By: Diane Benjamin
Recently the Pantagraph put out a call for people to write editorials for them. Evidently Justin Boyd answered the call, this was published on August 12th: Bloomington Needs To Rethink Its Future
Who is Justin Boyd?
- Downtown business owner
- Tari’s One Voice travel buddy: https://blnnews.com/2019/03/21/bloomington-travels-one-voice/
- Justin helped get signatures for Julie Emig (with Tari) when Amelia Buragas decided at the last minute not to run: https://blnnews.com/2018/11/27/taris-candidates/
- Justin was Tari’s campaign manager and a member of the downtown task force that wanted to move the library: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/06/hey-bloomington-2/
Get the idea?
Justin thinks Bloomington hasn’t been doing economic development right for 10 years. Funny how his buddy Tari has been in charge for over 6 of those 10 years.
Maybe Justin doesn’t know the Coliseum and the BCPA were sold as economic drivers. We know how they turned out!
Boyd praises Normal for putting their citizens deep in debt. He doesn’t mention the Uptown failures.
Hey Justin: Why did Wirtz Beverage build in Lexington? They were looking at property in Bloomington. Were taxes too high? Regulations to burdensome? Were government officials trying to run their business? Were they not the “Right Fit”?
The last paragraph is the funniest. Justin couldn’t have thrown Tari’s policies under the bus to help him. Is Boyd setting up his own run for mayor? If yes, be very afraid of the local socialist/Marxists who think they are smarter than the private sector:
Bloomington isn’t growing because free enterprise capitalism isn’t allowed in Bloomington. It looks like Justin would make it even worse! Bloomington has little to show for the massive spending and tax increases since Tari became Mayor. You were right there with him Justin.
Maybe in his next article Boyd can explain why Tari has failed. I’m sure he will leave out taxes take money away from the people supporting the local economy. Tari took MILLIONS away from citizens. It isn’t surprising businesses are closing. People don’t have enough money left to support them.
I bet Justin missed this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/12/taxin-tari/
His bias is so transparent it is kind of funny. He is trying to moving their insane narrative forward. His little brother Mayor Fredo Little Man must be proud?
It was a ridiculous article based on nothing. Boyd wouldn’t know the first thing how the process works or how to manage it. Seriously, where did this imposter come from anyway?
Look at his friends
The McLean County Left is very good at “grooming” future “leaders”. Heck, they started boosting Little Tari within weeks after he landed in Bloomington in 1998–though they had him pegged for Congress back then. Bailed him out of personal “troubles” several times, and just kept pushing him along.
Justin is definitely one of their “projects”. Think we should lean HARD on Country Companies about him. He definitely doesn’t represent their values. They are certainly not Marxists.
Speaking of the BCPA and wasting money by rethinking a losing downtown. The Naked Magicians are back Feb 21, 2020 at BCPA. Bring on the porn. Farm animals will b e next.
Naked Farm Animals? Been there, haven’t done that.
or Farm Animal Magicians? Now *That* I might pay money to see!
More seriously, didn’t the NM’s lose money their first trip through? Unless there’s some private entity underwriting them to guarantee no loss, there’s no reason to repeat book an act except maybe, Maybe if it has some sort of traditional holiday theme.
Maybe Triple Taxin’ Tari has decided not to run?
Haha! The editorial itself was extremely vague and offered no cogent economic development ideas other than to say Bloomington needs “wins”. Okay Justin, yes, we need wins. Very good. Wins are better than loses in terms of economic development (and life in general for that matter). What do you propose? Well, nothing. He did, however, define Rivian and Brandt as wins. The jury is still out on both of these as economic development drivers. Boyd also suggested “playing the same game the Town of Normal and other growing cities are playing”. What’s that, Justin? Developing properties that no one wants to rent, subsidizing rent on spaces for friends of government, giving away millions in tax dollars to wealthy developers, and partnering with hospitality companies to manage empty hotels? His choice of words is interesting – “game”. To those in the crony inner circle, it seems this is nothing more than a game. If you want to play ball in Bloomington, you have to play by the rules of Renner, Boyd, and the other self-righteous cronies in the inner circle.
I agree completely. Boyd has no idea about what he is talking about. His grasp on economic development is tissue thin. He does know how to regurgitate talking points and dutifully carry water for the crony capitalists in the area. How anyone could consider anything in the Upscale Normal boondoggle as a win is beyond me? And Rivian? Not one vehicle has been produced yet and very few people are working there. This is a win too? Brandt? Farm implement company that does not have a great reputation. This is a win too? If all this is winning I would hate to see what losing is?
Not to mention that Boyds downtown office interior painted green is about the ugliest green interior paint ever. No clue in decorating or economic development. Might as well take a big green magic marker and paint an “L” on his forehead.
He’s RIGHT Bloomington HAS to RE THINK how it’s growth is going to be in 10 years and THINK BIG!! And IF his ideal of “thinking big” is uptown, that’s about like a kid that sells lemonade thinking about opening another stand talking to Bill Gates about expansion. Pull your head out Justin!
“Thinking big” is really leftist crony speak for “We need to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on big expensive and useless projects. The sports complex is “Thinking bid”. He is just trying to move the narrative forward. He is doing the bidding of the establishment here. He is an obedient tool and hopes that someday he will be rewarded for it. He is a perfect example of the low IQ uninformed pompous fools currently in positions of power in our towns. Yes, he is part of the problem and should be ignored.