By: Diane Benjamin
WGLT wrote a story on March 6, 2020 stating: wglt.org/wages-flat-mclean-county-lagging-rest-us-economy
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Tonight’s Normal Town Council agenda:
https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3580
PDF page 71:
Normal gives Cost of Living increases twice a year!
Normal’s own propaganda arm – WGLT – stated wages are flat for most residents. I saw a station selling gas for $1.88 yesterday. People are losing their jobs because of a virus and State Farm abandoning their bank. Is Normal going to insult the taxpayers with this:
If this isn’t pulled from the agenda Normal is sending you serfs a clear message!
Other spending:
It was nice of Normal to group a lot of questionable expenses together:
-Chemberly is going somewhere when crowds are supposed to be avoided?
-The Town already paid $1,600 for Koos to attend One Voice. he spent another $2,109?: https://blnnews.com/2020/02/14/normal-pam-reece-get-a-retroactive-raise/
-Pantagraph always gets paid, why is the town sponsoring anything?
-Did Pam wreck the Town vehicle? Did she run into the Greenbriar wall? (just asking!)
-lots of rebates and of course the monthly rent for 1 Uptown Circle
More expenses for the software from this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/02/12/more-on-normals-software-debacle/
The library is continuing to spend money for a new building whether you want one or not:
See last year’s TIF report here:
https://files.illinoiscomptroller.gov/LocGovTIF/FY2019/06409531/19TIF06409531Main_Osage_1.pdf
The Town of Normal took out $20,000,000 in bonds. Revenue to the TIF was $779,014, expenses were $1,005,312. As of 3/31/2019 the TIF shows a negative balance of : (29,379,961)
What is Main and Osage? The Flats – student housing: https://theflatsatisu.com/
The reviews on Yelp are terrible. What happens when ISU opens a new dorm? ISU is not only going after the private sector by building a sophomore dorm, they are going after Normal taxpayers. What happens when The Flats wants their property reassessed because they can’t rent the apartments? Who is going to pay those bonds? Since the TIF has negative cash flow, Normal taxpayers are already getting the bill.
Add this to the previous story: https://blnnews.com/2020/03/13/why-is-isu-going-after-private-business/
Normal elected people for a decade who thought they could “create” the perfect Normal by handing out your money to developers. How’s that working?
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What does it say about McLean county that in the mist of a national economic boom wages are flat inspite low unemployment?
What does it say about McLean county that in the mist of a national economic boom is experiencing nearly zero home construction?
What does it say about McLean county that in the mist of a national economic boom is experiencing no economic growth?
Having unexplained symptoms usually means there is something wrong?
Here is what’s wrong: Imagine the economy of the area as a bell curve. That bell curve started in the 20th Century an successfully rose to a high point and then flattened out just a couple years ago. We are now on the way down the backside of this bell curve.
Yes, we at one time had an economy here that was perfectly suited for the times. This is no longer the case. The Bloomington-Normal bubble will no longer protect us from the reality of a emerging 21st Century economy.
So in many ways, we have the perfect storm headed our way:
1. Business unfriendly local and state governments
2. Left wing socialist (clueless) leadership at the state and local levels
3. Taxes and regulations that impede economic growth and actually drive businesses from the area/state.
4. Local economic drivers which are currently being disrupted and will eventually fail
The question is: Will the downturn caused by the Corona virus accelerate our movement down the economic bell curve? I think it will.
Picket Koos/Pritzker Hyatt Hotel until they shut down. If everyone else has to make concessions why not them?
Although a lot of it is probably contractually obligated at this point, if the town council had planned ahead appropriately (aka been working for the taxpayers rather than themselves), I think we found about $1M of the $90K in spending reductions they said were ‘impossible’ a few months ago…
As for what does her majesty, Queen Pamela do with her $500,000 slush fund, it goes toward items like a $1,500 sponsorship for girls world expo. After awhile this stuff starts to add up.
By the way, there’s no way in hell I’d let my daughter attend this left wing propaganda indoctrination of Girls World Expo. It’s about as bad as the Royal Fortress’ Racial Equality summit.
That money isn’t available until April 1. She’s using what’s left from this year