By: Diane Benjamin
http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20879
Prairie Vista got new golf carts almost a year ago for $155,753.80: https://blnnews.com/2018/02/27/bloomington-council-festivities/
Tonight the Den gets them, and it appears the money isn’t coming from the Enterprise Fund profits. The Prairie Vista purchase didn’t either. Remember golf is supposed to balance because it’s in an Enterprise Fund. The documentation calls this a budgeted Capital Lease Outlay for $153,274.35. Does that mean the Hales Credit Card is buying them? Obviously some Enterprise funds have to balance, others don’t.
Also on the agenda:
1)
Chicago Planners Houseal Lavigne & Associates are getting another $25,000 to work on the rezoning ordinance:
2)
The Parks Master Plan is getting approved, they discussed it at the last Committee of the Whole meeting.
3)
The only other item of interest is:
As usual, no information is in the packet. The only place you will see numbers is in the meeting video. The Finance Director can say anything he wants and you won’t be able to see the documentation.
Transparency!
When the citizens aren’t allowed to see actual documents, it easy to suspect they are hiding something. Especially after years of “structural deficits” turned into a surplus overnight.
(1) I’m almost certain the rezoning will hand more power to City Hall, diminish private property rights, and pave the way for a government-controlled Downtown Bloomington and no doubt a white elephant boondoggle. (2) Tari and the Council are wedded to the Master Plan. Repeat after me, “Government central planning doesn’t work, and never will work.” Has anyone in government leadership questioned this Master Plan or the strict adherence to any master plan? This is going to turn into an anchor that weighs down the community and municipal budget. In time, when it’s shown to fail, the egos of City Hall will never bring themselves to admit it was a bad idea, so they’ll double down. Kinda like Uptown. (3) Of course not. If the data was great, it would be detailed for all to see with Tari taking a victory lap. The local government-controlled media would be running extensive articles, gushing over Tari and the leadership of his new right-hand man, Tim Fleece-son.
It is truly amazing to watch these people continue to pursue these master plans and these delusions of grandeur. After spending my entire life in the private sector with both small and large businesses, everything the leadership in both town does seems clueless and counter intuitive (and just plain dumb). Businesses can’t be run the way these jokers run our communities. State Farm is in trouble. This means our entire economy is in trouble. Who talks about this? No one, but they devise master plans for this and master plans for that…. while our main employer is being disrupted by a growing army of InsurTech companies. Our media parrots both administration’s narratives and most of the citizens sit in blissful ignorance to the reality of what is truly happening.
Most people are not old enough to remember the Soviet Union and all of the issues that were always reported on here in the United States. Well, to make a long story short, they also like plans. The most popular was the 5 year plan. The Communist Party always came up with plans and actively pursued them regardless of how stupid they were or how unattainable they were. Needless to say the Communist 5 year and 10 year plans were a disaster. But they HAD to be followed. So here we are many years after the fall of the Soviet Union and we are being led by people who also have Master Plans that must be followed no matter how stupid or worthless they are? Is there any wonder why the left (I am including both of our mayors) is embracing socialism and the control of the media?
“(1) I’m almost certain the rezoning will hand more power to City Hall, diminish private property rights, and pave the way for a government-controlled,,,” private property. – – – You can bet your last dollar on it.
Sadly, this has to be almost a repost of my comment in another article today. You have to understand the underlying attitude and “values” of Tari and his Marxist minions on the Counsel. They truly, passionately believe that ALL property belongs to the government. So any zoning that diminishes the value or usefulness of a parcel simply helps “take” it from individuals, whose possession is illegitimate anyway, and deposits it with “the State”, the rightful owner.
Please read what Democrats are doing with statewide residential zoning in Oregon and New York. They quite literally are attempting to outlaw detached private homes and yards. Enjoy your 600 square ft urban apartment, right out of 1960s Moscow, (complete with illegals on one side of you and transvestites on the other). That is the future they have planned. Coming to Illinois very, VERY soon.
You dont seriously think Tari would allow the REAL numbers of Bloomington to be made public do you?