By: Diane Benjamin
WGLT’s Eric Stock wrote this story yesterday: https://www.wglt.org/post/town-normal-turns-heat-nord-development-0#stream/0
Yesterday was January 31, 2020 – in case you forgot.
The article has a link to a letter Pam Reece wrote to Stan Nord on January 27, 2020. It eerily looks like it was mailed, not emailed. Add another day or two before Stan received it.
How did WGLT get that letter? Does Eric have a desk in Pam Reece’s office?
Good ole’ Pam is threatening to sue Stan for “building” on his property when he isn’t “building” anything. He spread gravel.
Jump all the way to the bottom of the story. Normal and WGLT know Stan is complying with getting a site plan:
There was no need for Reece’s harassment, she even admits in the letter she knows the site plan will be presented as requested.. There was no need for WGLT claiming Normal:
Turns Up Heat On Nord Development
Is WGLT now quite visibly conspiring against Stan with Pam Reece?
If spreading gravel in Normal is “development” they are in serious trouble!
Pam Reece keeps digging her own hole and WGLT has the shovel.
Lots of people call media conspiring with government: #FakeNews. Congrats WGLT.
Bring back the real Normal with Marc for Mayor!
Back Stan and Karyn and a couple more real conservatives!
Smith may be fiscally sane, but so not confuse that with being a conservative.
Or real liberals. Most people who claim to be liberals are actually leftists. I’m a true liberal and I nearly always agree with Diane calling out government overspending, stupidity, corruption, etc.
Heck, when I was running for town council, one of my sayings was “Wish you could vote for Stan twice? You can – just write in Karl Sila!”
Pam is another example of someone who has spent their career in government and forgets that she is there to “serve” the people, not rule them.
Hopefully Marc will be elected and he along with a new council will make replacing Pam a top priority,
Pam Reece creates a hostile work environment. Normal really needs to look at replacing her.
I object that part of my taxes go to fund NPR and PBS. Let them stand on their own without government subsidy and see how long they last. If they weren’t so absolutely biased to the left it wouldn’t bother me so much.
Left or right shouldn’t matter, we have no need for government media
True – before I knew about their leftist bias, I donated to NPR/PBS to support some of their programming. I’d be happy to do so again if I knew I wasn’t also supporting propaganda. Their most successful shows, like Sesame Street, can easily stand on their own in the marketplace.
They have a cross dresser now
This is harrassment and unacceptable. Anyone can see this for what it really is. I hope there is a legal remedy available for this matter.
WGLT hasn’t done anything legally actionable, or at least nothing where Stan would win.
And I expect likewise with the town, but Stan wouldn’t sue them for harassment regardless because it would only end up punishing the taxpayers.
The primary remedy is at the ballot box. Vote in better people and harassing businesses and discouraging development will stop being policy. Vote in better people and they’ll stop giving thousands to WGLT to encourage hit pieces.
I thought last time WGLT was particularly egregious in their politicking somebody had posted something about givign them a bad review to the FCC or something like that – Whoever that was, a repost would be appreciated!
And of course Not listening to them and telling others why they shouldn’t either.
There ratings are that hot, but the few listeners they have probably agree with their politics.
IF Pam is worried about “loose gravel” other then in her cerebella areas, maybe she should look CLOSELY at the SE corner of Hovey and 150, at the landscape business that is continually dumping waste into the ditch!!
How about that PAMMIE?? I have MANY more where that came from..
Great. Can’t wait to read about more.
How dare Stan even think of improving HIS property without first getting a nod from her Royalness ! Pam gets more and more like her mother in law every day.!
I am familiar with Normal’s municipal processes and have been following Stan’s problems with the town.
The original problem Stan had with this property was unique. It had never been completely made a legal lot of record in Normal. This step is required by code to develop and receive building permits. Despite this requirement the property has a warehouse and office space which were permitted and constructed decades ago. Many subsequent development permits had been issued over the past decades as well. Apparently when Stan purchased the site, the town wanted him to correct the property issue or have prior issues permits declared invalid. Specifficly the sewer permit. I assume the town chose to focus on this permit because without it, toilets cannot legally be flushed, the property looses it occupancy permit and thus becomes unusable.
I can appreciate why Stan wonders why he had to pay to correct this issue when it persisted without impacting prior owners.
This latest dispute for a site plan for a gravel area is more of the same. There are many loads of gravel taken to many industrial sites each year to expand and repair gravel areas. Few ever bother to get site plans or permits. Most of these properties are large, spanning many acres, as is Stan’s. Technically, no property in Normal is to have work done without a site plan. So even if you pick up a bag of gravel and add landscaping around your mailbox you are required, by code, to submit a site plan with a fee, to the town before you dump the bag. Obviously the town rarely enforced this. But apparently if you are shaking up the system, like Stan is doing, they Town will enforce anything they can to make his life miserable. (Remember he wants to move these departments out of their plush 1 Uptown rental space.)
For a current example of the town’s inconsistent enforcement of the code, Rivian should have had a site plan approved for their building addition, which is across from a residential area. No site plan has been approved, yet they are allowed to continue construction.
In my opinion, this appears as selective enforcement, bordering on harassment. I expect if I were to get involved to help Stan, my future projects will be overly scrutinized. This will negatively impact my livelihood. The planning and inspections departments (permitting) are very much do as I say or else departments, even if the code says otherwise. I have seen simple landscape requirements start at a few thousand dollars escalate to over $40k because a client questioned the town’s interpretation of the code too much.
The unreasonableness of Normal is not unique to just Stan. His is just on display for the public to witness. My recommendation for my clients is not to fight or question Normal, just pay and do what they ask or you will end up paying more in the end.
I do hope his public drama will cause changes to the current system. They are long overdue.
