By: Diane Benjamin
One more thing from Monday’s Council meeting:
Mollie Ward made a comment at the end of the meeting. She was one of the 4 who voted for the Missing Middle Housing plan. Hit play:
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She recently attended an event honoring people who died riding bicycles. She attempted to shame the council for voting against “walkability”.
Remember this story Mollie? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2022-09-30/isu-administrator-dies-following-on-campus-crash-with-bicyclist
A guy walking on a sidewalk in Normal was killed by a bicyclists. The story is badly worded, it claims they collided. No, the walker was run down!
I wonder how much walking Mollie does? Is she aware people on bikes like to make their own rules, like running stop signs and riding on sidewalks? Does Mollie know “walkability” for much of the year is difficult because of Illinois weather?
Does she remember the $13.8 million water park that is only open for a few months every year? Will Mollie demand heated and cooled “walkable” sidewalks when it gets really hot (summer) or really cold (winter)? How much of your money will she throw to developers to build “walkable”?
The City didn’t hire a consultant to create the Missing Middle Housing plan to drop it when the Council tabled it indefinitely. Opticos isn’t the only consultant hired – see this LinkedIn announcement that isn’t on the City website. It isn’t on the calendar either because they don’t want you there: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/calendar
Golden Shovel is yet another consultant. Evidently City employees weren’t vetted for the ability to do their own job. The stench of consultants reminds me of former City Manager David Hales who hired one for everything.
Local problems are being solved using the advice of people who don’t live here.
Golden Shovel Agency is in Little Falls Minnesota.
Opticos Design Agency is located in Berkeley California.
“Shop local” only applies to you serfs. When the City cries poverty ask them why 2 consultants were hired. $50,000 can be spent without Council approval. Did they ship $100,000 out of the local economy on these two?
For those on the Council who claim to be “data-driven”: https://wirepoints.org/what-one-business-owner-said-to-me-why-expand-in-illinois-when-theres-little-economic-growth-wirepoints/
Quote:
Start with the Bloomington metropolitan area. It suffered the worst economic performance of any metro area in the nation between 2019 and 2023, the most-recent data available. With a drop of 17% in real economic output, it’s dead last among the 384 metro areas the federal government tracks.
Housing isn’t why Bloomington-Normal is dead last. Instead of talking to “stakeholders” wanting handouts, try talking to real people.
That said, 2024 and going into 2025, evidence of economic conditions continuing to decline imho in B-N. Suppose Bloomington will be heading the next four year chart as well. Thank you Gov Jelly Belly with your state and local communist/socialist lackeys holding your phat rump up.
Consultants need to be hired because the over paid city staff has no real professional experience in the job they were hired to do.
Furthermore , several elected alderpersons have little vision or critical thinking skills but hold the position because nobody else with any success or standing in the community wanted to run.
BloNo.
Keep in mind GDP includes government spending. As basic math tells you, a dollar the government spends is a dollar the government takes from someone else who actually created wealth, while the government employees siphoning their cut off the top. There is no net new wealth created, simply a shell game of stealing from Peter to pay Paul and Penelope. Negative 17% is insane, considering the fake double counting of government spending someone else’s money, and Rivians investment in the area.
It highlights how bad the housing shortage in town really is: despite GDP dropping 17% since 2019, housing prices are up over 35%, and property taxes are up 30%. The middle gets squeezed as the housing choices they need are missing via protectionists zoning laws,
while the lowest 36% of Illinoisians are on stuck on Medicaid, and the NIMBY rich count their paper wealth in the stock market, public pensions, and house appreciation. No wonder socialists flipped McLean County Board blue for the first time ever.
100% DOGE Illinois. The middle is getting squeezed. Federal, state and local spending/taxes on one side and housing prices on the other. Bad government on one side and more government social engineering on the other.
Their malevolent solution is a literal squeeze. Squeeze the population elbow to elbow onto postage stamp properties they don’t own. Squeeze the American dream right out of them.
Developers are sitting on the sideline. Waiting to see where the chips will fall while people in Illinois pack up and leave. Because this new social engineering doesn’t guarantee any relief from escalating housing prices (in fact has been seen to increase housing costs in some areas) it isn’t a viable solution, especially in BLN’s small market.