By: Diane Benjamin
It’s nice to see everything the Council considers is no longer hashed out during 2 on 1 meetings. Previously every agenda item was decided behind closed doors making Council meetings mostly useless. Of course that means meetings are longer as Council members ask questions and state their opinions. Last night was 2 hours.
4 proclamations and public comment took time. Then 4 items were pulled by 2 Council members from the Consent Agenda. Items are pulled for questions and more discussion, refreshing to see representatives representing.
Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4115/files/agenda/12646
Kent Lee pulled items 7M and 7O just for clarification. That was brief.
Jenna Kerns pulled 7R and 7X.
7R pertained to the Flex Lane originally in the Downtown plan. Business owners know people won’t go downtown if they have to park blocks away from their destination to buy something that should be a quick trip. Removal of the Flex Lane adds over 30 parking spots. Changing the plan eventually passed 6-2 with Kearn and Ward voting against it. Cody Hendricks was absent, so only 8 votes occured.
7X merged the Welcoming America Commission with the Human Relation Commission. The good part of discussion in public instead of behind closed doors is both of these items revealed personalities we rarely get to see. Mayor Brady provided the reasons for this change in one of the best comments I’ve heard from him. Just hit PLAY below. The whole discussion was very revealing. Worth watching!
Discussion on all the items pulled begins at 32:32.
The Council finally got to the regular agenda at 7:04. Those 3 items took almost another hour. The discussion on the drone show for July 2 was also enlightening. The agenda item shows $60,000, but the cost will be shared by Normal and the County and very possibly private businesses. Their name will appear in the show, that will probably get at least some to pay up. Jump to 1:38:10 to hear that discussion. Mollie Ward was the only vote against it.
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Two events that might interest you:
“Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.” say the mayor.
Didn’t listen or the State of the City?
Welcoming America Commission – How far we have come from the hair on fire discussions about being a non racist! Welcoming City with mayor Mwilambwe, Jamie Mathy, Mike Matejka and “Not In Our Town”, to a Commission that in 2+ years couldn’t even fill all of its postions and canceled all but a couple of its meetings.
Further proof that what the left has knives out for today is often vapid rhetoric with no grounding in reality and with very little purpose. It is simply manufactured outrage used to feed their egos and boost their self-perceived virtue. In a little while, as commons sense sets in, it evaporates and they move on to something else that they can vent their pent up angry with.
Evidence says this Commission should be disbaned, not folded into another committee where it is little more than a title.
In reflection, “screwed” is where we’ve been, where we’re going, and what is happening everyday. So yeah, blah, blah, blah. It’s Dan Brady, lol. Ineffective as a state rep, still the same. Words are nothing, action counts.