By: Diane Benjamin
Chris Koos must have taken his defeat Tuesday harder than he’s publicly saying. Two new Trustees that have called out the “Plan” to buy people to move Uptown will be seated May 1. Chris claimed he doesn’t take it as a rebuke of Town policies. It was of course, but dictator types can’t admit defeat easily. I still expect him to resign “for health reasons” before his term is up in two years.
Wednesday Koos wrote a letter to Sarah Grammer, Democrat Normal Township Supervisor. Sarah is also the wife of Bloomington’s Economic Development Coordinator Austin Grammer.
Sarah looks to be buddies with the socialist candidate from yesterday’s story. This is from election night: Grammer, Studebaker, and fellow Illinois People’s Action candidate Pat Turner.
This saga started when the Connect Transit Board decided to cut a route and raise fares without ever seeing a large number of emails from people who had opinions on this issue. Grammer publicly called for Tari Renner and Chris Koos to replace their representatives on the CT Board. Grammer continued to complain on her Facebook page, Koos didn’t respond until April 3rd – one day after his stunning defeat.
I’m sure you noticed the local elites told people not to listen to the negative voices when deciding who to vote for. In other words: We know better than you, how dare you question us! Defeated RC McBride made that point on his Facebook page too. Pretend everything is great and it will be!
Koos berated Sarah Grammer in his letter. See it here: Page 1 Page 2
Prepare for giggles while reading! It sounds like he’s talking to me instead of a fellow leftist!
Sarah didn’t take the Koos abuse. She responded on Facebook:
We are witnessing a socialism fail! Grammer is attempting to assist people with transportation, Koos doesn’t want anybody to know Connect Transit is unsustainable!
Sarah doesn’t believe in monetary limits of charity, of course it isn’t her money she’s handing out (the township helps people who can’t afford to ride the bus). Chris lives in a fake world where the message is carefully controlled. His media normally doesn’t report jinks in the walls or infighting. Koos snapped in his letter to Grammer!
Grammer is right to advocate for people with disabilities and the very poor. That’s why public transportation exists. (Even though it could be done much cheaper!) How does she explain advocating for her socialist buddy Joel Studebaker? As I reported yesterday, (https://blnnews.com/2019/04/04/is-isu-teaching-socialism/) Joel marked a Connect Transit survey saying he earns between $35,000 and $49,000. Why doesn’t Joel need to pay his Fair Share? It must be okay for socialists to expect everybody else to pay their way. How many other CT riders can afford to pay their Fair Share too?
Maybe Joel is still in massive debt because of his indoctrination at ISU. He’s been out for a number of years and still hasn’t cracked $50,000?
The local socialists aren’t hiding anymore. The public fights between the Democrats and FAR left can’t be contained. Get the popcorn ready!
FYI: Koos will likely be blaming any failures in Uptown on the new Council members. Anybody in that empty space on the circle yet Koos? What is the occupancy rate at the Hyatt?
I watched WGLT’s live reporting from Studebaker’s election party (Nord didn’t have one, but this guy did????). His shirt says “Fight for Democracy, Fight for Socialism.” Wonder why he zipped up his sweatshirt before taking this picture?
I think he got hot later and unzipped. He doesn’t understand democracy either: mob rule.
Maybe Sarah told him to zip up his sweatshirt because she didn’t want the taxpayers of Normal Township to know she hobnobbed with avowed socialists. You know… those people who steal your hard earned tax dollars and claim it is their “Fair Share”
According to the ARC newsletter, the Senior Center already has shuttle bus service for a very reasonable (because it is taxpayer supported) cost!
ARC SHUTTLE BUS
ARC shuttle bus service is available to all seniors that
live within a 7-mile radius of ARC. The shuttle bus
service offers door-to-door transportation to and
from our programs. The shuttle bus operates
Monday through Friday, according to the ARC
calendar year. Pick-up time begins at 9:00 AM and
runs until approximately 10:00 AM. The return trip
on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday takes
place at 3 PM. On Tuesdays there is a return trip at 1
PM and 3 PM. The cost for riding the shuttle bus is
$1.00 each way. You may pay in cash for each ride
or purchase a punch card at ARC in $10, $20, and $30
increments. In order to run an efficient shuttle bus
service, all riders need to reserve a seat by Noon one
day in advance.
I wonder what the price of gas will do to this service?
Reading Koos’ letter, it’s textbook from the snowflake handbook. He got his ass kicked, and now he wants to blame it on someone else who “didn’t play nice”, and show what a victim he is.
I posted a comment on some of the liberal social media, but it was removed. Big shocker.
