By: Diane Benjamin
Rivian raised the price of their midsize electric pickup by 20%, $94,000+. People are canceling orders. https://www.reuters.com/technology/rivian-hikes-vehicle-prices-by-20-citing-inflationary-pressure-2022-03-02/
I wonder if the Town of Normal will cancel their order?
TWO candidates aren’t running in the District they live in: Scott Preston (91st) and Kyle Ham (105th). They are searching for the voters they want, not running to represent the ones they have. Both will be forced to move if they are elected in November.
Bloomington passed the Flock Safety cameras, only Julie Emig voted against them. If you want more comedy, find the Council video toward the bottom of this link and listen to the first Public Comment very early in the meeting. https://www.cityblm.org/government/city-council/meetings-agendas
The guy self identified as a communist, but he opposed the cameras. Obviously public schools aren’t teaching what communism is. Two speakers weren’t able to call in because the link the City provided was incorrect. Georgene Chissell and Carol Koos didn’t get to comment. Gary Lambert was good, Public Comment lasted for close to 1/2 an hour.
That meeting was close to three hours. One thing you should know is the City expects to end the year with over $30 million in reserves. Under David Hales the goal was $15-$17 million in reserves. Tim Gleason mentioned they are looking at spending more on roads, but they need a revenue source. You have one Tim: Reserves.
Whoever was running the cameras did a better job getting the speaker on the screen, no masks for those in person either!
When I see opportunities for you to meet candidates I will post it. Below is one of the guys running for the 105th, there are quite a few GOP candidates running in the primary. After petitions are filed I will post a list.
This is not an endorsement, just information. Voters need to meet the candidates instead of relying on the media.
The timing of the price increase following the IPO is interesting since they already knew they were losing money at the original price. The Rivian story just gets more frightening as it goes. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see a successful new company locally, but I am not convinced this is going to be the one.
Rivian’s manufacturing problems will continue for a while as well as other auto manufacturers but more so for the electric manufacturers. Smithsonian ran a program last night that was more racing centered but still told the story about the danger of lithium car batteries. Just about anything with them in transports, manufacturing or normal operation can start a fire if the utmost care is not taken into consideration. Costs for purchase, operation and disposal will only continue to increase in future years. Normal leveraging their economic future on this unproven start-up that shows each day they are devoid of business sense and continue to make it up as they go along is insane but not unexpected.