By: Diane Benjamin Ask your Unit 5 students if they had to DECLARE their pronouns. At least some Unit 5 high school teachers mandated it. Imagine being 14 or 15 and tip toeing around the other kids so you don’t accidently refer to a female as “she”when she wants to be called “they” or “them”. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The County, Bloomington, and Normal rely on data collected by the McLean County Regional Planning Commission to make plans. MCRPC did surveys so much of their data is determined by who answered the survey. Remember Bring It On Bloomington that has a dismal response rate but became the GOLD standard anyway? https://blnnews.com/2014/09/19/bring-it-on-bloomington-flops/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin Refer back to this story where Tim Gleason stated Council is going to be asked to invest $350,000,000-$400,000,000 in the Water Master improvement Plan: https://blnnews.com/2023/08/29/bloomington-1st-of-2/ I wonder if the “Equity” rate study will appear soon? https://blnnews.com/2023/06/21/water-equity-bloomington/ What about the never used Water Tower along I-55 in Normal? No one ever mentions that […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’m told City employees: Illinois Law: Grass in the road makes slippery conditions for bikers and motorcycles! It also clogs the sewers.
By: Diane Benjamin Public comment about 1 property – 1 Whites Place where a developer did plan to convert the house into 4 apartments but now is planning 9 apartments. Many residents attended the meeting since the City Code is not being followed and they are worried about parking and safety. The area residents are […]
By: Diane Benjamin It is going to take more than 1 story to cover the Bloomington Council/Township meeting last night. In case you missed the update, the room in the Government Center will not be done as scheduled. It won’t be ready until October. Can the camera be any farther away from the stage? None […]
BLOOMINGTON IL — Ross Webb has announced his candidacy to serve the citizens of the 10th District on the McLean County Board. Ross wants to give a voice to the constituents of the eastern Bloomington district and is delivering a message of common-sense approach to local government. Ross is an advocate for the taxpayer, a […]
No surprise, the government center meeting room won’t be done until October. The city posted a video on Facebook stating that. h/t Kelby Compston who evidently reads their page. If you need a job the City has a ton of them posted there! By: Diane Benjamin Tonight should be the last meeting at the BCPA. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is a map of the 88th district currently represented by Dan Calkins who isn’t running for re-elections. Two Republicans want to replace him. The choice: Which will represent you better? Of course Chuck Erickson will. Don’t be fooled.
By: Diane Benjamin I was shocked when Connect Transit picked Proterra as their electric bus supplier. It appears the Board members appointed by the mayors of Bloomington and Normal didn’t bother to do a simple Google search. Plenty of stories were easily available detailing the problems with these buses and cities that quit using them […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington police are still hiding information. Evidently they want sued. h/t a reader who lives by Constitution Trail This isn’t a one time occurence. Frequently a lot of grass is missed when Bloomington mows along the trail because the mower is too big. If the grass isn’t missed it gets scalped […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader This isn’t a “fleet vehicle”. Check the plates.
By: Diane Benjamin First Story: https://blnnews.com/2023/08/12/more-lets-create-work-for-government-employees/ I really thought this was grass: I drove by again today. It isn’t grass. Very attractive! 😏 If they don’t quit stalling my FOIA, I will find more incompetence to reveal.
By: Diane Benjamin 1) BBQ Contest to Help Veterans Two meat categories: Ribs and Chicken. $30.00 per entry. Cash Prizes. Sign-up will be open until slots are filled. Check-in with the event table. This is a time to prove your grilling talents. Sign-up can be done on the day of the event at the American […]
By: Diane Benjamin So far this fiscal year the federal government has spent $1.61 TRILLION more than it collected in taxes. That is why inflation will continue. That didn’t stop Normal from applying for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. They want $100,000 and will find out in November is they get […]
By: Diane Benjamin The actual Committee of the Whole meeting was only around 25 minutes. The video is 1 hour and 45 minutes. Most of the video is an empty stage waiting for the council to return and adjourn. None of the accolades handed out were on video, the camera angle never changed. The slides […]
By: Diane Benjamin Summers should be the time schools are readied for the next school year. Bloomington failed. This text was sent to BJHS parents today: Bloomington Jr High: BJHS Families,As you know, this heat wave is putting a strain on the BJHS air conditioning system. While we have technicians working on the units, we […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4719 West College isn’t being fixed because it is STILL being designed: Maybe the Town is trying to decide how to build it since inflation ate their grant. Gravel parking lots aren’t good enough in Normal. (don’t they drain better than paved?) They were good enough for a special use permit in […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the agenda on PDF page 4: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/30d2fbb4-75a9-11ed-9024-0050569183fa-791fe512-602c-4d20-98c8-ecdbbed39134-1692292991.pdf Evidently this Committee of the Whole is Recognitions and an Executive Session. The last Live Stream from the temporary BCPA location only filmed the Council. Other speakers weren’t on camera because the angle never changed. Tonight’s accolades should be fun if none of the […]
