By: Diane Benjamin

Progressives believe government creates prosperity.

In Normal, that meant Uptown would magically fill with developers eager to do their bidding. Years after taxpayers were forced to fund the project, the first-floor restaurant space at 1 Uptown Circle sat empty. Two other large buildings meant to complete the circle still don’t exist after multiple developers walked away. Normal was lucky the original developer didn’t build office space right before COVID — there’s no demand for it now. Yet here come the progressives again, pushing a new TIF to lure housing developers with more taxpayer handouts.

Of course the 4-3 vote to build the underpass last night was a foregone conclusion. The same ideology now promises developers will flock to the south side of the tracks to create their version of “prosperity.” They may rethink that fantasy once Chris Koos bans natural gas lines and demands everything be all-electric. Even the UN has quietly backed off the worst climate alarmism, but local progressives don’t let facts get in the way of their agenda.

A NextDoor user recently shared an email from Trustee Karyn Smith that perfectly captures the faulty logic.

• Grants are tax dollars. Claiming this project “costs citizens nothing” is simply a lie. That $2.5 million is still taxpayer money.
• Anyone who eats at a restaurant in Normal is already paying more thanks to this council’s food and beverage tax hike. Out-of-town visitors aren’t covering the bill.
• Believing these tax increases will actually sunset when the bonds are paid off is pure naivety. Progressives never sunset taxes — new projects always need new funding.
• “If successful” is just gambling with public money. By the time results are measured, Karyn Smith and her colleagues will be long gone. And if the project flops, they’ll simply rewrite the definition of success — as progressives always do.

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Read the below response from Smith. The people who bother to vote in Normal’s local elections put progressives in charge. The rest of the Town gets to pay for it.

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Thank you for reaching out with your comments about the underpass. I appreciate your perspective on the Transportation Center. As to diverting the bond issue and directing those dollars to other projects, you may not be aware that government regulations require that entities may only spend funds that have been approved in their budget and passed by a majority of elected officials. If Normal does not pursue the underpass, those dollars could not go to other Town projects.

Several votes are needed to move this project forward.

An ordinance to extend the bond issue date for the $12 million bonds that were approved last fall to fund the Town’s portion of project cost. This vote is needed to provide additional time to go to the market with these bonds since the start of the project was delayed when the initial contractor cancelled their approximately three months after they were awarded the project. The $12 million bond issue Council will vote on is the same amount that was approved last fall. There is no increase in Town financing of this project.

Approval of a joint financing agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation. IDOT has awarded Normal $2.5 million to assist in funding the engineering component of this transportation project. Normal was one of 223 projects selected to receive this money out of $400 million budgeted for this type of transportation project. The Council previously selected Clark Dietz to provide engineering work for the Underpass at a cost of $2.5 million and this IDOT grant will be applied toward the Clark Dietz engineering component of the project.

An agreement with Lumen Industries to relocate telecommunication facilities for the construction of the Underpass. The dollar amount of this is $225,000 and this amount has already been included in the Underpass budget. This vote is a formal authorization to direct these dollars be used for this relocation. This is the last utility on the Union Pacific site. All other utility relocations have already been completed.

Approval of a contract with P.J. Hoerr for $33,867,447 to construct the Underpass and related structures north and south of the tracks. When Millstone Weber withdrew from the project, Town staff began negotiating with P.J. Hoerr as they had participated in the bidding with Millstone Weber and were now eligible to be considered. It has taken some time to finalize all the details of this new contract as multiple parties were involved. Despite the hiugher bid from P.J. Hoerr, the Town’s project costs are unchanged — thanks to the IDOT funding of the $2.5 million grant for engineering portion. See the chart below:

Some people have expressed concern about that residents will be paying more taxing to support this Underpass. When the bonds were approved, the Council purposely identified food and beverage and hotel/motel tax increases as the funding mechanisms to support the debt service on the bond issue. Also, the tax increase passed for this debt service is scheduled to sunset once the bonds are paid off. It is the intention by structuring the funding of this project in this manner, visitors will be the bulk of the cost associated with this project, not Normal residents.

For several years, the Bloomington
Normal Chamber of Commerce has sponsored visits to other cities to highlight the transformational projects that other communities have pursued. Transformational projects are intended to set a community apart and provide a distinct identity that provides impetus for growth and development.

Ideally, these projects function as a joint public/private partnership. I believe that the Underpass will be an impetus for future development north and south of the tracks. If successful, new residents and businesses will be attracted to Uptown increasing the tax base without substantial increase in services as roads, sewers, utilities, and water are already in place.

It will also provide safe passage south of the tracks so that elderly and mobility challenged individuals will not be dependent on transport across the tracks at Fell or Linden or risk catching a cane or walker in the tracks.

All of these items will be discussed at Monday’s Council meeting. If you wish your voice to go on record, you are invited to register for the public comment before the meeting either by email or in-person sign-up provided you sign up before 6:45 p.m. I expect there to be a lively discussion of all views regarding the underpass and I encourage you to attend in person or view on YouTube or Facebook.

Again, thank you for reaching out with your thoughts on this project.

Karyn Smith