By: Diane Benjamin

10 people spoke at public comment. Of course the first 3 or 4 were Koos supporters who always show up to support more spending. The room was packed – standing room only and they stayed for the whole meeting.

No, I didn’t watch the entire 2 1/12 hour discussion. I didn’t have to. The meeting didn’t end until 9:30 but I knew at 8:00 what the vote was going to be. I tuned in again about 10 minutes before the vote. I did realize I don’t miss not reporting on Normal. Some of those Council members are very grating to listen to!

Here’s a summary of the arguments as I heard them:

The 4 supporters think:

1. They have to take the grants or nobody will ever give them money in the future
2. Staff worked really hard on this project and therefore they deserve to see it built
3. The underpass will promote economic development on the south side of the tracks, they provided no proof
4. If they don’t do it now it will be even more expensive in the future

The 3 opposed are Preston, Lorenz, Byars. Their argument against was:

1. The cost is way over what was projected. An at-grade crossing is all that’s needed
2. Lorenz gave a long list of projects that can’t be funded if they do this, one being a new needed fire truck
3. Trail East and West developers are waiting for incentives to build
4. $40 million and all the Town gets is a tunnel and a park

Byars tried to table the vote for two weeks because it is being rushed, it was defeated 4-3.

Before the first vote Kathleen Lorenz asked the City attorney if Chris Koos had a conflict of interest. She didn’t specify, but the answer is no because Amtrak doesn’t have an interest is in tunnel. (Koos is on the Amtrak Board) If she meant because his bike shop if across the street from the tunnel for bikes, that went unanswered. See 2:22:20, Koos said no – the City attorney gave the Amtrak response.

All 3 had impressive arguments against. The 4 yes votes were never going to look at facts. The audience had many union members that need work at taxpayer expense. Local business owners spoke about the detriment of new taxes, they were ignored.

Learn how to cook or start eating out only in Bloomington. It will be cheaper in the future unless Bloomington decides to match Normal. Your property taxes will not be going down. Lorenz stated Normal is unaffordable. It’s going to get worse.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the discussion. Koos knew he had 4 votes so nothing said last night really mattered.

Meanwhile the Normal Firemen and EMS are sounding the alarm about call coverage when the College fire station staff are moved to the new location east of Menards: https://www.normalfirecoverage.com

One of their points is: Previous warnings disregarded. A 2008 study by the Normal Fire Department Administrative staff advised against relocating all stations without a long-term plan. Despite this, that same 13-year old plan is still being implemented in the absence of a long-term plan.

Everything Normal does is because of some ancient plan. That’s why Normal will be paying for a tunnel and a park while the neighborhoods who used to have a close fire station on College no longer will. I hope that website reports how many people die because of the delayed response.

Watch for yourself if you have 2 1/2 hours to waste: