By: Diane Benjamiin
1)
I had a cup of coffee at my Bloomington church yesterday. It tasted like dirt, now I know what all the social media posts about the water quality are talking about. The church has to buy a filter just to drink the water we pay a fortune for? We use very little but we have to pay a huge amount just for a pipe connected to the required sprinkler system.
The good news is your water rates are going up again on May 1st so you can pay more for undrinkable water: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/search?q=water%20rates
Water rates will increase 33 percent on May 1, 2024, another 33 percent on May 1, 2025, and then a final 33 percent on May 1, 2026. Thereafter, the rates will increase by the CPI index for water, sewer, storm water, and solid waste (CPI-W
2)
Green Top Grocery is changing their liquor license tonight. Have any investors received a return on their investment yet? https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/592fd19b-a60f-11ef-ab4b-005056a89546-d854eb82-3702-4140-9de6-ac3a8e3f379d-1740182158.pdf
3)
It will be fun to watch how the downtown redevelopment plan is presented tonight. The City is finally getting rid of some abandoned buildings. The Market Street parking garage is being torn down to build the Connect Transit transfer station. The people who currently work downtown and park there need somewhere to park. Of course parking closer to the arena is a benefit too.
The City is spending $3,929,189.14 to get 140 parking spots. That’s over $28,000 per spot. See the details here: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/3abc4d07d4660a500679ad68ef87e35f0.pdf
It’s a shame the Front and Center Building couldn’t be saved. The architecture is from an era we won’t see again. I wonder why the People’s Bank building wasn’t included wasn’t included?
I think it’s a stretch to call creating needed parking spots redevelopment.
4)
The promises by Unit 5 and District 87 to not raise property taxes for 5 years if you vote for the 1% Sales Tax are fake and can’t be validated. There are way too many ways for both to go around that promise.
Remember when Unit 5 said your taxes wouldn’t go up if you approved a bond? Your taxes are still going up because the assessed values increase every year and both pocket at least part of that gain. Contrary to what they say about not setting tax rates, they know what the tax rate is going to be by simple math. Even if they say the tax rate will remain the same as previous years your taxes will increase as long as assessments continue to go up.
The only way your taxes will not increase is if they collect the same dollars as previous years. Of course you will be paying 1% more on a lot of things you buy. That is regressive and hurts poor people the most.
5)
Did you know local governments budget not immediately replacing people who retire or quit? They want a couple of months of not paying anyone before a new person is hired. If you watched last weeks Bloomington Committee of the Whole meeting that was clear.
It’s almost like the position wasn’t all that important if government can continue for months without that position being filled. It was also mentioned all those downtown events last summer increased overtime.
6)
See this link to the McLean County Code – Prohibited Political Activity: https://ecode360.com/13450919?highlight=ethics&searchId=21140474640154676#13450920
Read it and then tell me how Lizzy Johnston, Cassy Taylor, and any elected officials or staff who participated in attempting to remove the County Auditor’s office didn’t violate it.
Page down to penalties. They are close to nonexistent – especially if a prosecutor doesn’t exist.
7)
My eye sight has not started to improve yet. It will eventually. Excuse typos.
On the radio this morning was the impossible question of the day.
Q: The average one of these costs $20,000 to build. What is it?
A: A parking space in a parking garage
Why is the new deck so much more expensive I wonder.
It should be noted that this isn’t a permanent solution. Neither the council or the developers want this to continue to be surface parking. . . Point is that the abandoned buildings are finally being handled.
Also, parking lots and spaces gather lots of income. If they’re investing in Downtown parking it’s the beginning of investing in Downtown Revitalization and they both rely on each other to be successful.
I will be shocked if anyone builds – unless taxpayers get the bill.
Downtown Bloomington is an economic incubator, businesses who start there typically grow and move on. With that said, businesses want to be in Downtown, and there is a lot of space for development. Who knows who or when, whether or not it’ll be city money or individual developers, at least we’re moving on from old buildings that can’t be used because they were bought and abandoned.