By: Diane Benjamin
This report was filed with the City of Bloomington through the MyBloomington App:
Wood Street is not on the original list of roads scheduled to be resurfaced: https://blnnews.com/2019/03/01/what-roads-are-getting-resurfaced-in-bloomington/
If a new list has been created since the Motor Fuel Tax increase passed, I haven’t seen it.
The person who submitted the request received this notice 24 hours later:
This video was taken AFTER she received the notice the potholes were fixed! You don’t need sound to see the problems! The two concrete patches are from previous sewer work. The person who submitted this report considers this stretch of road not only a safety hazard to her vehicle, but this is by Miller Park where kids play and ride bikes. Drivers distracted by dodging the potholes may not see them.
Isn’t Miller Park and the Zoo considered a destination and draw from outside the community? This is how Bloomington welcomes visitors?
Failing infrastructure is a sign of failing government. It’s just that simple. Weill, it’s common sense. It’s time we have common sense infrastructure since the demon rats like to throw that term around so much. Common sense infrastructure. Pin it!
Evidently roads have nothing to do with Quality of Life!
Next month is Memorial Day. Veterans will be walking down Wood Street, carrying the American Flag, and looking straight ahead in formation. These Veterans will do it to honor those we have lost to wars. Shame On Bloomington. Elected officials steal from those who live in and serve this country to build idols for themselves. I.e. Judy Dome, the arts Center, and golden brick roads.
Maybe if somebody trips they will sue!
It’s been reported. So the City is aware. It’s too bad it will take serious injury or death for the City to pay attention.
Maybe all the road fund were diverted to that fancy pink jacket Tari wore at the last Council Meeting. Oh wait I bet pretty brick roads for Amelia are way more important than the safety of our children. Council has spent way more time discussing those than safety of the majority.
The repairs this person is talking about would have to include the tearing up Wood Street and completely resurfacing it not just patching pot holes. Infrastructure, the complete rebuilding of streets and bridges are funded either through gas taxes or grants from the state or federal government. The last time the federal government passed a infrastructure legislation was during the Obama administration. The Trump administration has not proposed any infrastructure legislation. Local government can not magically take monies away from other funds to repair roads, that’s not how it works. You can’t have it both ways, crying about taxes and then insisting that local government come up with magical ways to fund the roads you want.
You are hilarious! The City threw away around $100,000,000 on downtown. The streets could have been paved with gold for that if they cared. They wanted to entertain without giving people a way to travel to their venues without wrecking their cars. You are part of the problem.
Again, road are funded with GAS taxes, tolls and grants from the local state and federal level. Gas taxes were not indexed to inflation, so many local governments are squeezed. As time goes on and inflation increases, the nominal value of the gas tax decreases, leaving states with budget shortfalls and unfunded infrastructure. Some states keep infrastructure taxes low with severance taxes on non-renewable resources.
These taxes have nothing to do with other taxes like property taxes that fund schools, libraries, park districts etc. Just because you have some aversion to being somehow being “entertained” doesn’t change the fact that roads are not funded through property taxes. No matter what you say, those taxes can not be used for other purposes. You can not take away funds meant for schools to resurface roads.
The other fact is that we live in a climate that ruins roads within a short period before a road has to be rebuilt. In winter roads are torn up with repeated freezing thawing and salting of those roads. Plows further tear up roads creating pot holes that need short term patching. So no , I’m not “hilarious” but explaining why you can’t take funds from schools to repair roads
More hilarity! Bloomington has only had a gas tax for a few years. Prior to that it came out of the General Fund, It was Tari Renner who decided the General Fund couldn’t be used because he needed that money for fun projects. Drive out in the country. My roads are great. We get wind, snow, ice, lots of traffic, and tons of semis. The reason is because the County knows what their job is. The City’s don’t.
Local government Can take money away from things they never should have allocated money to in the first place and apply it towards roads. Board up the arena, and you can pay for fixing Hershey. Sell the BCPA and you can resurface Wood. Halt enforcement and other overhead related to micro-management in the building code, end pension spiking abuse, and take the ongoing savings from the first two items, and you can keep roads usably patched until that golden spigot of grant money starts flowing again.
