By: Diane Benjamin
I can find numerous things citizens need to know after Normal spent 9 hours meeting 1/26 and then another 3 hours last Monday talking about the budget.
Pam Reece wants you to know they aren’t spending over $5 million running water pipes on West College to Rivian. So, either they know something they aren’t telling citizens or they are playing “hope” somebody wants to locate by Rivian. If nobody does locate there, they are wasting $5 million instead of fixing existing water pipes that need replaced.
Chris Koos was furious with Stan and his bottle of rusty water. The water did come from the Ruston area where the Town was forced to move up replacement after Marc Tiritilli came to the defense of the residents who have complained for two years.
The video below proves Stan’s point however. Koos claims his water is rusty for two hours after hydrants in his neighborhood are flushed. I wonder if he has ever done a load of wash not knowing his hydrants were flushed and destroyed a load of clothes? Better yet Chris, why is your water brown when hydrants get flushed? Because the pipes in your neighborhood are old and should be replaced?
I’ve done two stories showing water quality complaints. They include other areas of town that aren’t scheduled for water main replacement:
https://blnnews.com/2020/12/17/proof-kathleen-lorenz-was-wrong/
https://blnnews.com/2021/01/13/more-normal-water-complaints/
Both stories have lists of complaints received by FOIA.
In the video below Stan Nord mentions the budget not showing payment of debt ($8 million) from the previous story and water quality issues. https://blnnews.com/2021/02/03/normal-is-stockpiling-money/
Chris Koos interrupts Pam Reece to chastise Stan for “stirring the pot” on water issues. Ruston wouldn’t be getting fixed if the pot hadn’t been stirred Mr. Mayor.
Nobody responded to the $8 million debt reduction not being in the budget. It would have been easy to point out where it is if it was there. Obviously it isn’t.
Instead of fixing existing old pipes that do affect “Quality of Life” for citizens, the town is speculating on West College. Of course, they could just be hiding the real reason for spending $5 million on West College. Anybody think we’ve been told the truth?
Just hit play:
More RIVIAN-related questions:
1. When did Rivian purchase the old Mitsubishi plant: ANSWER: Early 2017
2. When did the brown water problem start on the west side?
3. How old are the pipes producing the brown water?
4. If a fracture(s) in the old pipe – can’t that be located? What causes old pipes to fail and cause brown water?
5. Have residents in the west side of Normal noticed any seismic activity (rumblings) in their area since 2017?
6. Where does the water feed enter Normal? What is the route?
To be continued.
I also wonder if there’s a ‘hidden reason’ for running ‘unnecessary’ water pipes out to Rivian. If there is, they’d be smart to tell Stan. He can keep a secret, and if he knows it’s actually a good idea, he’d cut back his criticism and ask others to do so as well. The fact that None of that has happened just solidifies the fact that the town is once again wasting taxpayer money on Council Wants while ignoring Town Needs.
$5M. A lot of road repairs? A lot of water/sewer repairs? Pay down some of our bond debt? Heck, even reduced admission cost at the pools next year would be a better use than running a water main that’s not needed simply because ‘The Council Wants It’.
Haven’t been following the Sports Complex plans…could there be a connection?
Makes WAY too much sense Karl! We ALL know that the council is composed of people that have “thought processes” that are similar, however they are thought out about as well as a 5 year old standing on the roof of a 2 story house with a bed sheet thinking he can fly like Superman..
It USUALLY don’t work out as planned..