By: Diane Benjamin
You will probably remember Matejka as a former Bloomington Alderman. During his tenure he voted FOR the Coliseum and FOR the never used fire station. If he could get your money to fork over to union members with a government project he was all in.
Now he is at it again. It is long past time for WJBC to recycle their forum conmmentors, especially when the truth is stretched too far. Matejka did this one yesterday: http://www.wjbc.com/2019/11/14/wjbc-voices-lets-build-the-normal-underpass/
He praises Normal for getting a $13 million grant for the underpass. He forgot to mention Normal spent a lot of money to get that grant, well over a million. He also forgot to mention Normal wanted $16 million and only got $13 million.
Mikie forgot to mention if Normal had received the $16 million they still needed to come up with another $7 million. Since they only received $13 million, they now need $10,000,000! Mikie thinks the underpass makes sense for Amtrak riders, does it for Normal’s taxpayers Mikie?
Does Matejka support a tax increase to fund that?
He would be the only one!
(excluding Koos, Dave Shields, and the rubber stamp Council members)
Mikie also forgot to mention Amtrak has a golf cart like vehicle the good citizens of Normal bought to shuttle people who can’t walk the short distance to either Linden or Broadway.
Mikie also fails to mention Normal had a plan and funding for an overpass. After spending a lot of money on planning and getting grants for that one, they threw those plans away.
Even if Normal fleeces the money needed from taxpayers, this won’t happen anytime soon. The train tracks will need to be re-routed, it wouldn’t be safe to dig under running trains. All those poor Amtrak riders forced to walk a little will have to walk even farther, the tracks can only be re-routed south,
Maybe Mr. Spend-Taxpayer-Dollars-Without-A-Care can explain why Normal doesn’t have the money to maintain the current infrastructure, but they are building more which will require maintenance too!
Will the underpass need cleaned everyday so garbage and leaves don’t debase the masterpiece? Will kids still cross at Broadway because the underpass is out of their way? Will the golf cart still be used for ADA compliance or convenience? Will the sidewalk be heated to keep snow and ice from accumulating on it? Who will be the first to sue when they slip and fall?
Mike Matejka has cost the taxpayers of both Bloomington and Normal MILLIONS of dollars.
Why does anyone care what he says?
WJBC must not be able to find truthful people to do forums. Mike needs to be recycled now.
Meanwhile, Matejka and his union buddies should be paying reparations to the taxpayers for his votes!
I wonder how much money the jerk got paid for his coliseum vote.
Now that I think more about it, an Underpass is an utterly ridiculous idea. The infrastructure to support the train tracks would likely be insanely expensive. In all likelihood more expensive than their original quote. In the meantime they keep giving our money away to consultants for studies. These people have no shame. They spend our money as if it’s their own.
The underpass is nothing more than a handout to the unions. Done. End of story.
A significant amount of the Laborers union membership don’t even believe in these clowns anymore. They are held hostage by Mike M. , Ronn Morehead and the Penn Family Mafia. It’s either bow down to them or no work for you. All would do well to either leave the area entirely or re-evaluate their career options. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit someday to find out the union leadership was connected to organized crime. The hard arse tough guy acts are old and don’t wash anymore.
It makes no sense to install an underpass. Stark was paid to construct footings for the overpass when the plaza was constructed between the Town hall and Discovery Museum. Then the mayor and council realized that when they looked out of their new windows they would have to see the townsfolks crossing the overpass. Despite having the funding and a grant in hand, and being a lower cost option they must have an overpass to protect their view.
https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/normal-picks-underpass-for-uptown-crossing/article_21eb94c1-334e-585b-9107-e3bf97531e38.html
Remember, It is all your tax money being spent on this project weather it is local funds, state funds or Federal funds. It all comes from your pockets.
Things like this no longer disturb me as I no longer listen to WJBC. I got the chance to provide my input on a ratimgs survey recently and all my media preferences yes were “out of market”. When asked why I informed them there are no local media outlets worthy of my time. Mike is a walking piece of vertical feces which is appropriate as that is what he has done to the taxpayers of this community. I live with the fact that as each day passes that is one less day we will see him on this earth!!!
Worry about the people who do still listen!
I see those as hopeless idiots. Time can be better spent getting the 80% who don’t get off their butt and vote to vote in the future. Meantime I will drink a lot of non-union beer to leave my mark on Mike when the time comes.
Let me know the plan for getting people to vote!
WJBC is where the less intelligent among us go to get their daily community gossip and regurgitated leftist news. Mike M. is the court jester of the laborer’s hall trotted out when necessary to remind us all about “livable wage” among the lazy, unambitious and uneducated and the importance of Davis-Bacon which he quotes daily. He gets his orders from the Penn Family Mafia who in reality are not protectors of the working man but political leg breakers whose main job is to intimidate work sites (done by others of course) and building contractors while providing a phoney image that they care about others while eating steak and caviar off members union dues and making sure leftist cronies get elected to political office.
Mike is deeply rooted in the socialist agenda and it is a shame to see so many (union members) blindly follow thinking he has their best interest in mind. Please guys/gals think on your own what is the best for your family and country.
He obviously doesn’t give a crap about saving money , wise spending , taking care that what is done is getting the best and simplest goals accomplished and not sure if he even tries to break anything down logically or just says yes , thinks more money spent means better , and just don’t care period . It sure appears he doesn’t .Yep a total waste of money , an above overpass would of been better , and they could of even added a bit of a parking garage with an elevator as well I bet , making it ada usable and giving a few spots to Travelers or shoppers to .park. But Koos is only worried about those darn bikes .. ka sa ra sa ra ..Tax every one so a few can petal thru instead of around .
Topic for investigation: Mike Matejka and (mostly out of this community) union violence.
If rumors are true……..
Mike has also contributed some of his writings to the Socialist Library in Chicago. Local 362 leadership promoting union violence locally or elsewhere? C’mon these are respected community leaders.
He’s worried about the icy slush conditions for Amtrack riders but not Connect riders. Interesting. I’m pretty updating current infrastructure badly in need of updates and repair would create jobs for lifetimes to come. What a jerk.