Free with Mosquitoes, $40 without
Take your pick: (or don’t)
Month: September 2019
New Bloomington Website – waste of YOUR space
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington is now posting information about meetings in a new place with a different presentation: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1129 Instead of being able to view supporting documents on-line, everything now downloads automatically. Either people will no longer look at the documentation or their computers will be clogged with a bunch of […]
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Weekend Internet is back!
26 hours with NO Internet!
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Chemberly’s big announcement
By: Diane Benjamin Yep, Dan Brady’s seat. It wasn’t hard to put together the pieces of that particular jig saw puzzle. I wonder if Chemberly can explain her personal finance history. She’s sitting on the Normal Town Council spending over $100,000,000 a year but seems to have some difficulties with her own finances! With her […]
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I Predict . . . .
At 5:01 Chemberly Cummings is going to announce she is running for Dan Brady’s seat in the 105th District. This latest stunt will be billed as: At 5:01 I’m announcing I am going to flip the 105th. (5:01 – 105th get it?) Of course she will be running as a Democrat. I could be wrong, […]
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Is Normal GIVING away property to ISU?
By: Diane Benjamin The Art Gallery in Uptown is on the agenda for Monday: http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3411 See PDF pages 34 and following. The docs contains very little financial information except what ISU has already paid. It does say the current lease agreement will be extended until February 2020. As I reported in this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/09/03/more-on-the-isu-art-gallery/ The […]
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Emails too good not to post
By: Diane Benjamin This statement is on the Town of Normal website – even though Chris Koos and company try to tell Stan Nord and Karyn Smith talking to citizens about locating in Normal isn’t their job: http://normal.org/97/Contacting-the-Council It looks like citizens would rather contact Stan and Karyn: Once again, Karyn speaks for many of […]
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In honor of Chemberly’s Friday announcement . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Sometimes I see an email that so so well written and sums up perfectly what a lot of people think, I have to post it. This was received by FOIA – I redacted the writer’s name. Friday at 5:01 pm Chemberly claims to be making a big announcement. I think I will […]
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Want to see condescending?
By: Diane Benjamin Many people wondered what the Town of Normal was up to when they decided to stop enforcing the State Energy Codes. For a Town that has no problem spending taxpayer money to be “green” it didn’t feel right. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/06/normals-stan-nord-fires-back/ Side note: ISU is building housing for sophomores. What codes […]
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Update: Want to buy an eyesore?
A reader sent this link: https://hibid.com/catalog/182487/102-s-east-st–bloomington–il/ An auction is underway until 9/23. The listing claims it is gutting and cleaned inside. By: Diane Benjamin Lovely “Welcome to Downtown Bloomington”. 102 S East. I can’t find the listing, but the property taxes will be sold for the second year on November 1st. Last year the taxes […]
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Normal: Emails you need to see
By: Diane Benjamin All of these emails were received by FOIA. Remember when the Trustees job was described by Chris Koos, Pam Reece, and others as “Policy Only”? Those comments were made to Stan Nord in regards to his questioning spending. He was told that wasn’t his job. Evidently the job of a Trustee is […]
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WJBC – Scott Miller & Tari Renner
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner was on WJBC this morning. Since Scott did a lot of the talking, it’s was hard to tell who was interviewing who. Miller is upset the Kimberly Bray didn’t use the Spanish pronunciation of Jenn’s last name last Monday. Maybe Kim just Americanized it since we are in America. Jenn […]
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Normal’s Cannabis Plan
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal must be laughing at Bloomington today, they aren’t taking the suggestion of a short-term alderman to decide how to proceed with regulating cannabis. Note to Jenn: There is no DEMOCRACY in America. Democracy is mob rule, majority wins, the minority gets trampled. As an example, in a democracy […]
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IML’s latest Fleece
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written many stories about the Illinois Municipal League. This organization works for cities, not the people paying their bills. This is their latest plan: It all sounds wonderful until you look at the facts. All of these funding numbers come from the Comptroller’s website, the latest numbers for Bloomington and Normal […]
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Bloomington: Carrillo clipped
By: Diane Benjamin Consent Agenda: 23:40 – Donna Boelen pulled the purchase of the garbage trucks to talk about the Henson Disposal bills. She wanted clarification on why Henson was getting thousands a week from the City. She asked if the contracts will expire soon so they can be renegotiated. City Manager Gleason said internal […]
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Sports Complex?
By: Diane Benjamin Why did the Sports Complex come back? It looks like it’s being pushed by the Convention and Visitors Bureau: (CVB) That email was included in one of the FOIA request I received. Another email shows the Normal City Manager’s response to a citizens opposed to the complex. I redacted he name: Meanwhile, […]
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Why is Bloomington allowing propaganda?