The idea that “public transit” needs to be accessible to “everyone” is 100% wrong. There are low income areas of our community, and there are areas of concentrated senior citizen housing, where many don’t have cars or can’t drive due to health or other issues. THESE are the areas which NEED public transit. If we are bound and determined to fund this waste of resources, then let’s at least serve those who need it the most, so that they can get to areas of high interest (health care, grocery stores, etc.). Once we have appropriately served this population, we need to take a look at the economies of service (what size buses, etc.) and adjust accordingly.
Most importantly, give up this liberal fantasy that people from the far East Side are going to ride the bus. Eliminate or restructure routes to cut out these areas. Continued route operation with no riders is exactly like dumping money into a deep hole.
I suspect that harming these more vulnerable people is intentional. Once there is a huge outcry from the affected population and their SJW masters, there will be “No Choice” but to raise taxes to pay for increased service. Never mind that they are still providing “service” to a number of areas which is almost completely unused.
Oh My!!! The political incest in McLean County is unbelievable. Koos is showing who he is again. Beautiful. He basically told Sarah not to question his authority. It’s like watching South Park. I wonder whose side Austin will take? Maybe Sarah wants the Newly elected socialist in Bloomington to steal more money for Connect. I have so many questions.
The only 2 things I know for sure are
1. Koos is a pig and
2. Connect should probably charge riders taking the mobility bus to play Big Money Bingo more than they do. If a person has money to gamble they probably ought to have money to pay for their own ride without my subsidy. Sit in the parking lot at the CI shooting range and you see all kinds of things.
Go to the public open house meetings they have for CT users when they are considering route changes and/or ride price increases. The Connect Mobility people are the most entertaining. They basically want to ride for free. Most are on public aid and the biggest complainers. Have to give them credit though, they can put on a show.
Why aren’t more people riding bicycles? We’ve got bike lanes for cryin’ out loud!
You don’t expect them to be used in rain, snow, and ice do you?
This is so much fun to watch! The Bloomington-Normal lefties are locked in a political civil war. Koos, fresh off getting his fanny kicked at the last election, is lashing out at in anger. How dare anyone disagree or even question him and his “vision” for the community! Ha! If Koos can’t handle fellow leftwingers, how’s he going to react when Stan starts speaking from the Council bench? Jenn already came out swinging accusing Koos of striking a “patriarchal and paternalistic” tone. This is awesome! This fight is the best thing that can happen because it makes Connect Transit a front and center topic. Anyone that looks at Connect Transit for longer than 45 seconds can see it’s a boondoggle, political hackocracy, and complete waste of taxpayer money, especially in the context of raising fees and taxes.
Not only did he rip into her he sent copies to his cronies. Ha What losers.
The demoratic socialist party is not the old school democrats and now the Pelosi and Shumer types, including the Koos and soon to be Renner are finding out that letting that genie out of the bottle was a bad deal. The demon-rats have pulled the cork on the evil genie and it ain’t going back in anytime soon. Settle in, pass the popcorn and sit a spell.
Jenn said paternalistic? If this were a republican it would have been misogynistic….I guess there are different standards based not on the color of your skin, but rather your political affiliation. It was definitely a misogynist move on Koos’ part. I agree BN Deserves Better This implosion is actually a good thing.
Has anyone suggested to just use Uber to haul people, that really need it, around? It has to be way cheaper than $2 million a month.
Of course not!
Actually, I did – I ran the numbers and the cost worked out about the same – probably a little less since anybody on CT who transfers buses is counted twice.
Problem is, with CT, a majority of the money comes from the federal taxpayers, and congress has no interest in spending their money on something that’s more efficient. At that point the full cost would become obvious because it would be a purely local expense instead of filtered through other layers of government, and socialists can’t abide by people knowing the truth…
It is way past time to express outrage to Rodney Davis and Darin Lahood!
I can’t believe private industry could not run an Uber program for those in need, with billing to the city or county or whatever, far far more efficiently than the layers of government needed to do the same task. First, no big terminal to maintain. No overpaid administration. No buses to buy and maintain. No streets to repair from overweight vehicles, and no pensions to fund. The person simply registers with Uber, the city or county certifies they will pay, and then person just calls them when they want a ride. I’m probably over-simplifying to some degree, but surely not the same cost?
Ok everyone, I see this as a perfect opportunity to speak at council meetings in both B & N. Obvious topics that come to mind include:Roads, property taxes, gas tax, Connect Transit, Downtown Normal (no really. call it Downtown😆), criticize socialism, etc. Keep turning the screws and laugh in their faces. They HATE humor and HATE being laughed at.