By: Diane Benjamin People around the country will see this report and believe it. https://247wallst.com/special-report/2023/08/18/these-are-americas-19-fastest-shrinking-big-cities/?amp=1 3 of the top 19 shrinking big cities are in Illinois: Danville, Champaign-Urbana, and Bloomington. They don’t really mean Bloomington however, they have to mean McLean County. Page all the way down to #7 The census bureau only shows an […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) For readers who get email notifications of stories: I did change a setting that should make your email notification look different. I needed the change to make the stats calculate accurately. 2) This is the article that makes what the Town of Normal wants to do with banning natural gas illegal: […]
By: Diane Benjamin More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/08/14/is-the-safe-t-act-causing-police-to-militarize/ Side note: The country has gone from defunding the police and sending out social workers to dangerous situations to buying armored vehicles to protect police. In Illinois suspects will be released without bail beginning September 1st. Since police can’t be everywhere, who protects citizens? Since the Police […]
By: Diane Benjamin Quote: “Climate change is getting to be a significant issue and we’re going to have to do things outside of the realm of just makes economic sense,” he said. Source: WGLT Does Chris Koos know heavy equipment doesn’t run on electricity? Economic sense isn’t spending a likely $30 million to dig a […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/08/16/has-work-started-on-west-college-and-the-underpass/ Nothing is happening at the underpass site: Work is being done instead the Children’s Discovery Museum instead:
By: Diane Benjamin West College was despicable when the Normal Town Council approved a plan to fix it clear back in 2020: https://blnnews.com/2020/06/23/normal-on-fixing-west-college/ According to the Community Investment Plan the Town first had to extend sewer lines to the West side of Rivian Motorway. That work should have been completed in FY 2023 which ended […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the data below can be viewed on the McLean County Justice Committee reports from this page: https://mcleancountyil.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=70 Find the reports by Kathy Yoder. Data after June 2023 won’t be available until the September meeting. Compare these to the same time period last year: Details of suicides aren’t available. I’ve asked […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City managed to Live Stream last night’s meeting. How are shows produced in the auditorium of the BCPA without echos? The video is difficult to listen to, some speakers are worse than others. John Danenberger was AWOL. 2 people spoke at Public Comment. Former Alderman Dee Urban voiced her support for […]
By: Diane Benjamin I have to admit – I’m a huge fan of crime shows. My latest semi-obsession is a show called See No Evil. Every crime, mostly murders, are found by using security video. All of the footage is from private sources, if you are going to have security cameras please make sure they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe Bloomington can acquire a tank next. Tonight buying one of these is on the Consent Agenda: This is a link to the documentation for this purchase: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/ce402438fb1c517ffdd971eb63e404010.pdf The cost is $249,229. Watch the first video at that link. It shows a military operation, the exact opposite of de-escalation. I know the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Add the following to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/06/15/maintenance-that-could-have-been-avoided/ Hershey road south of Ireland Grove road was down to 2 lanes for quite awhile. The City of Bloomington had to install this: Now some City employee gets to mow what looks like a crossing for a future trail extension. The concrete pad on the […]
Ok, now I can rest because I have heard it all. The “so called” leader in the Republican party is no leader at all. House Leader Tony McCombie is instrumental of total misinformation. People better wake up! I am very tired of hearing the opinions of these elected officials instead of what is lawful and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this eyesore in downtown Bloomington? . That was what the former CII East building looked like for many years. The City of Bloomington gave away FUTURE money to a new developer, see this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/24/69-million-for-water-projects-so-you-wont-notice-the-cii-east-giveaways/ What did the future money buy? This is the same building yesterday: That is a complete […]
Everybody excited to return to school? How was the violence last year? Is the Mouser honeymoon over now?
By: Diane Benjamin Doug Farr was paid $80,000 for the Uptown South MASTER PLAN that includes no natural gas: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/07/normal-buy-local-is-immaterial/ This story is to document what the 4-3 vote was proclaimed to mean. In a year or two when a subsidized developer is found I predict the same council will claim the document labeled MASTER […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended an event last night at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church entitled Protecting Places of Worship Forum. I attended on behalf of my church with another member. This event was only advertised to churches, many locals attended. The event was organized in conjunction with the US Department of Justice. It was THREE […]
By: Diane Benjamin Have you noticed CT is “wrapping” the bus windows so you can’t see the bus it 99% empty? In May Connect Transit wrote Proterra a check for $3,524,229 for more electric buses. I hope they were delivered because Proterra declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy 2 days ago. Good luck getting parts! Proterra is […]
By: Diane Benjamin No the science isn’t settled. Real science is never settled. The “science” of Climate Change is computer models and non-scientist Greta Thumburg angrily proclaiming we have 8 years before the world is destroyed. For decades clowns have been claiming the same thing. Predictions have not come true, just stealing your freedom to […]
