By: Diane Benjamin
The Live Stream of the Council meeting had no sound last night. Today a video is posted with no sound until around 12:00. When there is sound it wasn’t recorded from the microphones, people whispering, shuffling papers, and footsteps can be heard in numerous places.
At 8:10 a lady spoke during public comment with no sound. She must have said something important because Howard Packowitz from WJBC was seen on the video asking her more questions. I don’t see a story from Howard about that discussion. The minutes for this meeting need to state what was said before the sound was restored.
The Information Service Department has about $3.5 million to spend, almost $400,000 more than last year. How about doing updates for citizens instead of staff?
PDF page 153 https://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=22149
See 14.41 A guy with way too much common sense spoke about City spending. He covered many items – worth your time to listen too. Most of the Council probably didn’t.
Video gaming was approved for the new business opening at Washington and Clinton. Donna Boelen was the only no vote. The Council had decided previously to allow a maximum of 60 locations for gaming. This is number 61. Donna wondered what happens when number 62 requests gaming?
Notice a Bloomington trend? Restaurants, Liquor, gambling, soon a cannabis destination. Sound like a plan for prosperity? Do local governments love these establishments because of Food/Beverage Taxes? They collect 2%. From cannabis they will collect 3%
Finance Director’s report: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23519
See the tax receipts to date on page 2. Note budget increases or decreases from last year – far right column.
The City will be $1.250.000 over budget in Sick Leave Buy Back due to employees retiring before the program is finally terminated.
PDF page 4 – It looks to me like the Coliseum is projecting revenue of $2,328,155. Before it was built consultants estimated revenue of over $7,000,000 a year. It was going to pay for itself. #NeverForget
The sound isn’t good, the most exciting part of the meeting was Jenn Carrillo wasn’t there. The lady pictured is the one who spoke with no sound.
One would think that comrade carillo would be leading the charge against LuLus because of the sexist company logo. She must have been meeting with the bernie for president campaign.
Maybe she was protesting Rodney Davis! Anybody see her there?
All this liquor, gaming, etc is Taris PLAN for prosperity, as one can ONLY imagine him TRYING to woo some Silicon Valley tech folks here with his rhetoric and thoughts on WHAT government can DO for them..
I travel to Silicon Valley regularly for work. While the politics are nuts, at the end of the day tech companies and individuals want to be located in cities with techies, a strong creative class, and access to venture capital. Bloomington-Normal does not even register on any of these metrics. The community will never be on their radar screen.
So we go from a nice little town that is a good place to raise children….. to Sin City? Thanks Mayor Little Man!
I was about to say it sure sounds like the Las Vegas plan…
And let’s not forget the destruction of law enforcement with “social justice” zealots, hyperactive Anita terrorists cells and Black Lives Matter thugs (both represented on the City Council), neglect of traditional basic city services, a pro sexual deviancy mindset, falling public school test scores, and exploding taxes and fees.
Yep, a Marxist paradise for sure! You get what you vote for……or what Chicago wants, if you don’t vote.
Jenn isn’t there when she’s there. What a circus this council has been.
Thanks for pointing out the narrow-minded, impractical, and uninformed “economic development” efforts of our so-called leadership, Diane. The Chamber and EDC fawn over new restaurants, while the two city governments are gitty for tax revenue from restaurants, as well as cannabis, liquor, and gaming entities. New restaurants don’t bring economic development nor add any value to the local economy, they merely reallocate disposable income that would otherwise have been spent at other restaurants. Koos still thinks people will come from miles away to patronize local restaurants. I’m concerned about the growth of cannabis, liquor, and gaming entities. Nothing at all against these industries, but oversaturation and rapid growth can invite the gray and black market, as well as increasing numbers of unsavory characters.
I think it is interesting that Rob Mud Dauber’s Restaurant is already advertising on WJBC radio. I go by it all the time and it does not seem to be doing that well. For some reason, the investors in this area believe that the disposable income pie that needs to be divided up here between eating places is bigger than their egos. National trends indicate that people are eating at home more and spending less money eating out. With Bloomington-Normal in an economic decline, we can expect this to be happening here too. The Bloomington Normal Restaurant Scene Facebook just announced that we are getting a corporate owned Texas Roadhouse. That probably means the end of Jim’s Steakhouse.
Check out the idiotic comments on the Facebook post…. these people are brain dead. https://www.facebook.com/bloomingtonnormalrestaurantscene/posts/10157344411679760
A friend stopped in there, saw the prices, and left.
Old Rob Mud Dauber has built himself (and his wife) a Grossinger Motors Arena. Now we will see how much of his fortune he is willing to dump into this black hole before he gives up on this monument to stupidity.
Tough to hear, Neversilent. As a general rule, I’d never consider betting against the RobDob ownership couple when it comes to business, but this is looking and sounding more and more like a bust. The disposable income pie is a finite amount and the community workforce is trending downward in terms of salary and upward economic mobility. Not a good recipe for high-end dining. Had to laugh when I read the comments on BNRS about Texas Roadhouse. Great page and good for conversation, but wow…”Bloomington Beige” in full force.
We have very few people here who could be part of building a new economy…. but we have a bumper crop of land whales and want-to-be land whales who will line up to eat almost anything from a chain restaurant.
Yes we need people like in this video, but we have brainless land whales instead: Conventional Economic Development is Dead Wrong | Greg Tehven | TEDxStPeterPort
Read the customer comments on Rob Dob website. Poor quality food, unexceptable wait times after food and drink ordered. $25 for a steak, nothing else. Steak and lobster $50. Sounds like poor training also. They are not going to make it if something does not drastically change!