By: Diane Benjamin
The radicals are back demanding a Welcoming City Ordinance. Public comment was filled with people who think ICE needs permanently banned from doing their job in Bloomington. They held a mini-rally outside City Hall featuring a Chicago professor, your two radical aldermen, and Ward 5 Candidate Patrick Lawler.
Since they all think Trump put kids in cages when it was actually Obama, nothing they say should be believed. Since no candidates have stepped forward with a better message, expect the Democrat Socialists to rule Bloomington after the April election. Congrats.
Most of the meeting didn’t apply to the majority of residents. There was a long presentation on sign code changes. Another presentation on zoning around downtown got sent to the Planning Commission for public hearings. Jamie Mathy admitted his house was involved, he had no problem voting on that issue though.
Approving the Public Art Commission vote got tabled to the last meeting in October. Evidently citizens thought it was a stupid idea at time with declining revenues. Sounds like the Council heard that message. There was talk of private funding through donations and grants, also public hearings before money is spent.
The most interesting part was the Finance Director’s report at 1:55:20. (see a few minutes before that for a recap) The chart shown has both Home Rule and State Sales Tax down, Income Tax is higher because it reflects the part that wasn’t collected in the last fiscal year because the due date was changed.
Local Motor Fuel Taxes and Food/Beverage taxes are also down. If you were wondering when work on Hershey Road is going to begin – it’s scheduled for October.
The local Hotel/Motels are being decimated. Tax receipts are down 50%. Expect more to permanently close.
The Internet Sales Tax is paying off big. Quit buying from Amazon to avoid it.
The Finance Department will re-evaluate next month. The expected $4.7 million decrease in revenue might be revised lower. The City is only planning to use $768,361 from reserves. They still have reserves of slightly over $21 million. Expenses have been cut by delaying staff replacement, decreasing seasonal labor, delaying purchases, and delaying capital projects.
This is just the beginning. The depth and severity of what has happened will shock even them. And all of this is happening as State Farm and ISU are being disrupted?
We are talking about a confluence of events that is devastating the economy of Bloomington-Normal. And these Cretins scheme and dream while pandering to the insane among us (BLM)?
They know exactly what is happening. These people are and always will be destroyers and not builders. The whole point of their actions and demands is to collapse capitalist economies and devastate jobs and the creation not jobs so they can more easily sell their socialist propaganda to the uneducated and gullible. If you take away innovation and hope it makes it easier to convince people that government should become your primary provider. It appears the average age of the protesters were about twenty-five. Plenty of life experience to speak with authority. How come these brainiacs can never speak and promote their causes without reading their comments from a piece of paper that someone else wrote for them?
Speaking of State Farm… As of January 2021 any new hires and rehires will not be given a defined benefit pension. Instead they will get additional contributions to their 401k. Pension reform anyone?
I’m surprised they didn’t do that a LONG time ago. Most companies did.
I have come to the TOTAL CONCLUSION that our city leaders are just plain CLUELESS! They worry about ART WORK, and other “brain dead” agendas while they ignore Streets, water mains, infrastructure, BUDGET& REVENUE, etc, and other items or just kick the can down the road.
I believe that they are unwilling OR unable to address REAL issues, or they just have mud on their beer goggles!
They claimed to have worked on this for over a year.
Clarification, the downtown artists have been lobbying the new City Manager for over a year to implement a public art program. The same group that lobbied years ago for the City-owned Creativity Center.
IF they spent a year on STREETS, that would be more productive.
The people of Blm need to get busy & do something & go to the meetings or contact the council. I was at the council meeting 2 yrs ago & spoke when they discussed being a welcoming city & not supporting ICE. We were outnumbered 5 to 1 by the pink haired college cry babies & the far left. Our police chief at the time, Brendan Hefner, gave a calm, easy to understand explanation about why we should support ICE & the benefits of it & the city council grilled him like he was on trial. I was embarrassed by it.
That’s what they do especially if they have the advantage of numbers – they LOVE to pack up like jackals on lone prey.
Why would anyone want to work with an agency that is performing forced hysterectomies on people?
That has not been proved, 1 person made allegations from the reports I’ve read.
Why would anyone support drug and sex trafficking through Central Illinois? Obama supported the use of ICE.