By: Diane Benjamin The Creativity Center is still a mystery to most Bloomington taxpayers. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2019/02/14/it-a-secret-bcpa-creativity-center/ Taxpayers are funding the salary and benefits for a fundraiser – but you aren’t allowed to know how much money she has raised! She is raising money for the Friends of the BCPA a 501-3C that doesn’t […]
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Failure to serve
By: Diane Benjamin The local politicians have forgotten: Likely most didn’t run to serve, they ran to rule. The people are sick of: excessive taxation handouts to government “friends” rotten roads sole focus on downtowns interference in free markets government pensions and lavish benefits laws being ignored citizens being ignored redistribution of the people’s wealth […]
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Felons not going to Jail?
By: Diane Benjamin See this story from Conservative Review: Chicago Hellhole Parole Free Bail Jailbreak Violent Gun Felons The story is mostly about how felons, even convicted of gun violence, end up back on the streets. Unfortunately, McLean County made the story: We know crime decreased for decades due to mandatory sentences. That trend is […]
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Weekend Chores Avoidance
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What’s Bloomington doing Monday?
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 […]
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Update: Normal’s ILLEGAL Public Comment policy
Update
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Why Stan got the most votes in Normal
By: Diane Benjamin Just to remind you of how the last election turned out in Normal: Obviously a lot of people in Normal aren’t happy with the direction the Town has taken. Obviously the Town isn’t happy with the election since Stan and Karyn are portrayed as villains or clueless whenever possible. To prove you […]
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Climate Change Question
By: Diane Benjamin Hey, it’s Friday. Time to have some fun. Emails received by FOIA. Remember when the US Conference of Mayors was held in Hawaii? The same people lecturing and taxing to save the environment flew across an ocean to attend. Mayor Koos attended the Climate Summit held right before it. Obviously Climate Change […]
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Update: Normal’s ILLEGAL Public Comment policy
I have been informed Stan Nord sent the two pics below to Pam Reece. She responded with what the Town lawyer sent to the Attorney General in response to Karyn Smith Request for Review. The Town claims they read the law – the Attorney General Open Meetings Act training is immaterial. See the response here: Town […]
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CIRBN back during discussion
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Omnibus Agenda, that would have sailed through the Council without discussion before Stan Nord and Karyn Smith were elected, was moved to the end of the meeting. Chris Koos didn’t stick around for the discussion, he claimed he had to get up early to travel somewhere to see his […]
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Corrected: Like Uptown? You will love the debt!
The chart has been corrected. Normal actually has FIVE loans they are only paying interest on. Debt payments in FY 2020 total $5,549,176. Interest is $3,344,176. TIF revenue will not cover the payments. (This was incredibly difficult to do!) By: Diane Benjamin The theme for Monday’s Normal Town Council meeting was we LOVE Uptown. Kathleen […]
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Protest your property tax assessment?
By: Diane Benjamin Not many people have. The chart below shows the multiplier that will be applied to the bill you get next year. If you live in a township with a ∗, your taxes will be higher even if your assessment remained the same. Only one township is lowering the multiplier, of course it was […]
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$39,000 for .188 acres
By: Diane Benjamin I’m not going to comment on the financial statements and TIF reports last night until I can SEE the documents! PDF page 80: http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3396 Buying this tiny property was on the agenda last night. Stan Nord was the only NO vote. There was no appraisal done. According to PDF page 92, the […]
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Chemberly: Wrong again
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s Normal Town Council meeting lasted close to 4 hours. It started with a conga line of Uptown supporters, most (if not all) connected to government. 2 objectors to the Fiala payoff were conveniently placed at the end of Public Comment. It started at 8:00 if you want to watch. On […]
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More on the ISU Art Gallery
By: Diane Benjamin I bet you didn’t click on the links in the first story: https://blnnews.com/2019/09/03/another-questionable-lease-in-normal/ You missed a gem that tells what to expect in the near future concerning the ISU Art Gallery in Uptown. It is in this document on page 2: Original rent November 4, 2013 So: The Town charged the […]
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Local democrats admit the obvious
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been telling you for over a year that Chicago democrats are trying to take over McLean County. Lots of Chicago democrat money flowed into McLean County, likely it will continue in 2020. It is wonderful the McLean County Democrats are now admitting the Chicago connection on Facebook. They changed their profile […]
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Another Questionable Lease in Uptown
By: Diane Benjamin In 2017 I FOIA’d the Town of Normal for all properties they rent: https://blnnews.com/2017/01/10/normals-rental-properties/ At least one property didn’t make the list of what I received: The ISU Art Gallery. The gallery is tucked under the west end of the parking garage by City Hall. One thing is clear from the latest […]
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Normal: Desperate to fill Uptown?
By: Diane Benjamin I found this one while looking for something else – the other story tomorrow. Normal prides itself on being “green” and being environment politically correct. Have you heard them talk about LEED Certification? Here’s what that means according to Wikipedia: Of course this makes construction more expensive. Normal has building codes requiring […]
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Is Tesla paying for electricity in Uptown?
By: Diane Benjamin May 2, 2013: Tesla Ordinance We know taxpayers are subsidizing electric vehicle charging in Uptown, recently it was reported at a Council meeting the Town found it too expensive to install equipment to make people pay for the electricity they use. What about the Tesla charging stations? We know if they are […]
