By: Diane Benjamin
https://tinyurl.com/Committee-of-the-Whole
If you haven’t figured it out, anything discussed at Committee of the Whole meetings is already a done deal. It’s a setup for upcoming votes.
First on the agenda is a riveting discussion of changing the building codes. Included are links to previous meetings:
I have no intention of watching them, but this statement says all you need to know:
Raising construction/operating costs does not ensure availability!
The minutes have little information, but they do reference “demolition by neglect”. I doubt that includes the buildings downtown that have been vacant for years. Interested parties need to inform themselves.
Also:
One recommendation in the old Downtown Task Force report was public art. It didn’t take long for this to appear, the report was just resurrected.
There is public art downtown now, look north of the library. No public funds were involved. This will be discussed at tonight’s Committee of the Whole meeting:
The difference between the public art now and what Bloomington is looking at is: You get to pay for it.
The documentation shows downtown first and then mentions possible other areas after. It is about downtown!
Flashback to April 2018: https://blnnews.com/2018/04/17/downtown-downtown-downtown/
The task force presented their report. This story has some interesting highlights of the thinking 2 1/2 years ago. Like this line:
The Front and Center building came up. Around 1:04 Renner talked about using eminent domain. City Manager Steve Rasmussen claimed they are working on something they will bring back to the Council.
Still waiting . . . .
This will stop most building investment in Bloomington. When you impose needless restrictions and ultimately cost, the market will either disappear or move outside the constraints of the area of restrictions. The assumption that we need additional restrictions in our building codes would suggest that we have allowed unsafe buildings / home buildings for past decades. That is profoundly false.
I agree with you Kevin with one exception. You said “[t]his will stop most building investment in Bloomington,” which implies that there currently is investing in buildings in Bloomington.
“Plan and provide for fire and emergency facilities adequate to protect health, life safety, livelihood, and property………”
I thought property was strictly forbidden under the rule of nazi socialists, I mean democratic socialists, I mean commie pinkos? Does Wal-Mart and the other businesses that Tari allowed to be looted find this particular statement to be ironic or sarcastic? Or both? He let looting occur without even attempting to stop it, and he and the council think people believe this garbage?
Ineffectual, lazy, and arrogant. It’s amazing to me how these local politicians show time and again that they think their constituents are stupid.
They re-wrote the zoning map without much resistance. They know they aren’t going to get much.
t go
Here’s what the looney left considers sensible. Destroy investments of the peasants so that our comrades can come in an buy for pennies on the dollar. This is power. As the critical thinkers abandon the area the uneducated that take their places will be much easier to control. Our comrades will raise costs on virtually everything making it easier for us to steal everything through the new letter of the law. Peasants yesterday, slaves tomorrow. Power, money,,,we and our comrades win. Deceive to acheive. Viva la socialist communism! Sa-lute!
How dare they talk about art when we still have so many public streets looking like bombs went off on them!
Regarding building codes, let’s remember that Downtown doesn’t count, they are immune to ordinances concerning code and neglect, immune to criticism, and immune to common sense thinking for that matter. Public art is wonderful, but not in the hands of government control and underwritten by taxpayers. Expect the artists to fetch a premium for their work now that the taxpayers of Bloomington are picking up the tab. Wonder how much of the public art will include SJW and “diversity” themes. I expect Jenn will sound off on this topic. And, of course, if you question her, you’re a “racist”. George Floyd mural coming soon to Downtown Bloomington?
Koos recently paid $4000 for an office painting, likely you are right. I can see government building monuments to criminals.
Ridiculous! If he really cared, he would have paid out of pocket and bought some art from local artists and students to display and show off to visitors and media. He’s not even good at being a politician.
It’s always about control with the Democratic Communists:
We can ensure safety with more codes and restrictions.
We can stimulant business investment by passing more codes and restrictions.
We can make downtown a (go to place) with silly art.
We can bring people to the downtown with a bus transfer station.
No you can’t! But what you can do is provide a pro-business environment with low taxes and few regulations.
Then the FREE market does what it always does.
Wrong state
Building code enforcement is always a good money maker mostly for the city approved companies that people are FORCED to use, BUT it, as has already been mentioned, allows the “go getters” and the city to obtain buildings that they want for a fraction of their actual value. It should also be addressed that they force people to use who THEY tell you to use. These companies over charge by as much as 100%, yes DOUBLE what some small independents would charge for the same quality and amount of work. I’m not sure how much longer I can stay here either unless there are a LOT changes in the next year for the better, not the sort of “change” the socialists want. I am truly hating living here, there are much better places than Bloomington or Normal Illinois, much much better. Between Renner, Koos, Pritzker and now an increasingly wannabe Sandinista like cadre of little SJWS trying to run the show along with the uninformed people who continue electing them this is becoming a very depressing place to live, and I am normally not a negative person. I hope to GOD the good and decent people still left come to their senses and and at least push out some of the creeping rot that is seeping in like floodwaters.
Let’s hope so… we have some real idiots at the wheel right now.