By: Diane Benjamin
https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=22589
See PDF pages 116-121. All Amazon purchases totaling $12,498.95 with no hint of what was purchased.
More unidentified Amazon purchases totaling $11,299.12 are listed on PDF pages 107-110.
In between are wire transfers we used to get an explanation for.
Did you get the full color BCPA show listing brochure?
BCPA artist on 9/13/2019:
Tickets are $24 each. That Price doesn’t include $1 per ticket + $5 per order. At $24 each, 355 tickets need to be sold just to pay the artist.
Henson Disposal got another big check. A long list of dumpster pickups ( https://blnnews.com/2019/07/03/know-what-these-bills-are-for/ ) and various other charges are on PDF pages 34-37:
Just a reminder of how much of your money goes to empty buses every month:
Meeting agenda: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=22595
Buying 3 new garbage trucks is back on the agenda: $1,020,017.46
The vote was delayed from the August 12th meeting because Alderman Crabill and Emig wanted the City to look at electric vehicles instead. https://blnnews.com/2019/08/13/68813/
The documentation on PDF page 20 page says electric vehicles aren’t being used by any garbage service in the US. The trucks they are buying will run on 20 percent biodiesel.
All three vehicles being replaced have less than 70,000 miles, but collective maintenance to date has been almost $367,000. They are 2012 models.
Stop lights are going to be installed at GE Road and Keaton Place/Auto Row Drive. This is only 400 feet from Veterans. The cost is only $876,831.72 + $220,738.99 the Council previously approved from engineering, acquisition of right-of-way, etc.
See PDF page 74 and following. The “City Clerk” is requesting changes for the Miller Park Pavilion and David Davis Lodge when events obtain permission to serve alcohol.
The one that stands out is:
No more bringing in a keg and bottles of wine for a wedding reception! Remember this story? https://blnnews.com/2019/08/25/anybody-know/
I found out from City Manager Gleason an event held at Miller Park had left the pavilion needing a major cleaning. So the City thinks supervised alcohol dispensing will fix problems? It will make events more expensive. Since this is on the Consent Agenda, we might never know why the change was requested.
The regular agenda only has one item:
Meanwhile kids are vaping THC, the ingredient in marijuana that produces a high. Is that product going to be legal? At least some of the vaping deaths have been linked to THC.
I wonder if the Task Force will figure out how to make sure this “cash” business will report all revenue. Banks won’t take their money because federally it is derived from an illegal product.
Some Illinois cities have voted to not allow sales. It looks like Bloomington won’t be one of them.
I received the full color BCPA show listing brochure. And it went right into the recycling bin.
We got the brochure. It looks good in the recycling bin. We can’t afford the tickets. Nor is there anything worth attending.
Lol, can’t wait to see who will be appointed to the Cannabis Review Board. Are they users and if so, for how long have they been using? Lots of interesting questions should come up for a proper interview.Wonder how many of Tari’s buddies will plead the 5th.
Alderperson Carillo is the self-appointed Chair of the Task Force. She proclaimed her stance at the Committee of the Whole meeting…proliferation, especially downtown. The members will be recommended by Jenn. The outcome will be predetermined. No bias here.
Wonder if there will be a dispensary on the ground floor of the “luxury apartments” that are supposedly coming to the old State Farm building in Downtown. Hahahaha!
Direct mailing, BCPA? Really?! How many people here are excited to go home after work and painstakingly go through and read their direct mail and act on it. Such a dated advertising and marketing tactic. Further proof of how out of touch the BCPA truly is. $7,500 redirected to ad spending on social media would have an exponentially higher ROI. Also, the BCPA has never been good at math. For the event highlighted, without including other operational costs, they have to sell at least $8,500 worth of tickets just to break even. The math doesn’t look good. Regarding Amazon orders, I’m not convinced that this has something to do, in part, with shielding the specific item(s) purchased. If they shopped at a specific store, online or brick-and-mortar, we’d have more info. The City Council is making decisions on running a waste management service? Think about that. Politicians are making decisions about running a business. Methinks a waste management company would make decisions that are more cost-effective, provide better customer service, and likely give generously to worthy causes in the community. Of course, Tari and his minions think government is better at running everything. The cannabis task force is interested purely in the politics of pot. While I’m for sensible legalization, there must be a recognition of the public safety issues associated with this cash industry, as Diane mentioned, as well as all of the regulatory requirements. I don’t trust this or any City task force to be perfectly blunt. Ha!
Most of the vaping health issues are caused by the oil the THC comes in, not the actual THC. See article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/09/05/contaminant-found-vaping-products-linked-deadly-lung-illnesses-state-federal-labs-show/?noredirect=on
Back by popular demand, I understand this year’s lineup at the BCPA, includes the naked magicians!!!!!