The Voice of America (radio and TV operated by taxpayer money on shortwave directed to foreign audiences) is not allowed to broadcast specifically to US citizens. So why are PBS and NPR stations allowed to broadcast news specifically to US citizens? The VOA is not allowed to do so to avoid the appearance of looking like a TASS or other government propaganda outlet to it’s own citizens. The time has come to NOT allow NPR or PBS stations to report news and broadcast any politically oriented shows or political opinion stories. That is….end propaganda by WGLT, McBribe and others directed at US citizens.
Because PBS isn’t biased. That everyone thinks so on this forum just shows that they have never actually watched PBS news or listened to NPR news. As for bias, Fox News is neither fair or balanced. It’s the mouthpiece of the Trump Republican party. That’s the very definition of propaganda.
Why exactly does Mr. Nord not have to follow rules and code? Is he somehow special? Would you like to live next to that eyesore? If this was Jenn Carillo, I bet anything you’d be screaming about her inability to follow the law.
Rivian didn’t! Fix doesn’t get tax $$)!
ART….having worked at one time at a PBS station that had a radio station that ran NPR as well in there same building I can say you are full of crap. You are one of those sad people who believe as long as the opinions/news provided are in agreement with your beliefs no bias exists. You would have been a favorite in Germany in the 30’s and Russia in the Cold War.
PBS isn’t biased? YEP! And there are not ANY glaciers in Alaska either..
IF WGLT leaned anymore to the left they’d fall of the dial!
Antiques Roadshow is good!
Agreed, I was thinking NPR is biased as a whole. PBS not as much.
I would agree. NPR slams it in your face. PBS is more subtle in how it presents what is a “right fit” and “acceptable” in the course of it’s programs.
GLT has lost credibility as a legitimate news source. McCurdy and McBride are too involved in government to be unbiased. I feel bad for the staff level reporters who are told to write stories with a mandated slant.
Due to the enormous conflict of interest, no one in the media should hold a position in government and visa-versa.
Good point DJ! However NOW that they have BBC news at LATE NIGHT, it’s actually worth a listen, as the BBC gives you the WORLD news without a local “lean” and you MIGHT actually learn something or find a story of interest. OTherwise, it’s just GIGO!
This “thing” that is happening with Council Member Nord should make us all be afraid. Look how far the current government will go to destroy a man. If they do it to him they can and will do it to you and nothing is off limits with these people. Not your job, not your home, not your business and not your children. It’s scary stuff when a government can be this oppressive. Who will be next?
My question is again, is Mr. Nord somehow special? I guess according to all the comments here he doesn’t have to follow any rules or the law. All other business developers have to summit site plans and adhere to building codes. Evidently since this blogger is carrying water for Mr. Nord, he can’t defend himself. I also wonder if any commenter here would like to live next to this eyesore. I bet anything that all house values will go down significantly with this business in their backyards. Mr. Nord also doesn’t actually give any empirical evidence that his business is actually going to bring in money.
The assertions about PBS are just wrong. The reporting on this story by a local NPR station doesn’t make it “Fake news”. What is apparent is that you don’t like the news that WGLT is reporting. Adding Russia and Germany just makes me shake my head in disbelief. You’re allowed to have your own opinions not your own facts. Both NPR and PBS have been repeatedly attacked by the far right by people who actually never listen to either. Those attacks are based on no real evidence but by dark moneyed groups with political axes to grind.
I hope you realizing you are wasting your time here.
ART people like you are just stupid. Clueless as to what is going on but feel we all should follow your expert advice. No doubt you work for WGLT and have very little history knowledge. As pointed out you need to go elsewhere. Russia might be a good choice since you like biased state controlled media.
I don’t feel Stan should be exempt from unreasonable anti-business regulations, I feel Everyone should exempt from unreasonable anti-business regulations.
None of the reasons I wouldn’t want to live across the street from Stan’s business have anything to do with Stan’s business. The biggest being that they are literally right next to the interstate. If you can live a hundred yards from speeding semi trucks, I doubt living over a quarter mile from a gravel parking lot that is screened by trees and a building is a major hit to your lifestyle or property values.
WGLT presented a slanted piece, seemingly fed to them by political operatives, about a Potential conflict (since Stan still had time to meet required deadlines) as an ongoing battle. Definitely not ‘fake news’ if one uses a ‘purely made up’ definition, but if one uses the wider ‘purposely misleading’ definition, then yes, it is. If you’re okay with ‘news’ that is purposely misleading, then we’ll have to just agree to disagree and drop the point.
And just because NPR/PBS may have suffered inappropriate attacks in the past from arguably bad actors, that does not give a specific station an automatic pass on bad reporting when called out by somebody who does legitimate journalism.
What is being missed is that Stan is trying to work with the town. This is a unique property/situation as RJ mentioned above. This shouldn’t be news. His property is zoned for manufacturing and even though it is across the street from a residential property, the work he is doing is not visible from the residential area. It’s between ¼ to ½ of a mile off the road and behind an existing building.
It has been mentioned by others that Stan is trying to get preferential treatment. That he is not. He is just trying to navigate the murky waters of this property and the town’s inconsistencies. I also wonder why Rivian doesn’t have to have a site plan when there is a residence across the street. I guess Normal sees them as a “right fit”…
WGLT is doing more harm than good. This seems to be a personal attack…
Just wanted to say hi to RC McBride and Mike McCurdy. When I read your hate filled posts under various “pen names” or through directives you give your reporter minions, I hope ISU execs realize how you are both destroying WGLT and the future careers of the young people who work there.
After witnessing ISU fleece Normal residents out of another $230k a year for an Uptown rental last night, I realize there are not just a few bad apples at ISU who don’t care about anyone but students, the leadership actively exploits Normal’s non-student residents for financial gain.
I am getting ashamed of where my degree is from now.