By: Diane Benjamin
1)
Did the City of Bloomington really tell the Salvation Army they can’t use mats so homeless have a place to sleep on cold nights because it’s too dangerous? People can shelter there but they won’t be allowed to sleep.
Is sleeping more dangerous or being non-productive all winter because sleeping isn’t allowed if you are homeless?
Yes they did – WGLT has the story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-11-15/mclean-county-salvation-army-debuts-midnight-cafe-offering-new-warming-center-services-this-winter
2)
One more thing from WGLT’s Unit 5 property tax story:
You aren’t allowed to ask how many are here legally, you just get the education bill. You aren’t allowed to ask how many different languages they speak either. You aren’t allowed to notice Unit 5 would have had 1000 less students without them.
Did you hear New York City has been forced to cut police and education to handle the influx of “migrants”? It’s only $1 billion from education and libraries won’t be open on Sundays: https://news.yahoo.com/adams-blames-migrant-crisis-budget-115629856.html
Pritzker is sending $160,000,000 of your tax dollars to Chicago to address the “migrant” crisis. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/11/16/23963206/pritzker-migrant-asylum-seeker-illinois-funding-aids-chicago
How much did Pritzker give Unit 5 to educate 1000 students enrolled in English as a second language?
3)
I’m told Tom Kirk sold the Henson’s Refuse Service Business. The buyer was a Chicago company that wants to open a landfill at 2020 Bunn Street. The local landfill closed awhile back and garbage has been trucked to locations outside of Bloomington-Normal.
There will be a Public Hearing – the times look bizarre. Maybe a County Board member of the County Clerk can clarify. I don’t see anything on the County website. The below is from a mailer sent to area residents by the opposition.
Maybe the homeless can set up a pad in a cardboard box and sleep at the new dump. Congrats B-N mayors, Koos and Mboka for leading our towns into the abyss.
Correction – that wasn’t a mailed flyer, it was merely shoved in its folded state in our mailboxes, with no postage on it.
Illegal!
Sad when rumor gets “reported”! No company would spend money attempting to zone a landfill anywhere close to a city. The site on Bunn Street is a transfer station, that has operated for years. Shepell get recruited to oppose anything new.
Diane, please stick with the facts, as you usually do. Tom Kirk is a nice person, if you will I can have you talk to him.
Maybe the council and mayor should put homeless up for the night.
This entire migrant mess belongs in the lap of Congress. They will never find a solution because there is an absence of critical thinking skills and overall intelligence.
The migrant and homeless mess locally belongs in the lap of the city and county political class along with the taxing bodies that infect Mclean County. Constant tax and fee increase by the political class and taxing bodies place pressure on property owners and landlords who pass these increases onto their renters. When the cost is too much then end up on the street and the taxpayers pay twice. Taxpayers are forced to pay for migrants by the incessant whine of Socialists.
But it’s all about the money. The political class and taxing bodies don’t care about the homeless and migrants, just the $$ they can squeeze from the taxpayers. The same applies to mental health, law enforcement safety checks, property taxes, fees and on and on.
As an example of out-of-control tax increases, Steve Scudder increased my EAV on my 45-year-old, 1800 square foot home in Ward 1 by nearly 18%. I ask myself how McLean County/City of Bloomington has improved my quality of life in anyway this past year and next. Can’t think on a single improvement that impacts me on a regular basis.
The good news on migrants is that in less than 2 election cycles the migrants will be heading outbound as America’s quality of life and economic opportunity are destroyed by the progressive socialists. Mexico, Canada and perhaps their homeland origin will suddenly look like a better alternative.