By: Diane Benjamin
Review: All of these commissioners were hand-picked by Chris Koos. The Council is told they have to approve whoever he picks. The names of appointees aren’t given to the public until after the Council rubber-stamps them with a YES vote.
RC McBride was kicked off the Council by voters, now he chairs the Planning Commission. That is Koos’ version of government For and By the People.
The first video is McBride telling the large audience their voices were heard but the Commission doesn’t care what they said. What’s the point of a Public Hearing if your ears are closed? I bet re-zoning for a coal fired power plant in Uptown would have been rejected by this commission, obviously the deck was stacked from the beginning:
This video is Barickman’s attorney and partner saying he’s willing to meet with those opposed but it won’t change anything:
The video below is the vote for Barickman and against all the people who showed up and those who spoke. It also has the motion to table by Mike Matejka that got voted down. Notice Andy Byars jump right in with a new motion supporting his old boss Barickman. These videos prove why Normal quit recording and posting meetings. (and why Normal needs Districts so somebody represents citizens)
Barickman doesn’t care either, he has $743,829 in his campaign account: https://www.illinoissunshine.org/committees/23150/
This boils down to whether the town will listen to it’s residents or the politically connected out of town developer looking to make a buck. Seeing that the developer (Shirk) donated to and is a part of Koos’s PAC, and donated to Barickman’s campaign, I expect these political payoffs, aka investments, will be repaid and the developer will get his way.