emailed both the City Clerk and Tari about the ridiculous .50 (fifty cents) charge and use of a disk since previous large FOIA requests have been delivered via Hightail. Yesterday afternoon I received the request digitally. Since the Clerk probably would have ignored my request, thank you Tari for getting the information to me.
I received 8 mp3 files (audio only) of commercials run on radio from January 1 through April 30th. Also included was a long list of scripts read on WGLT, likely by whoever was on air at the time. The television commercial is below. I don’t know what it cost because the bill must not have been paid before April 30th. Another FOIA will be filed. The largest expense for advertising went to VenuWorks – $3000 for the digital marquee. It looks like that is for an entire year: 4/1/18-3/31/19. Other payments were for Facebook and Instagram ads. The majority are for events held at the library. It is an obvious attempt to increase traffic.
Below is the complete list of payments through 4/30/2018. Lee Enterprises is the Pantagraph. Those rates look incredibly low for any size ad.
The television commercial dispels the story of needing more space,
in 15 seconds it makes the library look pretty good:
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The entire concept of wasting taxpayer money to advertise a public library is insane. And the belief that library cards are “FREE” must have been fostered by someone who has never paid property taxes… or is just another government liar.
Haha! They probably said “free” because Tari and the Council are attaching fees to everything. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, I’m told, unless of course it’s bought with a P-Card at Rosie’s, eh T-Renn?
So we advertise a public library? Why? This seems to be boarder-line insane to me…. So we are using taxpayer money to generate business (people using the library), so we can justify library jobs or a new library or whatever? Only in Bloomington/Normal would this type of insanity be tolerated and accepted as a good use of taxpayer money.
One minor correction, not just in BloNo but anywhere the “progressives” hold reign – they do the same things to every place that they infest and manage wiggle up to the top of the heap.
Unfortunately, I don’t think B-N is the only place where government entities believe it is a great idea to use tax money to expand their salaries, benefits and power. It is a widespread disease!
The only reason they’re selling the library is to justify employing and spending money on the library. What a racket! Libraries are a relic of the past anyway. Times have changed, but not in Bloomington. Our leaders still refuse to see the present, much less plan for the future. Hey, no worries, State Farm is leaving town but at least we have these swell library ads running on TV, which of course people fast-forward on their DVR.
It’s still 1986 in some people’s minds, I guess? Or are they just protecting a facility, its staff and the flow of taxpayer money to every crony business that sucks money from its continued operation? Advertising a public library? Give me a break….
They may need to advertise to ensure they have maximum attendance to their planned indoctrination programs.