By: Diane Benjamin
During the “attack” Stan meeting attorney Brian Day stated a long list of people and organizations he contacted concerning Pam Reece’s ethics.
Mr. Day has no proof that actually happened since a FOIA sent to Normal by a citizens couldn’t even find an email:
The emails below show why the results of the last Citizen Summit are immaterial, the deck wasn’t stacked in favor of the Town. Pesky citizens showed up! The event was held December 5, 2019.
They prove:
- The Town wanted only the invited people to attend
- Stan Nord was concerned early this was an “invite only” event
- The consultant Normal hired stated early on the meeting was open to the public
- Chris Koos accused Stan Nord of “stacking the meeting” by posting the summit on his Facebook page
- The Town did plan to post the meet as required by the Open Meetings Act – only to comply with the law
- Providing only 48 hours notice means the Town did not want the uninvited to show up
- Chris Koos was very aggravated with Stan Nord for daring to invite the public
- Pam Reece only advertised the meeting as required by law, she wanted participation limited too
- Chris Koos and company had no intention of being Open and Transparent
These emails are in the order they were sent:
Here’s the problem with all of this. The Town of Normal has a long standing history of bending rules, working around obstacles and looking for loop holes around legal limitations. Not only that they do things that are blatantly illegal, have Brian Day say they’re legal and place the burden of proof upon the citizens. That’s what this Citizen Summit was and is. Stan Nord has called them out on it and when anyone does there’s hell to pay with the Koos crowd. The Normal Town Council is obsessed with insulating itself from any form of public criticism so that they can advance their predetermined agenda.
“The Normal Town Council is obsessed with insulating itself from any form of public criticism so that they can advance their predetermined agenda.” – Yep, in a nutshell, you nailed it.
The pseudo-Queen is all worried about the invitees’ RSVP and is even reminding them, yet she is going to tell the REAL public (ordinary taxpayers) only 48 hours in advance. Stacked deck if there ever was one.
I challenge Koos to document what was agreed upon in the “retreat”. Video? Transcript? Otherwise his comments are just BS.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered, and the process is continuing, day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the party is always right.” − George Orwell, 1984.
How long will the citizenry of Normal allow this to go on?
Starving BN of its productive citizenry is really the only answer. There are much better places to live, work and raise your family than here within a days drive or less. Do some research. You may surprise yourself that their locations in our border states that have a lower cost of living, think like you do and provide ten times the career opportunities. Why put up with the bullshit any longer that goes on and has been going on here for decades. SF and CF are on their last legs locally, Rivian will have a maximum ten year life and the universities and colleges will continue to teach garbage for even higher prices. BN had it’s chance several years ago to diversify itself, bring in responsible people and make itself the envy of downstate. They weren’t interested then and they aren’t now. Still around, it only gets worse.
You’re on the right track, MPeabody. The elites do not want anything in BN unless they thought of it themselves, can centrally plan it, or at a minimum can exercise undue influence over it. SF and CF use the EDC and local governments to keep out other financial services companies, especially those that are more tech-savvy and innovative (which is most of their competition). This is because they don’t want to lose their top talent or listen to citizens draw comparisons. Both SF and CF do a lousy job recruiting talent, especially younger, innovative, and/or out of market people. This is why they push the EDC for more amenities and things to do in the community, as opposed to true economic development. Rivian seems to be working out in the short term. The real test will happen when government incentives sunset, they are told “no” by leadership, and/or when their trucks are on the road.
Combine these emails with the audio of the meeting that happened after the Citizen Summit (https://blnnews.com/2021/06/21/normals-fiction/ )and it is clear the majority of the town leadership did not want to hear from the average resident or taxpayer. Plus they discounted the fact that the majority of the residents do not agree with the town’s priorities, including the underpass!
Of course the underpass will go forward because the mayor, manager, and the mayor’s bike shop customers want it.
In my opinion, the outcome of the Citizen Summit is why the facilitator had his decades long relationship with the town cancelled. If you don’t bring Koos the answer he wants, you will be canceled.
Stan Nord
Bike BloNo and the McLean County Wheelers are loaded with members experiencing a long second childhood. Lance Armstrong was their hero even if was a cheating scum bucket and he still is for most. They all think they are world class cycling athletes that just haven’t been invited to take part in the Tour de France. Most of them weren’t good enough to make an athletic team in high school or college and think riding around in expensive spandex and $4,000 bicycles while blowing stop signs make them important. They work hand in glove with Koos on any cycling-related matter and by-and-large are comprised of arrogant and egotistical pricks from ISU, IWU, SF and CF. As far as Chris Koos is concerned, gay men have a real problem considering the opinions of others and take offense at anyone who disagrees with them over the silliest of matters. I saw this alot having daughters in the arts.
I know of One family that spent thousands in that bike shop but never again. I know it will not hurt Koos but hopefully there are others out there that feel the same way.
Koos’s accused me of advertising the Citizen Summit as something that I was hosting is yet another LIE coming from his administration. This WJBC article shows the image I created informing the public the Citizen Summit was “Hosted by the Town of Normal.” WJBC even incorrectly gave credit to the town for the image. The town did not create the image, that was all me. I did it because the town manager refused to inform the non-elite, general public of this upcoming public event besides the legally required minimum.
This is just another example of why I do not trust what the mayor and his administration say or write.
https://www.wjbc.com/2019/12/05/public-set-to-take-deep-dive-into-normal-council-issues-at-thursday-night-summit/
I am one of the non-elite and I thank Stan Nord for invitation to attend the summit. Stan never once took ownership of that summit when extending the invitation to me.
If I were on death row and Brian Day was my only hope for an appeal, I’d pass. Man doesn’t even understand conflict of interest. Geesh!