Oh Johnny, but we can afford to pay for brick roads, Tricia Stiller and BCPA , trips and lunches, the salary of whomever responded to the submission stating that it has been fixed, we can take a $350K annual loss on the Coliseum, and I won’t even mention Overpaid do nothings like Nora and Nikita. I call bullshit. I hope it isn’t your child that gets run over or your senior citizen parent or grandparent that gets injured. And when did Bloomington ever cut taxes?
John, stop drinking the koolaide. If they can take water money and sewer funds and give it to the Colliseum , Friends of the Arts , Bike Lanes, Green Top, and corrupt non-profits like MCCA they can use it to repair roads.
He seems to think laws exist separating funds. There are for special taxes like Motor Fuel Taxes, not General Fund Revenue.
Let’s not forget the 2.3 million dollars the Town of Normal gave to Portillos to build in this community. Normal will not fix roads either.
It was more than that, but it went to the developer, not Portillos
Portillos vs developer- what is the difference where the money went? Wasn’t it money that did not need to be spent??
Koos want the hotel gone, yes
The city of Bloomington just raised it’s gas tax.. so where is this new money going to be spent ? On bigger city buses ? Another bike path ?
The New money is going towards roads. Which frees up Old money that used to go to roads to be used for other things. That shell game is important in politics. So where is the Old money going?
The Plan is either a Connect Transit bus depot or a Sports Complex.
They’ll need to move quickly, and probably won’t be able to do both – It’s become clear Normal taxpayers are taking back the town council, and that may embolden Bloomington to do the same.
So my guess would be the bus depot – It’s more easily argued to be ‘green’ and ‘diverse’, plus involves spending more money downtown.
My long-term recommendation is in line with the arena – Once you determine it’s a money pit, rename it after its primary proponent, start a GoFundMe to privately fund signage with the new name, then board up the windows and walk away. Self-centered politicians deserve bigger, more appropriate monuments to their legacy than just a plaque or a statue somewhere.
Also Johnny Boy, I worked a long time for the government and you can in fact take money from one pot and move it to another. Did it all the time. That is a lie they tell us to shut us up.
They City of Bloomington could use their CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds to repave the streets for SAFETY REASONS. See example below that could be used to fix any west side street this is deemed dangerous.
Eligible Activities
Over a 1, 2, or 3-year period, as selected by the grantee, not less than 70 percent of CDBG funds must be used for activities that benefit low- and moderate-income persons. In addition, each activity must meet one of the following national objectives for the program: benefit low- and moderate-income persons, prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or address community development needs having a particular urgency because existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community for which other funding is not available.
So…if I drive down Wood Street and my car is damaged due to a pothole they must pay for the repair as long as it has been reported. By sending the e-mail that road has been repaired make the potholes no longer reported? If so does that make the city not responsible for damage or injury? Do we have to report this everyday to keep it in reported status?
Ask your representative!
Oh look. The resident troll has taken a new name, John Grover. Outside of that observation, I’d rather watch the ant races than waste time on any response to such uninformed lunacy.
Grover, YOUR explanation of WHY our streets are HORRIBLE is about as acceptable as a porcupine in a nudist camp!
Rural roads get HUGE snow drifts, much more wind, water flowing OVER them, etc, and they are NOT this bad..BUT they are not USUALLY salted! RURAL road commissioners have the common sense to use sand, pea gravel, cinder etc. AND they know how to USE a snow plow! How MANY mailboxes has the city had to replace JUST on MLK/Cottage going west toward White Oak road, due to snow plow contact..
And MOST rural folks don’t have “pet projects” which rob the bank..
Out my way they salt. Roads are still.awesome
Does King Tari realize that strangers coming into his kingdom do notice how terrible the roads are here? I would be ashamed to have anyone come into Bloomington. No amount of welcoming signs will improve the look of Bloomington because the roads are in such poor condition.
King Tari is the Emperor with No Clothes on. Everyone in Bloomington sees the roads but Tari and just like the children’s story, some day some one will open Tari’s eyes when its too late. I’ve seen third world countries with better roads.