By: Diane Benjamin
Supposedly the 2013 Farr Associates (same guy who did Uptown) cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is a glossy 126 pages in an 18 x 11 inch spiral bound format. Some items from this plan were implemented like Way Finding Signs. Those signs cost taxpayers over $500,000. https://blnnews.com/2021/06/08/if-the-camera-cant-focus/
The plan also calls for sidewalk cafes, COVID made those possible. It calls for continuing things like flower pots.
The page below is hilarious. Why would anyone drive downtown and pay to park? Free parking is available at most other shopping locations, installing parking meters says: “You don’t want me downtown.” Brilliant! The Farr offices were in Chicago at the time, I think I head he moved to Florida. Normal fell for the Farr plans and even hired them again for south of the tracks. Luckily Bloomington didn’t buy this part:
If you want to know what the report considers a history of mismanagement, the below is from the previous page. They didn’t price the parking meters right:
In case you forgot, the Council recently spent $750,000 on the new downtown plan.
The Streetscape project Bloomington is doing now is actually preliminary design.
The one I have is labeled DRAFT
literally any 10th grader could do a street scape on Sims that would be every bit as good the $750,000 fleece the ‘professional’ consultants are being gifted..
It’s merely a “legitimate,” avenue they use to redistribute tax payer dollars. Do they ask several to bid the job and choose the most reasonably priced? No. They pick the one they want and just write the check, without regard for the obscenely exorbitant cost to the tax payer.