By: Diane Benjamin
Of course the media won’t ask questions and officials in Normal won’t publicly say anything about it. But, instead of suing Bloomington when they dissolved the west side sales tax sharing agreement (Metrozone), Normal appears to be plotting. Of course they are using your money for payback.
A pattern is developing, even though my sources tell me Normal does not have the capacity to provide service. See this story from just a few weeks ago: https://blnnews.com/2020/09/28/is-normal-abusing-taxpayers/
Normal wants to provide water to Rivian, currently Bloomington does and is therefore making money doing it. Normal is using your money to provide a service they don’t need to provide.
Last night Normal voted to spend $417,505.59 for a water main:
It was stated at the meeting there is not a problem supplying this area with water now. Redundancies already exist. Keep in mind this is for “additional supply”. There was mention of the State possibly resurfacing Center Street at some point in the future, so they wanted to get this done now.
Go back to the story from a few weeks ago. Click on the first link in that story – I received a FOIA showing the biggest purchasers of Bloomington water. See the third one on the list: Advocate Bromenn Medical.
Why does the south end of Normal need additional water? Is it to supply water to Bromenn and therefore cut Bloomington out?
At least Normal put supplying water to Rivian in writing. Are they now doing the same with BroMenn?
Where is the water going to come from for Rivian and possibly BroMenn? Drill more wells at your expense?
Stan Nord questioned why this project had to be done now when water rates are continually increased. He asked why supply needed to be increased and even more redundancies added.
Stan got an hilarious response from Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy claims it is Normal’s policy to not wait until there are problems before fixing things. The very next topic was fixing West College – a road that is in despicable shape because the Council did wait to fix it. Residents of Normal might add ALL roads except Uptown are in despicable shape for the same reason. Hear McCarthy’s attempt to belittle Stan and Stan’s response:
The only way the war with Bloomington will end is to replace those in charge. Next April folks.
More on “Farewell to Normal “ if you have not been to uppity town normal lately you are missing the sidewalks and streets on broadway being covered with bird feces. Come early in the morning and see and hear the trees with thousands of crows. The city in their quest to make downtown normal uppity town planted a large amount of trees instead of attracting customers they got crows instead. Serious, you bet this bird feces can contain a disease called Psittacosis , I lost a friend several years ago that died of this disease inhaling the dust from the feces can be fatal. How about it Koos you want mask worn for the virus how about what for what is covering your streets and sidewalks or close all the businesses on these blocks?
I agree with Stan. We need to pay off the debts this mayor and council have created. Water lines that are not testing poorly do not need to be looked at or worked on. We need to stop this over spending by this group of people. I also do not appreciate the smug smiles on the council members faces while this man is attempting to scold another council member. This is completely immature for officials to display these reactions. Just hang in there Stan, the citizens of Normal are with you! In a matter of just a few more months things will turn around, although it will take years to pay off the debt these people have cost all of us.
GO STAN!!! As townsfolk we BACK YOU 100%, and as for Koos and his “buddies” well, they are 3 time loosers. With MORE coming! uptown is nothing more then a pretty blanket on what USED to be a THRIVING community, now, thank you mr koos and ASSociates, you’ve ruined the DOWNTOWN and for what? Basically $100 M.
You guys EVEN move into your NEW office at #1, and what’s the attendance at the rt66 “museum” NUMBERS PLEASE, and how’s that Cornybelter stadium working out for you?
I believe that BEFORE you even THINK about laying water pipe to Rivian ( the koos “pipe dream auto plant”) that you just pay THE BILLS!!! As to mr koos. You are a disgrace to community leaders EVERYWHERE!
QUIT!
The Rivian deal has stunk from the very beginning. The only people that will profit from Rivian being here will be Rivian and its significant investors. Even if the company meets its employment projections most of them will be brought in from other parts of the country because of the nature of the product. In other words, few new local jobs will be realized. You can bet Koos and Clark Kent have some under the table agreements that are not part of written agreements between Rivian and the Town. There is absolutely no need for a trail extension to Rivian unless it directly benefits Rivian. How many more millions of gallons of water does Rivian need from the Town and why? Read the automotive trades as much as possible. Rivian is already backpedaling on delivery promises to individual customers.
overseas employees too I hear
Likely from McLaren. Clark needs their R &D and engineering capabilities for development. Rivian core management only knows how to do the battery development. They are totally inexperienced in building vehicles, let alone dependable ones.
McCarthy like Koos is a joke I drove on hovey and parkside for years before they were resurfaced…some of parkside still in rough shape maybe McCarthy should get out more or get his head out of …….