By: Diane Benjamin

City Manager Tim Gleason stated the City still has $100,000 to hand out to small businesses. I don’t know if this is the right page, but start here to see if you qualify: https://www.cityblm.org/doing-business/cdbg-cv-business-program

The City anticipates ending COVID restrictions on June 30th. Vaccinations will still happen on a smaller scale at the Coliseum. (avoided calling it Arena on purpose).

Mboka is continuing the practice of time limits for discussion. Although time was extended last night, he stated we aren’t extending it again at least twice. Why does the PEOPLE’s business have time limits?

McLean County Regional Planning Commission Go Safe presentation:

First thing to note: The last two people running MCRPC have been immigrants where English isn’t their first language. Their planning reflects that.

The first comments from Raymond Lai were that this program is international. First flag: How many countries value individuals over the collective? Close to NONE. Neither does this program.

Flag #2: See the slide at 11:20. The top priority is Equity, of course not defined. America values EQUALITY, not Equity.

Keep in mind this program’s goal is eliminate death and serious injuries from transportation by 2030.

Flag #3: Jump to the slide at 12:40. None of the slides were discussed in depth, reading this one shows why. No surprise they claim the bus is 10 times safer since Connect Transit Board member Julie Hile’s company did the study. The slide doesn’t say the chances of getting hit by a car crossing streets because the bus doesn’t go where you want to go.

“Human error is inevitable and predictable”. Really? Lai could predict a young lady would slam into the back of me stopped at a light while traveling over 30 miles per hour? I wish I could have predicted that one! Maybe he wants equipment installed on every vehicle that sets off a warning siren when somebody is driving stupid. Of course, that would make vehicles too expensive thus forcing people on the bus.

Both Jenn Carrillo, who wasn’t on camera, and Jeff Crabill didn’t like the traffic enforcement mentioned in the second to last paragraph. Stopping vehicles is just too dangerous for both the driver and the cops. It is especially dangerous when idiots thinks they don’t have to follow an officers directions. There’s your EDUCATION Jenn and Jeff. The presentation revolved around “culture change”. That is the culture that needs revamped.

The last paragraph sums up what this program wants to do: Slow down traffic. They adore what the rarely used bike lanes on Washington did to traffic. They want narrow lanes which means you have to slow down.

Jump to the next slide at 13:47. It all about Complete Streets where everybody coexists. Bikers, walkers, buses, vehicles all need to share the streets.

The next slide is at 14:53. It details the latest technology that won’t be widely used for years as people are keeping older cars longer.

The next slide is at 15:54. For a supposed data driven plan no local data is included. How many people die locally in car accidents? How many are seriously injured? It appears a plan has been created without discovering a need first.

Mention was made of the two deaths crossing Veterans Parkway a few years ago. Evidently personal responsible has no part in this program.

If you think government has a right to control your life, you will love this plan. The rest of us expect the police to ticket distracted drivers, bikers that don’t follow the rules of the road, DUI’s, and excessive speeders.

Don’t miss the pledge slide at 18:57. Good luck with that, some people still don’t wear seat belts.

The presentation starts at 5:30.

This was only a small part of the meeting, more to come.