Want to advocate for kids?
By: Diane Benjamin Become a Court Appointed Special Advocate! (CASA) See details on the McLean county website: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/index.aspx?NID=422 . . .. . .. . .. . . .
Month: August 2018
Why no child abuse charges?
By: Diane Benjamin Pediatric Resource Center for Child Abuse and Neglect in Peoria examined Mikey Cadena and documented several injuries as well as extensive dental problems. He had severe bruising, blunt force trauma, a human bite mark, black eyes, anal tear, rope burns, etc. They concluded he was abused. […]
Bloomington Council for Monday
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=18588 Expenses that can be avoided by eliminating the Bloomington Election Commission: Renner feeding himself in MARCH: Remember when America was a melting pot? People didn’t come here to be different, they came to be Americans. Those days are long gone in favor of “diversity”: Even Americans don’t want […]
Dale’s Rock has a home
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington evidently didn’t want the memorial to a 16-year-old boy murdered by a drunk driver while riding his bicycle. Jefferson Park in El Paso agreed in only 4 days to the rock being placed there. Dale attended grade school in El Paso and junior high in their system. Dale’s […]
Remember Amy Leichtenberg?
By: Diane Benjamin I know you will when I tell you she is the mom of Duncan and Jack Leichtenberg, murdered by their father before he hung himself. Amy and I talked Thursday about Duncan and Jack and how the McLean County court system failed them. The State of Illinois also failed when they pulled […]
RIMCO and the FBI
By: Diane Benjamin Some readers still remember RIMCO, it is mentioned in comments from time to time. I remember it coming up at a Council meeting a few years ago, somebody stated there wasn’t a FBI investigation. Yes, there was! History: 1995 the City of Bloomington created a company called CIRPA to self insure property-casualty […]
Time to protest your assessment!
By: Diane Benjamin If you didn’t receive your new assessment in the mail today, you probably will tomorrow. Property values are dropping all over the County. If your house will never sell for the Fair Cash Value reflected, you must protest now. Time is very limited! You can look up what properties like yours have […]
Did you get billed for bulk waste?
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington has ended their “grace” period for bulk waste. If something is on the curb in front of your house and they pick it up, a charge will be added to your bill. The problem is they can’t prove you put it there! I hear they used to at least take pictures, […]
Mikey’s day in court will happen in Massachusetts
By: Diane Benjamin The hearing yesterday, which Michael Cadena did not attend, did nothing to unwind the problem of who has jurisdiction in the case between Michael and Mikey’s mom – Amber Buck. Judge Hill went on a long discourse to justify why she could find Michael in direct criminal contempt. Mr Bullington, Amber’s lawyer, […]
Unit 5 – labor agreements
By: Diane Benjamin I’m hearing rumors that Unit 5 wants a property tax increase next year. I have to start following what they do even though I don’t have time to do it right. I’m starting here because it’s going to be fascinating to see what union members do after the Janus Supreme Court decision. […]
Pantagraph fails again
By: Diane Benjamin John Butler wants his trial moved out of McLean County because of remarks made by David Hales and Tari Renner. I was also mentioned as a reason because my lawsuit made him look guilty! Yes it did! Since MANY readers are new, this story recaps the information I was able to obtain: […]
Normal is guilty and not guilty
By: Diane Benjamin I filed a Request for Review with Lisa Madigans’s Public Access office on January 18, 2018. The request was for a ruling on the budget workshop held by the Town of Normal that was not posted as a meeting with an agenda, time, and place. I received a ruling yesterday. 5 ILCS […]
Mikey’s Timeline
By: Diane Benjamin Tomorrow at 2:30 another hearing is taking place. Judge Hill will probably declare Michael Cadena in direct criminal contempt even though she couldn’t locate a precedence for doing it. I plan to attend, Judge Hill needs an audience to witness her activism. This case has many twists and turns. I’ve read thousands […]
Democrats: Kathy Michael not invited
By: Diane Benjamin The local Democrats are against abolishing the Bloomington Election Commission. Instead of lessening the tax burden by eliminating one of the way too many government agencies in Illinois, they would rather create an unaccountable new one to oversee elections. The County Clerk is an elected position, Democrats want to create a commission […]
Normal: Record short meeting
By: Diane Benjamin On the video below, the meeting isn’t called to order until 14:10. All business was finished by 19:50, the majority of that time taken by reading bios of three individuals appointed to the Children’s Discovery Board. In Normal the names of appointees aren’t announced until the Council approves them. Transparency is for […]
Do you get TWO cost of living raises a year?
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe some companies do give cost of living wage increases, I’ve just never heard of any. Of course government exists for government employees, so the Town of Normal has it written in the City Code – twice a year revisions. Wage increases are separate. Tonight the Council has to approve a $51,000 […]
Normal: Unintended Consequences
By: Diane Benjamin Town of Normal for 8/6/2018 http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3030 PDF page 38 – $25,503 to buy more recycling containers – demand for them is up. Earlier this year Normal quit funding drop off locations where citizens did the work for them. Now the Town has to buy more containers with yellow lids and the Public […]
Update: Proof Roads aren’t a Priority
They do have $4,290,000 listed in Book 2 as Capital improvements: PDF page 270 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=18372 This money comes from the added Local Motor Fuel Tax and part of the increased Sales Tax. The taxes you already paid weren’t good enough. ___________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin Remember this email from Jim Karch? I asked him how much […]
Where taxes go: Arena
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington 2019 budget PDF page 15 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=18370 Guess why your roads can’t get fixed? See the chart below for what gets close to $6 million dollars this year! Remember when Markowitz said it would never cost you a dime? PDF pages 13-14: When the budget was done, the City was […]
Bloomington 2019 budget – Connect Transit
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 360: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=18370 It’s really fun to have weeks when neither City Council is meeting. I finally have a chance to look at other things and neither is presenting schemes to separate you from your money! The below is from the Bloomington 2019 budget. It is the history of how much […]
Why downtown is all the matters
By: Diane Benjamin The short answer is because of the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. The MCRPC is an organization most citizens know nothing about. In 2013 a new executive director was hired: Vasudha P. Gadhiraju. The formerly conservative Commission took a hard turn to the left immediately after. According to the MCRPC website, 2013 is […]
Don’t forget WHO is to blame for the Coliseum theft!
By: Diane Benjamin The contract between CIAM and the City of Bloomington gave the City the right to exam anything they wanted to. Nobody at the City ever looked at reports – especially concession sales. Don’t forget, the City bought the Point-Of-Sale equipment. They could have printed off monthly reports to verify what the City […]
The Sales Tax decline in Bloomigton
By: Diane Benjamin In 2015 both Bloomington and Normal increased the local Sales Tax 1%. The people least able to pay more, the poor, were attacked again with more taxes. Part of the reason given was to give money to the County for Mental Health Services, actually it was to pay for the jail expansion. […]